CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN SELF-EVALUATION Japanese ...

Heine et al. / CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN SELF-EVALUATION 441Japanese confronted information indicating that they were weak in creativity, they tended toreport less positive self-evaluations in other unrelated domains than those who received successfeedback. This tendency to cast a wide net of self-criticism in the face of failure was notobserved in the Canadian sample, nor has it been observed in previous North Americanstudies.The present findings provide more evidence to suggest that SEM tactics may not be commonlyemployed by Japanese. In addition to the growing body of evidence indicating thatJapanese, in comparison to North Americans, tend to be more self-critical (Heine & Lehman,1999; Heine et al., 1999; Kitayama et al., 1997; Markus & Kitayama, 1991), exhibit fewerand weaker self-enhancing biases (Heine & Lehman, 1995, 1997a; Kashima & Triandis,1986; Kitayama, et al., 1995), and display fewer self-affirming tendencies (Heine &Lehman, 1997a), it appears that Japanese demonstrate reverse compensatory self-enhancementtendencies. Taken together, the convergent pattern of evidence from these studies isconsistent with the notion that Japanese are more likely to maintain self-critical views. Negativeself-relevant information serves a functional purpose within Japanese culture (e.g.,Heine et al., in press). It aids individuals in spotlighting the areas in which they need to makeefforts to correct deficits. Self-improvement serves to aid Japanese in fulfilling their roleobligations and thereby affirming their sense of belongingness with other group members.Negative information is less threatening to the Japanese self, and therefore there is not thesame need to ward it off. To the contrary, Japanese seem not only to pay attention to negativeself-relevant information but to take it very seriously indeed.NOTES1. The participants in this study are the same as those in Study 1 of Heine et al. (in press). The manipulation ofsuccess and failure was the same as in that study as well. The Heine et al. (in press) study focused on persistence inthe face of success and failure in Japan and Canada.2. This was qualified by a significant main effect for gender, F(1, 67) = 4.12, p < .05. Japanese men rated themselvesas more creative (M = 44.5%) than Japanese women (M = 32.2%).REFERENCESApsler, R. (1975). Effects of embarrassment on behavior toward others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,32, 145-153.Baumeister, R. F. (1993). Understanding the inner nature of low self-esteem: Uncertain, fragile, protective, and conflicted.In R. Baumeister (Ed.), Self-esteem: The puzzle of low self-regard (pp. 201-218). New York: PlenumPress.Baumeister, R. F., & Jones, E. E. (1978). When self-presentation is constrained by the target’s knowledge: Consistencyand compensation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 608-618.Baumeister, R. F., Tice, D. M., & Hutton, D. G. (1989). Self-presentational motivations and personality differencesin self-esteem. Journal of Personality, 57, 547-579.Befu, H. (1986). The social and cultural background of child development in Japan and the United States. InH. Stevenson, H. Azuma, & K. Hakuta (Eds.), Child development and education in Japan (pp. 13-27). NewYork: Freeman.Brown, J. D., & Smart, S. A. (1991). The self and social conduct: Linking self-representations to prosocial behavior.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 368-375.Cialdini, R. B., Borden, R. J., Thorne, A., Walker, M. R., Freeman, S., & Sloan, L. R. (1976). Basking in reflectedglory: Three (football) field studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 366-375.De Vos, G. A. (1973). Socialization for achievement: Essays on the cultural psychology of the Japanese. Berkeley:University of California Press.Diener, E., & Diener, C. (1996). Most people are happy. Psychological Science, 7, 181-185.