CULTURED MINDS

DIALECTICS/LOGIC

 

Dialectical thinking is an alternative to logical thinking. It is more endorsed by collectivistic cultures as a method to make decisions (see appendix pages 5 and 6). Dialectical thinking explains the wealth of research suggesting that “Asian consumers tend to have a different cognitive style …[they] have a more concrete and contextual orientation in their thought patterns” (Lazer et al., 1985; Yau, 1988; Yang, 1989; Liefeld et al., 1999)  cited in (Littrell & Miller, 2001)

 

However, dialectical thinking can be used by everyone and (Kahle, Liu, Rose & Kim, 2000) contend that it can “assist us in further understanding the complex and integrative nature of consumer decisions” 

 

 

 

Origins of Dialectical/Logical reasoning 

East Asian philosophies such as Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism contributed to the current cultural practice of dialectical reasoning & belief (Nisbett, 2003) cited in (Spencer-Rodgers, Williams & Kaiping, 2010). Although outcomes that arise from a dialectical folk-theory, such as ‘tolerance for contradiction’ have been observed in other countries such as India (Ramanujan, 1989; Shweder, 1991) cited in (Spencer-Rodgers, Williams & Kaiping, 2010) little is known about the prevalence or origin of dialectics in other nations.

 

 

Preference for Dialectical reasoning

Given the postulated origins of dialectical thinking, it is unsurprising that a wealth of literature supports it being a preferred mode of reasoning in East Asian, collectivist societies. For example, Chinese prefer dialectical proverbs (Ames & Knowles, 2000) and argument styles (Buchtel, 2005). They also place more value on dialectic reasoning (Yama, Manktelow, Mercier, Henst, J.-B. Van Der, Soo Do, Kawasaki & Adachi, 2010) and tend to find dialectical arguments more reasonable than linear, logical ones (Buchtel & Norenzayan, 2008) compared to Americans. Researchers even found that people who conceptualise objects/events through a dialectical framework (emphasising change and cyclical patterns) are more often seen as wise in China than in the United States (Ji et al., 2001).

 

Given the value placed on dialectical thinking, it makes sense that this tradition would be encouraged by society (Buchtel & Norenzayan, 2008) and be passed on to children (Ji, 2008). Accordingly, (Chiu, 1972) measured that Chinese and American children exhibited distinct strengths in reasoning/categorisation ability. American children were superior in ‘descriptive analytic’ style but inferior in ‘descriptive-whole’ and ‘relational-contextual’ style. (Norenzayan, Smith, Kim & Nisbett, 2002) also ran experiments to test the different ways Easterners (Koreans) and Westerners (Americans) organise and categorise concepts (see page 4 of the appendix) as well as their preferences and aptitude for context-based versus deductive reasoning. Their results reinforce previous findings that Easterners prefer contextual (vs abstract/deductive) forms or reasoning compared to Westerners. 

 

 

Contradiction

People who use a dialectical thinking style are more comfortable with contradiction (holding two seemingly opposing beliefs) than those more used to a linear, analytical style or reasoning. (Peng & Nisbett, 1999) found that Chinese preferred proverbs that contained seeming contradictions and also chose dialectical resolutions to social conflicts more often than Americans. This attitude to contradiction has implications for how consumers evaluate product attributes - since dialectical thinkers prefer to see both good and bad (a more holistic view) they tend to prefer ‘compromise options’ e.g a product that is moderately good on two dimensions rather than excellent in one and bad in another (Briley, Morris, and Simonson, 2000).