Cultural Differences in Intentionally-EnjoyedThought
2016
In two studies, we find that intentionally enjoying
one’s thoughts is difficult cross-culturally, and that the
pleasures of thinking seem no better than the thrill of
proofreading. In Study 1, we assigned over 2,500 students from 12
sites in 11 countries covering diverse intellectual and religious
foundations, to, while in their own homes, either enjoy their
thoughts on command or to do an enjoyable solitary activity of
their choice. We found no cultural differences in individuals'
ability to enjoy their thoughts when asked, and at every site,
participants enjoyed doing activities more than thinking. The
pattern was constant across all sites, was unexplained by
demographics or a set of individual difference measures, and a set
of multilevel models showed that country-level differences were
negligible. In Study 2, we gave participants repeated choices
between intentionally enjoying their thoughts or performing mundane
activities, such as proofreading. Using behavioral and rating data,
we find that participants are essentially indifferent between
thinking and typo-catching. These finding builds on previous work
demonstrating the surprising difficulty Americans have with
prompted mental enjoyment (Wilson et al., 2014), and we conclude
that, while thinking may be enjoyable at times, forcing yourself to
think enjoyable thoughts is hard, not particularly enjoyable, and
difficult not just for WEIRD (White, Educated, from Industrialized,
Rich Democracies) individuals.
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