Japanese are modest even when they are winners What do you attribute your victory over your friend? Did you win because you were more competent than your contestant? Or, did your opponent lose because he/she was inferior? You may have won because of mere luck. DIAGRAM OF THE EXPERIMENTAL SETTING Alike et al. (1997) conducted a social-comparison experiment utilizing aconfederate either win or lose in an intellectual competing game with a naïve participant. They found their American participants attributed their victory to their own ability, whereas they tended to regard their defeat caused by the winner’s exceptional ability. Alike et al. concluded that people tend to use these attribution tendencies to protect their self-esteem. “I lost, but it was because the contestant was a genius. No one could outperform him.” They dubbed it “Genius Effect.” WINNERS AND LOSERS RATED FOR THEIR INTELLIGENCE BY WINNERS, LOSERS AND OBSERVERS (TWO OBSERVERS’ RATINGS WERE COMBINED IN THE FIGURE. THE V
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