Journal of Psychological Science

Psychological Science ›› 2012, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (1): 2-8.

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The Cultural Differences of Self-esteem

2   

  • Received:2011-08-30 Revised:2011-05-13 Online:2012-01-20 Published:2012-01-20

从自尊的文化差异说起

黄希庭1,尹天子2   

  1. 1. 西南大学
    2. 西南大学心理学院
  • 通讯作者: 黄希庭

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Abstract:

Self-esteem has certain similarities and differences in different cultural backgrounds. According to previous findings, the cultural differences of self-esteem are manifested in its roots, inclusiveness and its expression. To a certain degree, social cultural values shape self-esteem of people lived in the cultural context. The source of self-esteem embodies the importance of cultural values. People in the individualism culture emphasize the importance of personal self-esteem, which reliance on personal achievement and characteristic, relative to collective self-esteem. Whereas collectivist place more emphasis on social orientation and its collective aspect compared with former. The extent of inclusion of other in self concept is various in different cultures. Self-esteem, as an important aspect of the self concept, has cultural differences in its inclusiveness. People in Western cultures centralize the personal uniqueness and independence. Their self-esteem focus on the unique self aspect compared to Chinese who include the significant others into their self-esteem. Culture influences the ways that taken in the expression of self-esteem. Easterners are much less direct express favorable evaluations of self explicitly and in the public context. They tend to make positive self evaluation when they respond implicitly or in the private context. In contrast, people in Western cultures attempt to maintain a positive self evaluation by engaging in various self enhancement strategies. They express their favorable self evaluation directly when they respond explicitly or in the public context. The awareness of cultural differences and universality of self-esteem should be set up. It is of great important to strengthen the study on cultural differences of it for scientific understanding of the social psychological phenomenon and academic discipline construction. Future research should focus on the meaning of self-esteem, its research content and research methods, to further promote the self-esteem study in the Chinese background.

摘要：

在不同的文化背景中，自尊既有相似性，也有差异性。在东西方文化中，自尊在其根源性、包容性及表达性等方面均存在差异。树立文化差异性与普遍性的意识，加强对自尊文化差异的研究对于科学地认识社会心理现象和学科建设都具有重要意义。未来可以从自尊的内涵、自尊研究的内容及研究方法等方面开展自尊的中国化研究。