Cognitive Problem-Solving and the Cultural Dimension of Autonomy versus Embeddedness

1. Cognitive Problem-Solving and the Cultural Dimension of Autonomy versus Embeddedness Sharon Arieli The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

2. Culture and Cognition Researchers studying cognition initially assumed that cognitive processes and perception are universal across individuals Over time it was recognized that individuals from different cultures vary in their cognitive processes (for a review see Nisbett & Masuda, 2003) How cultural Autonomy vs. Embeddedness affect thinking processes

3. Culture "man-made part of the environment" (Herskovits, 1955, p. 305) "software of the mind" (Hofstede, 1991, p.4) Culture is characterized by a large set of elements (e.g., values, norms, practices) that represent the way the environment is being captured and understood by a specific group (Triandis, 2001)

4. The cultural dimension of  Autonomy Vs. Embeddedness The most prominent dimension that distinguishes among cultures is the value dimension developed in response to the challenge of understanding and managing the relations between the individual and the group (Oyserman et al., 2002; Sagiv & Schwartz, 2000) As a conceptual framework, this cultural dimension reflects contrasting worldviews (Hui, 1988)

5. The cultural dimension of  Autonomy Vs. Embeddedness cultures emphasizing Autonomy: People are independent entities who cherish their uniqueness. Encourage individuals to follow their internal characteristics and act on them (Sagiv & Schwartz, 2000; 2007; Schwartz, 1999)

6. The cultural dimension of  Autonomy Vs. Embeddedness cultures emphasizing Embeddedness: People are entities integrally embedded in the group Encourage individuals to find meaning in life through sharing and striving toward the goals of the group (Sagiv & Schwartz, 2000; 2007; Schwartz, 1999)

7. Members of different cultures differ in their cognitive processes because they are socialized into: Different world-views Different habits of thought (Nisbett et al. 2001, Psychological Review) Culture and Cognition: 

8. Culture and Cognition:  Cognition is affected by cultural Autonomy Vs. Embeddedness: Members of cultures that vary on this dimension differ in the way they understand and interpret the world (Hofstede,1980, 2001; Schwartz,1999) Members of Western societies tend to center their attention on objects and to use rules to understand behavior Members of East-Asian societies center their attention on the social context and focus on relations to understand behavior (Nisbett et al., 2001)

9. Rule-based Context-based Two major systems of reasoning:Rule-Based Vs. Context-Based

10. Rule-based (analytic, systematic, rational) Attempts to identify and use rules to processes information. Individuals tend to think in a structured, analytic way, focusing on details and seeking to reveal underling rules, regularities and patterns. Two major systems of reasoning:Rule-Based Vs. Context-Based

11. Context-based (associative, intuitive, holistic) Context-dependent processes that rely on holistic and global perception Individuals are not always aware of their thinking patterns. They process information taking into account not only facts, but feeling, associations and context as well. Two major systems of reasoning:Rule-Based Vs. Context-Based

12. Hypotheses Culture and Cognition:  H1: Members of Cultures that emphasize Autonomy will perform better on solving Rule-based than context-based tasks H2: Members of cultures that emphasize Embeddedness will perform better on solving Context-based than rule-based tasks

13. Rule-based riddle: quantitative questions requires employing a rule or a method to come up with the solution Context-based riddle: Metaphorical statements requires holistic understanding of the relations between the statements Culture affects problem solving: Riddles

14. Riddle 1-Rule-Based:How many squares are there? How would you solve this riddle? What may help here is a method or a rule

15. Riddle 2-Context-Based:Who Am I? 1) Alive without breath, as cold as death; Never thirsty, ever drinking, all in mail never clinking 2) Thirty white horses on a red hill, first they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still

16. Study 1: Values of the two cultural groups Americans

17. Study 1: Hypothesis Americans vs. Arab Israeli American participants will perform better in solving rule-based riddles than in solving context-based riddles Arab Israeli participants will perform better in solving context-based riddles than in solving rule-based riddles >>>That is, We expect culture and riddle type to interact in affecting riddle solving >>>That is, We expect culture and riddle type to interact in affecting riddle solving

18. Study 1:Method American sample: 79 high-school students (73% female, age 15-18, mean=17.1)

19. Results:Percent of Correct Answers: Americans vs. Arab Israeli

20. Summary of Study 1 The 2 cultural groups studied in Study 1 are markedly different in many aspects Within the same country, cultural groups that differ on Autonomy vs. Embdeddness will differ in their patterns of problem solving

21. Study 2: Three Cultural Groups from the same country We investigated three Israeli cultural groups that vary on Autonomy vs. Embeddednesss

22. Study 2: Autonomy vs. Embeddednesss Three Israeli Cultural Groups

23. Study 2: Hypothesis  Three Israeli Cultural Groups Jewish Israeli participants will perform better in solving rule-based than context-based riddles Arab Israeli and Ultra-orthodox Jews participants will perform better in solving context-based than rule-based riddles

24. Results: Percent of Correct Answers:

25. Assessing cultural Autonomy-Embeddedness: Measuring vs. Manipulating Researchers vary in their approaches to assess cultural dimensions in general, and the Autonomy-Embeddedness dimension in particular (e.g., Oyserman et al., 2002) Most research stemming from cross-cultural literature measures culture using self-report surveys (e.g., values; Hofstede, schwartz) Most research stemming from cognitive social psychology manipulates the cultural state of mind in experimental simulation (see a review in Oyserman & Lee, 2008)

26. Study 3 In Study 3 we MANIPULATED CULTURE: primed cultural Autonomy versus Embeddedness using tasks intended to create an experimental simulation of the cultural experience

27. I/ We manipulation I go to the city often. I am filled with anticipation as I see the skyscrapers come into view. I allow myself to explore every corner, never letting an attraction escape me. My voice fills the air and street. I see all the sights, I window-shop, and wherever I go I see my reflection looking back at me in the glass of a hundred windows. At nightfall I linger, my time in the city almost over. When finally I must leave, I do so knowing that I will soon return. The city belongs to me.

28. I/ We manipulation We go to the city often. We are filled with anticipation as we see the skyscrapers come into view. We allow ourselves to explore every corner, never letting an attraction escape us. Our voices fill the air and street. We see all the sights, we window-shop, and wherever we go we see our reflection looking back at us in the glass of a hundred windows. At nightfall we linger, our time in the city almost over. When finally we must leave, we do so knowing that we will soon return. The city belongs to us.

29. Study 3: Hypothesis  Participants in the �Autonomy" priming condition will perform better on solving rule-based than context-based riddles Participants in the" Embeddedness" priming condition will perform better on solving context-based than rule-based riddles

30. Participants: 172 Jewish-Israeli undergraduate Design: 2 (culture priming) X 2 (riddle type) Study 3: Method

31. Study 3: Results

32. Summary Culture interacts with riddle type in predicting riddle solving: Two distinct cultures from two nations Three cultural groups from the same nation Manipulating the cultural state of mind in experimental settings

33. Work in Progress: Divergent thinking tasks 

34. Divergent thinking: initial Findings

35. Culture and Cognitive Problem Solving: Different kind of cognitive tasks problem solving tasks divergent thinking visual tasks Different techniques to assess culture: measuring and manipulating the cultural state of mind Different priming tasks to manipulate the cultural state of mind: I/We manipulation language manipulation among bilingual simple versus complex visual stimuli

36. Conclusions With increasing globalization and the emergence of multicultural workplaces, more and more organizations include people from multiple cultures Understanding how people from different cultures solve problems is a key to the management of global organizations How to match a person to a task? How to build an operate diverse teams

37. Thank You!! Sharon.arieli@mail.huji.ac.il