A CROSS-CULTURAL-STUDY OF PREFERENCE OF ACCOUNTS - RELATIONSHIP CLOSENESS, HARM SEVERITY, AND MOTIVES OF ACCOUNT MAKING

We presented 174 American and 169 Japanese subjects with scenarios in which an actor unintentionally harmed someone. We asked them to rate t he likelihood of each of 6 different account tactics and 3 motives of account making. Collectivists (Japanese) were found, compared with ind ividualists (Americans), to show more preference for the mitigating ac counts, such as apologies or excuses, but less the assertive accounts, such as justifications. The collectivists' mitigating style became di stinguished, particularly when the participants were in-group members; and also gender differences were larger among collectivists than amon g individualists. Harm severity was an independent and powerful determ inant of account choice: The causal analysis of the motives revealed t hat each account tactic was uniquely motivated, and that its supposed motivational process was quite similar between the two cultural groups .