How does culture impact individual's cognitive complexity? This article reviews evidence suggesting that the relationship between culture and cognitive complexity depends upon the nature of the situation in which complexity is expressed. In addition, two new investigations are summarized. One study reveals that individuals from different cultures are differentially dogmatic on different domains of knowledge. The other study reveals that individuals from different cultures are differentially likely to form simplistic stereotypes within different social contexts. We conclude that it is typically misleading to suggest monolithic cross-cultural differences for complexity of thought. An interactionist approach appears more appropriate.
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Conway et al. (2001) studied this question.
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