Epistemic motives and cultural conformity : need for closure, culture, and context as determinants of conflict judgments.

• Main Authors: Fu, Ho Ying., Lee, Sau-Lai., Morris, Micheal W., Chao, Melody., Chiu, Chi Yue., Hong, Ying Yi.
• Other Authors: Nanyang Business School
• Format: Research Report
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/7037
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Three studies supported the proposal that Need for Closure (NFC) involves a wish for consensual validation that leads to cultural conformity. Individual differences in NFC interact with cultural group variables to determine East Asian versus Western differences in conflict style and procedural preferences (Study 1). information gathering in disputes (Study 2), and fairness judgment in reward allocation (Study 3). Results from experimental tests indicated that the relevance of NFC to cultural conformity reflects consensus motives, not effort minimization (Study 2) nor political conservatism (Study 3). Implications for research on conflict resolution and motivated cultural cognition are discussed. Keywords: Culture, need for closure, conflict resolution, reward allocation.