Culture, self-concept and cognition

Members of individualist cultures define their selves primarily as an autonomous and independent entity (independent self-construal). In collectivist cultures, identity is more likely defined by stressing the connectedness with others and being interdependent with them (interdependent self-construal). Many previous researchers have suggested that individuals process social information differently, depending on their self-construal. However, the exact mechanisms by which self-knowledge of one kind or the orther influences information processing have hitherto not fully been understood. One possible reason for this deficit is that causal hypotheses about the influence of indpendent and interdependent self-knowledge can not directly be tested in cross-cultural studies. In the present article we, therefore, present a model of the self, which aims at integrating the cross-cultural perspective on the self and a cognitive perspective on the dynamic nature of human information processing. We review empirical evidence for the predictions derived from our model. Finally, possible theoretical contributions for both cross-cultural and cognitive psychology are discussed.