Self-esteem and the cultural trade-off - Evidence for the role of individualism-collectivism

According to the cultural trade-off hypothesis, individualism and collectiv ism entail inverse costs and benefits for the two dimensions of global self -esteem. Specifically, individualism is described as promoting the developm ent of self-competence but inhibiting the development of self-liking. Colle ctivism is described as doing the opposite. To examine the hypothesis, Mala ysian (collectivist) and British (individualist) students were compared on their self-liking and self-competence. Consistent with predictions, Malaysi ans were significantly lower in self-competence when self-liking was held c onstant but were higher in self-liking when self-competence was held consta nt. The differences, however, were not reliable after statistically equatin g the cultural groups on two derived dimensions of individualism-collectivi sm-deference to the direction of relatives and connectedness to parents-sug gesting that these dimensions might account for the trade-off in self-estee m.