The primacy of the inner self in decision-making preferences across cultures

We investigated the universality versus cultural specificity of preferences for internal decision-making strategies (intuition or deliberation) over external strategies (advice from friends or crowds). Participants from diverse samples spanning five continents (N=3,517), including Indigenous communities, considered scenarios involving choosing between attractive options or balancing personal and social responsibilities. Most participants in each society preferred and expected to feel better using internal strategies. However, many participants believed their peers would seek out advice, revealing a discrepancy between personal preferences and expected preference of one’s cultural group. The preference for internal strategies manifested across diverse cultural contexts and scenario types. Nevertheless, substantial sample-level and individual differences emerged, with individualism and need for cognition linked to stronger preference for internal decision-making, and collectivism and outsider view reflective style associated with greater preference for external decision-making. Our findings challenge traditional views of collectivist cultures as predominantly advice-following, inviting a revision of common understanding of cross-cultural differences in social dynamics and behavior.