Abstract
Judgments about whether anyone can provide a relevant and correct answer to a question are called answerability judgments. Such judgements can be important in societal planning and decision making and may vary in different cultural contexts. Six hundred participants in each of China, India, and Sweden made answerability judgments of six difficult knowledge questions. For each question, they choose between three options indicating that they thought the question was answerable and a fourth option: “Nobody can answer that question.” After each question, they rated their confidence that their judgment was correct. Choosing “Nobody can answer that question” was significantly more common for the Swedes and was uncommon in the Asian samples. The Asian samples showed higher confidence in their judgments. We suggest that these differences may be explained by results from cross-cultural research, but this study did not investigate specific mechanisms. Hence, more research is needed.
Highlights
The correct answers to important questions like “is there a safe way to store nuclear waste?,” “will the polar-ices melt in 500 years?,” and “is radiation from cell-phones dangerous?” have been debated in politics and within science
Answerability judgments are likely to be influenced by conditions that relate to the person’s prior experiences due to socialization, upbringing and education, etc
If answerability judgments vary cross-culturally, this would be useful to know in international negotiations and collaborations
Summary
The correct answers to important questions like “is there a safe way to store nuclear waste?,” “will the polar-ices melt in 500 years?,” and “is radiation from cell-phones dangerous?” have been debated in politics and within science. In such debates, people may even deliberate if anyone can provide a correct answer, that is, if the question is answerable. It can be difficult to judge if questions relating to complex issues have been answered. Cultural differences in understanding, cognitive approach, and cues heeded from the social context can lead to differences between countries in the judged answerability of questions. If answerability judgments vary cross-culturally, this would be useful to know in international negotiations and collaborations
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