Surveying the influence of culture on the decision making style of three groups of Iranian psychotherapists in resolving clinical conflicts

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of culture on the clinical decision-making style of three groups of Iranian psychotherapists (Iranian psychotherapists graduated from Iranian universities [GIU], Iranian psychotherapists graduated from western universities [GWU] and counselor clergymen) in three dimensions of decision-making: expedience vs. realism, individualism vs. collectivism and long-term vs. short-term orientations. The research design of this study was expost facto and the population of the study included all the Iranian psychotherapists. The sample constituted of 83 participants (30 GIU, 21 GWU and 32 counselor clergymen) who were selected with a convenience sampling method. Each of the participants were presented with three clinical dilemmas. They were given the chance to rank each item on a scale from one (least significant) to 10 (most significant) based on the degree of involvement of the above-mentioned decision-making dimensions in their clinical decisions. The results of MANOVA indicated that there are significant differences between the decision-making style of GIU and counselor clergymen and GWU in expediency, individuality and collectivity. It can be said that the decision making style of the GWU in compared with the opponents in the two others group were more individualistic and less expedient. According to the results of this study, this hypothesis can be accepted that the experience of different socio-cultural environments affect the clinical decision making style of psychotherapists.