Maintaining faith in agency under immutable constraints: Cognitive consequences of believing in negotiable fate

Negotiable fate refers to the idea that one can negotiate with fate for control, and that people can exercise personal agency within the limits that fate has determined. Research on negotiable fate has found greater prevalence of related beliefs in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Eastern Europe than...

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Main Authors: AU, Evelyn Wing-Mun, CHIU, Chi-Yue, CHATURVEDI, Avinish, MALLORIE, LeeAnn, VISWANATHAN, Madhu, Xue, Zhi, SAVANI, Krishna
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Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2011
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Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1110
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/2366/viewcontent/Maintaining_faith_in_agency_under_immutable_constraints.pdf
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spelling sg-smu-ink.soss_research-23662018-01-26T07:56:53Z Maintaining faith in agency under immutable constraints: Cognitive consequences of believing in negotiable fate AU, Evelyn Wing-Mun CHIU, Chi-Yue CHATURVEDI, Avinish MALLORIE, LeeAnn VISWANATHAN, Madhu Xue, Zhi SAVANI, Krishna Negotiable fate refers to the idea that one can negotiate with fate for control, and that people can exercise personal agency within the limits that fate has determined. Research on negotiable fate has found greater prevalence of related beliefs in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Eastern Europe than in Western Europe and English-speaking countries. The present research extends previous findings by exploring the cognitive consequences of the belief in negotiable fate. It was hypothesized that this belief enables individuals to maintain faith in the potency of their personal actions and to remain optimistic in their goal pursuits despite the immutable constraints. The belief in negotiable fate was predicted to (a) facilitate sense-making of surprising outcomes; (b) increase persistence in goal pursuits despite early unfavorable outcomes; and (c) increase risky choices when individuals have confidence in their luck. Using multiple methods (e.g., crosscultural comparisons, culture priming, experimental induction of fate beliefs), we found supporting evidence for our hypotheses in three studies. Furthermore, as expected, the cognitive effects of negotiable fate are observed only in cultural contexts where the fate belief is relatively prevalent. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the intersubjective approach to understanding the influence of culture on cognitive processes (e.g., CHIU, Gelfand, Yamagishi, Shteynberg, & Wan, 2010), the sociocultural foundations that foster the development of a belief in negotiable fate, and an alternative perspective for understanding the nature of agency in contexts where constraints are severe. Future research avenues are also discussed. 2011-01-01T08:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1110 info:doi/10.1080/00207594.2011.578138 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/2366/viewcontent/Maintaining_faith_in_agency_under_immutable_constraints.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Research Collection School of Social Sciences eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Fate belief Implicit theories Cognitive consequences Priming in psychology Intersubjectivity Europe East Asia South East Asia Asian Studies Personality and Social Contexts
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Fate belief
Implicit theories
Cognitive consequences
Priming in psychology
Intersubjectivity
Europe
East Asia
South East Asia
Asian Studies
Personality and Social Contexts
spellingShingle Fate belief
Implicit theories
Cognitive consequences
Priming in psychology
Intersubjectivity
Europe
East Asia
South East Asia
Asian Studies
Personality and Social Contexts
AU, Evelyn Wing-Mun
CHIU, Chi-Yue
CHATURVEDI, Avinish
MALLORIE, LeeAnn
VISWANATHAN, Madhu
Xue, Zhi
SAVANI, Krishna
Maintaining faith in agency under immutable constraints: Cognitive consequences of believing in negotiable fate
description Negotiable fate refers to the idea that one can negotiate with fate for control, and that people can exercise personal agency within the limits that fate has determined. Research on negotiable fate has found greater prevalence of related beliefs in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Eastern Europe than in Western Europe and English-speaking countries. The present research extends previous findings by exploring the cognitive consequences of the belief in negotiable fate. It was hypothesized that this belief enables individuals to maintain faith in the potency of their personal actions and to remain optimistic in their goal pursuits despite the immutable constraints. The belief in negotiable fate was predicted to (a) facilitate sense-making of surprising outcomes; (b) increase persistence in goal pursuits despite early unfavorable outcomes; and (c) increase risky choices when individuals have confidence in their luck. Using multiple methods (e.g., crosscultural comparisons, culture priming, experimental induction of fate beliefs), we found supporting evidence for our hypotheses in three studies. Furthermore, as expected, the cognitive effects of negotiable fate are observed only in cultural contexts where the fate belief is relatively prevalent. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the intersubjective approach to understanding the influence of culture on cognitive processes (e.g., CHIU, Gelfand, Yamagishi, Shteynberg, & Wan, 2010), the sociocultural foundations that foster the development of a belief in negotiable fate, and an alternative perspective for understanding the nature of agency in contexts where constraints are severe. Future research avenues are also discussed.
format text
author AU, Evelyn Wing-Mun
CHIU, Chi-Yue
CHATURVEDI, Avinish
MALLORIE, LeeAnn
VISWANATHAN, Madhu
Xue, Zhi
SAVANI, Krishna
author_facet AU, Evelyn Wing-Mun
CHIU, Chi-Yue
CHATURVEDI, Avinish
MALLORIE, LeeAnn
VISWANATHAN, Madhu
Xue, Zhi
SAVANI, Krishna
author_sort AU, Evelyn Wing-Mun
title Maintaining faith in agency under immutable constraints: Cognitive consequences of believing in negotiable fate
title_short Maintaining faith in agency under immutable constraints: Cognitive consequences of believing in negotiable fate
title_full Maintaining faith in agency under immutable constraints: Cognitive consequences of believing in negotiable fate
title_fullStr Maintaining faith in agency under immutable constraints: Cognitive consequences of believing in negotiable fate
title_full_unstemmed Maintaining faith in agency under immutable constraints: Cognitive consequences of believing in negotiable fate
title_sort maintaining faith in agency under immutable constraints: cognitive consequences of believing in negotiable fate
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2011
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1110
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/2366/viewcontent/Maintaining_faith_in_agency_under_immutable_constraints.pdf
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