Decision-making preferences for intuition, deliberation, friends, or crowds in independent and interdependent societies

Read the full article

Listed in

This article is not in any list yet, why not save it to one of your lists.
Log in to save this article

Abstract

When multiple ways of deciding are laid out side-by-side, which does one favor? We conducted experiments in 12 countries (N=3,517; 13 languages; two Indigenous communities), with adults choosing among four decision strategies—personal intuition, private deliberation, friends’ advice, or crowd wisdom—when working through six everyday dilemmas. In every society, self-reliant decisions (intuition or deliberation) were most commonly preferred and considered the wisest. Expectations for fellow citizens, however, were mixed: advice from friends was expected about as often as self-reliant routes. The self-reliance tilt was strongest in cultures and individuals high in independent self-construal and need for cognition, and weakest where interdependence and self-transcendent reflection were salient. The same patterns emerged when examining ratings of each strategy’s utility, and oral protocols with Indigenous groups. Self-reliance appears the modal preference across cultures, but its strength is predictably tempered when cultures—and individuals within them—construe the self in relational rather than autonomous terms.

Article activity feed