Social Orientation and Cognitive Style across Cultures, Classes and Individuals: Divergent Patterns, Reliability, and Isomorphisms

We explore whether differences in social orientation and in cognitive style that exist between cultural groups correspond to individual differences in the same constructs. We review prior cross-cultural studies, as well as new work conducted in Japan and the U.S., with five tasks previously associated with independent vs. interdependent social orientation and ten tasks previously associated with analytic vs. holistic cognitive style. We found reliable group differences such that Americans as a whole were more independent and analytic whereas Japanese were more interdependent and holistic. At the same time, much of the reviewed work demonstrates that the tasks that ostensibly measure independent vs. interdependent social orientation and analytic vs. holistic cognitive style do not show a reliable latent factor structure typical to individual difference variables, raising questions the validity of these constructs on the individual level of analysis. We discuss the findings with respect to the psychometric features of measures, conceptualizations of social orientation and cognitive style as a culture-level vs. individual level constructs as well as the relationship between cultural, sub-cultural and individual differences.