The Relationship between Unrealistic Optimism and Independent-Interdependent Construals of Self in Korean Culture

In an earlier study (Heine and Lehman), Canadian students showed unrealistic optimism — believing bad things were less likely to happen to them than to others — while Japanese students instead showed unrealistic pessimism.

The study began from a question: would Korean students, also in East Asia, share the Japanese interdependent self and show pessimism?

A survey of Korean students, whose results were compared with Japanese and Canadian student data from an earlier study that used the same scale.

162 students in an introductory psychology class at Korea University (99 men, 63 women; mean age 20.7).
For 20 negative events plus 5 events happening to a family member, students gave the % chance of each happening to themselves and to a fellow student; the gap measured optimism. They also rated each event's controllability and severity, and completed self-view, self-esteem, life-satisfaction, and social-outlook measures.

By event type, optimism about personal events was stronger than about relational events — a pattern similar to Canadian students.

Students were also optimistic about bad things happening to their family, but contrary to expectations, not as strongly as about themselves.

Like Japanese students, Koreans felt relational events were more controllable — but their overall sense of control was higher than that of both Japanese and Canadian students.

The stronger the sense of "I can prevent it," the greater the optimism about personal and relational events.

On all four sub-areas of self-view (assertiveness, individual awareness/assertion, concern for evaluation, affiliation/conformity), Korean students scored higher than Japanese students.

Controlling for the other self-view, a stronger independent self went with greater optimism about personal and relational events.

Students with higher self-esteem and life satisfaction were more optimistic, read as mentally healthy people bending reality in their own favor.

Among non-religious students, more sense of control meant more optimism; among Christian students, control and optimism were unrelated.

Japanese pessimism arises not because the interdependent self is strong but because the independent self is weak; Koreans show optimism because, alongside a strong interdependent self, their independent self is also strong.

Being so conscious of others' judgment that one cannot act naturally may mark a highly relational person in Japan, but a person lacking individuality in Korea (still to be tested).

Everyone defends themselves against the threat of bad events, but which defense they choose depends on their worldview.

Because this was not a direct cross-cultural study, it cannot say for sure whether the relationships found here also hold in Japan or Canada.

Japanese respondents are known to avoid extreme answers, so it is hard to be sure the Korea–Japan differences in self-view scores are real.

Unrealistic optimism Believing that, compared with similar others, good things are more likely and bad things less likely to happen to oneself.

Interdependent view of self The view of self in East Asian cultures, including Japan, which assumes the self is fundamentally connected to others.

Familism (gajokjuui, 가족주의) A tendency to value keeping the family group intact and functioning, to treat filial piety (hyo, 효) in the father-son relationship as absolute, and to regard the household as the basic unit of life.