Abstract

In this study, three experiments were performed to investigate the asymmetry in similarity judgment between self and others in terms of the differences in cultural dispositions. The Korean college students were devided into two groups (idiocentrics and allocentrics) and instructed to judge their own similarities in various attitudes, opinions and preferences with their friends' and their friends' similarities in these aspects with theirs. As expected, idiocentrics judged that their friends are more similar with them than they themselves are similar with their friends; on the other hand, allocentrics judged that they themselves are more similar with their friends than their friends are similar with them. These facts implicate that for idiocentrics they themselves are the frame of reference in self-other similarity judgement; in contrast, for allocentrics others are the frame of reference in self-other similarity judgement.