Cookies Policy
X

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

I accept this policy

Find out more here

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of American and Japanese Experiences of Personal and Vicarious Shame

No metrics data to plot.
The attempt to load metrics for this article has failed.
The attempt to plot a graph for these metrics has failed.
The full text of this article is not currently available.

Brill’s MyBook program is exclusively available on BrillOnline Books and Journals. Students and scholars affiliated with an institution that has purchased a Brill E-Book on the BrillOnline platform automatically have access to the MyBook option for the title(s) acquired by the Library. Brill MyBook is a print-on-demand paperback copy which is sold at a favorably uniform low price.

Access this article

+ Tax (if applicable)
Add to Favorites
You must be logged in to use this functionality

image of Journal of Cognition and Culture

The purpose of this study was to examine cultural influences on shame. In particular, the focus was to assess the influence of the following factors on the object of shame (specifically, personal vs. vicarious shame): (1) the effect of individualism/collectivism, measured by a widely used standardized measurement; (2) the role of tightness/looseness (based on ecological factors); and (3) the patterns of within- and between-cultural differences and similarities. Data were collected from two American and two Japanese universities to test within- and between-cultural influences on the object of shame. Participants were asked to describe and rate three autobiographical experiences of shame, with each successive request being increasingly specific in asking for shame about something for which the participant did not feel responsible. Cultural differences in tightness and looseness, both within and between the two nations, were predictive of the likelihood that participants would report vicarious shame. In contrast, standard measures of individualism-collectivism did not predict these differences. These findings suggest that culture affects the object of shame. However, in contrast to our hypothesis, attitudinal measures of individualism/collectivism were not a significant predictor. Rather, tightness/looseness determined by ecological factors was the better predictor of some cultural differences on the object of shame. Furthermore, these findings imply that attitudinal measures of individualism/collectivism may not agree with ecological measures, and that including multiple samples from each language/nation effectively reduces the confound between culture and language.

Affiliations: 1: Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University1001 Spencer W. Kimball Tower, Provo, ut 84602USA; 2: Department of Psychology, Georgetown University306N White-Gravenor Hall, 37th and O Streets, n.w., Washington, dc 20057USA

10.1163/15685373-12342141
/content/journals/10.1163/15685373-12342141
dcterms_title,pub_keyword,dcterms_description,pub_author
10
5
Loading
Loading

Full text loading...

A Cross-Cultural Comparison of American and Japanese Experiences of Personal and Vicarious Shame
Journal of Cognition and Culture 15, 1-2, 64 (2015); https://doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12342141
/content/journals/10.1163/15685373-12342141
/content/journals/10.1163/15685373-12342141
Loading

Data & Media loading...

