Cultural difference of the effect of analytical / intuitive thinking style on reasoning, JDM, and belief tasks.
- Yoshimasa Majima, Department of Psychology for Well-Being, Hokusei Gakuen University, Sapporo, Japan
AbstractResearch within the dual-process framework have repeatedly suggested that individual’s thinking style can predict their performance on reasoning, judgment, decision making, and acceptance of religious and paranormal statements. However, some studies also suggested that the link between analytical thinking and epistemically unwarranted beliefs was peculiar to so-called WEIRD societies. The present study aimed to explore the possible cultural (Western and Eastern) difference on the relationship between performance and style of our thinking. Participants were presented with various tasks including belief bias, denominator neglect bias, numeracy, temporal discounting, risk preference, and paranormal belief. They were also presented with tasks measuring their thinking styles (CRT and Rational-Experiential Inventory). Results showed that the effects of thinking style on heuristics-bias and decision-making tasks were almost similar between two cultures, however we find a significant style-culture interaction in paranormal beliefs. This may suggest a cultural difference of the role of analytical thinking on belief-based response.