Culture, dialectics, and reasoning about contradiction.

TLDR

Chinese culture favors a dialectical, compromise approach that retains elements of opposing views, whereas European‑American culture tends to polarize contradictions to determine a single correct position. The study examines the origins of these cultural differences and their broader implications for human reasoning. Five studies show Chinese participants favor dialectical proverbs, resolutions, and arguments, and accept contradictory propositions more than American participants, who tend to polarize their views.

Abstract

Chinese ways of dealing with seeming contradictions result in a dialectical or compromise approach—retaining basic elements of opposing perspectives by seeking a middle way. On the other hand, European-American ways, deriving from a lay version of Aristotelian logic, result in a differentiation model that polarizes contradictory perspectives in an effort to determine which fact or position is correct. Five empirical studies showed that dialectical thinking is a form of folk wisdom in Chinese culture: Chinese participants preferred dialectical proverbs containing seeming contradictions more than did American participants. Chinese participants also preferred dialectical resolutions to social conflicts and preferred dialectical arguments over classical Western logical arguments. Furthermore, when 2 apparently contradictory propositions were presented, American participants polarized their views, and Chinese participants were moderately accepting of both propositions. Origins of these cultural differences and their implications for human reasoning in general are discussed.