Self-construal Research Articles

Exploring the Linkage Between Self-Construal and Student Learning Process with Moderation of Demotivation and Disengagement Drawing on TRA

This study confers certain psychological factors that may affect the learning process of the students such as self-construal, demotivation, and disengagement. Nevertheless, extensive work has been accomplished on the theme of individuals’ motivation and engagement within numerous domains across the world. How self-construal (SC), demotivation (DM), and disengagement (DE) may affect students’ learning process (SLP) got far less reflection by the investigators. Therefore, this study attempts to validate the relationships between self-construal and students’ English learning process with the moderation of two factors, that is, demotivation and disengagement based on a theory of reasoned action. Data were carefully accumulated between September 2022 and November 2022 by targeting 783 students who were trying to learn English within the Chinese market. We currently applied structural modeling to confirm the proposed connections along with the validation process using the SmartPls tool. It is found that SC has a positive connection with SLP. Second, the results proved the insignificant role of both moderating variables such as DM and DE between the relationships of SC and SLP, respectively. This study provides insights into new understandings about motivations along with riveting findings for those individuals or students who were disconnected or demotivated to learn English. Moreover, the study equips numerous fascinating applications for English learners along with future potentials for researchers showing current deficiencies of the work.

Self-construal modulates context-based social comparison preferences in outcome evaluations

Self-construal (SC) describes how people perceive the relationship between themselves and others and is usually divided into interdependent and independent types. Several studies have been conducted on how people with independent and interdependent SC process their own and others’ outcomes. However, few studies have investigated the influence of SC on outcome evaluation in a social comparison context. To explore this, we randomly assigned participants to interdependent and independent SC priming groups and analyzed the affects and electrophysiological responses generated when they played gambling games with two pseudo-players. The results showed that self-gambling state, SC, and social comparison interacted to influence feedback-related negativity (FRN). In the self-win condition, performances that differed from others elicited more negative FRN than evenness for both the interdependent and independent groups. In the self-loss condition, this effect was only found in the independent group. These results suggest that the outcome evaluation patterns in social contexts are not fixed but vary according to self-gambling state and SC.

The impact of COVID-19 information overload on Vietnamese consumers' online purchase intention

PurposeUsing data from Vietnam to reveal which factors affected the impressive growth of Vietnam's e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) framework, the study proposed a conceptual model in which the influence of COVID-19 information overload (IO) on online purchase intention (OPI) was discovered. The authors were also interested in examining the moderator roles of self-construal (SC), perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU) in inducing the intention to make an online purchase.FindingsPerceived threat (PT) and cyberchondria (C) played full mediation roles in the impact of IO on OPI. Moreover, PT was found to be a partial mediator of the relationship between IO and C. Furthermore, interdependent self-construal (IntSC) positively moderated the positive effect of IO on PT. Finally, PU and PEOU showed significant moderated moderation effects, in which PU moderated the effects of PT and C on OPI, whereas PU itself was moderated by PEOU.Research limitations/implicationsUnderstanding the positive effects of IO, C and PT on OPI can be useful for marketers. In addition, managers should improve the ease-of-use and usefulness of online stores/platforms to attract more consumers to online channels.Practical implicationsMarketers and managers should learn more about how to take advantage of IO, PT and C. For instance, to sell medical supplements, marketer should push up related-health information such as obesity, diabetics, to make consumers perceive a threat to their health and search for ways to improve their health condition. This is the time when advertisements for medical supplements bring into play. This method can be applied in many different fields. The key is that marketers should find out what is the threat that their targeted customers can perceive and then spread out a huge amount of relevant information.Social implicationsThe government should control infodemic and guide people to obtain official information. This helps to restrain the PT and C, which seriously harm people's health and affect their behaviors, such as making unusual or panicked purchases. This study also suggests a considerable concern that residents of Asian cultures, where IntSC is dominant, may perceive threat more than residents of Western cultures.Originality/valueLimited research addresses the relationship between PEOU and PU when they act as moderators. Current research not only explains the moderation effect of PU under the influence of PEOU but also suggests that PEOU may be more important than PU in emerging markets due to customers' inexperience in online markets or channels. It also explores the factors that influenced OPI in Vietnam during the COVID-19 outbreak and contributes to the scientific literature on Vietnam, especially in terms of discovering the tendency of SC, which has not been mentioned before in research about Vietnamese.

Acculturation and Its Implications for the Academic Achievement and Subjective Well-Being of East Asian International Students

The U.S. higher education system hosts a wide range of international students with the majority from East Asian countries. East Asian international students may have particular difficulty with acculturating into a novel environment given their predominant interdependent self-construal, which contrasts with the largely independent cultural imperative of the West. The present study investigates the potential associations between international students’ acculturation, self-construal (SC), and their academic and psychological adjustment (e.g., achievement goals, academic achievement, subjective well-being) to shed light on how East Asian international students can best adapt to a new culture. Participants included a total of 48 East Asian international students (25 male, 23 female; age range: 18 to 23). Results from a series of correlation analyses indicated that there were no significant correlations between acculturation strategy and self-construal. However, there was a significant correlation between performance-avoidance goals and GPA. Additionally, the separation strategy was negatively associated with negative affect and positively associated with life satisfaction, and the marginalization strategy was positively associated with negative affect and negatively associated with life satisfaction. The findings suggest that acculturation strategy is not directly linked to academic achievement; instead, it has a more prominent influence on well-being among East Asian international students. Further longitudinal research may provide a more comprehensive understanding of the association between acculturation and achievement goals in this unique student population.

