The Bittersweetness of Self-Representations: Cross-Cultural Insights That the Self Triggers Both Positive and Negative Implicit Evaluations

Abstract

Positive implicit self-esteem has been argued to be a universal characteristic of the human mind. Yet, recent work using U.S. samples finds evidence suggesting that the self is implicitly bivalent. The bivalent-priming elicited by the self was markedly different from the univalent-priming elicited by personally significant, positive objects. The findings of implicit self-bivalence align with theoretical perspectives acknowledging the self’s affective complexity. The present preregistered study examines whether implicit self-bivalence characterizes only Western, individualistic cultures, or if it reflects a more general feature of the human mind that also characterizes Eastern, collectivistic cultures (e.g., China). Replicating past work, in a U.S. sample (N = 125), priming the self in an evaluative priming task (EPT) facilitated both positive and negative target categorization (bivalent-priming), whereas priming a personally significant, liked object only facilitated positive target categorization (univalent-priming). Critically, in a Chinese sample (N = 104), we translated the EPT into Chinese (and validated it through back-translation) and observed the same result pattern. We also explored potential cultural differences in the magnitude of implicit self-bivalence (i.e., implicit self-positivity and self-negativity, respectively) but did not find statistically significant cross-cultural differences. The current work provides the first evidence that implicit self-bivalence is not culturally specific to Western samples. The clear demonstration of implicit self-bivalence in an Eastern sample provides initial evidence of its cross-cultural generality. We discuss the implications for understanding the nature of self-representations, the functions of implicit self-bivalence, and directions for future work.