title: Emotion experience and regulation in China and the United States: how do culture and gender shape emotion responding?
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802-1003, USA. eld14@psu.edu
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Greenberger
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Charles
authors.forename: Chuansheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Libo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dong
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D044466:Asian People / Q000523:psychology*; D002681:China; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003674:Defense Mechanisms; D056348:Emotional Intelligence; D005260:Female; D005783:Gender Identity; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D008297:Male; D012945:Social Values; D012951:Socialization; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult