Self-Effacement Tendency and Self-Esteem in Japanese College Students
Year: 2006
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Self-aggrandizement in the form of"better than average"self-evaluations co-occur with and are generally accepted as evidence of high self-esteem in North Americans, who typically evaluate themselves as better than average and express high self-esteem. This pattern has been viewed as universal. But studies in Japan have consistently failed to find high self-esteem and self-aggrandizement, leading some to question whether the tendency to self-aggrandize in the service of self-esteem is indeed universal. One sample of Japanese college students (n = 72) rated themselves on 35 personality traits relative to average college students. A second sample (n = 107) rated themselves on a different set of 23 personality traits and also completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. The results indicate that Japanese do self-aggrandize, and that self-esteem is associated with self-aggrandizement. However, because a majority of participants, particularly female students, evaluate themselves as average, both self-aggrandizement and self-esteem tend to be moderate rather than high. It is concluded that Japanese differ from North Americans primarily in that relatively fewer Japanese people maintain illusory self-beliefs.
Author: Robert A. Brown
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W57629870