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Self-Esteem and Self-Enhancement in Japan and America

Osaka University

Jonathon D. Brown

University of Washington

Although the self-enhancement motive is commonly held to be a universal human motivation, some theorists have recently argued that it does not operate in Japan. In an attempt to shed light on this issue, the authors conducted an investigation that explored the relation between self-esteem and self-enhancement in Japan and America. In both cultures and to the same degree, high self-esteem people were more apt to display evidence of self-enhancement than were low self-esteem people. The correspondence between the two cultures suggests that the self-enhancement motive does operate in Japan.

Key Words: self-enhancement • self-esteem • culture • motivation

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