Beyond Self-Presentation: Evidence for Self-Criticism among Japanese

2000/01/01 by Steven J. Heine, Toshitake Takata, Darrin R. Lehman · 267 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cultural Differences and Values #Social and Intergroup Psychology #International Student and Expatriate Challenges #Psychology #Self-enhancement #Self-criticism #Social psychology #Criticism #Presentational and representational acting #Presentation (obstetrics) #Self #Self evaluation #Applied psychology

paper · doi:10.1177/0146167200261007

published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 26(1), 71-78 (SAGE Publishing)

openalex publication_date 2000/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Although a robust finding in cross-cultural research is that Japanese exhibit less self-enhancement than North Americans, all of these studies have employed questionnaire measures susceptible to self-presentational biases. The present study assessed self-enhancement in a laboratory that covertly measured participants’ behaviors. Whereas Canadians were reluctant to conclude that they had performed worse than their average classmate, Japanese were hesitant to conclude that they had performed better. This research provides evidence that cultural differences in self-enhancement and self-criticism go beyond mere self-presentation.

Citations

• Individual and collective processes in the construction of the self: Self-enhancement in the United States and self-criticism in Japan.
• The totalitarian ego: Fabrication and revision of personal history.
• Is there a universal need for positive self-regard?
• Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation.
• Cultural variation in unrealistic optimism: Does the West feel more vulnerable than the East?
• Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health.
• A theory of human motivation.

Cited by

• Cultural Differences in Self-Evaluation
• The evolution and psychology of self-deception
• Self-enhancement [wikipedia]