University of Michigan, Department of Psychology, 530 Church St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1109, USA.
Psychol Sci. 2010 Aug;21(8):1150-7. doi: 10.1177/0956797610376655. Epub 2010 Jul 12.
Although recent findings indicate that people can reflect either adaptively or maladaptively over negative experiences, extant research has not examined how culture influences this process. We compared the self-reflective practices of Russians (members of an interdependent culture characterized by a tendency to brood) and Americans (members of an independent culture in which self-reflection has been studied extensively). We predicted that self-reflection would be associated with less-detrimental outcomes among Russians because they self-distance more when analyzing their feelings than Americans do. Findings from two studies supported these predictions. In Study 1, self-reflection was associated with fewer depressive symptoms among Russians than among Americans. In Study 2, Russians displayed less distress and a more adaptive pattern of construals than Americans after reflecting over a recent negative event. In addition, they self-distanced more than Americans while analyzing their feelings, and self-distancing mediated the cultural differences in self-reflection. These findings demonstrate how culture shapes the way people reflect over negative experiences.
尽管最近的研究结果表明，人们可以对负面经历进行适应性或不适应性的反思，但现有研究尚未探讨文化如何影响这一过程。我们比较了俄罗斯人（属于一个以沉思为特征的相互依存文化的成员）和美国人（属于一个自我反思得到广泛研究的独立文化的成员）的自我反思实践。我们预测，自我反思与俄罗斯人的不良后果相关度较低，因为他们在分析自己的感受时比美国人更能自我疏远。两项研究的结果支持了这些预测。在研究 1 中，自我反思与俄罗斯人的抑郁症状比美国人少有关。在研究 2 中，与美国人相比，俄罗斯人在反思最近的一次负面事件后，表现出更少的痛苦和更适应的建构模式。此外，他们在分析自己的感受时比美国人更能自我疏远，而自我疏远则调节了自我反思中的文化差异。这些发现表明了文化如何塑造人们对负面经历的反思方式。
