Explicit self-criticism and implicit self-regard: Evaluating self and friend in two cultures

doi:10.1016/S0022-1031(03)00026-X

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

Volume 39, Issue 5, September 2003, Pages 476-482

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1031(03)00026-X Get rights and content

Abstract

Past research indicates that people in some Asian cultures (e.g., Japan) often explicitly evaluate themselves negatively while implicitly maintaining positive self-evaluations. Two studies provided evidence for the hypothesis that this pattern of explicit and implicit self-evaluations is quite common even outside of Asia, as long as the evaluations are assessed in the context of close, interdependent social relations. Thus, Study 1 applied a modified version of Implicit Association Test to both Japanese and Americans, and showed that the above pattern occurs in both cultures if the self is evaluated vis-à-vis one’s actual friend. Further, Study 2 indicated that when placed in a context that has neither actual nor presumed emotional interdependence, both Japanese and Americans manifest positive self-evaluations at both explicit and implicit levels. Implications for cultural crafting of the self are discussed.

Section snippets

Explicit self-criticism and implicit self-regard

To measure self-evaluations at an implicit level, Greenwald and colleagues have devised Implicit Association Test (or IAT; Greenwald & Farnham, 2000; Greenwald, McGhee, & Shwartz, 1998). IAT involves two separate judgments. In one judgment, participants are to make a self-other categorization of each of various personal attributes (e.g., name, job, phone number, etc.) that are either associated with or not associated with the self. In another judgment, participants are to make an evaluative

Self-evaluations in interdependent, communal social relations

At first glance, self-criticism at an explicit level is at odds with positive self-regard uncovered at an implicit level. Asians might therefore be “really” feeling good about themselves at the deepest of their hearts, but they might at the same time be hiding the true feeling by acting modest. Moreover, the distinction between private belief (“hon-ne”) and public position (“tatemae”) is explicitly encoded in the Japanese lexicon. And, of course, there is no doubt that self-criticism is

Study 1

Study 1 examined both explicit and implicit self-evaluations of Americans and Japanese in a context of close, interdependent social relations. For this purpose, it might seem possible to use words of, say, self and friend, to determine implicit semantic associations for them (Yamaguchi & Murakami, 2000); but it is uncertain whether these associations might have anything to do with implicit associations for two actual individuals of the self and his or her friend. In order to ensure that these

Study 2

In East Asian, interdependent cultures, individuals typically self-criticize at an explicit level and, at the same time, they show evidence of positive self-evaluations at an implicit level. We suggested that this phenomenon is due to the fact that in Asian cultures interpersonal relations are often construed or framed as highly communal and interdependent. On the basis of this analysis, we predicted and found that a similar effect also happens in North America once the self is evaluated in a

Discussion

Previous work suggested that in some Asian, interdependent cultures, a combination of explicit self-criticism and implicit self-regard is quite common. Drawing on this literature, Study 1 showed that the same pattern can be found even for Americans as long as they are placed in a context of close, emotionally interdependent, or communal social relationship (i.e., in a relationship with one’s actual friend). Study 2 showed that once placed in a context of social detachment, even Japanese show a

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Ministry of Education grants (B-20252398 and C-10180001). Yukiko Uchida was supported by a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science graduate fellowship. We thank members of the Kyoto University cultural psychology lab, who commented on an earlier draft of the paper.

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Crucially, the literature on implicit self-esteem has shown that Easterners and Westerners are equally prone to exhibit positive self-attitudes or self-love. Evidence derived from the IAT indicates that the Chinese and Japanese, like Westerners, have more positive, and/or less negative, associations toward themselves than toward others (Cai et al., 2012; Study 2; Falk, Heine, Takemura, Zang, & Hsu, 2014; Kitayama & Uchida, 2003; Kobayashi & Greenwald, 2003; but see Szeto et al., 2009). Furthermore, the Chinese and Japanese, like Westerners, would appear to regard the self more favorably than they regard their best friend or their in-group (Yamaguchi et al., 2007).
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Explicit self-criticism and implicit self-regard: Evaluating self and friend in two cultures

Abstract

Section snippets

Explicit self-criticism and implicit self-regard

Self-evaluations in interdependent, communal social relations

Study 1

Study 2

Discussion

Acknowledgements

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

Close relationships as including other in the self

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Stalking the perfect measure of implicit self-esteem: The blind men and the elephant revisited?

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Contingencies of self-worth

Psychological Review

The psychology of attitudes

The interpretation of cultures: Selected essays

Implicit social cognition: Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes

Psychological Review

Using the Implicit Association Test to measure self-esteem and self-concept

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The implicit association test

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Is there a universal need for positive self-regard?

Psychological Review

Mastery pleasure versus mere ownership: A quasi-experimental cross-cultural and cross-alphabetical test of the name letter effect

European Journal of Social Psychology

The Principles of Psychology

Culture and basic psychological processes—Toward a system view of culture: Comment on Oyserman et al., 2002

Psychological Bulletin