Abstract：With the economic globalization, cross-cultural communication has been a common phenomenon. Culture is the impediment of cross-cultural communication. Different cultures have different “self”. China and America have huge differences in cultural values, especially in the “self” culture. Therefore, understanding the differences of “self” in Chinese and American cultures has a profound and revelatory meaning to the research and study of cross-cultural communication in our country.
The paper mainly talks about the differences of “self” in Chinese and American cultures, which is presented from four aspects: origins, definitions of human nature, self identify and self image, and communication style. Apart from those, the paper also points out the conflicts caused by the differences of self in cultural communication, which is presented in emotion expressions, relations between self and others, privacy and equality, individualism and collectivism. At last, the author calls on communicators to draw inspirations from the comparative study of “self”, and to acquire more knowledge about cultures.
Keywords: self differences Chinese and American cultures
摘要：随着经济的全球化，跨文化交际已是很普遍的现象。文化是跨文化交际的障碍。不同的文化有不同的文化自我观。中国和美国，两者在文化价值观念上，尤其是文化自我观方面存在着极大的差异。所以，了解中美文化的自我观差异，对我国的跨文化交际研究与学习具有深刻的启示意义。
本文主要从中美的渊源、人性本质界定、自我身份与自我形象以及中美交流模式这四个方面讨论了自我观在中美文化中的差异。此外，还指出了自我观差异在中美文化交际中引起的冲突，如在情感方面、自己和他人的关系方面、隐私和平等方面、西方的个人主义与中国的集体主义方面。最后，作者呼吁人们要从自我观的对比研究中得到启示，并学习了解更多的文化知识。
关键词: 自我；差异；中美文化