Oscillatory alpha power at rest reveals an independent self: A cross-cultural investigation

In the current cultural psychology literature, it is commonly assumed that the personal self is cognitively more salient for those with an independent (vs. interdependent) self-construal (SC). So far, however, this assumption remains largely untested. Here, we drew on evidence that resting state alpha power (RSAP) reflects mental processes constituting the personal self, and tested whether RSAP is positively correlated with independent (vs. interdependent) SC. Study 1 tested European Americans and Taiwanese, whereas Study 2 tested European Americans and Japanese (total N = 164). A meta-analysis performed on the combined data confirmed a reliable association between independent (vs. interdependent) SC and RSAP. However, this association was only reliable when participants had their eyes closed. Even though European Americans were consistently more independent than East Asians, RSAP was no greater for European Americans than for East Asians. Our data helps explore a missing link in the theorizing of contemporary cultural psychology.

Interdependent self-construal predicts increased gray matter volume of scene processing regions in the brain

Interdependent self-construal (SC) is thought to lead to a more holistic cognitive style that emphasizes the processing of the background scene of a focal object. At present, little is known about whether the structural properties of the brain might underlie this functional relationship. Here, we examined the gray matter (GM) volume of three cortical regions involved in scene processing -- a cornerstone of contextual processing. Study 1 tested 78 European American non-student adults and found that interdependent (vs. independent) SC predicts higher GM volume in the parahippocampal place area (PPA), one of the three target regions. Testing both European American and East Asian college students (total N = 126), Study 2 replicated this association. Moreover, the GM volume of all the three target regions was greater for East Asians than for European Americans. Our findings suggest that there is a structural neural underpinning for the cultural variation in cognitive style.

Interdependent self-construal predicts reduced sensitivity to norms under pathogen threat: An electrocortical investigation

Prior evidence suggests that external threat motivates people to monitor norm violations. However, the effect of threat may be attenuated for those high in interdependent self-construal (SC) because this SC affords a sense of protection against the threat. Here, we tested this possibility by priming or not priming young American adults with a pathogen threat. We then had participants read norm-violating or normal behaviors while assessing two electrocortical markers: N400 (indexing the detection of norm violations) and suppression of upper α-band power (indexing vigilance to the violations). In the threat priming condition, interdependent SC predicted decreased responsiveness to norm violations. In the control priming condition, however, interdependent SC predicted increased responsiveness. Our work suggests that interdependent SC may provide a sense of security under threat.

Inter-Edge and Cloud conversion accelerated user-generated content for virtual brand community

Web-based enterprises have increasingly begun to build their own virtual brand community on the Cloud. How to encourage Web users to generate Web content in the Web community continuously and permanently has become the focal point. However, few studies have explored that how to drive the motivation of user-generated content (UGC) named self-enhancement (SE) internalized from the perspective of user’s personal characteristics and then enhance the intention of UGC. Even fewer studies have been devoted to drive the motivation of UGC from the perspective of information technology. Based on self-construal (SC) theory, self-determination (SD) theory, and current immersive applications of Edge computing, we proposed to a solution of user-generated content motivation internalized in the virtual brand community implemented through the manipulation of the tradeoff of inter-Edge and Cloud processing. Our survey shows that different types of self-construal (SC) users have different levels of internal motivation for self-enhancement (SE) accomplished through the organization of user characteristics. We build a detailed simulation of the change of time delay, availability, and cost of inter-Edge and Cloud conversion to demonstrate the feasibility of our proposed mechanism of UGC motivation internalized in the virtual brand community in guiding enhancing the intention of UGC in the community in practice.

Interdependent self-construal predicts emotion suppression in Asian Americans: An electro-cortical investigation

Although people with high interdependent self-construal (SC) are often assumed to be competent in emotion suppression, direct evidence is missing. We tested whether interdependent SC would predict the ability to down-regulate emotional arousal. Americans of both East Asian and European descent were shown a series of pictures. They were instructed to suppress or attend to their emotions. Their electroencephalogram was recorded and analyzed. The late positive potential (LPP) evoked by unpleasant (vs. neutral) pictures (a marker of emotional arousal) was reduced in the suppress (vs. attend) condition. This effect of emotion suppression was more pronounced for those high in interdependent SC than for those low in it. Curiously, the resulting valence x condition x interdependent SC interaction was robust among those of Asian descent, but not those of European descent. The 4-way interaction involving culture was statistically significant. Our work suggests that the purported link between interdependent SC and emotion suppression may be culture-bound.

