Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T04:45:23.745Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cultural and individual differences in the generalization of theories regarding human thinking

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2011

Kyungil Kim  and
Youngjun Park
Kyungil Kim
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Ajou University, Suwon, 443-749, Korea. kyungilkim@ajou.ac.krcyber13@ajou.ac.kr
Youngjun Park
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Ajou University, Suwon, 443-749, Korea. kyungilkim@ajou.ac.krcyber13@ajou.ac.kr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Tests of a universal theory often find significant variability and individual differences between cultures. We propose that descriptivism research should focus more on cultural and individual differences, especially those based on motivational factors. Explaining human thinking by focusing on individual difference factors across cultures could provide a parsimonious paradigm, by uncovering the true causal mechanisms of psychological processes.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 34 , Issue 5 , October 2011 , pp. 259 - 260
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Chua, H. F., Boland, J. E. & Nisbett, R. E. (2005a) Cultural variation in eye movements during scene perception. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 102(35):12629–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chua, H. F., Leu, J. & Nisbett, R. E. (2005b) Culture and diverging views of social events. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 31(7):925–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gardner, W. L., Gabriel, S. & Lee, A. Y. (1999) “I” value freedom, but “we” value relationships: Self-construal priming mirrors cultural differences in judgment. Psychological Science 10(4):321–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hsee, C. K. & Weber, E. U. (1999) Cross-national differences in risk preference and lay predictions. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 12(2):165–79.3.0.CO;2-N>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, K. & Markman, A. B. (2006) Differences in fear of isolation as an explanation of cultural differences: Evidence from memory and reasoning. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 42(3):350–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, K., Grimm, L. R. & Markman, A. B. (2007) Self-construal and the processing of covariation information in causal reasoning. Memory and Cognition 35:1337–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Markman, A. B., Grimm, L. R. & Kim, K. (2009) Culture as a vehicle for studying individual differences. In: Understanding culture: Theory, research and application, ed. Wyer, R. S., Chiu, C. Y. & Hong, Y. Y., pp. 93–106. Taylor and Francis.Google Scholar
Peng, K. P. & Nisbett, R. E. (1999) Culture, dialectics, and reasoning about contradiction. American Psychologist 54(9):741–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weber, E. U. & Hsee, C. K. (2000) Culture and individual judgment and decision making. Applied Psychology – an International Review [Psychologie Appliquee – Revue Internationale] 49(1):32–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar