The influence of cultural lay beliefs: Dialecticism and indecisiveness in European Canadians and Hong Kong Chinese

Li, Liman Man Wai; Masuda, Takahiko; Russell, Matthew

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2014.03.047

Cited by 27 publications

(45 citation statements)

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“…In addition to the examination of savings behaviors, it would be possible to observe the influence of dialecticism directly on consumer behaviors. For example, previous work found that dialectical beliefs promote higher indecisiveness (e.g., Li et al, ; Ng & Hynie, ). Future studies may explore whether re‐framing the understanding of the current status would affect the indecisive tendency between dialectical and nondialectical people for consumption decisions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, participants were randomly assigned to either a nondialectical or dialectical condition. We followed the procedure developed by Maddux, Lau, Chiu, Hong, and Yuki (); please also see Li et al (). Participants read a paragraph describing a meditation experience of a character, in which she felt that the elements in the universe were distinctive and stable in the nondialectical condition (or she felt that the elements in the universe were connected in the dialectical condition).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dialectical beliefs are grounded by historic Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist traditions (Peng & Nisbett, ; Spencer‐Rodgers, Srivastava, et al, , for a review). Therefore, East Asians, who are deeply affected by these Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist traditions, are found to be more dialectical than Westerners (e.g., Li, Masuda, & Jiang, ; Li, Masuda, & Russell, ; Ng & Hynie, ). There are three major principles related to dialecticism: (a) theory of change, perceiving that the world is in a constant state of flux, changing in a dynamic fashion; (b) theory of contradictions, believing that the world is full of opposing forces and these opposing forces can be equally true; and (c) theory of holism, perceiving that the universe is made of mutually interdependent and connected elements.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are three major principles related to dialecticism: (a) theory of change, perceiving that the world is in a constant state of flux, changing in a dynamic fashion; (b) theory of contradictions, believing that the world is full of opposing forces and these opposing forces can be equally true; and (c) theory of holism, perceiving that the universe is made of mutually interdependent and connected elements. The influence of dialecticism was observed across many domains, including response style (e.g., Hamamura, Heinie, & Paulhus, ), decision‐making (e.g., Li et al, ), and mental health (e.g., Miyamoto, Uchida, & Ellsworth, ) across cultures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dialectical beliefs and savings tendency: Opposite patterns in good versus bad current status

2017

J Applied Social Pyschol

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People often experience a dilemma: whether we should invest now for a better future or save now for an unexpected future. The current research investigated the influence of dialecticism, a constellation of lay beliefs stating that the world is full of constant changes, coexisting contradictions, and interdependent relationships, on people's savings tendencies when they are with good versus bad status. Study 1 verified that dialectical beliefs were negatively associated with optimistic expectations among people with good status (i.e., high socioeconomic status) but positively associated with optimistic expectations among people with bad status (i.e., low socioeconomic status). Next, Studies 2 and 3 examined the interaction effect between dialectical beliefs and people's current status in predicting their savings tendencies in the investment scenarios with the focus on savings decision‐making and emotional experiences related to savings scenarios, respectively. Finally, to test generalizability, Study 4 examined people's savings tendencies in the situation that they needed to prevent failure instead of doing investments. The results converged to support the hypothesis that stronger dialectical beliefs predicted greater savings tendencies among people with good current status but weaker savings tendencies among people with bad current status. These findings demonstrated that the effect of dialectical beliefs on savings tendencies varies as a function of the characteristics of the situations, which advances the theoretical understanding of dialecticism in decision‐making research.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dialectical beliefs and savings tendency: Opposite patterns in good versus bad current status

2017

J Applied Social Pyschol

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“…This suggests that the higher tendency to experience difficulty or stress when making a decision among dialectical (vs. nondialectical) thinkers might be driven by their higher inclination to evaluate objects ambivalently. Although the link between naïve dialecticism and indecisiveness has been established in previous research (Li, Masuda, & Russell, 2014;Ng & Hynie, 2014), how naïve dialecticism translates into decision difficulty remains unexamined. Hence, the first goal of the present research was to test the proximal mediating role that evaluative ambivalence might play in the relationship between naïve dialecticism and indecisiveness.…”

Section: Naïve Dialecticism Evaluative Ambivalence and Indecisivenessmentioning

confidence: 96%

Naïve Dialecticism and Indecisiveness

Hynie

2015

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

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Previous research suggests that individuals of East Asian (vs. European) cultural backgrounds are more indecisive, and this cultural difference is related to naïve dialecticism, a lay belief system that tolerates contradictory information. The present research extends this line of work by examining a proximal mediating mechanism underlying the relationship between naïve dialecticism and indecisiveness as well as a negative consequence of chronic indecisiveness induced by naïve dialecticism. Results indicated that East Asian (vs. European) Canadian participants were more indecisive in a real educational decision (Study 1) and exhibited lower life satisfaction, which was mediated serially by naïve dialecticism through chronic indecisiveness (Study 2). In Study 3, European Canadian participants who were primed with a dialectical mind-set were more indecisive in a consumer choice task, relative to those not primed, and this effect was mediated by evaluative ambivalence toward the chosen alternative.

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