How epidemic information and policy information impact anti-infection behaviors: a cross-cultural study under social influence framing

Three preregistered experiments examined to what extent information about an epidemic situation provided by experts and information about anti-infection policies promoted by governments/media influenced anti-infection behaviors. The above effects were examined among populations from different countries (in Experiments 2 and 3) and across self-construals (in Experiment 3). In three experiments, participants (N =706) were presented with a scenario where experts provided (or did not provide) information about an epidemic situation and governments/media promoted (or did not promote) information about anti-infection policies. After that, participants indicated their willingness to adopt anti-infection behaviors. Results across three experiments showed that both types of information independently increased participants' anti-infection behaviors. In Experiments 2 and 3, we further found that the epidemic information had a larger impact on inducing anti-infection behaviors than the policy information, which was robust and consistent across countries and self-construals. Findings were discussed under the framework of social influence and in terms of practical implications for pandemic situations like the COVID-19.

Culture and self-construal in the age of globalization: an empirical inquiry based on multiple approaches

Introduction

There are three main types of culture in human society, namely, individual-oriented, relationship-oriented and social-oriented cultures. In history, there are two main positions on the relationship between culture and self-construal: the cultural determinist position and the interaction position. After analyzing literature critically, we propose that the interaction position is more persuasive than the cultural determinist position. A self-construal model was constructed from an interactionist and polycultural perspective, pointing out the relationship between three cultures and self-construal. We argue that individuals interacting with cultures in the context of globalization can develop a more integrated self-construal. The present study proposes the existence of polycultural self-construal, and aimed to explore how self-construal factors relate to cultures.

Methods

Three approaches-psychological tests, priming with cultural icons and content analysis-were used to explore mechanisms between cultures (individual-oriented, relationship-oriented, and social-oriented cultures) and self-construal. In Study 1, we recruited 460 undergraduate students as participants through campus advertising to complete three psychological tests, namely, the Cultural Identity Scale (CIS), the Marlowe-Crowne Social Approval Scale (MC-SDS), and the Polycultural Self-construal Scale (PSCS). In Study 2, we created icon materials that could prime the three cultures. The experimental process was divided into two stages: priming and measurement. First, 165 participants were presented with icon materials on the computer screen to activate the corresponding culture, and then they were asked to complete the PSCS. In Study 3, the experimental procedures were followed as for Study 2. Then the Ten Statements Test (TST) was used. Each of the 178 participants gave 10 different responses to the question of "Who am I?." Each participant's "I am …" narratives were qualitatively processed using content analysis.

Results

The individual-oriented culture mainly affects the individuality and equality factor of self-construal. The relationship-oriented culture mainly impacts the relationality factor of self-construal, while the social-oriented culture mainly affects the collectivity and equality factors of self-construal. There were no significant differences in the effects of the three cultures on the autonomy factor of self-construal. The multi-components of the polycultural self-construal are difficult to interpret based on one culture type. All three cultures have specific and shared effects on human self-construal.

Selecting the special or choosing the common? A high-powered conceptual replication of Kim and Markus' (1999) pen study

Kim and Markus (1999; Study 3) found that 74% of European Americans selected a pen with an uncommon (vs. common) color, whereas only 24% of East Asians made such a choice, highlighting a pronounced cross-cultural difference in the extent to which people opt for originality or make majority-based choices. The present high-powered study (N = 729) conceptually replicates the results from Kim and Markus (1999; Study 3), although our effect size (r = .12) is significantly weaker than that of the original study (r = .52). Interestingly, a larger proportion of Chinese, but not US, participants selected a pen with an uncommon color now than during the original study. Thus, our findings indicate a potential transmission of certain Western values to cultures traditionally characterized by collectivism and conformity, likely exacerbated by the globalization of mass media and the rapid economic growth in many East Asian countries.

Explaining differences in self-focused and other-involved public health preventive behaviors between the US and China: the role of self- construal and health locus of control

Background

This study examined national similarities and differences in people's engagement in health preventive behaviors during a public health crisis, as well as investigated the underlying individual-level psychological mechanisms. A conceptual distinction was made between self-focused and other-involved preventive behaviors in response to public health crises.

