Abstract: For most individuals, information about the self is associated with a positive valence. Individuals attribute positive traits or outcomes to internal, stable and global personal characteristics whereas negative traits or outcomes are identified as unrelated to personal characteristics. This attributional bias is known as the self-positivity bias. Using behavioral experiments and cognitive neuroscience measures, the present project attempted to identify the processing of self-reference and emotional valence, and to confirm the existence of the self-positivity bias in Collectivist Cultures. The aim of the present project was to investigate the self-positivity bias and its variability at an implicit level comparing with an explicit level, to comprehend the brain and neural mechanisms, particularly, to explore the promotion and change of implicit self-positivity bias in depressive individuals. The present project also attempted to reveal the nature and feature of implicit self-positivity bias, to provide evidence to functional processing hierarchy for self-relevant and emotional information. The completion of this project can not only understand the complicated relationship of self and emotion at an implicit level, but also make significant exploration of the neural mechanisms and further unscramble the nature of Chinese people’s self.

Key words: self, emotional valence, implicit self-positivity bias, ERPs