Adolescent Self-Worth Construction Across Dignity, Honor, and Face Logics

Based on the trichotomy of dignity, honor, and face cultures, societies are assumed to vary in the sources of self-evaluation, and thus construct individual worth differently. In dignity cultures, an individual's worth is expected to be inherently based on internal evaluations and thus inalienable, while the self-worth of people in face cultures is thought to depend primarily on external evaluations. Additionally, in honor cultures, people are assumed to derive individual worth in a bipartite manner from both internal and external qualities. Consequently, the impact of social recognition on self-worth is assumed to vary according to the dominant cultural logic. Although theoretically well established and frequently used as a starting point for social and cross-cultural psychological research, there has been little empirical investigation into the presumed central mechanisms of differential self-worth construction across cultural logics. In addition, insights from migrants living in acculturation contexts are underrepresented. However, people in multicultural environments face specific experiences and challenges that require a deeper understanding of self-evaluative processes. The present study addresses these gaps by examining whether internal and external sources of self-esteem differentially predict overall self-worth depending on the degree to which individuals endorse honor, dignity, and face norms within the German acculturation context. The findings will provide an empirical test of the central mechanisms theorized to distinguish the cultural logics of dignity, honor, and face, and that are assumed to underlie the behavioral differences attributed to these logics. Thus, the study contributes to an advanced understanding of how cultural logics shape the construction of self worth.