Self-enhancement among Westerners and Easterners: a cultural neuroscience approach

The Moderating Effect of Body Appreciation on the Relationship between Self-Esteem and Life Satisfaction

BACKGROUND

Although positive associations between life satisfaction, self-esteem, and body image have previously been established, differences in these variables by gender and age have yielded mixed results. Moreover, little is known about the interplay between self-esteem and body appreciation on life satisfaction. This study aims to investigate the moderating effect of body appreciation on the relationship between self-esteem and life satisfaction, considering disparities between females and males and also between emerging adults (before the age of thirty) and older adults.

METHODS

A cross-sectional online survey was performed in Poland with a sample of 449 adults aged between 18 and 75 (M = 30.41, SD = 12.72), including 68% of women. The survey included the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and Body Appreciation Scale (BAS-2).

RESULTS

Men scored higher than women in terms of life satisfaction and self-esteem, while older participants (age > 30) scored higher than younger individuals (age ≤ 30) in terms of life satisfaction, self-esteem, and body appreciation. The study confirmed positive and moderate correlations between life satisfaction, self-esteem, and body appreciation. The interactive effect of self-esteem and body appreciation on life satisfaction was also found by controlling for age and gender.

CONCLUSIONS

Some intervention programs focused on increasing levels of self-esteem and body appreciation should be implemented, especially among women and emerging adults, to improve their well-being.

A comparative study of self-praise on English and Chinese social media: strategies, themes, and motivations

The act of self-praise, a novel and prevalent discourse pattern on social media across different cultures, is still understudied. As such, this study delves into self-praise from linguistic and psychological perspectives by examining and comparing the strategies, themes, and motivations of self-praise on English and Chinese social media. A discourse-based analysis of the data comprising 200 posts from Twitter (English) users and 200 posts from Weibo (Chinese) users revealed that Twitter users favored more unmodified explicit self-praise strategies, while Weibo users opted for more implicit self-praise strategies. Both groups employed explicit self-praise equally, but with different sub-strategies. The most prevalent themes were appearance, competence/performance, skills, virtues, and self-encouragement. Appearance was more dominant among Twitter users, whereas skills and self-encouragement were more popular among Weibo users. Both groups valued competence/performance and virtues, but with different virtues. Twitter users valued cherishing friendship, bravery, and maturity, whereas Weibo users stressed kindness, cherishing kinship, and thoughtfulness. Two semi-structured interviews conducted with six Twitter participants and six Weibo participants indicated that the motivations for online self-praise in both groups were psychological needs such as self-flattery, self-presentation, and self-encouragement, while commercial profit was a motivation only for Weibo participants. This study also discusses the social and cultural factors that may account for these differences and provides implications for future research on online self-praise.

Emotional autobiographical memory retrieval in time domain

Autobiographical memory (AM) is an important psychological phenomenon that has significance for self-development and mental health. The psychological mechanisms of emotional AM retrieval and their association with individual emotional symptoms remain largely unclear in the literature. For this purpose, the current study provided cue words to elicit emotional AMs. Event-related potentials (ERPs) associated with the retrieval process of AMs were recorded and analyzed. We found that the ERP component N400 was sensitive to both emotional valence and retrieval state, such that its amplitude was larger for negative compared to positive AMs, and larger responses for unrecalled compared to recalled AMs. Further, the N400 amplitude in the positive recalled condition was correlated with individual difference in depression (measured by the Beck Depression Inventory). Another ERP component, the late positive potential (LPP), was also sensitive to emotional valence, such that its amplitude was larger (i.e., more positive-going) for positive compared to negative cues. No significant effect was observed on the early ERP components P1, N1, or P2. The current findings bring new understanding on the difference between positive and negative AMs retrieval in the time domain. Also, the importance of this difference to the individual level of depression is worth noting.

