Toward a Paradigm Shift: From Cross-Cultural Differences in Social Cognition to Social-Cognitive Mediation of Cultural Differences

Abstract

Cultural psychologists have often sought to explain cross-cultural differences in social cognition as differences rooted in the cultures' positions on a small collection of pan-cultural dimensions (e.g., individualism-collectivism). In this paper, we argue for a paradigm shift in cultural psychology. Drawing on the arguments and data presented in the papers of this special issue, we propose to view cultures as dynamic open systems that spread across geographical boundaries and evolve through time. This alternative view links cultural differences in social cognition to cultures' axiomatic assumptions (or cultural theories) in the relevant domains, and specifies the social cognitive principles that govern the activation and application of such cultural theories in specific contexts. This new approach captures the complexity of cultural processes, paves the way for an exciting agenda for future investigations, and provides a common language for psychologists to describe how culture affects social cognition as well as how cultural influences are mediated by basic social cognitive processes.