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The Dialectical Self-Concept: Contradiction, Change, and Holism in East Asian Cultures

University of California, Santa Barbara, Rodgers{at}psych.ucsb.edu

Helen C. Boucher

Bates College, hboucher{at}bates.edu

Sumi C. Mori

University of Tokyo

Lei Wang

Peking University, leiwang{at}pku.edu.cn

Kaiping Peng

University of California, Berkeley

Naïve dialecticism refers to a set of East Asian lay beliefs characterized by tolerance for contradiction, the expectation of change, and cognitive holism. In five studies, the authors examined the cognitive mechanisms that give rise to global self-concept inconsistency among dialectical cultures. Contradictory self-knowledge was more readily available (Study 1) and simultaneously accessible (Study 2) among East Asians (Japanese and Chinese) than among Euro-Americans. East Asians also exhibited greater change and holism in the spontaneous self-concept (Study 1) and inconsistency in their implicit self-beliefs (Study 3). Cultural differences in self-concept inconsistency were obtained when controlling for alternative explanatory variables, including self-criticism (Study 4) and self-concept certainty (Studies 2 and 3) and were fully mediated by a direct measure of dialecticism (Study 5). Naïve dialecticism provides a comprehensive theoretical framework for understanding these cultural differences and the contradictory, changeable, and holistic nature of the East Asian self-concept.

Key Words: self-concept • self-perception • implicit beliefs • cross-cultural differences • East Asians

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 35, No. 1, 29-44 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0146167208325772


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