Implicit-explicit differences in self-enhancement for Americans and Japanese

Past research on cross-cultural psychology has shown that North Americans have self-enhancing attitudes, evaluating themselves more favorably than others, including friends. The present research identifies a discrepancy - this self-enhancement in relation to friends did not appear when measured implicitly. Using American and Japanese university students as subjects, the present studies investigated responses to explicit (self-report) and implicit measures (the Implicit Association Test) toward three targets: self, best friends, and fellow university students. Results revealed that North Americans showed more positive implicit attitudes toward best friends than toward self, a very different pattern from the explicit results. For the Japanese, best friends were evaluated slightly more positively than the self on implicit measures, which contrasted with previous findings with explicit measures that showed best friends being evaluated more positively.