citizens in a collectivist culture simply do not see themselves as any better than
other members of society. In the United States these feelings of averageness mightbe taken as evidence of poor self-esteem. However, in other countries such a self-
evaluation is considered quite healthy. In a collectivist culture, it is the person full
of self-importance who is cause for concern, the nail that gets hammered down.
Needless to say, this cultural difference can be a source of conflict for people
who move from one culture to another. American baseball players, known for
their elevated sense of self, often have a very difficult time playing for Japaneseclubs, which emphasize the team above the individual (Whiting, 1989).
In an interesting demonstration of the relation between culture and self-
esteem, one group of researchers compared average self-esteem scores forAsians as a function of their exposure to North American culture (Heine,
Lehman, Markus, & Kitayama, 1999). Remember, the self-esteem scales
were designed so that high scores reflect Western notions of individual ac-complishment and pride in personal achievements. As shown in Figure 12.5,
the participants ’self-esteem scores changed with their amount of contact
with individualistic cultures. Three generations after the participants ’families
had immigrated to Canada, the Asian Canadian self-esteem scores were nodifferent from those of the European Canadians.
Culture also affects the standards people use to decide whether they are
satisfied with their lives (Kuppens, Realo, & Diener, 2008; Oishi, Diener,Choi, Kim-Prieto, & Choi, 2007; Steger, Kawabata, Shimai, & Otake,
2008). Most Americans assume that happiness is the key to life satisfaction.
30 35 40Never Been
AbroadBeen
AbroadRecent
ImmigrantsLong-Term
ImmigrantsSecond
GenerationThird
Generation
Self-Esteem Score
FIGURE 12.5 Average Self-Esteem Score of Asians and Asian
Canadians as a Function of Exposure to Western Culture
Source: Adapted from “Is there a universal need for positive self-regard?, ”by S. J. Heine, et al., Psychological
Review , 1999, 106, 766 –794. Copyright © 1999 by the American Psychological Association. Adapted by
permission of the American Psychological Association.332 CHAPTER 12 The Humanistic Approach