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Cultural differences in probabilistic thinking

Wright, George N., Phillips, Lawrence D., Whalley, Peter C., Choo, Gerry T., Ng, Kee-Ong, Tan, Irene and Wisudha, Aylene (1978) Cultural differences in probabilistic thinking. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 9 (3). pp. 285-299. ISSN 0022-0221

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Identification Number: 10.1177/002202217893002

Abstract

Cultural differences in three aspects of "probabilistic thinking" were studied. The study re-presents part of earlier work in Hong Kong and Britain and combines it with the results from a further study in Indonesia and Malaysia. The largest cultural difference was found between Asian and British student groups. The British adopted a more finely differentiated view of uncertainty, both verbally and numerically, than the Asians in response to uncertain situations. These differences are predictable neither on the basis of the relative abundance of probability expressions in the Indonesian language nor by the Malay samples' ability to discriminate English probability words on a meaningful probability discrimination dimension. For numerical probabilities assigned to almanac questions, the British were less extreme and better calibrated than the Asian students. Potential cultural influences which could account for the cultural differences were examined, and the possibility that Asian ways of dealing with uncertainty do not involve the verbal or numeric response modes studied is presented

Item Type: Article
Official URL: http://jcc.sagepub.com/
Additional Information: © 1978 SAGE Publications
Divisions: Management
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
D History General and Old World > DS Asia
D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain
Date Deposited: 03 Mar 2010 15:28
Last Modified: 21 Jan 2024 04:39
URI: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/27242

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