Cultural Differences in Unrealistic Optimism and Pessimism: The Role of Egocentrism and Direct Versus Indirect Comparison Measures

Abstract

Recent research has raised questions regarding the consistency of unrealistic optimism and related self-enhancing tendencies, both within cultures and across cultures. The current study tested whether the method used to assess unrealistic optimism influenced cross-cultural patterns in the United States and Japan. The results showed that the direct method (a single comparison judgment between self and peers) produced similar patterns across cultures because of cognitive biases (e.g., egocentrism); specifically, participants were unrealistically optimistic about experiencing infrequent/negative events but pessimistic about experiencing frequent/ negative events. However, the indirect method (separate self- and peer judgments) produced different patterns across cultures because culturally specific motivational biases emerged using this method; specifically, the U.S. sample was more unrealistically optimistic than the Japanese sample. The authors discuss how these results might influence the interpretation of previous findings on culture and self-enhancement.

Good Things Do Not Happen to Me… but Neither Do the Bad Things: Comparative Optimism and Pessimism in a Slovak Sample

“…Moreover, the results comparing direct and indirect method do not conform to the observation made by Rose et al (2008) that indirect method, due the suppression of egocentrism bias, yields more pessimistic estimates. Quite the contrary, participants in this study were not unrealistically pessimistic when negative events were frequent.…”

“…For the purpose of the current paper, the study by Rose, Endo, Windschitl, and Suls (2008) is of special interest, because it also examines possible methodological effects in the study of cultural differences. They compared direct (a single comparison judgment between self and peers) and indirect method (separate self and peer judgments).…”

“…Then, the relationship between optimism and overconfidence will be tested: 2) The participants who will show higher optimism will also show higher overconfidence. After testing these two main hypotheses, secondary analyses will focus on the comparison, 3) whether direct and indirect measure of optimism will yield different results due to lower egocentrism using indirect measure (Rose et al, 2008).…”

“…The rationale was that the direct comparisons should involve egocentric overweighting, while indirect comparison can short-circuit the egocentrism by forcing individuals to consider the comparison group (Kruger & Burrus, 2004;Rose et al, 2008).…”

The Influence of Knowledge on Overconfidence: Consequences for Management and Project Planning

“…Because our study is based on a sample with an average age comparable to previous studies, the only major difference is the cultural background of our sample (German as opposed to American). Indeed, several studies have investigated cultural differences in comparative optimism (Heine & Lehman, 1995;Shuper, Sorrentino, Otsubo, Hodson, & Walker, 2004;Rose, Endo, Windschitl, & Suls, 2008). In these studies, the Western (Canada, United States) sample exhibited higher comparative optimism than the Eastern (Japanese) sample.…”