Cross-Cultural Differences in Self-Concept

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Many other studies discovered similar outcomes as the above mentioned empirical

evidence. For example, Bochner (1994) compared participants from Malaysia with participants from Australia. He used the Twenty Statements Test to question and compare self-perception statements from Malaysian and Australian participants. The participant’s answers were grouped depending on if they were idiocentric, allocentric, or group self-references. The results show, as predicted, that Malaysian participants respond with more group self-references and allocentric answers and with fewer idiocentric answers than do Australian participants. The results also showed that all participants seem to describe themselves with personal attributes and social context. The difference between the two cultures is the emphasize each culture lays on either idiocentric or group self-reference answers. Malaysian culture lays more emphasize on group-reference answers meaning that they have more interest and attention focused on other people. On the other hand, Australian culture lays more emphasize on idiocentric answers meaning that they have more interest focused on themselves (Bochner, 1994). A similar study conducted by Stipek, Weiner and Li (1989) asked Chinese and American participants to think about several situations in which they had become angry and to describe these events. The outcome of the study was that American participants tend to refer to situations that had occurred to them personally whereas Chinese participants tend to mention a higher proportion of events that had occurred to other people in their surroundings. Additional evidence from McCusker and Hui (1990) using the same Twenty Statements Test method, they asked students from the United States and China to describe themselves and observed that Chinese participants referred more often to themselves as part of a social group than the participants from the United States. The research explained so far indicates a clear difference between Asian and Western self-concepts. However, these studies do not show whether culture influences the formation of these self-concepts or not.

The following studies have been conducted to find and answer to the question: Does

culture influences the formation of the self-concept. Bond and Cheung (1983) asked participants from Japan, Hong Kong and The United States using the same Twenty Statements Test method to describe themselves. As expected the results showed that general trait description was clearly used more often by the American participants than by the Japanese participants. Yet the results of the participants from Hong Kong were closer to those from the American participants than those from the Japanese participants. These findings assume that Hong Kong students, that are educated in English with a more Western curriculum, were more Westernized. Yet another important study conducted by Miller (1984), uncovered similar distinctions in understandings between individuals from the United States and Hindus in India. The adults from both cultures once more show that Hindus from India explain their actions in membership of social groups and context, whereas Americans referred more to personal characteristics. However, when they asked young American and Hindu children, around the age of eight to eleven years old, to describe themselves no distinct differences were found in their descriptions. Both groups of children placed more emphasize on context such as including family and friends when describing themselves instead of more personal trait labels and preferences. These results show that the emphasize placed on personal characteristics is a learned phenomenon rather than a natural phenomenon in Western individuals. In conclusion, culture does influence the formation of the self-concept.

Discussion

The formulated research question was: Is there a difference in Western and Asian self-

concepts? The studies cited confirm that there is a clear distinction between Western self-concepts and Asian self-concepts. Asian self-concepts being in general more interdependent and collectivistic meaning that Asian people tend to characterize themselves in relation to context, laying strong emphasize on the connectedness of the individual with it’s family, friends, and co-workers. In contrast, Western cultures are in general more independent and individualistic meaning that they tend to emphasize personal achievements, traits, goals, abilities, rights, and being independent from others in it’s surroundings.

In addition, results show that culture shapes the self-concepts people have, which

in turn leads to different behavior among different cultures. Matsumoto (1999) states that “different cultures produce different self-concepts in their members, and these different self-concepts, in return, influence all other aspects of individual behaviors” Matsumoto explains that these different self-concepts arise because each culture is connected with different types of rules and systems and exists within different forms of social and economical environments.

Triandis has done a lot of research about individualistic and collectivistic cultures and

believes that the differences in self-concept between the two types of cultures is due to the differing values and beliefs about the person in general people are exposed to from an early age. For example, children in collectivistic cultures are taught to value success of the collective over the success of the individual. On the contrary, children in individualistic cultures are taught that the essential aim is independence. Miller’s experiment (1984) gives further evidence for the early influence of culture in self-concept. Showing that there is a difference in self description between adult Americans and Hindus in India but not between the younger children. Both children from America and India referred more frequently to context than to personal characteristics. This supports the idea that the emphasize on personal characteristics and independence is a learned rather than a natural phenomenon in individuals from Western cultures.

Supported by these ideas it seems logical to believe that in general Western and Asian

self-concepts are distinctly different from each other and most likely caused by the cultural difference members from each culture are exposed to from an early age. Enough evidence is prevalent to show that there is a distinct difference between the Western and Asian self-concept. In addition, the few studies that have been conducted to find the origin