A cross-cultural comparison of behaviors and independent/interdependent self-views

This study examined whether self-reports on general self-views and on own behaviors would show the same cross-cultural differences in cultural self-construal. We asked Japanese, Australian, and Canadian university students to complete an independent and interdependent cultural self-construal scale and, a week later, to rate their past behaviors. The results showed that Japanese endorsed more interdependent behaviors than Westerners, consistent with the cultural self-construal hypothesis (Markus & Kitayama, 1991). In contrast, on the self-construal scales, Japanese were no more interdependent than Westerners, although Japanese were less independent than Westerners. It was also found that the behavioral ratings and self-construal assessments were correlated with each other in the logically predicted directions within each culture. Possible reasons for the inconsistent findings on the two measures of self are discussed.