Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Biol Psychol. 2024 Mar;187:108767. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2024.108767. Epub 2024 Feb 27.
Prior theory and evidence suggest that native East Asians tend to down-regulate their emotional arousal to negatively valenced experiences through expressive suppression, an emotion regulation technique focused on suppressing one's emotional experience. One proposed explanation for this choice of regulation strategy and its efficacy is rooted in their commitment to the cultural value of interdependence with others. However, prior work has not yet thoroughly supported this hypothesis using in vivo neural correlates of emotion regulation. Here, we utilized an established electroencephalogram (EEG) correlate of emotional arousal, the late positive potential (LPP), to examine whether down-regulation of the LPP in native East Asians might be particularly pronounced for those relatively high in interdependent self-construal. In this study, native Japanese participants attempted to suppress their emotional reaction to unpleasant images during EEG recording. In support of the hypothesis that emotion suppression among native East Asians is influenced by the cultural value of interdependence, there was a significant effect of interdependent self-construal on the LPP. Specifically, those relatively high in interdependent (versus independent) self-construal exhibited a smaller LPP in response to unpleasant pictures when instructed to suppress their emotions versus a passive viewing condition. However, this effect was negligible for those relatively low in interdependent self-construal, suggesting that cultural values impact the in vivo efficacy of different emotion regulation techniques. These results demonstrate the importance of identifying correspondence between self-report measures and in vivo correlates of emotion regulation in cross-cultural research.
先前的理论和证据表明，东亚本地人倾向于通过表达抑制来调节自身对负性体验的情绪唤醒，这是一种专注于抑制个体情绪体验的情绪调节技术。这种调节策略及其效果的一个被提出的解释是基于他们对与他人相互依存的文化价值观的承诺。然而，之前的研究尚未使用情绪调节的活体神经相关物来充分支持这一假设。在这里，我们利用已建立的脑电图 (EEG) 情绪唤醒相关物——晚期正电位 (LPP)，来检验东亚本地人对 LPP 的调节是否可能特别受到相互依存自我建构程度较高的影响。在这项研究中，日本本地人参与者在 EEG 记录期间试图抑制他们对不愉快图像的情绪反应。这一研究支持了这样一种假设，即东亚本地人情绪抑制受到相互依存文化价值观的影响，相互依存自我建构对 LPP 有显著影响。具体来说，与独立自我建构相比，那些相互依存自我建构程度较高的人在被指示抑制情绪时，相对于被动观看条件，他们对不愉快图片的 LPP 较小。然而，对于那些相互依存自我建构程度较低的人来说，这种影响可以忽略不计，这表明文化价值观会影响不同情绪调节技术的活体效果。这些结果表明，在跨文化研究中，识别自我报告测量与情绪调节的活体相关物之间的对应关系非常重要。
