It was originally meant as satire of small-town Scandinavia. But... You're definitely not encouraged make a big deal out of yourself over here. Maturity means to do your part to help the people around you. Taking up space is somewhat frowned upon and people are generally uncomfortable with accepting compliments. The mindset is collective. But there's a social class of business people and professional athletes who don't think that way. I think you basically have to be in small circles, have special abilities or be born into a family of business people to get exposed to an individualist mindset like that.