Causal induction provides a nice test domain for examining the influence of individual-difference factors on cognition. The phenomena of both conditionalization and discounting reflect attention to multiple potential causes when people infer what caused an effect. We explored the hypothesis that individuals with an independent self-construal are relatively less sensitive to context (other causes) than are individuals with an interdependent self-construal in this domain. We found greater levels of conditionalization and data consistent with discounting for participants in whom we primed an interdependent self-construal than for participants in whom we primed an independent self-construal. Research on cultural differences and expertise has highlighted the presence of significant individual differences in performance on cognitive tasks that have often been thought to represent more universal cognitive tendencies

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For more than a century, most psychologists have based their discussions of human thinking on the cardinal assumption that basic cognitive processes are the same for all normal adult human beings, whether in the plains of Central Asia, the villages of East Africa, or the

A brief history of narcissism

Why are some brands more elastic than others? Prior research shows that consumers are more accepting of extensions into distant product categories for brands with prestige concepts (Rolex) than for brands with functional concepts (Timex). In this article, the authors examine consumers ’ style of thinking—analytic versus holistic thinking—to better understand the elasticity of prestige versus functional brands. For functional brands, the authors find that holistic thinkers provide more favorable responses to distant extensions than analytic thinkers; however, for prestige brands, holistic and analytic thinkers respond equally favorably. Thus, analytic thinkers are identified as the roadblocks for functional brands launching distant brand extensions. To meet this challenge, the authors offer several strategies, including (1) using a subbrand (Excer wallets by Toyota) instead of a direct brand (Toyota wallets) to reduce analytic thinking; (2) using elaborational communications, which address potentially problematic features of the extension, to reduce analytic thinking; and (3) matching extension information with the consumer’s style of thinking, which increases the persuasiveness of ad messages.

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