Individualistic societies like to prove themselves right

People in individualistic societies seek evidence to prove themselves right, while people from collectivist societies do not. This is the finding of a study by Dr Andreas Kastenmueller from Liverpool John Moores University and colleagues published online today, 26th January 2010, in the British Journal of Social Psychology.

Dr Kastenmueller explains: "Studies have consistently found that people within individualistic societies have a preference for information that supports their views or decisions and that they avoid information that conflicts with their currently held views. For example, once you have bought a car you will attend to information that supports your choice, but will disregard any information that may suggest the choice was a bad one. People defend their position because they have a commitment to their standpoint."

This study set out to investigate whether people in collectivist societies, such as India and China, where the emphasis is on group rather than individual gain or success, are less likely than people within individualistic societies to show this pattern of behaviour.

A total of 55 participants took part in the study. Twenty-seven participants were from Eastern ‘collectivist’ countries China and India, and 28 from Western or ‘individualistic’ countries Germany, the UK and the USA. Participants were asked to imagine they had to buy a family car and a sports car. They had two cars to choose from in each category. After making a choice they were told they could read some additional information relating to both vehicles; two of the statements supported each vehicle, and two statements criticised each vehicle. They were asked to choose which they would like to read.

It was found that the Eastern participants were significantly more likely to choose the statements that criticised their earlier car choices than the Western participants. This effect was especially true when they were asked to make a car choice that affected others; the choice of family car. Western participants were more likely than Eastern participants to choose statements that supported their earlier choices.

These results were replicated in a further study in which Western participants were primed to think either individualistically or collectively.

Dr Kastenmueller said: "Our results shows that people in individualistic cultures are more likely to have a confirmation bias than people who live in collectivist societies. This suggests that people in individualised societies may hold more polarised views and perhaps continue with bad decisions in an attempt to prove themselves right. Our finding that collectivist people are more likely to seek evidence that contradicts their choices could mean that people from these societies make more balanced decisions."

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