Faculty Sponsor(s)
Kay Livesay, Tanya Tompkins, & Megan Kozak Williams
Location
Jereld R. Nicholson Library
Subject Area
Psychology
Description
Collaborative inhibition is a phenomenon whereby a group of people who collaborate (collaborative group) recall less information than a group of people who recall information individually (nominal group). However, collaborative groups make fewer intrusions, or mistakes, than the nominal groups. The current research investigated whether cultural worldviews, individualism and collectivism, can influence collaborative inhibition and the number of intrusions made. Ninety participants were pre-screened through Individualism-Collectivism (IC) measure by Triandis et al. (1986). Participants were then assigned into either individualistic group or collectivistic group based on their scores. Within each group, participants were randomly paired into either collaborative dyads or nominal dyads and then completed a word list recall task. Twenty-six participants were excluded because they either refused to continue the experiment or their scores in the IC measure were insufficient to reflect their cultural worldviews. Two significant differences: 1) nominal dyads make more intrusions than collaborative dyads, which is consistent with the findings of previous research, and 2) contrary to the hypothesis, Individualistic Collaborative Group recalled more words than Individualistic Nominal Group, whereas Collectivistic Collaborative Group recalled fewer words than Collectivistic Nominal Group. This unexpected interaction could be explained by two reasons: 1) Collectivists are shy in interacting with strangers, whereas Individualists are not, and 2) Collectivism encourages face-saving behavior, while Individualism promotes achievement.
Recommended Citation
Chan, Kin Leong, "How Might Different Cultural Worldviews Affect Collaborative Inhibition" (2015). Linfield University Student Symposium: A Celebration of Scholarship and Creative Achievement. Event. Submission 75.
https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/symposium/2015/all/75
How Might Different Cultural Worldviews Affect Collaborative Inhibition
Jereld R. Nicholson Library
Collaborative inhibition is a phenomenon whereby a group of people who collaborate (collaborative group) recall less information than a group of people who recall information individually (nominal group). However, collaborative groups make fewer intrusions, or mistakes, than the nominal groups. The current research investigated whether cultural worldviews, individualism and collectivism, can influence collaborative inhibition and the number of intrusions made. Ninety participants were pre-screened through Individualism-Collectivism (IC) measure by Triandis et al. (1986). Participants were then assigned into either individualistic group or collectivistic group based on their scores. Within each group, participants were randomly paired into either collaborative dyads or nominal dyads and then completed a word list recall task. Twenty-six participants were excluded because they either refused to continue the experiment or their scores in the IC measure were insufficient to reflect their cultural worldviews. Two significant differences: 1) nominal dyads make more intrusions than collaborative dyads, which is consistent with the findings of previous research, and 2) contrary to the hypothesis, Individualistic Collaborative Group recalled more words than Individualistic Nominal Group, whereas Collectivistic Collaborative Group recalled fewer words than Collectivistic Nominal Group. This unexpected interaction could be explained by two reasons: 1) Collectivists are shy in interacting with strangers, whereas Individualists are not, and 2) Collectivism encourages face-saving behavior, while Individualism promotes achievement.
