Self-Presentation Bias and Continuing Motivation Among Chinese Students: A Cross-Cultural Phenomenon

Abstract

Self-presentation bias and continuing motivation for difficult and easy tasks among Grade 7 and 11 students in the People's Republic of China were investigated. Participants were 517 students from two schools in Wuhan, China. They read short scenarios in which male or female characters performed tasks that they considered to be hard or easy. The students then answered a question for each scenario about whether the scenario character would do a second task of the same type and a question about whether they themselves would do the second task. They reported higher return-to-task rates for easy tasks than for hard ones, thus revealing stronger continuing motivation for easy tasks. Self-presentation bias was indicated by a significant interaction in which students reported a higher return rate to difficult tasks for themselves than for the scenario character, and a lower return rate to easy tasks for themselves than for the scenario character. The results reveal patterns of self-presentation bias and continuing motivation among Chinese students that are similar to those obtained in recent research with Grade 7 and Grade 11 American students.