Mirrors in the Head: Cultural Variation in Objective Self-Awareness
Abstract
In a society where there are pronounced concerns for “face,” people come to be especially focused on how they are being evaluated by others. We reasoned that Japanese should conceive of themselves in terms of how they think they are considered by others. This hypothesis was tested by contrasting Japanese and North American participants who were in front of a mirror with those who were not. In two studies, replicating past research, North Americans who were in front of a mirror were more self-critical and were less likely to cheat than were those who were not in front of a mirror. In contrast, Japanese participants were unaffected by the presence of the mirror.
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Concern with maintaining face leads East Asians to adhere to social norms, whereas concern with enhancing self-esteem leads Westerners to adhere to their own internal standards.
“Moreover, concern with main taining 'face' leads East Asians to adhere to social norms, whereas concern with enhancing self-esteem leads Westerners to adhere to tiieir own internal standards (Heine, Takemoto, Moskalenko, Lasaleta, & Henrich, 2008).”
From Creativity: The Influence of Cultural, Social, and Work Contexts (2010) · cites this paper as Heine, Takemoto, Moskalenko, Lasaleta, & Henrich, 2008
Increased self-awareness has broad effects on behavior, a prominent outcome being adaptation of behavior.
“The evidence on the effects of increased self-awareness on behavior is broad and extensive. A prominent and objective outcome of self-awareness is the adaptation of behavior (Chartrand and Bargh 1999; Dzieweczynski et al. 2006; Heine et al. 2008; Jones and Nisbett 1971; Morin 2005).”
From Paradoxical effects of self-awareness of being observed: testing the effect of police body-worn cameras on assaults and aggression against officers (2018) · cites this paper as Heine et al. 2008
Cites
Is there a universal need for positive self-regard?
Heine, S. J., Lehman, D. R., Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1999) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.106.4.766 · Cited by 2,247 · see citing works
Self-citationSelf as Cultural Product: An Examination of East Asian and North American Selves
Heine, S. J. (2001) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/1467-6494.696168 · Cited by 531 · cited 1× · see citing works
“To explore this, researchers typically contrast the nature of the self-concept across cultures; in particular, much research has contrasted self-concepts common in East Asian contexts with those common in North American contexts (Cousins, 1989; Heine, 2001; Markus & Kitayama, 1991).”
Self-citationSelf-awareness, probability of improvement, and the self-serving bias.
Duval, T. S., & Silvia, P. J. (2002) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.82.1.49 · Cited by 280 · see citing works
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Mirror, Mirror on my Facebook Wall: Effects of Exposure to Facebook on Self-Esteem
Gonzales, A. L., & Hancock, J. T. (2011) · Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2009.0411 · Cited by 946 · see citing works
Ariel, B., Farrar, W. A., & Sutherland, A. (2015) · Journal of Quantitative Criminology · doi:10.1007/s10940-014-9236-3 · Cited by 621 · see citing works
Creativity: The Influence of Cultural, Social, and Work Contexts
Erez, M., & Nouri, R. (2010) · Management and Organization Review · doi:10.1111/j.1740-8784.2010.00191.x · Cited by 263 · see citing works
Ariel, B., Sutherland, A., Henstock, D., Young, J., Drover, P., Sykes, J., Megicks, S., & Henderson, R. (2018) · Journal of Experimental Criminology · doi:10.1007/s11292-017-9311-5 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
- Authors
- Heine, S. J., Takemoto, T., Moskalenko, S., Lasaleta, J., & Henrich, J.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- Yamaguchi University (JP)
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Corresponding author
- Heine, Steven J.
- Venue
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2008-05-09
- Volume
- 34
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 879-887
- ISSN
- 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7433
- OpenAlex
- W2147300813
- Cited by
- 104
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 7.12
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01mh060155-04)
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01 MH060155-01A2)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Keywords
- self-awareness, face, cultural variation, Japanese culture, North American culture, self-criticism, cheating, social evaluation, self-concept
- MeSH terms
- Awareness, Body Image, British Columbia, Cross-Cultural Comparison, Culture, Humans, Imagination, Japan, Middle Aged, Motivation, Self Concept, Sex Factors, Social Desirability, Students, United States, Personal Construct Theory
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