Where in the brain are the self and significant others (e.g. mother) represented? Neuroscientists have traced self‐representation to the ventral medial prefrontal cortex for both Westerners and East Asians. However, significant others were represented alongside the self in the same brain area for East Asians but not for Westerners. In this experiment, Westernized bicultural Chinese were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing trait judgments that referenced the self, mother, or a non‐identified person (NIP) after Western or Chinese culture priming. Consistent with Western independent self‐construals and Chinese interdependent self‐construals, Western priming increased, whereas Chinese priming decreased the neural differentiation of mother and NIP from self.

To examine the utility of the revised Life Orientation Test (LOT‐R) to measure optimism among Hong Kong Chinese, the psychometric properties of the revised and the original versions of the Life Orientation Test were compared. A total of 248 Hong Kong Chinese undergraduates were studied in the fall and 165 of these participants were tested again 5 months later. Results indicated that the LOT‐R is a reliable and valid measure of dispositional optimism among Hong Kong Chinese. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the LOT‐R represents a one‐factor model of optimism better than does the original version. Despite its brevity, the LOT‐R is psychometrically sounder than the original sclae. These findings point to the feasibility of replacing the original with the revised scale in future research among Hong Kong Chinese. However, the utility of the revised test in cross‐cultural comparisons may still be limited by the absence of emic components. Further research on optimism in the Chinese people with the LOT‐R should pay more attention to the identification of emic dimensions.

This study examined the utility of an adapted version of the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) to measure Chinese undergraduates’ ability to bounce back from stress. The BRS together with measures tapping optimism, self-esteem, pessimism, and physical health were administered to 547 Hong Kong and 268 mainland Chinese undergraduates. The BRS was found to measure one single construct and exhibited convergent validity in both samples. Further analyses using a path analytic model showed that the BRS scores substantially mediated the link between the two positive traits (optimism and self-esteem) and physical health in the two samples. The results suggested that the BRS is a reliable and valid instrument for measuring Chinese undergraduates’ ability to bounce back from stress. The implications for further research related to resilience in Chinese people are discussed.