Judging a book by its cover: cultural differences in inference of the inner state based on the outward appearance

The world can be represented by two layers of information: How it appears on the outside (outward appearance) and what it is on the inside (inner state). To what extent an outward appearance is assumed to reflect the inner state is fundamental to social inference and judgments. Conceptualizing infer...

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Main Authors: Ji, Li-Jun, Lee, Albert, Zhang, Zhiyong, Li, Ye, Wang, Xin-Qiang, Torok, Debra, Rosenbaum, Sam
Other Authors: School of Social Sciences
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2023
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/171796
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1717962023-11-08T02:46:07Z Judging a book by its cover: cultural differences in inference of the inner state based on the outward appearance Ji, Li-Jun Lee, Albert Zhang, Zhiyong Li, Ye Wang, Xin-Qiang Torok, Debra Rosenbaum, Sam School of Social Sciences Social sciences::Psychology Outward Appearance Inner State The world can be represented by two layers of information: How it appears on the outside (outward appearance) and what it is on the inside (inner state). To what extent an outward appearance is assumed to reflect the inner state is fundamental to social inference and judgments. Conceptualizing inference in terms of the relationship between the outward appearance and the inner state generates an integrative interpretation for a wide range of phenomena. We showed that Chinese were more likely than Euro-Canadians to make inference of inner state that deviated from outward appearance, whereas Euro-Canadians were more likely than Chinese to infer a convergence between outward appearance and inner state (Studies 1-5). We observed these cross-cultural patterns in various contexts involving people or physical structures. Individual differences in correspondence bias or response bias did not explain these patterns. The lay belief that outward appearance can be misleading mediated the cultural effects (Study 4). To probe the underlying process, two additional experiments showed that highlighting the misleading nature of appearance, but not highlighting the power of the situation, reduced Americans' beliefs (Study 6) and inference (Study 7) that the outward appearance reflects the inner state. By focusing on the assumed relationship between the outward appearance and inner state, these findings provide a unique angle for understanding cross-cultural phenomena and have practical implications in daily life. Ministry of Education (MOE) The authors thank the Culture and Cognition Lab at Queen’s University for their help with data collection. The research was supported by grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRCC Grants 410-2009-0904, 435-2012-1279, and 435-2018-0061) to Li-Jun Ji, and from the Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund (AcRF Tier 1 RG61/19 and RG46/20) to Albert Lee. 2023-11-08T02:46:07Z 2023-11-08T02:46:07Z 2023 Journal Article Ji, L., Lee, A., Zhang, Z., Li, Y., Wang, X., Torok, D. & Rosenbaum, S. (2023). Judging a book by its cover: cultural differences in inference of the inner state based on the outward appearance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 125(1), 82-99. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000413 0022-3514 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/171796 10.1037/pspi0000413 36757950 2-s2.0-85150847826 1 125 82 99 en RG61/19 RG46/20 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology © 2023 American Psychological Association. All rights reserved.
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Social sciences::Psychology
Outward Appearance
Inner State
spellingShingle Social sciences::Psychology
Outward Appearance
Inner State
Ji, Li-Jun
Lee, Albert
Zhang, Zhiyong
Li, Ye
Wang, Xin-Qiang
Torok, Debra
Rosenbaum, Sam
Judging a book by its cover: cultural differences in inference of the inner state based on the outward appearance
description The world can be represented by two layers of information: How it appears on the outside (outward appearance) and what it is on the inside (inner state). To what extent an outward appearance is assumed to reflect the inner state is fundamental to social inference and judgments. Conceptualizing inference in terms of the relationship between the outward appearance and the inner state generates an integrative interpretation for a wide range of phenomena. We showed that Chinese were more likely than Euro-Canadians to make inference of inner state that deviated from outward appearance, whereas Euro-Canadians were more likely than Chinese to infer a convergence between outward appearance and inner state (Studies 1-5). We observed these cross-cultural patterns in various contexts involving people or physical structures. Individual differences in correspondence bias or response bias did not explain these patterns. The lay belief that outward appearance can be misleading mediated the cultural effects (Study 4). To probe the underlying process, two additional experiments showed that highlighting the misleading nature of appearance, but not highlighting the power of the situation, reduced Americans' beliefs (Study 6) and inference (Study 7) that the outward appearance reflects the inner state. By focusing on the assumed relationship between the outward appearance and inner state, these findings provide a unique angle for understanding cross-cultural phenomena and have practical implications in daily life.
author2 School of Social Sciences
author_facet School of Social Sciences
Ji, Li-Jun
Lee, Albert
Zhang, Zhiyong
Li, Ye
Wang, Xin-Qiang
Torok, Debra
Rosenbaum, Sam
format Article
author Ji, Li-Jun
Lee, Albert
Zhang, Zhiyong
Li, Ye
Wang, Xin-Qiang
Torok, Debra
Rosenbaum, Sam
author_sort Ji, Li-Jun
title Judging a book by its cover: cultural differences in inference of the inner state based on the outward appearance
title_short Judging a book by its cover: cultural differences in inference of the inner state based on the outward appearance
title_full Judging a book by its cover: cultural differences in inference of the inner state based on the outward appearance
title_fullStr Judging a book by its cover: cultural differences in inference of the inner state based on the outward appearance
title_full_unstemmed Judging a book by its cover: cultural differences in inference of the inner state based on the outward appearance
title_sort judging a book by its cover: cultural differences in inference of the inner state based on the outward appearance
publishDate 2023
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/171796
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