title: Empathy, culture and self-humanising: Empathising reduces the attribution of greater humanness to the self more in Japan than Australia.
abstract: People tend to ascribe greater humanness to themselves than to others. Previous research has indicated that this "self-humanising" bias is independent of self-enhancement and robust across cultures. The present study examined the possible role of empathy in reducing this bias in Japan (N = 80) and Australia (N = 80). Results showed that unlike Australians, Japanese participants who recalled personal experiences of empathising with others were less likely to self-humanise than those in a neutral condition. The effect of the empathy manipulation was not observed in Australia. The findings suggest that empathy may reduce self-focus and enable perceivers to appreciate the full humanness of others, but this effect may be culturally contingent.
authors: Faculty of Communication, Nagoya University of Commerce and Business, Nisshin, Japan.
authors: Joonha
authors: J
authors: Park
authors: School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
authors: Nick
authors: N
authors: Haslam
authors: School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
authors: Yoshi
authors: Y
authors: Kashima
authors: Department of Psychology, Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA, USA.
authors: Vinai
authors: V
authors: Norasakkunkit
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001315:Australia; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D012938:Social Perception; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: East Asians; Empathy; Self-enhancement; Self-humanization