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Super-Ordinary Bias Among Japanese: Is It Unique to Japanese Culture?

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Asian Indigenous Psychologies in the Global Context

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Indigenous Psychology ((PASIP))

Abstract

Mainstream psychology has observed that people from Western cultures value being unique and being positively distinguished from others. On the other hand, the Japanese have a tendency to be modest rather than unique , which can be in interpreted as a reflection of placing a high value on collectivism . Rather than seeking personal happiness, Japanese value maintaining harmonious relationships with important others, which result in emphasizing ordinariness and similarity with others. We theorized that Japanese tend to perceive themselves as being ordinary , so much so that their self-predictions about future life events are biased toward ordinariness (super-ordinary bias ). This tendency is not restricted to the estimation of future life events. The present chapter points out that Japanese (and perhaps Asians in general) have another motivation for being ordinary and discusses its implications.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It is interesting to note that the interpersonal cost of the pursuit of higher self-esteem has been highlighted in North America as well (Crocker & Park, 2004). Our argument is that the cost is even higher in Japan and the other Asian countries.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tokyo Future University, Tokyo, Japan

    Megumi M. Ohashi

  2. University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Susumu Yamaguchi

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  1. Megumi M. Ohashi
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  2. Susumu Yamaguchi
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Correspondence to Megumi M. Ohashi .

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  1. Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

    Kuang-Hui Yeh

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Ohashi, M.M., Yamaguchi, S. (2019). Super-Ordinary Bias Among Japanese: Is It Unique to Japanese Culture?. In: Yeh, KH. (eds) Asian Indigenous Psychologies in the Global Context. Palgrave Studies in Indigenous Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96232-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96232-0_8

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