In Search of East Asian Self-Enhancement

Abstract

A meta-analysis of published cross-cultural studies of self-enhancement reveals pervasive and pronounced differences between East Asians and Westerners. Across 91 comparisons, the average cross-cultural effect was d = .84. The effect emerged in all 30 methods, except for comparisons of implicit self-esteem. Within cultures, Westerners showed a clear self-serving bias (d = .87), whereas East Asians did not (d = -.01), with Asian Americans falling in between (d = .52). East Asians did self-enhance in the methods that involved comparing themselves to average but were self-critical in other methods. It was hypothesized that this inconsistency could be explained in that these methods are compromised by the “everyone is better than their group’s average effect” (EBTA). Supporting this rationale, studies that were implicated by the EBTA reported significantly larger self-enhancement effect for all cultures compared to other studies. Overall, the evidence converges to show that East Asians do not self-enhance.

Refining the vulnerability model of low self-esteem and depression: Disentangling the effects of genuine self-esteem and narcissism.

“…Examining the cross-cultural validity of the present findings is particularly important, because there is an ongoing debate about whether members of collectivistic cultures show the same need for self-esteem and the same level of narcissism and self-enhancement bias as do members of individualistic cultures (Cai, Wu, & Brown, 2009;Heine, 2005;Heine & Hamamura, 2007;Heine, Lehman, Markus, & Kitayama, 1999;Sedikides, Gaertner, & Toguchi, 2003;Sedikides, Gaertner, & Vevea, 2005). Therefore, future research should test whether genuine self-esteem and pure narcissism show different relations with depression in collectivistic versus individualistic cultural contexts.…”

When failing feels good—Relative prototypicality for a high-status group can counteract ego-threat after individual failure

“…It is an open question for future research whether the present theorizing will lead to valid predictions also in collectivistic cultures, where social identity might be even more salient than in individualistic cultures. Research by Heine and his colleagues (Heine & Lehman, 1995;Heine & Hamamura, 2007) has demonstrated that people with collectivistic backgrounds (e.g., Asians) will be less prone to use ingroup favorism in order to boost their self-esteem. This might suggest a reduced Failure-as-an-Asset effect in these cultures.…”

Origins of the Belief in Good True Selves

“…For instance, it is well-known that cultures vary in the extent to which the self is viewed as independent versus interconnected with others. In independent cultures (e.g., U.S.), focusing on private, inner attributes might lead to selfenhancement, whereas reflection on the same attributes may lead to self-criticism among interdependent cultures [11]. Independent cultures also view such inner attributes as more critical to the self-concept, whereas interdependent cultures emphasize less-essentialist attributes concerning relations with significant others [12].…”