Self-compassion, mental health shame and work motivation in German and Japanese employees

In Germany, more than two-thirds of employees report mental health issues, while in Japan, more than half of the country's workforce are mentally distressed. Although both countries are socio-economically developed in similar ways, their cultures differ strongly. This article investigates mental health constructs among German and Japanese employees. A cross-sectional design was employed in which 257 German and 165 Japanese employees completed self-report scales regarding mental health problems, mental health shame, self-compassion and work motivation. T-tests, correlation and regression analyses were conducted. Results show that German employees have significantly higher levels of mental health problems, mental health shame, self-compassion and work motivation than Japanese employees. While many correlations were similar, mental health problems were associated with intrinsic motivation in Germans, but not in Japanese. Shame was associated with both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in Japanese, but not in Germans. Self-compassion - defined as a complex of compassion, humanity, care and unconditional, compassionate love - was associated with gender and age in Japanese, but not in German employees. Lastly, regression analysis uncovered that self-compassion was the strongest predictor of mental health problems in Germans. In Japanese employees, mental health shame is the strongest predictor of mental health problems. Results can guide managers and psychologists in internationalised organisations to effectively approach employee mental health.

Self-Enhancement and the Medial Prefrontal Cortex: The Convergence of Clinical and Experimental Findings

Self-enhancement (SE) is often overlooked as a fundamental cognitive ability mediated via the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC). Here, we present research that establishes the relationship between the PFC, SE, and the potential evolved beneficial mechanisms. Specifically, we believe there is now enough evidence to speculate that SE exists to provide significant benefits and should be considered a normal aspect of the self. Whatever the metabolic or social cost, the upside of SE is great enough that it is a core and fundamental psychological construct. Furthermore, though entirely theoretical, we suggest that a critical reason the PFC has evolved so significantly in Homo sapiens is to, in part, sustain SE. We, therefore, elaborate on its proximate and ultimate mechanisms.

Self-referential processing accounts for cultural variation in self-enhancement versus criticism: An electrocortical investigation

European Americans are self-enhancing, whereas East Asians are sometimes self-critical. However, the mechanisms underlying this cultural difference remain unclear. Here, we addressed this gap by testing 32 Taiwanese and 32 American young adults, who indicated whether their self-esteem would change in various episodes involving success or failure. We monitored their electroencephalogram (EEG) and assessed upper-alpha band power in response to the outcome information. An increase in upper-alpha power indicates internally directed attention; therefore, it is an index of self-referential processing when assessed during a judgment about the self. As predicted, Americans judged that their self-esteem (but not another's) would increase more after a success than it would decrease after a failure, thereby showing the previously observed self-enhancing pattern. Taiwanese tended to show the opposite pattern, self-criticism. Notably, Americans, but not Taiwanese, showed an increase in upper-alpha band power in response to the self's successes (vs. failures). This bias in the EEG index of self-referential processing predicted the cultural difference in self-enhancement (vs. criticism). The role of self-referential processing in self-enhancement is discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Actor or recipient role matters: Neural correlates of self-serving bias

INTRODUCTION

When involved in interpersonal events, people often play the role of an initiative actor (e.g., "I hit Tom") or a passive recipient (e.g., "Paul hit me"). Numerous studies have documented that people manifest a self-serving bias (SSB), that is, they tend to attribute positive interpersonal events to themselves and negative events to other external factors. Recent studies have identified the neural regions associated with the SSB; yet little is known about the neural mechanism of its modulation by the actor or recipient role.

METHODS

In this study, participants were scanned while they attributed the positive or negative events in which the self played the actor or recipient role.

RESULTS

The results showed that people manifested more SSB than non-SSB (NONSSB) attributions and spent less time on making the former. Importantly, more SSB attributions and shorter reaction times were found in the actor than in the recipient condition. Greater activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) was observed in responding to NONSSB than SSB attributions only in the actor condition. Furthermore, the greater the difference in dmPFC activity in responding to NONSSB and SSB attributions, the smaller the difference in corresponding attribution response.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that people prefer making heuristic SSB attributions, and more cognitive resources are needed when they make NONSSB attributions. The activity of the dmPFC may be associated with inhibiting the heuristic SSB, especially when they play the actor role at interpersonal events.

