Which foot forward? Cultural models of self-presentation in college applications

During high-stakes interpersonal evaluations, individuals manage self-information to shape others’ perceptions and reinforce their personal goals and values. Given cultural differences in self-construal, does culture influence which “foot” individuals put forward in self-presentation? Applicants to a private university in the U.S. wrote essays about themselves as part of their applications. Dictionary-based text analysis was applied to these essays to examine cultural differences in self-presentation. Controlling for gender, intended academic programs, science degree status, and standardized test scores, Asian American applicants (n = 18,001) were more behavioral (e.g., “I do”) and less mentalistic (e.g., “I think/feel”) in their self-framing, used fewer agentic traits (e.g., confidence), and referenced more moral and familial processes than their Euro-American counterparts (n = 30,402); this interdependent model of self-presentation was associated with a higher likelihood of admission. This work calls attention to the cultural shaping of self-presentation in high-stakes evaluative contexts.