Uncertainty regulation across cultures: An exploration of individual differences in Chinese and Canadian children in the classroom

This research investigates whether individual differences in uncertainty orientation affect classroom behavior for Chinese and Canadian children. Uncertainty orientation distinguishes between uncertainty-oriented individuals, or those who attempt to attain clarity by finding out for themselves, and certainty-oriented individuals, or those who attempt to maintain clarity by adhering to predictable environments. Although uncertainty orientation is considered an informational variable, uncertainty-oriented children in both countries had higher self-ratings, ratings by other students and ratings by their teachers than certainty-oriented children on a variety of social and achievement behaviours. These results suggest that encouraging a discovery learning style of uncertainty regulation in “UO-centric” cultures may be beneficial.

► Examination of uncertainty self-regulation in Chinese and Canadian children. ► Chinese children were more uncertainty-oriented (UO) than Canadian children. ► UO children in both cultures were better adjusted than certainty-oriented children. ► Both cultures appear to be UO-centric and reward discovery types of learning.