Compensatory conviction as a Function of Uncertainty Orientation and Culture

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The present study is a cross-cultural exploration of defensive behavior. It incorporates the concept of compensatory conviction in addition to measuring other critical individual difference variables. Specifically, participants' uncertainty orientation, along with explicit and implicit self-esteem, were assessed and used to predict their defensive attitudes and behaviors towards social issues.The major design of the present study utilized Uncertainty Orientation x Culture x Dilemma Type x Explicit Self-Esteem x Implicit Self-Esteem as independent variables, with conviction of social issues and social transgressions as dependent variables. Participants were university students in Japan and Canada. The Canadian sample consisted of 195 undergraduates, and the Japanese sample of 90 undergraduates.Consistent with our previous research, there were cross-cultural differences in uncertainty orientation. There were more Uncertainty Oriented participants (UOs) in the Canadian sample than in their Japanese cultural counterparts. An analysis of the samples taken within each country revealed that the Canadian sample had a significantly greater proportion of UOs than Certainty Oriented participants (COs). On the other hand, the Japanese sample had a significantly greater proportion of COs than UOs. More importantly, the main hypothesis of the study was supported : Being an individual that has an orientation towards uncertainty which differs from that of one's culture's orientation(i.e., Canadian COs and Japanese UOs) was related to defensive self-esteem and conviction response. That is, there was an interaction between uncertainty orientation, culture, and explicit and implicit self-esteem. Having a chronic/cultural uncertainty orientation mismatch accentuated conviction responses for those possessing defensive self-esteem. This was corroborated with three different conviction measures.