Mapping Cultural Values onto the Brain: the Fragmented Landscape

Basic values are the core element of culture, explaining many important differences in social, economic and political effects. Yet the nature and the composition of cultural value systems remains highly debatable. An emerging field of cultural neuroscience promises to shed light on how societies differ in their value systems and on the low-level mechanisms through which they operate. A systematic review of 47 experimental studies using different brain research methods is conducted to identify neural systems and processes, which can be associated with specific values, irrespective of interpretations given by the authors of original studies. Key findings were extracted and systematized according to Hofstede's and some other (Trompenaars' and Gelfand's) models of national cultures. From the perspective of existing accounts of cultural value systems, existing literature provides only a very fragmented and biased view of the neural processing of values. Absolute majority of existing evidence (37 studies) of cultural differences in the brain functions can be associated with individualism-collectivism value dimension. Affectivity-Neutrality is identified in 11 studies, Tightness-Looseness - 6, Power Distance - 3; Indulgence, Long-Term Orientation and Universalism - 2, and Uncertainty Avoidance - 1. Other value dimensions from the applied models of culture are not represented at all. Key problems limiting the contribution of the contemporary culture neuroscience to the comparative studies of cultural values include: researchers' theoretical framing within the independence-interdependence paradigm, resulting in the loss of a broader perspective and alternative interpretations of findings, the lack of focus on the direct comparison of values and value dimensions, insufficiently representative and biased samples.

The medial prefrontal cortex: a potential link between self-deception and affect

The Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC) is crucial for normal social functioning in humans. Because of its involvement in social monitoring, self-awareness, and self-enhancement, the MPFC may be critical to buffering negative affect and establishing a positive self-esteem. For example, we have previously found that disruption of the MPFC leads to more honest responses, which implies that the MPFC may be critically involved in self-deception. We therefore hypothesized that disrupting the MPFC would lead to a decrease in affect. Employing a virtual lesion TMS (Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) technique, we disrupted the MPFC while participants rated their mood based on two anchor affect terms. During TMS, the participants rated their current emotional mental state. Compared to sham TMS, it was found that mood was reduced immediately following single-pulse MPFC stimulation. The results supported the hypothesis the MPFC mood reduction occurs when the MPFC is disrupted. Because this study replicated the conditions employed in previous self-deception studies, we suggest that the results may indicate that lack of self-enhancement may lead to a decrease in mood. Further studies should examine this possibility.

Profiles of narcissism and self-esteem associated with comprehensive mental health in adolescents

INTRODUCTION

This study firstly aimed to identify different profiles of narcissism and self-esteem in adolescents using latent profile analysis (LPA). A secondary aim was to examine associations between the identified profiles and subsequent measures of comprehensive mental health.

METHODS

Chinese adolescents (N = 1009, 50.8%girls, M_age = 12.99, SD = 0.66) completed a packet of measures on two occasions at 6-month intervals. Narcissism and self-esteem were assessed at Time 1. Positive and negative indicators of mental health were assessed at Time 2.

RESULTS

Latent profile analysis of narcissism and self-esteem identified six profiles: (1) high narcissism and high self-esteem; (2) high-moderate self-regard; (3) moderate self-regard; (4) low-moderate self-regard; (5) high narcissism but low self-esteem; (6) low self-regard. Adolescents in the high narcissism and high self-esteem and high-moderate self-regard profiles displayed positive mental health outcomes whereas adolescents in the high narcissism but low self-esteem and low self-regard profiles reported problematic mental health outcomes.

CONCLUSION

Differing profiles of narcissism and self-esteem in adolescents were identified; these profiles provide new insight into the structure of self-concept for adolescents. Further, the identified profiles of narcissism and self-esteem were differentially related to subsequent comprehensive mental health outcomes.

On the Etiology of Self-Enhancement and Its Association With Psychological Well-Being

Self-enhancement, the motive to view oneself in positive light, and its manifestations have received wide attention in behavioral sciences. The self-enhancement manifestations vary on a continuum from a subjective level (agentic narcissism, communal narcissism, narcissistic grandiosity) through an intermediate level (better-than-average judgments) to an objective level (overclaiming one’s knowledge). Prior research has established the heritability of self-enhancement manifestations at the subjective and intermediate levels. The present twin study demonstrated that (1) the objective level of self-enhancement manifestation is also heritable; (2) a common core, which is moderately heritable, underlies the three levels of self-enhancement manifestations; (3) the relation between self-enhancement (manifested at all three levels) and psychological well-being is partly heritable; and (4) environmental influences, either shared by or unique to family members, are evident through (1), (2), and (3). The findings deepen understanding of the etiology of individual differences in self-enhancement and their links to psychological well-being.

