
Psychology
Cultural influence on metacognition: comparison across three societies
M. Ordin, D. A. S. El-dakhs, et al.
Explore how cultural values shape metacognition in this enlightening study by Mikhail Ordin, Dina Abdel Salam El-Dakhs, Ming Tao, Fengfeng Chu, and Leona Polyanskaya. The research reveals intriguing correlations between individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and metacognitive abilities across Saudi Arabia, Portugal, and China.
Playback language: English
Introduction
Metacognition, the ability to monitor and control one's own cognitive processes, comprises metacognitive control and metacognitive monitoring. Metacognitive monitoring is assessed by examining how closely retrospective confidence ratings align with response accuracy. Efficient metacognition involves higher confidence in correct responses. Metacognitive control involves adapting behavior based on uncertainty and previous decisions. Numerous factors affect metacognition, including developmental, linguistic, educational, and genetic factors, as well as mental states and disorders. Recently, researchers have suggested that cultural differences also play a significant role. Prior research has shown cultural differences in metacognition, particularly between Chinese and British participants performing a low-level perceptual task. The authors found that Chinese participants demonstrated better metacognitive evaluations on error trials, attributing this to higher susceptibility to social influence in Chinese culture. This study aims to broaden the investigation by comparing metacognition across Saudi Arabia, Portugal, and China, using a higher-level cognitive task (mental rotation) to assess whether cultural influences persist in more complex cognitive processes. The study also expands on the previous research by exploring a wider range of cultural dimensions beyond individualism and collectivism, using Hofstede's model to measure power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation. The researchers aim to determine whether metacognitive monitoring is affected by culture in high-level cognitive tasks and to explore which cultural dimensions most significantly influence metacognition, potentially beyond the previously explored social influence and collectivism factors.
Literature Review
The paper reviews existing research on metacognition, highlighting its two key components: metacognitive monitoring and control. It emphasizes the use of retrospective confidence ratings as an objective measure of metacognitive monitoring and the importance of considering both error detection and error probability estimation in understanding metacognitive processes. The authors delve into various factors influencing metacognition, including developmental, linguistic, educational, genetic, and personality factors, alongside mental states and disorders. A significant focus is on the emerging research suggesting that cultural differences significantly modulate metacognition. The study by van der Plas et al. (2022), which compared metacognitive abilities between Chinese and British participants in a low-level perceptual task, is discussed in detail. This study found that Chinese participants were better at adjusting their confidence following additional evidence, which was attributed to the greater emphasis on social influence and conformity in Chinese culture compared to Western European culture. The authors also touch on the interconnectedness of metacognition and Theory of Mind skills, emphasizing the influence of cultural values on social collaboration and understanding others' mental states.
Methodology
This study employed a quantitative methodology, recruiting 226 students without immigrant backgrounds from Saudi Arabia (84), China (70), and Portugal (72). The sample was roughly gender-balanced. In Saudi Arabia, due to sex segregation policies, participants were recruited separately from male and female campuses. The participants, primarily single and aged between 18 and 30, completed a mental rotation task using abstract shapes presented on a computer screen. Participants judged whether pairs of shapes were identical or different and rated their confidence on a 4-point scale (1-4). The shapes were either identical (requiring mental rotation for alignment) or different. Reaction time data were not analyzed due to potential hardware variations across experimental sites. The primary focus was on metacognitive monitoring, specifically how closely confidence ratings tracked response accuracy. The study employed a signal detection approach, classifying responses into meta-hits, meta-false alarms, meta-misses, and meta-correct rejections based on response accuracy and confidence levels. Meta-d', a measure of metacognitive sensitivity, and the M-ratio (meta-d'/d' ratio), a measure of metacognitive efficiency, were calculated using hierarchical Bayesian estimation. This approach was chosen for its robustness with limited trials, ability to handle missing data, and reduced influence of outliers. The analysis focused on explicit metacognition, as confidence ratings require conscious evaluation of mental states. Statistical analysis included ANOVA to examine the effects of group, sex, and response accuracy on performance (d') and confidence ratings. Pairwise comparisons with Bonferroni correction were performed to analyze significant differences between groups. Hofstede's cultural dimensions were used to interpret the findings, with uncertainty avoidance and individualism identified as key factors influencing metacognitive efficiency.
Key Findings
The ANOVA revealed significant effects of group and sex on mental rotation task performance (d'). Males outperformed females in the Portuguese and Chinese populations but not in the Saudi Arabian population. Performance was lowest in the Saudi Arabian group and highest in the Portuguese and Chinese groups. The repeated-measures ANOVA showed a significant effect of accuracy on confidence ratings, with correct responses garnering higher confidence. Group and sex also showed significant but smaller effects on confidence. Males were more confident than females in the Portuguese and Chinese groups but not in the Saudi Arabian group. Metacognitive efficiency (M-ratio) was significantly different across groups, with the highest efficiency observed in Portugal, followed by China and then Saudi Arabia. No significant sex differences were found in metacognitive efficiency. The study demonstrated that metacognitive efficiency was highest in Portugal, followed by China, then Saudi Arabia, irrespective of gender. A mathematical model was proposed to represent the interaction between uncertainty avoidance and individualism in influencing metacognitive efficiency. This model successfully captured the observed pattern of metacognitive efficiency across the three societies, indicating that a decrease in individualism and an increase in uncertainty avoidance tend to enhance metacognitive skills. Additionally, the study found that metacognitive bias (overall confidence) was higher in the Chinese population compared to the other two, particularly among males, possibly reflecting the higher masculinity score in Chinese society. Intriguingly, no gender-based difference in metacognitive bias was observed in Saudi Arabia, where male and female participants were tested on separate campuses. This suggests that the societal norms and expectations in mixed-gender settings might play a crucial role in shaping this bias.
Discussion
The results support the hypothesis that cultural values modulate metacognitive abilities. The observed pattern of metacognitive efficiency cannot be fully explained by individualism-collectivism alone, suggesting the involvement of other cultural dimensions, notably uncertainty avoidance. Societies with low tolerance for ambiguity seemed to foster better metacognitive abilities. The findings indicate that the interaction between individualism and uncertainty avoidance significantly impacts metacognitive efficiency. The mathematical modeling supports the proposed relationship between these two cultural dimensions and metacognitive abilities, generalizing across different studies. The higher metacognitive bias in the Chinese population, particularly among males, is linked to the higher level of masculinity in that society. The absence of sex-based differences in metacognitive bias in Saudi Arabia, a society with sex-segregated education, suggests a role for social context and gender roles in influencing this bias. The study highlights the significant implications of cultural differences in metacognition for decision-making and social interactions.
Conclusion
This research demonstrates that culture significantly affects metacognitive monitoring, extending previous findings to a broader range of societies and a higher-level cognitive task. The study emphasizes the interplay of individualism and uncertainty avoidance in shaping metacognitive abilities, and explores the influence of masculinity on metacognitive bias. Future research should explore implicit metacognition and individual-level variations within culturally homogeneous groups, potentially using individual scores of cultural dimensions and personality traits as covariates to better understand the interplay between individual differences and cultural influences on metacognition.
Limitations
The study's reliance on student populations might limit the generalizability of the findings to broader societal contexts. The use of a specific task (mental rotation) may also influence the results. Future research could benefit from replicating this study using different cognitive tasks and more diverse populations. The study's focus on explicit metacognition might limit the insights into implicit metacognitive processes. Furthermore, the assumption of shared cultural values within each society might not fully capture individual variations in adherence to cultural norms.
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