Self-Enhancement Mentality or Cognitive Preferences? Unpacking Different Approaches to Understanding Cultural Variations in Attribution Patterns.

This article investigates how three theoretical approaches—the relative self-enhancement approach, the universal self-enhancement approach, and the cognition approach—simultaneously explain cultural differences in attribution behavior regarding success and failure. Two experimental studies involving college students from Western and various East Asian cultures (mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan) found that attribution patterns vary depending on cultural group and measurement method. Specifically, when assessed by Likert scales, results supported the cognition approach, showing East Asians (notably Japanese and Hong Kong Chinese) emphasize external causes more than Westerners regardless of outcome, while mainland Chinese resembled Westerners in emphasizing internal causes. Conversely, rank-order measures supported the relative self-enhancement approach, revealing that East Asians tend to attribute failure more to internal causes than Westerners. The findings highlight the importance of treating each cultural group as distinct, recognizing cultural shifts—especially among mainland Chinese youth—and considering both cognitive styles and self-enhancing motives alongside measurement methods to understand cross-cultural attribution differences.