The Moderation Effect of Self-Enhancement on the Group-Reference Effect

Previous studies have documented that people tend to respond faster and memorize better to the in-group traits. It may be particularly manifest for ethnic minorities, due to their salient ethnic identity. However, few studies have explored how the valence of traits modulates the in-group preference effect. The present study examined the impacts of ethnic identity salience and the valence of traits on the group-preference effect among 33 Han Chinese in a Tibetan-dominant area and 32 Tibetan participants in a Han-dominant area. Two weeks before the experiment, we measured the ethnic identity salience of participants in both groups. In the formal experiment, we used the group-reference effect (GRE) paradigm with three encoding tasks. The results showed that, regardless of whether ethnic identity was salient, both groups responded faster to positive traits than to negative traits when evaluating their own group, whereas there were no significant difference between the processing of positive traits and negative traits in the out-group evaluation and font judgment tasks. This suggested a pervasive processing advantage of the in-group positive characteristics. The results imply that self-enhancement motivation had a moderation effect on the GRE, as well as the ethnic identity salience may not be necessary for a GRE.

Effects of Self-Enhancement on Eye Movements During Reading

Previous studies show that readers’ eye movements are influenced by text properties and readers’ personal cognitive characteristics. In the current study, we further show that readers’ eye movements are influenced by a social motivation of self-enhancement. We asked participants to silently read sentences that describe self or others with positive or negative traits while their eyes were monitored. First-fixation duration and gaze duration were longer when positive words were used to describe self than to describe others, but there was no such effect for negative words. These results suggest that eye movements can be influenced by the motivation of self-enhancement in addition to various stimuli features and cognitive factors. This finding indicates that the eye movement methodology can potentially be used to study implicit social cognition.

Self-Reference Emerges Earlier than Emotion during an Implicit Self-Referential Emotion Processing Task: Event-Related Potential Evidence

Self-referential emotion refers to the process of evaluating emotional stimuli with respect to the self. Processes indicative of a self-positivity bias are reflected in electroencephalogram (EEG) signals at ~400 ms when the task does not require a discrimination of self from other. However, when distinguishing between self-referential and other-referential emotions is required, previous studies have shown inconsistent temporal dynamics of EEG signals in slightly different tasks. Based on the observation of early self–other discrimination, we hypothesized that self would be rapidly activated in the early stage to modulate emotional processing in the late stage during an implicit self-referential emotion. To test this hypothesis, we employed an implicit task in which participants were asked to judge the order of Chinese characters of trait adjectives preceded by a self (“I”) or other pronoun (“He” or “She”). This study aimed to explore the difference of social-related emotional evaluation from self-reference; the other pronoun was not defined to a specific person, rather it referred to the general concept. Sixteen healthy Chinese subjects participated in the experiment. Event-related potentials (ERPs) showed that there were self-other discrimination effects in the N1 (80–110 ms) and P1 (170–200 ms) components in the anterior brain. The emotional valence was discriminated in the later component of N2 (220–250 ms). The interaction between self-reference and emotional valence occurred during the late positive potential (LPP; 400–500 ms). Moreover, there was a positive correlation between response time (RT) and N1 in the self-reference condition based on the positive-negative contrast, suggesting a modulatory effect of the self-positivity bias. The results indicate that self-reference emerges earlier than emotion and then combines with emotional processing in an implicit task. The findings extend the view that the self plays a highly integrated and modulated role in self-referential emotion processing.

Nostalgia and Self-Enhancement

We addressed phenotypic and genetic research questions regarding nostalgia and self-enhancement. At the phenotypic level (178 university students; Study 1), we found that nostalgia was moderately associated with self-enhancement. At the genotypic level (232 twin pairs; Study 2), we found that nostalgia, self-enhancement, and their relation were largely heritable. Our findings shed light on two heavily investigated traits and open up exciting research directions.