Cultural Differences in Thinking Styles

Abstract

Recent cross-cultural psychological research showed ample evidence that humans from different cultures are characterized by divergent cognitive processing styles. Specifically, people from Western cultures (e.g., European Americans) are characterized by an analytic cognitive style that is attuned to salient focal objects but less sensitive to contexts, whereas people engaged in East Asian cultures (e.g., Chinese, Japanese, Korean) possess a holistic cognitive style that is attuned to background and contextual information. Brain imaging research showed that cultures not only shape multiple-level cognitive processes but also induce variation of neural correlates underlying cognitive processes such as perceptual/attentional processing. The findings help to understand how cognitive processes and the underlying neural mechanisms are modulated by cultures so as to give rise to cultural specific thinking styles.