Reciprocity of sympathy and Japanese self : Implicit self-esteem and happiness

在当前的研究项目中，我们对“同情的互惠：日本人自我的建构”进行了一系列的理论和实证研究。在之前的一个关于日本人自我的项目中，我们指出，首先，日本人自我的一个重要方面是建立在包括同情在内的各种人际交往实践的基础上的；其次，考虑到日本和其他东亚文化中相对独特的一些与自我相关的过程，如自我批评，可以通过考虑这些文化实践来更好地理解。借鉴这项工作，当前的项目有助于进一步了解“日本自我”。具体来说，我们指出，像独立和相互依赖这样的自我意识最好被看作是人际关系过程的坚实基础。这样，就有可能为自我的文化差异发展出一个更完整的理论框架。随后，我们将这种理论框架应用于主观幸福感，并审查了现有的证据。基于类似的理论框架，我们也进行了实证研究。具体来说，我们用日记法研究了日本人和美国人的情感经历。此外，我们提出有两条通往幸福的途径，一条涉及对自我的主观评估，另一条涉及对主体间关系的确认，并对这一分析的一些含义进行了实证检验。最后，我们还测试了内隐自我评价现象，这一现象已被证明是文化与自我理论的重要理论组成部分。总的来说，这些研究强调了一个假设，即日本人的自我比美国人的自我更以关系为导向。然而，他们也认为，这种自我的跨文化差异在认知、情感和行为的在线过程的测量中得到了最好的揭示，而不是在更传统的态度测量中。

In the current research project, we have carried out a series of theoretical and empirical studies on "Reciprocity of sympathy : Construction of Japanese selves". In a preceding project on Japanese self, we pointed out, first, that one significant aspect of Japanese selves is grounded in an assortment of interpersonal practices that involve sympathy and, second, that some self-related processes such as self-criticism that are relatively unique to Japan and other East Asian cultures can be better understood by taking such cultural practices into consideration. Drawing on this work, the current project contributed to a further understanding of "Japanese selves". Specifically, we pointed out that self-construals such as independence and interdependence may best be seen as solidly grounded in interpersonal processes. In this way it has become possible to develop a fuller theoretical framework for cultural variations in the self. We subsequently applied such a theoretical framework to subjective well-being and reviewed existent evidence. Drawing on a similar theoretical framework, we have also conducted empirical studies. Specifically, we examined emotional experience of both Japanese and Americans with a diary method. Further, we proposed that there are two routes to happiness one involving subjective assessment of the self and the other involving inter-subjective confirmation of relationship, and empirically tested some implications of this analysis. Finally, we also tested a phenomenon of implicit self-evaluation, which has proved to be a quite important theoretical Component of a theory of culture and self. Overall, these studies underscore the hypothesis that Japanese selves are far more relationship-oriented than American selves. However, they also suggest that this cross-cultural difference of the self is best revealed in measures of on-line processes of cognition, emotion, and behavior rather than in more traditional attitudinal measures.