Explaining self-esteem differences between Chinese and North Americans: Dialectical self (vs. self-consistency) or lack of positive self-regard
TL;DR: This article found that the difference in self-esteem between East Asians and North Americans was driven primarily by Chinese participants' greater tendency to agree with negatively worded selfesteem items and that because of the motivation to maintain consistent responses, North Americans' response pattern varied depending on whether the first item in the selfesteem measur...
Abstract: Past studies showed that compared to North Americans, East Asians have lower self-esteem and their self-esteem scores do not predict self-esteem-related motivations and self-perceptions. These findings have been interpreted in terms of a lack of the need for positive self-regard in East Asian contexts. We posit that the East – West difference in self-esteem may arise from the popularity of the dialectical self (the idea that one can have both a positive and negative self) in East Asia and of the internally consistent self (the notion that having a positive self implies not having a negative one, and vice versa) in North America. Consistent with this idea, we found that the Chinese American difference in self-esteem level was driven primarily by Chinese participants' greater tendency to agree with negatively worded self-esteem items. Furthermore, because of the motivation to maintain consistent responses, North Americans' response pattern varied depending on whether the first item in the self-esteem measur...
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Dissertation•
01 Aug 2019
TL;DR: This article found that prevention-focused slogans (i.e.g., focus on feared self) encouraged defensive coping, instead of directly addressing the source of the threat, and exposure to prevention slogans generated a higher likelihood to engage in fluid compensation, a tendency to redirect attention to an unrelated goal and engage in behaviors aligned with this alternate goal.
Abstract: Across four studies, I show that slogans that focus on the self-concept seem to produce predominantly negative effects on consumer motivated behavior, and this is especially true for prevention (versus promotion) slogans. In my studies, prevention slogans focused on the feared self, promotion slogans focused on the ideal self, and control slogans did not refer to the self-concept. I found reliable negative effects of prevention slogans within the financial (study 1A) and beauty goal domains (study 1B). I also provide evidence that the demotivating effects of prevention-focused slogans are at least partially attributed to consumer defensiveness. Past research suggests that people are more likely to experience anxiety after exposure to a feared, rather than ideal self. In the present research, I extend this finding by showing that prevention-focused slogans (i.e. focus on feared self) encouraged defensive coping, instead of directly addressing the source of the threat. Specifically, exposure to prevention slogans generated a higher likelihood to engage in fluid compensation, a tendency to redirect attention to an unrelated goal and engage in behaviors aligned with this alternate goal (study 3). Conversely, the motivational effects of promotion-focused slogans (i.e. focus on ideal self) demonstrated a more positive, but more subtle pattern of direct coping. Promotion slogans only motivated goal-congruent behaviors among people with high self-consciousness (study 2).
3 citations
01 Jan 2013
TL;DR: In this article, the authors compared self-esteem and anxiety on the premises of academic settings, since research has shown that they interact with eachother, and compared the score of self esteem and anxiety.
Abstract: Self-esteem and Anxiety have been widely studied back-to-back on the premises of academic settings, since research has shown that they interact with eachother. The current study compares the score ...
3 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors posit that cross-cultural differences in socially desirable responses may reflect how people in different social conditions and their attendant cultural expectations develop different ways of expressing their self to support their personal strivings.
Abstract: When dealing with cross-cultural differences in socially desirable responding, researchers often employ experimental and statistical control to isolate and eliminate the impact of socially desirable responding in the data. In this article, we offer a different approach to understanding socially desirable responding in cross-cultural research. In a review of the pertinent research literature, we posit that cross-cultural differences in socially desirable responses may reflect how people in different social conditions and their attendant cultural expectations develop different ways of expressing their self to support their personal strivings. This active negotiation between the society, culture and personal strivings is a defining issue in culture and psychology research. Artificially excluding the variance symptomatic of this process with experimental and statistical controls from cross-cultural data will generate results with little cultural significance. Therefore, we recommend against treating socially desirable responding as noise in cross-cultural research. Instead, we encourage cross-cultural researchers to seriously consider the social and cultural meanings of socially desirable responding, and use this phenomenon as a window to grasp the reciprocal influence of society, culture, and individual psychology.
