Comparative study of closeness-changing based on the cultural view of self in Japan and United States

The purpose of this study is to investigate both effects of the cultural differences and the cultural view of self on closeness changing for the close-partners (e. g., friends, family, romantic partner) in the specific situations. On the basis of Markus & Kitayama (1991), we assumed that the interpretation of the situations, which changes closeness, would be affected by the cultural view of self. We hypothesized that in the situations, which sampled in Japan, the Japanese subjects would report greater change in closeness level than the Americans, and the subjects who had the interdependent view of self would show greater change in closeness level than the individuals having the independent view. The results shows that the Japanese's change level of closeness were higher in the situations that imply an attitude of sympathies, the expectation of the social role, and suggesting his/her weak points, than the American's. On the other hand, the American subjects change their closeness highly in the situations that impact upon individual's independence, the pride and the self-confidence, than the Japanese subjects. In addition, the cultural differences but not cultural view of self explained this difference. Implications of these results are discussed