Travail de recherche/Working paper
| Résumé : | The present research examines intercultural accuracy—people’s ability to make accurate judgments about outgroup values- and the role of social projection processes. Across four studies, Westerners showed overall low levels of intercultural accuracy, yet were more accurate in predicting collectivistic than individualistic values of Chinese. In parallel to the observed effects on accuracy, Westerners projected more on values that are not part of their core cultural values—collectivistic (rather than) individualistic values. In turn, the tendency to project more on collectivistic values was associated with greater accuracy on collectivistic (than individualistic) values. In Study 4 we examined the causal direction of this underlying process by manipulating projection. These novel findings revealed that projection is not always adaptive in improving accuracy: projection enhanced overall accuracy for collectivistic, but not for individualistic values. Importantly for the study of intergroup relations, accuracy on collectivistic values was positively associated with interest in future relationships with Chinese. |
