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The semantic--procedural interface model of the self: the role of self-knowledge for context-dependent versus
U Kühnen1, B Hannover, B Schubert
1Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, USA. kuehnen@gp.tu-berlin.de
Abstract:
How do independent and interdependent self-construals affect cognition? The authors proposed the semantic-procedural interface model, which distinguishes 2 such mechanisms. In addition to semantic differences, different procedural modes of thinking are associated with independent and interdependent self-construals. Independent self-definitions coincide with the tendency to process stimuli unaffected by the context in which they appear. Interdependent self-construals facilitate context-bounded thinking (i.e., processing stimuli by paying attention to their relation to the given context). With semantic-free dependent variables, 4 experiments showed independence-primed participants to exhibit higher degrees of context independence than did interdependence-primed participants. The results are discussed with reference to their potential explanations for cross-cultural differences.
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