Toward a paradigm shift: From cross-cultural differences in social cognition to social-cognitive mediation of cultural differences

Cultural psychologists have often sought to explain cross-cultural differen ces in social cognition as differences rooted in the cultures' positions on a small collection of pan-cultural dimensions (e.g., individualism-collect ivism). In this paper, we argue for a paradigm shift in cultural psychology . Drawing on the arguments and data presented in the papers of this special issue, we propose to view cultures as dynamic open systems that spread acr oss geographical boundaries and evolve through time. This alternative view links cultural differences in social cognition to cultures' axiomatic assum ptions (or cultural theories) in the relevant domains, and specifies the so cial cognitive principles that govern the activation and application of suc h cultural theories in specific contexts. This new approach captures the co mplexity of cultural processes, paves the way for an exciting agenda for fu ture investigations, and provides a common language for psychologists to de scribe how culture affects social cognition as well as how cultural influen ces are mediated by basic social cognitive processes.