2 citations
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...…是，当在完全匿名的情况下报告对自己能力的期望时，中国学生并不比美国学生谦逊(Kim et al., in press)。这些结果说明，美国被试在人前人后都对自己有积极的评价，而中国被试 在人前表现谦逊，但心底下却对自己很有自信。 4 中美文化在社会赞许反应背后的社会动机历程 以上的分析有助了解中美被试在社会赞许反应上的差别。美国社会鼓励人们褒扬自己的好 处，而社会规范也不要求人们在表现自我时谦逊，加上人们需要自信作为追求个人利益的动力。 因此，美国被试较中国被试更容易忽略自己真实的能力和素质，一厢情愿地相信自己有很多过人 之处，在调查中不经意地夸大了自己的长处。因此美国被试在调查中的自欺自擂得分较中国被试 高。…...
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TL;DR: An overview of Chinese rehabilitation policy, laws, services, educational practices, and the implications for rehabilitation counselor education in the United States are presented in this paper, where the intention of this article is to share information that will facilitate deeper connections and further rehabilitation education endeavors.
Abstract: An overview of Chinese rehabilitation policy, laws, services, educational practices, and the implications for rehabilitation counselor education in the United States are presented. China and the United States have different political systems and cultural backgrounds that demand different strategies for change; however, each is taking equally important steps to address the needs and rights of persons with disabilities. Building mutual understanding and respect among colleagues will provide the foundation for developing harmonious co-existence and beneficial collaboration between countries. The intention of this article is to share information that will facilitate deeper connections and further rehabilitation education endeavors.
2 citations
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16,312 citations
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...The Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965) is one of the mostly widely used measures of global self-esteem in cross-cultural research....
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TL;DR: Research suggesting that certain illusions may be adaptive for mental health and well-being is reviewed, examining evidence that a set of interrelated positive illusions—namely, unrealistically positive self-evaluations, exaggerated perceptions of control or mastery, and unrealistic optimism—can serve a wide variety of cognitive, affective, and social functions.
Abstract: Many prominent theorists have argued that accurate perceptions of the self, the world, and the future are essential for mental health. Yet considerable research evidence suggests that overly positive selfevaluations, exaggerated perceptions of control or mastery, and unrealistic optimism are characteristic of normal human thought. Moreover, these illusions appear to promote other criteria of mental health, including the ability to care about others, the ability to be happy or contented, and the ability to engage in productive and creative work. These strategies may succeed, in large part, because both the social world and cognitive-processing mechanisms impose niters on incoming information that distort it in a positive direction; negative information may be isolated and represented in as unthreatening a manner as possible. These positive illusions may be especially useful when an individual receives negative feedback or is otherwise threatened and may be especially adaptive under these circumstances. Decades of psychological wisdom have established contact with reality as a hallmark of mental health. In this view, the well-adjusted person is thought to engage in accurate reality testing, whereas the individual whose vision is clouded by illusion is regarded as vulnerable to, if not already a victim of, mental illness. Despite its plausibility, this viewpoint is increasingly difficult to maintain (cf. Lazarus, 1983). A substantial amount of research testifies to the prevalence of illusion in normal human cognition (see Fiske& Taylor, 1984;Greenwald, 1980; Nisbett & Ross, 1980; Sackeim, 1983; Taylor, 1983). Moreover, these illusions often involve central aspects of the self and the environment and, therefore, cannot be dismissed as inconsequential. In this article, we review research suggesting that certain illusions may be adaptive for mental health and well-being. In particular, we examine evidence that a set of interrelated positive illusions—namely, unrealistically positive self-evaluations, exaggerated perceptions of control or mastery, and unrealistic optimism—can serve a wide variety of cognitive, affective, and social functions. We also attempt to resolve the following para
7,519 citations
"Explaining self-esteem differences ..." refers background in this paper
...Additionally, among North Americans, self-esteem is related to promotionoriented self-perceptions and self-regulatory processes (see Taylor & Brown, 1988)....
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TL;DR: The need for positive self-regard, as it is currently conceptualized, is not a universal, but rather is rooted in significant aspects of North American culture.
