J a p a n e s e    C u l t u r e

The "Me versus Others Scale" (Campbell, et al., 2004) shown above (without permission) is a non-verbal measure of self-importance which is found to correlate positively with entitlement and narcissism. More than one paper on narcissim, that uses the scale on US subjects does not however mention the median score on the scale.

In fact among US subjects, which contain a lot of Western style  - I would say verbal/linguistic - narcissists (Twenge & Campbell, 2009), the mean score is only 4.15 (Piff, 2014) just a fraction higher than the fourth picture, in which the self is shown to be the same size as others. How can this be?

Japaense usually rate themselves at a similar just-above-the-middle point in linguistic scales of self-worth such as the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale (Heine, et. al. 1999). I predict that if given this test, the Japanese will rate themselves at approximately where Americans rate themselves on verbal scales, at the boundary of the upper 4th quartile, at about the 6 on this scale.

Please try it on your Japanese friends and family. My informant scored a six.

Campbell, W. K., Bonacci, A. M., Shelton, J., Exline, J. J., & Bushman, B. J. (2004). Psychological entitlement: Interpersonal consequences and validation of a self-report measure. Journal of personality assessment, 83(1), 29-45. 
www.researchgate.net/profile/Brad_Bushman/publication/527...
Piff, P. K. (2014). Wealth and the Inflated Self Class, Entitlement, and Narcissism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40(1), 34-43.
bathtubbulletin.ning.com/profiles/blogs/4569347:BlogPost:...
Twenge, J.M. &  Campbell K. W.(2009) The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement,  Free Press.

Labels: japan, japanese culture, psychology, reversal, 日本文化