A Cross -National Comparison of Cognitive Conflict

Abstract

The results of 5 "lens model" interpersonal conflict (IPC) experiments, carried out in 5 countries: Czechoslovakia, Greece, Japan, Sweden and the U. S. were compared. Replicating earlier intranational findings, conflict reduction was found to be very slow. Although the subjects reduced the differences between their policies to a considerable extent, the consistency of their policies was also reduced, preventing the subjects from deriving the full benefits of the reduction of the policy differences, and leaving conflict at a high level. No reliable cross-national differences were found. In addition, it was shown that the differences found between American and European subjects in an earlier study were due to procedural differences between the American and European experiments in that study. It was concluded that the phenomena studied in the 'lens model" IPC experiments are independent of cultural factors, and reflect limitations in the human information processing system.