A recently conducted study produced results that contradict preexisting beliefs about students and self-esteem within various cultures.

An Implicit Association Test (IAT) created by UW professor Anthony Greenwald recently looked at students' positive associations with themselves. The students selected to participate in the study came from universities in the United States, China and Japan.

The findings showed students across cultures all hold highly positive beliefs about themselves. This goes against popular thought that American culture produces more positive self-associations.

According to the IAT Web site, the test uses associations to measure implicit attitudes.

"This gives a measure of how strongly associated the two types of concepts are," according to the Web site. "The more associated, the more rapidly you should be able to respond."

This study is intriguing because it is a popularly held belief that members of Asian cultures have lower self-esteems in comparison to Americans.

In an earlier published article, Greenwald said a possible reason for the universally high esteem comes from the way children are raised.

"It may be that parents in all societies, especially mothers, adore their children and put them on a pedestal so that children worldwide absorb a highly positive self-concept," he said.

The IAT also measures other categories, such a race and age preferences.