2003 Volume 19 Issue 2 Pages 135-143
The present study examined whether causal attributions of success and failure of Chinese people differ between personal or group performance situations. Three hundred Chinese participants made attributions about their success or failure in a fictitious social skill test. The result indicated a self-serving tendency in the personal performance condition. This result suggests that people in Asia do not represent the self-effacing tendency at all times. Participants indicated a group-serving tendency in the group performance condition, suggesting that Chinese do demonstrate group-serving tendency depending on success or failure. An important result was that group-serving tendency was more salient than self-serving. This suggests that Chinese self-enhancement is more readily expressed through positive causal attribution regarding the in-group.
