Premium
Emotion experience and regulation in China and the United States: How do culture and gender shape emotion responding?
Author(s) -
Davis Elizabeth,
Greenberger Ellen,
Charles Susan,
Chen Chuansheng,
Zhao Libo,
Dong Qi
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1080/00207594.2011.626043
Subject(s) - disengagement theory , psychology , distancing , emotion work , social psychology , china , negative emotion , emotional expression , expressed emotion , developmental psychology , covid-19 , gerontology , medicine , disease , pathology , political science , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law
Culture and gender shape emotion experience and regulation, in part because the value placed on emotions and the manner of their expression is thought to vary across these groups. This study tested the hypothesis that culture and gender would interact to predict people's emotion responding (emotion intensity and regulatory strategies). Chinese ( n = 220; 52% female) and American undergraduates ( n = 241; 62% female) viewed photos intended to elicit negative emotions after receiving instructions to either “just feel” any emotions that arose ( Just Feel ), or to “do something” so that they would not experience any emotion while viewing the photos ( Regulate ). All participants then rated the intensity of their experienced emotions and described any emotion‐regulation strategies that they used while viewing the photos. Consistent with predictions, culture and gender interacted with experimental condition to predict intensity: Chinese men reported relatively low levels of emotion, whereas American women reported relatively high levels of emotion. Disengagement strategies (especially distancing) were related to lower emotional intensity and were reported most often by Chinese men. Taken together, findings suggest that emotion‐regulation strategies may contribute to differences in emotional experience across Western and East Asian cultures.