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Self as Cultural Product: An Examination of East Asian and North American Selves
Abstract
In the past decade a wealth of research has been conducted on the cultural foundation of the self‐concept, particularly with respect to East Asian and North American selves. The present paper discusses how the self differs across these two cultural contexts, particularly with respect to an emphasis on consistency versus flexibility, an intraindividual vs. an extraindividual focus, the malleability of the self versus world, the relation of self to others, and self‐enhancing versus self‐critical motivations. These differences reveal the manifold ways that culture shapes the self.
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“For instance, in Asian cultures, where collective identity and family obligations are central to individual experiences, Self-as-Context may have different effects, potentially leading to feelings of isolation or emotional disconnect.62”
From Differential associations of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy processes with psychological distress across racial groups. (2026) · cites this paper as [62]
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Motivational and emotional aspects of the self
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“When the group performs poorly, however, each member feels less responsible for the outcome than does the average member (Mullen & Riordan 1988, Schlenker & Miller 1977).”
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Self-citationHeine, S. J., Lehman, D. R., Peng, K., & Greenholtz, J. (2002) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.82.6.903 · Cited by 1,080
“…efforts, such as backtranslation (Brislin, 1970), the use of different methodologies on the basis of the nature of the sample (Greenfield, 1997), the use of hidden behavioral measures (Heine et al., 2000, 2001), and standardization of the data (Bond, 1988), can correct many of these confounds.”
MethodSelf-citationHeine, S. J., Kitayama, S., Lehman, D. R., Takata, T., Ide, E., Leung, C., & Matsumoto, H. (2001) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.81.4.599 · Cited by 779
Self-citationLeung, A. K. ‐., & Cohen, D. (2011) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0022151 · Cited by 784
“Ho (1976, p. 883; see also Heine, 2001) defined face as “the respectability and/or deference which a person can claim . . . by virtue of [his or her] relative position” in a hierarchy and the proper fulfillment of his or her role.”
Metadata
- Authors
- Heine, S. J.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Heine, Steven J.
- ORCID
- Heine, Steven J.
- Venue
- Journal of Personality
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2001-12
- Volume
- 69
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 881-905
- ISSN
- 0022-3506 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-6494
- OpenAlex
- W2133409609
- Cited by
- 531
- References
- 84
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 58 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 35 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 35 · 2013: 25 · 2012: 28
- FWCI
- 8.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Identity, Memory, and Therapy
- Keywords
- self-concept, East Asian culture, North American culture, self-consistency, self-flexibility, self-other relations, self-enhancement, self-criticism, cross-cultural personality
- MeSH terms
- Affect, Asia, Cross-Cultural Comparison, Culture, Ethnicity, Humans, Motivation, Personality, Self Concept, United States
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