How Prone are Bulgarians to Heuristics and Biases?: Implications for Studying Rationality across Cultures

Dual-processes theories of cognition implicitly assume universality of the human mind. However, research has shown that large-scale differences exist in thinking styles across cultures. Thereby, the universality of the effects found in Western samples remains an open empirical question. Here, we exp...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Rachev, Nikolay R. (Author) ; Petkova, Miglena 1973- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill [2019]
In: Journal of cognition and culture
Year: 2019, Volume: 19, Issue: 3/4, Pages: 322-342
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Bulgaria / Cognitive competence / Framing-Effekt / Rationality / Heuristic
IxTheo Classification:AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism
KBK Europe (East)
VA Philosophy
ZD Psychology
Further subjects:B Decision Making
B cross-cultural research
B Rationality
B dual-process theories
B Asian Disease problem
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
Volltext (doi)
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Summary:Dual-processes theories of cognition implicitly assume universality of the human mind. However, research has shown that large-scale differences exist in thinking styles across cultures. Thereby, the universality of the effects found in Western samples remains an open empirical question. Here, we explored whether effects predicted by prospect theory, such as the framing effect, would be observed in a sample of 312 Bulgarian students. Overall, the size of the framing effect was smaller than in the original studies. Most notably, we failed to reproduce the framing effect in the famous Asian Disease problem, using a rating response format. In a between-subjects design, decision- making performance was completely independent of university admission grades. We propose that studying the size of the effects across cultures is needed in order to establish the effects' level of universality. More broadly, we suggest ways in which knowledge of cultural settings can help elaborate or test dual-process predictions.
ISSN:1568-5373
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of cognition and culture
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15685373-12340062