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Two Modes of Thinking: Evidence from Cross-Cultural Psychology

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Book cover Culture and Neural Frames of Cognition and Communication

Part of the book series: On Thinking ((ONTHINKING))

Abstract

The long history of the study of human thought is shaped by a dichotomy of two different views of the nature of thinking: the logical, analytical, rule-following thinking on the one hand, and the intuitive, and holistic, experiential thinking on the other. Recently, a lot of empirical evidence has been accumulated for the dual mode view of thinking. In this chapter, I shall highlight some of this evidence and interpret findings in cross-cultural research on thinking in order to better understand and train holistic thinking, which has been neglected in our logocentric Western culture. The underlying claim is that thinking draws on both modes and that, instead of prioritizing one of the two, we are challenged to develop both concerted expert analytical thinking and expert intuitive–holistic thinking and to master their interplay.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Parmenides Foundation, Munich, Germany

    Britt Glatzeder

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  1. Britt Glatzeder
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Correspondence to Britt Glatzeder .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Psychology, Peking University, Yiheyuan Road 5, Beijing, 100871, China, People's Republic

    Shihui Han

  2. Human Science Center, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Goethestr. 31, Munich, 80336, Germany

    Ernst Pöppel

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Glatzeder, B. (2011). Two Modes of Thinking: Evidence from Cross-Cultural Psychology. In: Han, S., Pöppel, E. (eds) Culture and Neural Frames of Cognition and Communication. On Thinking. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-15423-2_15

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