Psychology Commons^™

The Cultural Boundaries Of Perspective-Taking: When And Why Perspective-Taking Reduces Stereotyping, Cynthia S. Wang, Margaret Lee, Gillian Ku, Leung, Angela K. Y.

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Research conducted in Western cultures indicates that perspective-taking is an effective social strategy for reducing stereotyping. The current article explores whether and why the effects of perspective-taking on stereotyping differ across cultures. Studies 1 and 2 established that perspective-taking reduces stereotyping in Western but not in East Asian cultures. Using a socioecological framework, Studies 2 and 3 found that relational mobility, that is, the extent to which individuals’ social environments provide them opportunities to choose new relationships and terminate old ones, explained our effect: Perspective-taking was negatively associated with stereotyping in relationally mobile (Western) but not in relationally stable (East …