Interpersonal leveling, independence, and self-enhancement: A comparison between Denmark and the US, and a relational practice framework for cultural psychology y LOTTE THOMSEN 1,3 * , JIM SIDANIUS 1 AND ALAN PAGE FISKE 2 1 Harvard University, USA 2 University of California, Los Angeles, USA 3 University of Copenhagen, Denmark Abstract We argue that the relational model that people use for organizing specific social interactions in any culture determines whether people self-enhance. Self-enhancement is not a functional consequence of the (independent or interdependent) cultural model of self. Across three studies, Danes self-enhanced considerably less than did Americans but were more independent on the Twenty Statements Test, made more individual attributions about social life, made more autonomous scenario choices, and were more independent on the self-construal scale. Public modesty did not account for these Danish-American differences in self-enhancement. However, Danes practiced interpersonal leveling, preferring equality of outcome more than did Americans. This leveling strongly and inversely predicted self-enhancement within both cultures and mediated Danish-American differences in self-enhancement. In contrast, no independence measure systematically predicted self-enhancement within both cultures nor mediated the cultural differences in self-enhancement. This dissociation of independence and self-enhancement demonstrates that self-enhancing downward social comparisons are not functionally necessary for an independent concept of self. We conclude that social relationships, not the model of the self, mediate the mutual constitution of psyche and culture. Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Must independent selves stand out and see themselves as different and better than others? The prevailing theory in cultural psychology would answer, ‘yes.’ This thesis is supported by robust European Journal of Social Psychology Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 37, 445–469 (2007) Published online 23 August 2006 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.366 *Correspondence to: L. Thomsen, Department of Psychology, Harvard University, 33 Kirkland Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. E-mail: lthomsen@fas.harvard.edu y The paper is based on Lotte Thomsen’s MA theses at the University of Copenhagen and at the Center for Culture, Brain, and Development and Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles. It was presented in part at the Society for Cross-Cultural Research meeting in Santa Fe, 2001, the Society for Cross-Cultural Psychology meeting in Budapest, 2003 and the Society for Psychological Anthropology Biannual Meeting in San Diego, 2003. Contract/grant sponsors: Foundation for Psychocultural Research / University of California Los Angeles Center for Culture, Brain, and Development; Fulbright Scholarship; National Danish Research Agency. Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received 14 April 2005 Accepted 1 April 2006