Cultural influences on cognitive representations of conflict: Interpretations of conflict episodes in the United States and Japan

This article integrates theory from the cognitive tradition in negotiation with theory on culture and examines cultural influences on cognitive repres entations of conflict. The authors predicted that although there may be uni versal (etic) dimensions of conflict construals, there also may be culture- specific (emic) representations of conflict in the United States and Japan. Results of multidimensional scaling analyses of U.S. and Japanese conflict episodes supported this view. Japanese and Americans construed conflicts t hrough a compromise versus win frame (R. L. Pinkley, 1990), providing evide nce of a universal dimension of conflict construal. As the authors predicte d, Japanese perceived conflicts to be more compromise-focused, as compared with Americans. There were also unique dimensions of construal among Americ ans and Japanese (infringements to self and giri violations, respectively), suggesting that identical conflict episodes are perceived differently acro ss cultures.