Abstract: It is assumed that people seek positive self-regard; that is, they are motivated to possess, enhance, and maintain positive self-views. The cross-cultural generalizability of such motivations was addressed by examining Japanese culture. Anthropological, sociological, and psychological analyses revealed that many elements of Japanese culture are incongruent with such motivations. Moreover, the empirical literature provides scant evidence for a need for positive self-regard among Japanese and indicates that a self-critical focus is more characteristic of Japanese. It is argued that the need for self-regard must be culturally variant because the constructions of self and regard themselves differ across cultures. The need for positive self-regard, as it is currently conceptualized, is not a universal, but rather is rooted in significant aspects of North American culture. Conventional interpretations of positive self-regard are too narrow to encompass the Japanese experience.
1,985 citations
"Explaining self-esteem differences ..." refers background or methods in this paper
...Using the RSES, past research has revealed marked East –West differences in both self-esteem levels and the psychological importance of self-esteem (see Heine et al., 1999)....
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...Third, compared to North Americans, East Asians have lower scores on standard self-esteem measures (Heine et al., 1999)....
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TL;DR: This article found that Chinese participants preferred dialectical proverbs containing seeming contradictions more than did American participants when presented with two apparently contradictory propositions, and Chinese participants were moderately accepting of both propositions.
Abstract: Chinese ways of dealing with seeming contradictions result in a dialectical or compromise approach—retaining basic elements of opposing perspectives by seeking a "middle way." On the other hand, European-American ways, deriving from a lay version of Aristotelian logic, result in a differentiation model that polarizes contradictory perspectives in an effort to determine which fact or position is correct. Five empirical studies showed that dialectical thinking is a form of folk wisdom in Chinese culture: Chinese participants preferred dialectical proverbs containing seeming contradictions more than did American participants. Chinese participants also preferred dialectical resolutions to social conflicts and preferred dialectical arguments over classical Western logical arguments. Furthermore, when 2 apparently contradictory propositions were presented, American participants polarized their views, and Chinese participants were moderately accepting of both propositions. Origins of these cultural differences and their implications for human reasoning in general are discussed.
1,425 citations
"Explaining self-esteem differences ..." refers background in this paper
...…the next game, a student from a poor family will become rich one day, two kindergarten children who have been fighting will become friends one day, and a trend in the growth rates of the world economy or the worldwide death rate for cancer will reverse in the future (see also Peng & Nisbett, 1999)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, a subjective history of success with promotion-related eagerness (promotion pride) orients individuals toward using eagerness means to approach a new task goal, whereas a subjective success with prevention-related vigilance (prevention pride).
Abstract: A new task goal elicits a feeling of pride in individuals with a subjective history of success, and this achievment pride produces anticipatory goal reactions that energize and direct behavior to approach the task goal. By distinguishing between promotion pride and prevention pride, the present paper extends this classic model of achievement motivation. Regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997) distinguishes between a promotion focus on hopes and accomplishments (gains) and a prevention focus on safety and responsibilities (non-losses). We propose that a subjective history of success with promotion-related eagerness (promotion pride) orients individuals toward using eagerness means to approach a new task goal, whereas a subjective history of success with prevention-related vigilance (prevention pride) orients individuals toward using vigilance means to approach a new task goal. Studies 1–3 tested this proposal by examining the relations between a new measure of participants' subjective histories of promotion success and prevention success (the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire (RFQ)) and their achievement strategies in different tasks. Study 4 examined the relation between participants' RFQ responses and their reported frequency of feeling eager or vigilant in past task engagements. Study 5 used an experimental priming technique to make participants temporarily experience either a subjective history of promotion success or a subjective history of prevention success. For both chronic and situationally induced achievement pride, these studies found that when approaching task goals individuals with promotion pride use eagerness means whereas individuals with prevention pride use vigilance means. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
1,176 citations
"Explaining self-esteem differences ..." refers methods in this paper
...For example, Higgins et al. (2000) used the Regulatory Focus Scale to measure promotion focus (concern with achieving valued goals) and prevention focus (concern with avoiding negative consequences)....
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