1. Bedford O. , Hwang K. "Guilt and shame in Chinese culture: A cross-cultural framework from the perspective of morality and identity." Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 2003 Vol 33 127 144 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-5914.00210
2. Bond M. H. "Reclaiming the individual from Hofstede’s ecological analysis – A 20-year odyssey: comment on Oyserman et al. (2002)." Psychological Bulletin 2002 Vol 128 73 77 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.128.1.73
3. Carpenter S. "Effects of cultural tightness and collectivism on self-concept and causal attributions." Cross-Cultural Research 2000 Vol 34 38 56 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/106939710003400103
4. Crystal D. S. , Parrott W. G. , Okazaki Y. , Watanabe H. "Examining relations between shame and personality among university students in the United States and Japan: A developmental perspective." International Journal of Behavioral Development 2001 Vol 25 113 123 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01650250042000177
5. De Rivera J. "Comparing experiences across cultures: Shame and guilt in American and Japanese." Hiroshima Forum for Psychology 1989 Vol 14 13 20
6. Dolan R. E. , Worden R. L. Japan: A country study 1992 Washington, DC Federal Research Division, Library of Congress (Electronic version)
7. Ember C. R. , Ember M. Anthropology 1985 4th edn. Englewood Cliffs, NJ Prentice Hall
8. Fessler D. M. T. "Shame in two cultures: Implications for evolutionary approaches." Journal of Cognition and Culture 2004 Vol 4 207 262 http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1568537041725097
9. Fiske A. P. "Using individualism and collectivism to compare cultures – A critique of the validity and measurement of the constructs: Comment on Oyserman et al. (2002)" Psychological Bulletin 2002 Vol 128 78 88 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.128.1.78
10. Fontaine J. R. J. , et al "Untying the Gordian know of guilt and shame: The structure of guilt and shame reactions based on situation and person variation in Belgium, Hungary, and Peru." Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 2006 Vol 37 273 292 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022022105284493
11. Heine S. J. , Lehman D. R. , Peng K. , Greenholtz J. "What’s wrong with cross-cultural comparisons of subjective Likert Scales?: The reference-group effect." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2002 Vol 82 903 918 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.82.6.903
12. Hofstead G. Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values 1980 Beverly Hills, CA Sage
13. Hurtado de Mendoza A. , Fernández-Dols J. M. , Parrott W. G. , Carrera P. "Emotion terms, category structure, and the problem of translation: The case of shameand vergüenza." Cognition and Emotion 2010 Vol 24 661 680 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699930902958255
14. Kitayama S. "Culture and basic psychological process – toward a system view of culture: comment on Oyserman et al. (2002)." Psychological Bulletin 2002 Vol 128 89 96 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.128.1.89
15. Keltner D. , Harker L. Gilbert P. , Andrews B. "The forms and functions of the nonverbal signal of shame." Shame: Interpersonal behavior, psychopathology, and culture 1998 New York, NY Oxford University Press 78 98
16. Lebra T. S. "Shame and Guilt: A psychocultural view of the Japanese self." Ethos 1993 Vol 1 192 209
17. Lewis H. B. Shame and guilt in neurosis. 1971 New York, NY International Universities Press
18. Li J. , Wang L. , Fischer K. W. "The organization of Chinese shame concepts" Cognition and Emotion 2004 Vol 18 767 797 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699930341000202
19. Lindsay-Hartz J. "Contrasting experiences of shame and guilt." American Behavioral Scientist 1984 Vol 27 689 704 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/000276484027006003
20. Lindsay-Hartz J. , de Rivera J. , Mascolo M. Tangney J. P. , Fisher K. W. "Differentiating shame and guilt and their effects on motivation." Self-conscious emotions: The psychology of shame, guilt, embarrassment, and pride 1995 New York, NY Guilford 274 300
21. Markus H. A. , Kitayama S. Kitayama S. , Markus H. A. "The cultural construction of the self and emotion: Implications for social behavior." Emotion and culture: Empirical studies of mutual influence 1994 Washington, DC American Psychological Association 89 130 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/10152-003
22. Mesquita B. , Frijda N. H. "Cultural variations in emotions: A review." Psychological Bulletin 1992 Vol 112 179 204 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.112.2.179
23. Mesquita B. , Karasawa M. "Self-conscious emotions as dynamic cultural processes." Psychological Inquiry 2004 Vol 15 161 166
24. Oyserman D. , Coon H. M. , Kemmelmeier M. "Rethinking individualism and collectivism: Evaluation of theoretical assumptions and meta-analyses." Psychological Bulletin 2002 Vol 128 3 72 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.128.1.3
25. Schwartz S. H. Kim U. , Triandis H. C. , Kagitcibasi C. , Chi S. C. , Yoon G. "Beyond individualism and collectivism: New cultural dimensions of values." Individualism and collectivism: Theory method and applications 1994 Newbury Park, CA Sage 85 122
26. Segall M. H. , Dasen P. R. , Berry J. W. , Poortinga Y. H. Human behavior in global perspective: An introduction to cross-cultural psychology. 1999 Boston, MA Allyn and Bacon
27. Shaver K. The attribution of blame: Causality, responsibility, and blameworthiness 1985 New York, NY Springer http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-5094-4
28. Singelis T. M. , Triandis H. C. , Bhawuk D. P. S. , Gelfand M. J. "Horizontal and vertical dimensions of individualism and collectivism: A theoretical and measurement refinement." Cross-Cultural Research 1995 Vol 29 240 275 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/106939719502900302
29. Smith R. S. , Webster J. M. , Parrott W. G. , Eyre H. L. "The role of public exposure in moral and nonmoral shame and guilt." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2002 Vol 83 138 159 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.1.138
30. Stipek D. "Differences between Americans and Chinese in the circumstances evoking pride, shame, and guilt." Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 1998 Vol 29 616 629 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0022022198295002
31. Spackman M. P. , Parrott W. G. "Emotionology in prose a study of descriptions of emotion from three literary periods." Cognition and Emotion 2001 Vol 15 553 574 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02699930126135
32. Takahashi K. , Ohara N. , Antonucci T. C. "Commonalities and differences in close relationships among the Americans and Japanese: A comparison by the individualism/collectivism concept." International Journal of Behavioral Development 2003 Vol 26 453 465 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01650250143000418
33. Tangney J. P. , Dearing R. L. Shame and guilt 2002 New York, NY Guilford http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412950664.n388
34. Tangney J. P. , Wagner P. , Gramzow R. The test of self-conscious affect. 1989 Fairfax, VA George Mason University
35. Tangney J. P. , Miller R. S. , Flicker L. , Barlow D. H. "Are shame, guilt, and embarrassment distinct emotions?" Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1996 Vol 70 1256 1269 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.6.1256
36. Tracy J. L. , Robins R. W. "Appraisal antecedents of shame and guilt: Support for a theoretical model." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2006 Vol 32 1339 1351 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0146167206290212
37. Triandis H. C. Culture and Social Behavior. 1994 New York, NY McGraw-Hill
38. Triandis H. C. Individualism and Collectivism. 1995 Boulder, CO Westview Press
39. Triandis H. C. "Individualism-collectivism and personality." Journal of Personality 2001 Vol 69 907 924 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-6494.696169
40. Triandis H. C. , Gelfand M. J. "Converging measurement of horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1998 Vol 74 118 128 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.1.118
41. Vandello J. A. , Cohen D. "Patterns of individualism and collectivism across the United States." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1999 Vol 77 279 292 http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.77.2.279
42. Wong Y. , Tsai J. Tracy J. L. , Robins R. W. , Tangney J. P. "Cultural models of shame and guilt." The self-conscious emotions: Theory and research 2007 New York, NY Guilford 209 223
43. Yamawaki N. "Differences between Japanese and American college students in giving advice about help seeking to rape victims." Journal of Social Psychology 2007 Vol 147 511 530 http://dx.doi.org/10.3200/SOCP.147.5.511-530
http://brill.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/10.1163/15685373-12342141
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1163/15685373-12342141
2015-03-17
2018-07-18
rss email facebook twitter
share this

Sign-in

Can't access your account?

Register

Register now to access more content

  • Tools

  • Add to Favorites
  • Printable version
  • Email this page
  • Subscribe to ToC alert
  • Get permissions
  • Recommend to your library

    You must fill out fields marked with: *

    Librarian details
    Your details
    Why are you recommending this title?
    Select reason:
     
    Journal of Cognition and Culture — Recommend this title to your library
  • Export citations

  • Key

  • Full access
  • Open Access
  • Partial/No accessInformation
arrow back to top arrow