Self-Esteem, Modest Responding, Sandbagging, Fear of Negative Evaluation, and Self-Concept Clarity in Japan
Year: 2006
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Japanese people typically score low on explicit measures of self-esteem, such as the Rosenberg selfesteem scale.Modest self-presentation has been offered as a possible explanation.The present research provides evidence that modesty is indeed implicated, but is not solely responsible for low Japanese self-esteem scores.Samples of 449 and 122 Japanese college students participated.Results indicate that modesty is a highly valued characteristic, while immodesty is disdained and that modesty, sandbagging, fear of negative evaluation, and self-concept clarity were significantly associated with self-esteem.It is concluded that expressions of Japanese self-esteem may be impacted by a variety of factors, including but not limited to self-concept clarity, sandbagging, modesty, and fear of negative evaluation. Key Words: self-esteem, modesty, self-concept clarity, fear of negative evaluationHigh self-esteem is regarded by many influential American theorists as essential for good mental health and psychological functioning, and even for life outcomes.The need for high self-esteem has even been postulated to be a human universal, as important as food and shelter.Accordingly, few Americans do not claim to have high self-esteem.Problematically however, most Japanese do not.In fact, Japanese self-esteem scores on the widely used Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale tend to be moderate rather than high and indeed moderate scores are regarded as indicative of low selfesteem in America.(
Author: Robert A. Brown
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W225180704