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Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
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Cultural Similarities in Self-Esteem Functioning

East is East and West is West, But Sometimes the Twain do Meet

Jonathon D. Brown

University of Washington, jdb{at}u.washington.edu

Huajian Cai

Sun Yat-Sen University

Mark A. Oakes

Hamilton College

Ciping Deng

East China Normal University

East Asians report lower levels of self-esteem than North Americans and Western Europeans. These differences could mean that self-esteem is a culturally bounded construct, experienced differently in different cultures, or they could mean that self-esteem is a universally relevant construct whose average level is raised or lowered in different cultures. To examine these possibilities, the authors assessed self-esteem functioning in China and America. Study 1 found that, across cultures, self-serving attributions are stronger when self-esteem is high than when it is low. Study 2 replicated this finding and also found that, across cultures, failure produces less emotional distress when self-esteem is high than when it is low. Because self-esteem functioned similarly in China as in America, the authors conclude it is of general psychological importance.

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

This version was published on January 1, 2009

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 40, No. 1, 140-157 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0022022108326280
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