Culture and the self
(Markus & Kitayama, 1991)
Self
X
X
X
X
X
X
Mother
Father
Sibling
Friend
Co-worker
x
x
x x
x
x x
x
x
x
Independent self
Self
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
Mother
Father
Sibling
Friend
Co-worker
X
X
X
X
X
Interdependent self
Cousins (1989)
Proportion
of
attributes in Self-Description
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
Global
Contextualized
Type of Question
Japanese
American
How similar are you to me?
Focus on your (few) unique attributes
How similar am I to you?
Focus on my (many) unique attributes
So--You are more similar to me
than I am to you.
• ME
• Smart
• Friendly
• Nice
• Witty
• Lazy
• Book lover
• Gourmet
• Love Toronto
• YOU
• Smart
• Friendly
• Nice
• Athletic
• Jazz fan
Markus & Kitayama (1991)
Similarity Judgment
3.2
3.4
3.6
3.8
4
Self to Other
Other to Self
Direction of Question
Eastern
Western
Liking for Computer Game
Iyengar & Lepper, 1999
PersonalOut-groupIn-group
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
CHOICE
Anglo-
American
Asian
-
American
Percentage choosing uncommon
color
Kim & Markus, 1999
One-Four
Two-Three
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
Condition
European
American
East
Asian