The Role of Positive Self-Evaluation on Cross-Cultural Differences in Well-Being

Abstract

Past studies have shown that North Americans have higher well-being compared with East Asians. Objective living conditions (e.g., wealth, education, personal and political freedom) have been found to substantially contribute to North Americans’ higher well-being. One other possible explanation is that North American culture fosters positive evaluations of the self to enhance self-esteem and to feel positive emotions, which may lead North Americans to provide favorable ratings. These cultural differences in positive self-evaluations are, thus, expected to contribute to differences in well-being. To test this hypothesis, the current study compared well-being across two countries, the United States and China. Participants from the two countries (N = 271) reported on their life satisfaction and Big Five personality, which was used to indirectly measure their positive self-evaluation tendencies. We found cross-cultural differences with European Americans showing higher well-being and positively biased view of the self compared with Hong Kong Chinese. Importantly, cultural differences in positive evaluative bias mediated cross-cultural differences in well-being. The present study provides further support for the generalizability of cross-cultural differences in self-evaluation, and their influence on well-being.