Pancultural self-enhancement reloaded: A meta-analytic reply to Heine (2005).

2005/10/01 by Constantine Sedikides, Lowell Gaertner, Jack L. Vevea · 6 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cultural Differences and Values #Social and Intergroup Psychology #Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion #Collectivism #Self-enhancement #Psychology #Social psychology #Individualism #Universality (dynamical systems) #Ideal (ethics) #Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory #Context (archaeology) #Epistemology #Philosophy

paper · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.89.4.539

openalex publication_date 2005/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15

Abstract

C. Sedikides, L. Gaertner, and Y. Toguchi (2003) reported findings favoring the universality of self-enhancement. S. J. Heine (2005) challenged the authors' research on evidential and logical grounds. In response, the authors carried out 2 meta-analytic investigations. The results backed the C. Sedikides et al. (2003) theory and findings. Both Westerners and Easterners self-enhanced tactically. Westerners self-enhanced on attributes relevant to the cultural ideal of individualism, whereas Easterners self-enhanced on attributes relevant to the cultural ideal of collectivism (in both cases, because of the personal importance of the ideal). Self-enhancement motivation is universal, although its manifestations are strategically sensitive to cultural context. The authors respond to other aspects of Heine's critique by discussing why researchers should empirically validate the comparison dimension (individualistic vs. collectivistic) and defending why the better-than-average effect is a valid measure of self-enhancement.

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Cited by

• Where Is the Evidence for Pancultural Self-Enhancement? A Reply to Sedikides, Gaertner, and Toguchi (2003).
• Inclusion of theory‐relevant moderators yield the same conclusions as Sedikides, Gaertner, and Vevea (2005): A meta‐analytical reply to Heine, Kitayama, and Hamamura (2007)
• Inclusion of additional studies yields different conclusions: Comment on Sedikides, Gaertner, & Vevea (2005), Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
• Which studies test whether self‐enhancement is pancultural? Reply to Sedikides, Gaertner, and Vevea, 2007
• On Pancultural Self-Enhancement
• Self-enhancement [wikipedia]