TY - JOUR
T1 - Cultural differences in emotion regulation during self-reflection on negative personal experiences
AU - Tsai, William
AU - Lau, Anna S.
N1 - Funding Information:
Correspondence should be addressed to: William Tsai, Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1285 Franz Hall, Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. E-mail: [email protected] This research was supported by the Foundation for Psychocultural Research · University of California, Los Angeles (FPR-UCLA) Centre for Culture, Brain, and Development (CBD).
PY - 2013/4
Y1 - 2013/4
N2 - Reflecting on negative personal experiences has implications for mood that may vary as a function of specific domains (e.g., achievement vs. interpersonal) and cultural orientation (e.g., interdependence vs. independence). This study investigated cultural differences in the social-cognitive and affective processes undertaken as Easterners and Westerners reflected on negative interpersonal and performance experiences. One hundred Asian Americans and 92 European-American college students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: interpersonal rejection, achievement failure, or a control condition. Results revealed that Asian Americans experienced greater distress than European Americans after self-reflecting over a failed interpersonal experience, suggesting cultural sensitivity in the relational domain. Consistent with theoretical predictions, analysis of the social cognitive and affective processes that participants engaged in during self-reflection provided some evidence that self-enhancement may buffer distress for European Americans, while emotion suppression may be adaptive for Asian Americans.
AB - Reflecting on negative personal experiences has implications for mood that may vary as a function of specific domains (e.g., achievement vs. interpersonal) and cultural orientation (e.g., interdependence vs. independence). This study investigated cultural differences in the social-cognitive and affective processes undertaken as Easterners and Westerners reflected on negative interpersonal and performance experiences. One hundred Asian Americans and 92 European-American college students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: interpersonal rejection, achievement failure, or a control condition. Results revealed that Asian Americans experienced greater distress than European Americans after self-reflecting over a failed interpersonal experience, suggesting cultural sensitivity in the relational domain. Consistent with theoretical predictions, analysis of the social cognitive and affective processes that participants engaged in during self-reflection provided some evidence that self-enhancement may buffer distress for European Americans, while emotion suppression may be adaptive for Asian Americans.
KW - Culture
KW - Mood
KW - Negative self-reflection
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U2 - 10.1080/02699931.2012.715080
DO - 10.1080/02699931.2012.715080
M3 - Article
C2 - 22916683
AN - SCOPUS:84875927565
SN - 0269-9931
VL - 27
SP - 416
EP - 429
JO - Cognition and Emotion
JF - Cognition and Emotion
IS - 3
ER -