Culture and thinking styles data 2024.sav

This study tests the malleability of thinking styles across cultures. Participants from China, Hong Kong, and the United States were randomly assigned to one of four conditions to manipulate thinking styles (analytical, holistic, intuitive, and control). Participants first responded to a scale measuring four thinking styles (analytical, holistic, intuitive, and normative). They then read a message to induce one of these thinking styles and responded to four scenarios regarding their decision related to the scenario, the difficulty in making the decision, their confidence in their decision, and the perceived realism of the scenario. Participants then responded to the same scale measuring the four thinking styles. Results supported the expectation that people in different cultures use predominantly different thinking styles to make decisions. The manipulation of thinking styles, however, changed people’s thinking in complex rather than direct ways. Analytical thinking, which is the predominant style used by U.S. Americans, was not as malleable as the other styles, and the American participants were less changeable in their style than participants from China and Hong Kong. In other words, and in summary, some thinking styles and some cultures seem to be more malleable than others. Implications of these results for understanding culture and cognition are discussed.