Across Cultures, We’d Rather Trust Ourselves Than Ask for Advice

WATERLOO, Ontario — When faced with a tough decision, such as whether to invest family savings, change careers, or help a stray dog, most people share the same instinct: to figure it out themselves rather than seek out advice. A study spanning 12 countries and over 3,500 people finds that this preference for self-reliance is a common pattern across societies, with culture shaping how strongly it shows up.

Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the research offers the first large-scale test challenging a long-standing assumption: that people from group-oriented societies (cultures that emphasize collective thinking and community harmony, like many Asian countries) are naturally more likely to seek advice from others. Meanwhile, individualistic cultures like the United States were expected to favor going it alone.

From community members and university students in countries such as South Korea, Japan, Germany, and Canada to indigenous communities in the Amazon rainforest, people most often chose personal deliberation as their preferred decision-making strategy, followed by trusting their gut instincts. Asking friends for advice came in third, while seeking input from larger groups was generally least preferred, and in some places, rated about the same as advice from friends.

A Study That Spanned Continents

The international research team, led by Igor Grossmann at the University of Waterloo, conducted what they call the first large-scale investigation of decision-making preferences across diverse cultures. The study included participants from wealthy nations like Germany, Japan, and Canada, as well as developing countries including Morocco, Ecuador, and South Africa. They also spoke with members of two Indigenous Amazonian communities, the Shiwiar and Shipibo peoples, who live in small-scale societies that rely heavily on collective decision-making for village governance.

Participants read six everyday scenarios requiring difficult choices. Some involved picking between two equally attractive options, like deciding whether to buy an orchard or livestock with inherited money. Others presented moral dilemmas, such as whether to help a neighbor prepare their field at the expense of finishing one’s own work before harvest season.

For each scenario, people chose from four decision-making approaches: relying on gut feelings, thinking it through deliberately on their own, asking trusted friends for advice, or seeking input from a broader crowd. They also rated how wise they considered each approach and how good they expected to feel about decisions made using each method.

Self-Reliance Wins Across All Cultures

Personal deliberation topped the charts everywhere, preferred by 37% to 60% of participants depending on the country. Trusting personal intuition came second, chosen by 23% to 40% of people. Friends’ advice attracted between 9% and 22% of participants, while crowd wisdom was generally least preferred, with just 2% to 12% choosing it (sometimes rated about the same as advice from friends).

When asked what approach “most people in your culture” would use, the results became more mixed. Many participants expected their fellow citizens to seek friends’ advice about as often as they’d rely on themselves. Yet even among those who predicted others would seek advice, roughly 70% personally preferred handling decisions alone; though in Germany and China that figure was lower, at around half.

Even in the Indigenous communities, where collective decision-making governs village-level choices, people showed the same tendency toward individual deliberation when facing personal dilemmas.

Cultural differences shaped how strong the preference was, but not the overall direction: in every place studied, deciding alone was the most common choice.

Why We Choose Independence

Rather than some cultures being “advice-oriented” and others “self-reliant,” humans everywhere appear to have a shared tendency to figure things out themselves, with cultural norms influencing how strong that pull is.

The researchers suggest several possible reasons why even highly community-oriented cultures maintain this independent streak. In tight-knit communities, asking for advice might burden others, signal incompetence, or create unwanted obligations. Seeking counsel also requires sharing personal information, which could be risky in small communities where relationships are more permanent.

In more individualistic cultures, people may lean on self-reliance to show competence and maintain a sense of personal control. Though the motivations differ, the outcome is the same: deciding alone.

Interestingly, people were more willing to seek advice for personal choices (like selecting between two good job offers) than for moral dilemmas involving potential costs to others. The authors suggest reputation concerns may play a role: asking others whether to help a struggling neighbor could be interpreted as selfishness.

The Human Paradox of Advice

This research highlights an interesting contradiction in human behavior. Scientific evidence shows that seeking advice often improves decision quality: others can point out blind spots, share useful experience, and help avoid mental biases. From an evolutionary standpoint, our species’ ability to learn from others has been central to survival. Yet when given the choice, people consistently lean on their own judgment.

This so-called “advice-discounting bias” has been documented in many lab studies, mostly in Western countries. Critics have argued it might just reflect individualistic values. But this new study suggests the tendency is broader, appearing even in societies that value collective wisdom and harmony.

Understanding how independence and social learning interact could help people and communities make better decisions — especially if we can learn when it’s worth stepping away from our instincts and asking others for input.