Decomposing the construct of ambivalence over emotional expression in a Chinese cultural context

The present study examined the construct of ambivalence over emotional expression proposed by King and Emmons ( 1990 ) in the Chinese context, and identified a factor structure different from those proposed in previous Western studies. The results of this study provided discriminant validity for this newly extracted two-factor structure of ambivalence, viz., Emotional Rumination and Emotional Suppression. Emotional Rumination was significantly predicted by the personality scales of introversion and inferiority, and the belief dimension of fate control, whereas Emotional Suppression was predicted by the personality scales of diversity, face, and harmony, and the belief dimension of social complexity. The different effects of Emotional Rumination and Emotional Suppression in predicting life satisfaction showed that emotional experience has its own specific characteristics in Chinese culture, and that responding to its emic characteristics will yield a more culturally responsive understanding of emotional experience and expression. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Is Self‐Determined Functioning a Universal Prerequisite for Motive–Goal Congruence? Examining the Domain of Achievement in Three Cultures

ABSTRACT Research has shown that capacity for accessing implicit motives promotes congruence between the implicit and the explicit motivational system: Individuals able to test a conscious goal for its fit with their implicit motivation commit themselves more fully to self‐congruent goals. However, it has not yet been shown whether this is a universal phenomenon or limited to Euro‐American cultures in which individual needs are less strictly constrained by the social environment than in other cultural contexts. Thus, the present study examined whether self‐determination interacts with the implicit achievement motive to predict how much importance individuals from Cameroon, Germany, and Hong Kong ascribe to achievement goals. Moreover, the importance ascribed to goals should indirectly predict life satisfaction via success in goal realization. Results showed that the associations described above are valid in all three cultural groups and are discussed in terms of their implications for the universal processes characterizing motivation.     

Two languages, two personalities? Examining language effects on the expression of personality in a bilingual context

The issue of whether personality changes as a function of language is controversial. The present research tested the cultural accommodation hypothesis by examining the impact of language use on personality as perceived by the self and by others. In Study 1, Hong Kong Chinese-English bilinguals responded to personality inventories in Chinese or English on perceived traits for themselves, typical native speakers of Chinese, and typical native speakers of English. Study 2 adopted a repeated measures design and collected data at three time points from written measures and actual conversations to examine whether bilinguals exhibited different patterns of personality, each associated with one of their two languages and the ethnicity of their interlocutors. Self-reports and behavioral observations confirmed the effects of perceived cultural norms, language priming, and interlocutor ethnicity on various personality dimensions. It is suggested that use of a second language accesses the perceived cultural norms of the group most associated with that language, especially its prototypic trait profiles, thus activating behavioral expressions of personality that are appropriate in the corresponding linguistic-social context.     

I want it and I want it now: Using a temporal discounting paradigm to examine predictors of consumer impulsivity

This paper proposes a new model of consumer impulsivity, using type of good, a person's endorsement of materialistic values, and identity deficits as predictors. Traditional decision making and psychological accounts see impulsive behaviour as a general overweighing of short‐term gratification (I want that dress now) relative to longer‐term concerns, irrespective of consumer good. Our proposal is that consumers' impulsivity (a) differs according to type of good and (b) is linked systematically to a combination of materialistic values and high identity deficits. Beginning with Study 1, three experiments, using a temporal discounting paradigm, show consistently that discount rates are higher for goods that are seen as highly expressive of identity (e.g., clothes) than goods not expressive of identity (e.g., basic body care products). For materialistic consumers, identity deficits predict discount rates for identity‐expressive goods (Study 2), and discount rates change for materialistic individuals when their identity deficits are made salient (Study 3). These findings support a conceptualization of consumer impulsivity as identity‐seeking behaviour.     

Saving graces: Impact of partner support and maternal attachment on partner attachments in an individualistic and a collectivist context

The current study investigated the relationships between current attachment to mother and attachment to romantic partners, and the role of current partner support and culture as moderators of that relationship. University students who were currently in a romantic relationship were recruited from Hong Kong and USA, and completed measures on attachment styles and partner support. Results showed that maternal attachment anxiety was correlated with romantic attachment anxiety; maternal attachment avoidance was correlated with romantic attachment avoidance, but this linkage varied by level of current partner support. Romantic attachment avoidance was also associated with current partner support, but this linkage was stronger for HK Chinese than for Americans. These results are discussed in terms of how interpersonal and personality factors promoted by culture can affect the developmental course of romantic relationships.     

Grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) show a feature-negative effect specific to social learning

Previous laboratory studies on social learning suggest that some animals can learn more readily if they first observe a conspecific demonstrator perform the task unsuccessfully and so fail to obtain a food reward than if they observe a successful demonstrator that obtains the food. This effect may indicate a difference in how easily animals are able to associate different outcomes with the conspecific or could simply be the result of having food present in only some of the demonstrations. To investigate we tested a scatter-hoarding mammal, the eastern grey squirrel, on its ability to learn to choose between two pots of food after watching a conspecific remove a nut from one of them on every trial. Squirrels that were rewarded for choosing the opposite pot to the conspecific chose correctly more frequently than squirrels rewarded for choosing the same pot (a feature-negative effect). Another group of squirrels was tested on their ability to choose between the two pots when the rewarded option was indicated by a piece of card. This time, squirrels showed no significant difference in their ability to learn to choose the same or the opposite pot. The results add to anecdotal reports that grey squirrels can learn by observing a conspecific and suggest that even when all subjects are provided with demonstrations with the same content, not all learning occurs equally. Prior experience or expectations of the association between a cue (a conspecific) and food influences what can be learned through observation whilst previously unfamiliar cues (the card) can be associated more readily with any outcome.     

Going beyond self-esteem to predict life satisfaction: The Chinese case

The present study examined three fundamental components contributing to life satisfaction among Chinese college students − who you are, how you conceive of yourself, and how you understand the world in which you function. To account for life satisfaction beyond self-esteem, we used two comprehensive measures of personality and social beliefs that have recently established their cross-cultural applicability: the Cross-Cultural Personality Assessment Inventory and the Social Axioms Survey. It was found that the personality variables tapping interpersonal relationship and social axioms tapping perceptions of social contexts were significantly related to life satisfaction over and above its relationship to self-esteem. These and other constructs were discussed as emic and possibly pancultural contributors to subjective well-being.     

P300 to emotionally relevant stimuli as an indicator of aggression levels

Severe acts of aggression have been associated with prefrontal dysfunction. Less severe aggression may be associated with more subtle abnormalities. P300 event‐related potentials were recorded from 32 healthy volunteers during a novel modified oddball task. The task required participants to respond only to rare, food words (targets), which occurred randomly among neutral words. Aggressive words appeared randomly with the same frequency as the target words. A median split divided subjects into high‐ and low‐aggression groups based on their scores on the Buss–Durkee Hostility Inventory. The groups did not differ in their responses to the target words. Participants with higher aggression scores had lowered responses to the aggressive words at the frontal relative to the other electrode sites. Cognitive processing of aggressive stimuli was less efficient at frontal sites in individuals who reported higher levels of aggression. This result extends work showing frontal P300 decrements in more severe aggressive groups, using simple oddball tasks. Aggr. Behav. 32:1–8, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.