True-self-as-guide lay theory endorsement across five countries

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Kim, J., Chen, K., Rivera, G. N., Hong, E. K., Kamble, S., Scollon, C. N., Sheldon, K. M. Zhang, H., & Schlegel, R. J. (2023). 

 Self and Identity

A widespread lay theory in the United States suggests that the best way to make decisions is to follow who you “really are”, referred to as the “true-self-as-guide” (TSAG) lay theory of decision making. In this paper, we explore whether people from four less-WEIRD (i.e., Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) countries also explicitly endorse the TSAG lay theory, whether individual differences in horizontal/vertical individualist/collectivist mindsets correlate with TSAG endorsement, and whether TSAG endorsement predicts wellbeing. Participants were recruited from US, China, India, Singapore, and South Korea (total N=654). Results revealed TSAG lay theories was high across all countries, that horizontal mindsets were more relevant to TSAG endorsement than individualism/ collectivism, and that TSAG endorsement predicted wellbeing in a non US-context.

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Nostalgia strengthens global self-continuity through holistic thinking

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Hong, E. K., Sedikides, C., & Wildschut, T. (2021) Cognition and Emotion.

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Nostalgia, a sentimental longing for one’s meaningful past, promotes global selfcontinuity (GSC), a sense of connection among one’s past, present, and future selves. We identified a cognitive mechanism for this effect: holistic thinking, and in particular interactional causality (presupposing multiple causes that interact to influence an object’s behaviour). In three studies, using measurement-of-mediation and experimental-causal-chain designs, nostalgia was related to, and caused, higher GSC through interactional causality. In cross-sectional Study 1, trait nostalgia was associated with GSC via interactional causality. In Study 2, induced nostalgia led to higher interactional causality and ensuing GSC. In Study 3, manipulated interactional causal thinking increased GSC.

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Culture, psychological proximity to the past and future, and self-continuity

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Ji, L., Hong, E. K., Guo, T., Zhang, Z., Su, Y., & Huazhong, Y.L. (2019) European Journal of Social Psychology.

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The present research explores how culture influences individuals’ psychological proximity to the past and future, which may predict differences in perceived self-continuity across time. In Studies 1 and 2, we hypothesized and found that Chinese participants saw the past and future as more connected and subjectively closer to the present compared to Euro-Canadians. Following this, we expected and found in Studies 3 and 4 that Chinese participants perceived greater self-continuity over time than Euro-Canadians. Additionally, perceived closeness to the past mediated the effect of culture on past–present self-continuity, which subsequently predicted present–future self-continuity. Study 5 further documented a causal effect of perceived distance to the past on self-continuity. These results suggest that cultural differences in temporal attention to the past and future play a pivotal role in people’s sense of self-continuity across time. This has important implications for temporal focalism, intertemporal discounting, and social interactions between Chinese and Euro-Canadians.

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Oh darling, this too shall pass: Cyclic perceptions of change keep you in romantic relationships longer during difficult times

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Hong, E. K., & Choi, I. (2019). Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology

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The present research explored how individual differences in perceptions of change (cyclic vs. linear) influence relational decisions. Three studies examined whether cyclic perceptions of change, a central feature of holistic thinking, keep people in romantic relationships longer due to the belief that hardships too shall pass. Study 1 found that cyclic perceivers reported greater endurance against relational transgressions than linear perceivers. In Studies 2a and 2b, cyclic perceivers reported fewer breakups in romantic relationships (Study 2a) and showed less willingness to break up (Study 2b) than linear perceivers due to their stronger relational endurance. Through a longitudinal examination, Study 3 evidenced that cyclic perceivers were more likely to remain in romantic relationships than linear perceivers over 1 year. The current studies provide new insight into how individual differences in perceptions of change contribute to decision-making in romantic relationships.

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Culture and cognition

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Yap, S., Ji, L. J., & Hong, E. (2018). The Steven’s Handbook of Experimental Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience Language and Though volume (4th Ed.).

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A few fish are swimming in a pond. With the same scene, some people may focus mainly on the fish, whereas others may also notice

the seaweed in the pond and how the fish swim around it. When one fish swims ahead of the others, some people may think it is the leader of the group, whereas others may think it is being chased. The same scenes can be perceived and understood differently by different people. One factor that influences how we perceive and interpret the world is culture. This chapter will discuss how thinking or cognition is shaped by culture and, in turn, contributes to culture. Despite different definitions in the literature (Borowsky, Barth, Schweder, Rodseth,& Stolzenberg, 2001), culture can be conceptualized as shared norms, customs, meanings, or understandings among people who also share a common language and life space. Culture and cognition are mutually constituted. On the one hand, culture shapes people’s thinking styles and social cognition. On the other hand, people’s cognition and behavior can also construct their culture through language, arts, traditions, customs, and religion. Thus, culture and cognition are

mutually constitutive (Schweder, 1990). In this chapter, we will first review evidence of how culture affects cognition (such as attention and perception, categorization, memory, causal attributions, heuristics, and judgments and decision making), with a particular focus on contrasting holistic versus analytical cognitive styles among East Asians and European North Americans. Then, we will discuss how culture influences time-related judgments and decisions, how language is used in different cultures to reflect culture-specific cognitive styles, and how culturally specific cognition and beliefs are embodied in cultural environments and products. Finally, we will explore different assumptions and models accounting for

cultural effects on cognition.

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