Personal Epistemology and Culture

The role that personal epistemology plays in intellectual development, learning, and education has been investigated for several decades in the USA (see Hofer & Pintrich, 1997, 2002) and has recently been pursued in other cultural environments. Research suggests that epistemological understanding has important implications for learning: for example, beliefs about the nature of knowledge may influence strategy use, comprehension, cognitive processing, and conceptual change learning. However, the primary constructs regarding students’ conceptions of knowledge and knowing were all developed with US college students, and the initial research on which most models are based was conducted with white males at an elite institution in the 1950s and 1960s (Perry, 1970). Furthermore, measurement of epistemic beliefs has typically been formulated and validated in the USA and then applied in other cultures by translating existing instruments and presuming similar factor structures. In recent years, however, research on epistemic beliefs and development has been expanding in its comprehensiveness, particularly in regard to research in multiple cultures, providing potential challenges and possible expansion of existing models. In this introductory chapter, I will provide a brief overview of personal epistemology from multiple paradigms (Hofer, 2004b), review examples of research conducted across cultures, and suggest implications of a more culturally informed personal epistemology both for multicultural education and for future research.