the child ’s unique strengths and helping the child develop and excel in these
areas. Adolescents who say they are “no better than average” at anything
might be readily labeled as poorly adjusted. Indeed, youth from disadvan-
taged backgrounds are encouraged to believe in themselves, to believe they
can achieve whatever they set their minds to. In short, in most Western socie-
ties, the recipe for high self-esteem is feeling good about who you are and
what you do to distinguish yourself.
However, some researchers have challenged the universality of these no-
tions (Heine, 2001; Kitayama & Markus, 1994; Markus & Kitayama, 1991,1994; Triandis, 1989, 2001). Recall from Chapter 1 that Western conceptions
of the self are not shared by all cultures. People in collectivist cultures are moreconcerned with interdependence than with independence. Whereas individual-
istic countries like the United States emphasize the uniqueness of the individ-
ual, people in collectivist countries see themselves as part of a larger culturalunit.
One implication of these different views is that we may need to rethink
the way we conceptualize self-esteem when working with people from differ-
ent cultures. Self-esteem scales developed primarily for American research
participants often ask test takers about feelings of competence and about
how much they value their unique attributes. Such items make little sense to
people who see their value in terms of belongingness and cooperation.
Researchers sometimes illustrate the difference between an individualistic
country like the United States and a collectivist country like Japan by pointing
to a pair of expressions from these cultures. In the United States we some-
times say, “The squeaky wheel gets greased, ”meaning that one has to stand
up and assert oneself to get ahead. In Japan one often hears, “The nail that
stands up is the one that gets hammered, ”meaning that asserting one’ s indi-
viduality is unacceptable and is likely to result in negative consequences.
These different perspectives on the self also mean that people from the two
types of cultures have different ideas about what leads to self-satisfaction and
feeling good (Kang, Shaver, Sue, Min, & Jing, 2003; Tafarodi, Marshall, &
Katsura, 2004). People in individualistic cultures typically feel good aboutthemselves when they think about their unique value and personal accomplish-
ments. In contrast, people from collectivist cultures derive self-satisfaction
from their perceived relationships with others. People from collectivist culturesfeel good when they obtain a sense of belonging within the culture, of occupy-
ing their appropriate place. Fitting in and doing one ’s duty are sources of pride
in collectivist cultures. Personal achievements and independence are valued in
individualistic cultures.
Consistent with these observations, research with American students finds
a nearly universal tendency to see oneself in a better light than objective datamight suggest. When American college students are asked to compare them-
selves to their peers on a variety of skills and aptitudes, they almost always
report their superiority over those around them (Taylor, 1989). In this coun-try, it seems, we are all better than average. However, when researchers pres-
ent these same questions to students from collectivist cultures, they find
relatively little evidence for such a bias (Heine & Hamamura, 2007). TypicalSelf-Esteem 331