Cultural self-construal

First, do you know cultural self-construal? This is the way to recognize yourself and this

has two types, interdependent self-construal which is called Asian type, and independent self-

construal which is called European and American type. Roughly speaking, interdependent self-

construal, Asian type is the thought that we should behave as people around us expect and

independent self-construal, European and American type is the one that we should behave by our

own ability, intention, and characteristics.

Then, why do two different types exist? Because each society has been shaped in a

different environment. In ancient times, Asian society had mostly made their living by agriculture

while European and American one had done by hunting. Most agriculture requires irrigation, so

Asian people had to work together. On the other hand, European and American people didn’t have

to do so because hunting doesn’t require cooperation. It is said that relics of these reflect modern

self-construal.

Well, I will introduce some examples which represent these two self-construal. There is a

Japanese saying, “The nail that sticks out gets hammered.” This saying means that those who are too

different or conspicuous get criticized by others. This represents the thought peculiar to

interdependent self-construal. Contrarily, the American one goes “The squeaky wheel gets the

grease.” This means that those who complain or cause problems are more likely to receive attention

or help. This shows the thought peculiar to independent self-construal. First-person pronoun also

shows the difference in cultural self-construal. Japanese people change the first-person pronoun

according to the person they talk to. For instance, they call themselves “Okaasan” or “Otoosan”

when they talk to their children. Conversely, American people don’t do that whoever they talk to.

They always call themselves “I”. In the last example, I will tell you about the investigation

conducted by my friend. In the investigation, my friend asked Australian and Japanese people
“Which sentence do you think is more assertive, “I think this is the better.” or “This is the better.” in

their native language. Australian people were likely to choose “I think this is the better.” while

Japanese were likely to choose “This is the better.” I think this tendency resulted from each self-

construal. Japanese people with interdependent self-construal tend to think that they shouldn’t

prioritize themselves in a discussion but Australian people with independent self-construal tend to

think that they should prioritize their opinion in a discussion. That’s why Australian people were

likely to choose the sentence including the subject, while Japanese were likely to choose the one

without the subject. In these ways, we can see the influence of cultural self-construal in our daily

life.

By the way, what news do you often see in recent years? It probably come to your mind,

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, China’s devastating of human rights in Hong Kong, Taliban rule in

Pakistan, and “Black lives matter”. I think there is the issue common to these problems. It’s

“diversity”. It seems that any of these conflicts is caused because they don’t understand each other

or won’t understand. When I was a junior high school student, I often saw the news about

globalization. Maybe, it is responsible for today’s problem. Then, I think it is important to

understand cultural diversity to make the current circumstances even remotely better. Because it is

difficult to solve these problems concerned with ethnic and racial bias by only people who have

already had a prejudice toward a specific group, especially Japanese people without the prejudice

should help them understand each other. I believe this speech about cultural self-construal leads to

your understanding diversity.