Latinx’s Attention to Social Context: A Comparison with European Americans and East Asians Living in the U.S.

Abstract

Prior research shows that collectivistic East Asians are more sensitive to contextual information than individualistic Americans. However, limited studies have explored other collectivistic societies, such as the Latinx. Extending the current literature, we investigated attention to social context among Latinx living in the United States. Two tasks were used to test how Latinx (N=260) incorporate social context information when making attributions as compared to European Americans (N=220) and East Asians (N=144) living in the United States. In Task 1, participants made attributions about their friend’s career choice. In Task 2, participants made attributions about a character experiencing constraints in a semi-real-life situation. The findings demonstrated that when making attributions, East Asians were more attentive to social context than European Americans. Furthermore, Latinx were attentive to social context like the East Asians, but findings were not consistent across tasks. Results are discussed as a function of cultural frameworks, specifically from the perspectives of European American and East Asian cultures, and from the Latinx cultures. The role of collectivism on holistic thinking and practical implications of culture-driven attention style are discussed. Directions for future research are also suggested.