West vs. West like East vs. West? A comparison between Italian and US American context sensitivity and Fear of Isolation

Abstract

Easterners tend to process information more holistically than Westerners. Kim and Markman (J Exp Soc Psychol 42(3):350-364, 2006) suggest that these differences are rooted in higher chronic levels of Fear of Isolation (FOI) for those cultures that process information more holistically. The goal of this study was to determine if these differences and their suggested cause could be found with two different Western cultures. Testing Italian (IT) and US American (US) adults, we found that IT participants processed information more holistically and had a higher chronic level of FOI than US participants; furthermore, the manipulation of FOI affected context sensitivity more for IT than for US participants. The results demonstrate that IT participants were more similar to previous research with Eastern populations than with Western populations (Kim and Markman in J Exp Soc Psychol 42(3):350-364, 2006) and indicate a within-Western culture difference for reasoning styles and support the hypothesis that this difference is due to different chronic levels of FOI.

Monolithic Western Mind? Effect of Fear of Isolation on Context Sensitivity in us Americans, Italians and Chinese

“…In a previ ous research, we found analogous results demonstrating that Italians have a higher chronic level of foi than us American participants (Federici et al, culture difference in the chronic psychosocial factor of Fear of Isolation. In that research, we also demonstrated that Italian participants processed information more holistically and were therefore more similar to Koreans and Japanese participants (Masuda and Nisbett, 2001; than to us Americans Federici et al, 2011). Finally, in that research we replicated previous research demon strating that the priming of f o i caused participants to pay more attention to the overall context with us Americans, but we also discovered that Italians were more likely to process information holistically following the priming of f o i than us Americans.…”

“…We, therefore, explore whether differences in manipulated f o i for Italian, us Americans, and Chinese influence context sensitivity similar/parallel to previous research (Masuda and Nisbett, 2001;Federici et al, 2011).…”

“…The present research attempts to extend previous research Federici et al, 2011) that suggests that the chronic psychoso cial factor of f o i , or the fear/anxiety of being excluded from the group, has a causal role in cultural differences both within-Western cultures and between Eastern and Western cultures. We, therefore, explore whether differences in manipulated f o i for Italian, us Americans, and Chinese influence context sensitivity similar/parallel to previous research (Masuda and Nisbett, 2001;Federici et al, 2011).…”

“…Yet recently the notion of a monolithic Western mind has been questioned as significant dissimilarities in psychological processes between different Western cultures have been found (Kitayama et al, 2009;Na et al, 2010;Federici et al, 2011). W hat has been discovered is that individuals from some European Western cultures (e.g., United Kingdom, Germany, Italy) process information more holistically than u s Americans, and that the latter and former differed in terms of chronic psychosocial factors (Kitayama et al, 2009;Na et al, 2010;Federici et al, 2011).…”

“…W hat has been discovered is that individuals from some European Western cultures (e.g., United Kingdom, Germany, Italy) process information more holistically than u s Americans, and that the latter and former differed in terms of chronic psychosocial factors (Kitayama et al, 2009;Na et al, 2010;Federici et al, 2011).…”