Cultural orientations and their influence on social behaviour: Catalysation and suppression

Abstract

It is argued that the model of frame selection as a specific version of the dual-process perspective provides a clear theoretical conceptualisation of the mechanisms by which cultural orientations such as values, attitudes, and internalised norms influence social behaviour. In particular, the model of frame selection allows the derivation of two fundamental action-theoretical principles. According to the principle of catalysation, situationally relevant cultural orientations have a greater impact on social behaviour, if the behaviour comes about in an intuitive rather than a reflective manner. The principle of suppression states that external factors of the objective situation, which lack salience with respect to situationally relevant cultural orientations, have a greater impact on reflective rather than intuitive behaviour. These two principles can be combined with the so-called logic of mode selection to derive a multitude of empirically testable hypotheses regarding the question of how motivational factors such as thinking dispositions and feeling of rightness as well as cognitive resources such as time for reflection and availability of working memory moderate the influence of cultural orientations on behaviour.