Social influence and intercultural differences

Abstract

Culture is an important part of what individuals are and can orient their attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors in several contexts. In equivalent situations, people would be likely to report different reactions depending on their cultural background. The effects of cross-cultural differences (individualistic vs. collectivistic cultures) on cognitive dissonance, social influence, and persuasion are discussed. This chapter shows that intra-individual processes, such as reduction dissonance and the processing of persuasive information, are regulated by cultural orientations and cultural aspects of the self (independent vs. interdependent self-construal). Considering these cross-cultural effects, new avenues of research open up on change and resistance to change in many fields such as health, environment, consumption, and radicalization.