Culture, dialectics, and reasoning about contradiction.
1999/09/01 by Kaiping Peng, Richard E. Nisbett · 47 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cultural Differences and Values #Language, Metaphor, and Cognition #Social and Intergroup Psychology
paper · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.54.9.741
Abstract
Chinese ways of dealing with seeming contradictions result in a dialectical or compromise approach---retaining basic elements of opposing perspectives by seeking a "middle way." European-American ways, on the other hand, deriving from a lay version of Aristotelian logic, result in a differentiation model that polarizes contradictory perspectives in an effort to determine which fact or position is correct. Empirical studies showed that dialectical thinking is a form of folk wisdom in Chinese culture: Chinese preferred dialectical proverbs containing seeming contradictions more than did Americans. Chinese were also found to prefer dialectical resolutions to social conflicts, and to prefer dialectical arguments over classical Western logical arguments. Furthermore, when two apparently contradictory propositions were presented, Americans polarized their views and Chinese were moderately accepting of both propositions. Origins of these cultural differences and their implications for human reasoning in general are discussed. 3 3 Consider the following statements about recent scientific discoveries: Statement A. Two mathematicians have discovered that the activities of a butterfly in Beijing, China, noticeably affect the temperature in the San Francisco Bay Area. Statement B. Two meteorologists have found that the activities of a local butterfly in the San Francisco Bay Area have nothing to do with temperature changes in the same San Francisco Bay Area. What would be your intuitive reaction to these statements? Do you see an implicit contradiction between the two pieces of information? What strategy would you use to deal with such contradictions? What is the rationale for using such a strategy? Does your cultural background affect your reasoning and judgments about contradicti...
Cited by
- Counterexamples in sentential reasoning
- Personality: The Universal and the Culturally Specific
- Do Reverse-Worded Items Confound Measures in Cross-Cultural Consumer Research? The Case of the Material Values Scale
- It Matters How You Say It: Exploring Rhetorical Patterns for AI-Assisted Information Evaluation
- The American Ghost in the Machine: How language models align culturally and the effects of cultural prompting
- DeepSeek's WEIRD Behavior: The cultural alignment of Large Language Models and the effects of prompt language and cultural prompting
- Need Satisfaction and Well-Being
- In the World or in the Head: External and Internal Implicit Theories of Creativity
- Chinese Education Examined via the Lens of Self-Determination
- The weirdest people in the world?
- Flexibly navigating cultural diversity: How polycultural identity facilitates a meaningful and rich life
- Culture, Computation, Morality
- Is Partisan Selective Exposure an American Peculiarity? A Comparative Study of News Browsing Behaviors in the United States, Japan, and Hong Kong
- Cultural bias and cultural alignment of large language models
- Acculturation Strategies and Integrative Complexity
- Defer, disagree, or disengage? Relational mobility, self-changeability, culture, and responses to inconsistency
- The Dialectical Self-Concept II
- Racial Discrimination and Experience of New Possibilities Among Chinese International Students
- Modeling Wise Decision Making: A Z-Number Fuzzy Framework Inspired by Phronesis
- Development and validation of Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory for Chinese medical college students (CTDI-M)
- China and the “culture and trade” debate: a holistic approach
- Wisdom in Context
- Predicted causality in decision making: the role of culture. [europepmc]
- The Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex Modulates Dialectical Self-Thinking. [europepmc]
- The Role of Culture and Acculturation in Researchers' Perceptions of Rules in Science. [europepmc]
- Responsible gambling among older adults: a qualitative exploration. [europepmc]
- Two Sides of Emotion: Exploring Positivity and Negativity in Six Basic Emotions across Cultures. [europepmc]
- Cross-cultural comparison of breast cancer patients' Quality of Life in the Netherlands and Japan. [europepmc]
- Seeing Mixed Emotions: The Specificity of Emotion Perception From Static and Dynamic Facial Expressions Across Cultures. [europepmc]
- Cultural Differences in Attitudes Toward Action and Inaction: The Role of Dialecticism. [europepmc]
- Investigation of the Effects of Purpose in Life, Grit, Gratitude, and School Belonging on Mental Distress among Chinese Emerging Adults. [europepmc]
- Self-Compassion and Cultural Values: A Cross-Cultural Study of Self-Compassion Using a Multitrait-Multimethod (MTMM) Analytical Procedure. [europepmc]
- The Impact of Mixed Emotions on Creativity in Negotiation: An Interpersonal Perspective. [europepmc]
- Cultural Differences in Humor Perception, Usage, and Implications. [europepmc]
- Teachers' Growth Mindset and Work Engagement in the Chinese Educational Context: Well-Being and Perseverance of Effort as Mediators. [europepmc]
- Development and validation of the critical thinking disposition inventory for Chinese medical college students (CTDI-M). [europepmc]
- Does Neutral Affect Exist? How Challenging Three Beliefs About Neutral Affect Can Advance Affective Research. [europepmc]
- How Does Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy Influence Innovation Behavior? Exploring the Mechanism of Job Satisfaction and Zhongyong Thinking. [europepmc]
- Parenting Style and Emotional Distress Among Chinese College Students: A Potential Mediating Role of the Zhongyong Thinking Style. [europepmc]
- Caught in the Crossfire: How Contradictory Information and Norms on Social Media Influence Young Women's Intentions to Receive HPV Vaccination in the United States and China. [europepmc]
- Cultural Differences in People's Psychological Response to COVID-19. [europepmc]
- Development and Validation of the Holistic Cognition Scale. [europepmc]
- Universality and Cultural Diversity in Moral Reasoning and Judgment. [europepmc]
- Zhongyong Thinking Style and Resilience Capacity in Chinese Undergraduates: The Chain Mediating Role of Cognitive Reappraisal and Positive Affect. [europepmc]
- People from the U.S. and China think about their personal and collective future differently. [europepmc]
- Latent profile analysis of personal values among Chinese college students: associations with mental health disorders and life satisfaction. [europepmc]
- Effects of positive reappraisal and self-distancing on the meaningfulness of everyday negative events. [europepmc]
Related