Interdependent self‐construal matters in the community context: Relationships of self‐construal with community identity and participation

AbstractTwo studies investigate the relationship between self‐construal (SC), community identity, and community participation among Chinese urban residents. Study 1 (n = 261) measured SC, community identity, and community participation behavior. Using cluster analysis, 4 distinct subgroups emerged: those with (a) independent SC, (b) interdependent SC, (c) dual SC, and (d) marginal SC. Results indicated that individuals in the interdependent SC subgroup reported higher community identity, particularly emotional identity, and more participation behavior than those in the independent and dual SC subgroups. Study 2 (n = 53) experimentally activated SC before measuring community identity and community participation intention. Results indicated that individuals primed with interdependent SC reported greater community identity, particularly emotional identity, and higher participation intention than those primed with independent SC. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications.

Tolerating dissimilar other when primed with death: neural evidence of self-control engaged by interdependent people in Japan

Mortality salience (MS) has been shown to lead to derogation of others with dissimilar worldviews, yet recent research has shown that Asian-Americans who presumably adopt an interdependent self-construal (SC) tend to reveal greater tolerance after MS induction. In the present study, we demonstrated that Japanese individuals who are high on interdependent SC indeed show greater tolerance toward worldview-threatening other in the MS (vs control) condition, thus replicating the prior research. Extending this research, we also found that interdependent people’s tolerance toward worldview-threatening other was mediated by increased activity in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in the MS condition. These data suggested that when exposed to death-related stimuli, highly interdependent individuals may spontaneously activate their neural self-control system which may serve to increase tolerance toward others.

Temporal duration and attribution process of cause-related marketing: moderating roles of self-construal and product involvement

Applying the self-construal (SC) temporal match effect to a cause marketing context, this study investigated the conditions under which cause-related marketing campaigns generate stronger altruistic attributions of sponsor motives and subsequently purchase intention. As major factors, temporal duration (long-term vs. short-term), SC (independent vs. interdependent), and product involvement (high vs. low) were incorporated in the integrative model and the three-way interaction effect on altruistic attributions was assessed. With the use of online experimental data from 323 college students, the matching effect of temporal duration and SC was found, such that independent individuals were influenced by the message that was framed with the distant, long-term duration. Our findings further found that this matching effect was more pronounced for the high-involvement product, but not for the low-involvement product. In addition, this study discovered that altruistic attributions mediated the effect of temporal duration on purchase intention in the low-involvement product condition, but not in the high-involvement condition. Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed for researchers and practitioners.

The role of self-concept in cross-cultural communication

Empirical evidence supports the notion that communication behaviors in intercultural encounters are effectively extensions of cultural values as well as epistemologies. Study 1 established communication behaviors of Asians and New Zealanders (NZs) as consistent with vertical collectivism and horizontal individualism, respectively. In particular, argumentativeness is positively related to independent self-construal (SC) and negatively related to interdependent SC. This supports Markus and Kitayama’s SC theory. Study 2 showed that NZs exhibited more idiocentric and argumentative behavior, while Asians displayed more sociocentric and less argumentative behavior during two actual interactions; specifically, participants diverged in their communication styles to be more consistent with their cultural values during intercultural interactions. Analyses of decision outcomes provide support that culture moderates cognitive consistency behaviors such that NZs exhibited more inconsistency-reduction behaviors, which is rooted in adherence to noncontradiction. In contrast, Asians exhibited more inconsistency-support behaviors, suggesting that naive dialecticism rooted in acceptance of contradiction is customary in Asian social interaction.

자기 해석과 메시지 지향성이 가치 주장 광고 효과에 미치는 영향

Abstract The present study examined the effects of self-construal and me ssage orientation on value advocacy advertising. An experiment of college students was conducted to investigate relationship between the attitude toward advocacy advertisements and the purchase intention. The results showed that people with interdependent self-constru al have more positive attitude toward the advocacy advertisements than people with independent self-construal. The interaction effects between self-construal and mes-sage orientation on the value advocacy advertisements were not found significant. However, it was found that even people with independent self-construal showed more positive attitude toward the advocacy advertisement with oth-ers-orientation messages than the advertisement with self-orien tation messages in value advocacy advertising. Based on the findings, theoretical and managerial implications for value advocacy advertising were discussed. Keywords：Values Advocacy Advertising, Self-Construal, Message Orientation, Advertising Effect

Self-construal and cultural orientation as predictors for developmental goals: A comparison between Brazilian and German caregivers

The aim of this study was to investigate caregivers' developmental goals in Brazil and Germany and to explain inter- and intracultural variations in these goals by taking their respective subjective cultural values into account. The main question was whether caregivers' preferences of developmental goals depend on their perception of prevailing norms in the culture or on their personal value preferences. German and Brazilian kindergarten teachers and mothers of 5-year-old children (N = 128) participated in the study. They were asked to select and rank the developmental goals based on importance out of a given list of goals. Furthermore, the caregivers' self-construal (SCS) and their normative and evaluative cultural orientation (COS) were assessed. Results yielded culture-specific differences for self-construal, cultural orientation, and preferences of developmental goals. The caregivers' perception of prevailing cultural norms was the best predictor for goal preferences.