Effects of Self-Construal Differences on Cognitive Dissonance Examined by Priming the Independent and Interdependent Self

Prior cross-cultural research on dissonance has relied on culturalstereotypes in assuming that individuals from Western cultures are individualistic andhave independent self-construals whereas individuals from Asian cultures arecollectivistic and have interdependent self-construals. The current research made use ofpriming to avoid relying on cultural stereotypes and examined how having an independentor interdependent self-construal accounted for differences in dissonance experienced. Atotal of 120 participants who were Singapore citizens or permanent residents wererandomly assigned to one of four conditions. Participants received either an independentor interdependent prime, and rated and ranked CDs before and after they made a choicebetween closely valued alternatives either for oneself or a close other. Resultsindicated that independently primed participants demonstrated significant dissonancewhen they made choices for themselves and close others whereas interdependently primedparticipants demonstrated significant dissonance when they made choices for close othersbut not for themselves. The study’s findings suggest that having either self-construalaccounted for differences in dissonance experienced