Disclosed herein is a cathode potential control device for controlling a common cathode potential applied to a self-luminous display panel adapted to drive and control the light emission status of each of the pixels by active matrix driving, the cathode potential control device including: a cathode potential determination section adapted to read a cathode potential level from a table memory according to a current panel temperature, the cathode potential level being associated with a panel temperature so as to cancel the temperature dependent characteristic of a voltage which develops between anode and cathode electrodes of a self-luminous element during light emission, the level causing a drive transistor of the self-luminous element to operate in the saturation region; and a cathode potential application section adapted to develop a cathode potential associated with the determined cathode potential level and supply the potential to a common cathode electrode of the self-luminous display panel.