Competence vs. Warmth?: Thinking Styles and Information Sharing Perceptions Shape Advice-Seeking Preferences

Hu Yinfeng; Bi Chongzeng

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20260311

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2026, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (3) : 622-632. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20260311

Social, Personality & Organizational Psychology

Competence vs. Warmth?: Thinking Styles and Information Sharing Perceptions Shape Advice-Seeking Preferences

Hu Yinfeng ,
Bi Chongzeng ^**

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Abstract

Research has shown that the impressions and cognitive evaluations individuals form of others influence their willingness to seek advice and whom they prefer to ask. For example, people tend to seek advice from those they perceive as competent or warm individuals (e.g., confident or polite). However, it is unclear whether competence or warmth is the preferred trait when seeking advice. Most relevant studies have focused on how an advisor’s impression affects advice-taking, and these studies have typically examined only a single dimension, overlooking the fact that ambivalent stereotypes—where individuals may be seen as both competent and lacking in warmth, or vice versa—are more commonly formed in real life. Accordingly, the present study examined individuals’ willingness and preferences for seeking advice from high competence-low warmth (HC-LW) and high warmth-low competence (HW-LC) individuals to test whether competence or warmth is more valued. In decision-making, thinking styles play a critical role in shaping outcomes. The different cognitive and emotional needs of decision-makers, depending on their mode of thinking, can influence their advice-seeking preferences. Since the goal of seeking advice is often to gather new information, decision-makers tend to prefer advisors with unique insights. The level of information sharing between decision-makers and advisors determines how well these needs are met, which affects their preference for competence or warmth. This study also investigates how thinking styles and perceptions of information sharing impact advice-seeking preferences.

Experiment 1 investigated the impact of thinking styles on advice-seeking preferences using an escape room scenario task. A total of 163 participants were assigned to a 2 (ambivalent stereotypes: HC-LW, HW-LC) × 2 (thinking styles: analytical, intuitive) mixed experimental design, with 84 participants engaged in analytical thinking and 79 in intuitive thinking. All participants read advice-seeking scenarios and assessed their willingness to seek advice from two individuals representing ambivalent stereotypes, as well as their preference between the two. The results showed that participants generally preferred seeking advice from HC-LW individuals. However, a clear preference for competence emerged only when analytical thinking was activated, while no preference for competence or warmth was observed under intuitive thinking.

Experiment 2 further examined how advice-seeking preferences are influenced by thinking styles under different information sharing states. A total of 315 participants were randomly assigned to a 3-factor mixed experimental design: 2 (ambivalent stereotypes: HC-LW, HW-LC) × 2 (thinking styles: analytical, intuitive) × 2 (shared information states: fully shared information, incompletely shared information). Of these participants, 158 were in the fully shared information group (73 engaged in analytical thinking, and 85 engaged in intuitive thinking), and 157 were in the incompletely shared information group (80 engaged in analytical thinking and 77 engaged in intuitive thinking). The experimental procedure was similar to that of Experiment 1, except participants received information about the state of shared information between the decision-maker and the advisor after the contextual imagery task. The findings revealed that the fully shared information scenario produced results similar to those observed in Experiment 1, in which no specific information about sharing was provided. In contrast, the incompletely shared information scenario led to a greater preference for warmth, with the intuitive thinking group favoring advice from HW-LC individuals, whereas the analytical thinking group showed no preference between the two ambivalent stereotype individuals.

This study clarifies the competence preference effect when people seek advice from others, provides direct support for the “interest-interdependence hypothesis”. In addition, this study explores how two key variables, thinking styles and perceptions of information sharing states, affect the competence preference effect, and identifies the conditions under which competence preference disappears or reverses, providing new insights into the mechanisms of preference change in the process of advice seeking.

Key words

competence / warmth / thinking styles / information sharing perception / advice-seeking preferences

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Hu Yinfeng , Bi Chongzeng. Competence vs. Warmth?: Thinking Styles and Information Sharing Perceptions Shape Advice-Seeking Preferences[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2026, 49(3): 622-632 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20260311

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