Method

Two cross-sectional surveys were conducted in the United States (N = 888) and China (N = 844) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hayes' PROCESS was utilized to assess national differences in seven preventive behaviors, along with the mediating effects of self-construal and health locus of control.

Results

The results showed that American participants reported greater engagement in self-focused preventive behaviors than Chinese, whereas Chinese participants reported greater engagement in other-involved preventive behaviors than Americans. Chinese participants also engaged more in other-involved than self-focused preventive behaviors. Self-construal and health locus of control partially explained the observed differences in engagement in preventive behaviors.

Discussion

This study introduces a culture-sensitive approach to provide insights for crafting communication interventions that can enhance the effectiveness of health campaigns in the context of a public health crisis.

One independent or many independent? The relationship among self-construal, number of brand endorsers, and brand attitudes

Introduction

It was common for brands to use different numbers of endorsers in marketing practice. Nevertheless, research on brand endorsers' quantity has not yielded a uniform consensus. The previous research about brand endorsers mainly focuses on the appeal of endorsement, brand category, and endorser characteristics, paying less attention to the impact of cultural factors, particularly self-construal. This study delves into selecting brand endorsers across diverse cultural regions for the same brand.

Methods

Drawing on the principles of self-consistency theory and self-construal theory, our research, conducted through three distinct experiments, reveals that consumers tend to hold more favorable opinions about brands endorsed by a single individual. Furthermore, self-consistency emerges as a crucial mediating factor in this phenomenon. Additionally, self-construal is an essential factor among consumers from various cultural backgrounds.

Results

Consumers with an independent self-construal exhibit more favorable brand perceptions when it comes to single-endorser brands compared to their counterparts with an interdependent self-construal. Conversely, individuals with an interdependent self-construal demonstrate a more positive disposition towards brands with multiple endorsers than those with an independent self-construal.

Discussion

This research not only enriches and extends our theoretical understanding of the impact of the number of brand endorsers on consumer brand attitudes but also provides valuable practical insights for optimizing the selection of brand endorsers for companies.

Deviation from Design: A Meta-Analytic Review on the Link Between Social Media Use and Less Connection Between the Self and Others

Social media were designed to connect people and support interpersonal relationships. However, whether social media use is linked to the connection between the self and others is unknown. The present research reviewed findings across psychology to address whether social media use is linked to defining and expressing the self as connected to others (i.e., interdependence) versus separate from others (i.e., independence) and whether this link appears in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Eligible studies reported an association between social media use (e.g., time spent, frequency of use) and a characteristic supportive of independence (e.g., narcissism, envy, self-enhancement). Meta-analytic results of 133 effect sizes across the reviewed studies show that social media use is linked to independence rather than interdependence. This relationship was more pronounced in collectivistic cultures than in individualistic cultures. These findings suggest that characteristics linked to social media use differ from what one might expect based on the design of social media to connect people.

Culture and gender influence self-construal in mother-preschooler reminiscing

The present study examined how culture and gender influence the self-construal of mothers and their four-year-olds during dyadic reminiscing. Participants were 21 Thai (11 girls, 10 boys) and 21 American (10 girls, 11 boys) mother-child dyads. Thai dyads exhibited a more interdependent self-construal, whereas American dyads exhibited a more independent self-construal, as measured by personal and group pronoun usage and discussions of behavioral expectations, thoughts and feelings, and personal attributes. Girls and boys differed in the extent to which their self-construal was defined in relation to others in their social groups, for example girls mentioned teachers and classmates more than boys. Culture and gender also interacted in influencing self-construal, with Thai girls (but not boys) mentioning family members more than American counterparts. These findings suggest that the development of children's self-construal, particularly the extent to which children are socialized to view and express themselves independently of others or interdependently with others, differs depending on culture and gender. This work contributes to our understanding of the relationship between autobiographical memory and self during the formative years. Starting as early as preschool, our social environment influences the way we remember our experiences, which in turn shapes our self-construal.

Focusing on the positive or the negative: Self-construal moderates negativity bias in impression updating

Negativity bias refers to the phenomenon whereby people put more weight on negative information. Although evolutionarily favorable for survival, negative bias in impression processing is detrimental to relationships and cooperation. To explore whether the motivation to maintain relationships, indicated by self-construal, mitigates negativity bias, two studies were conducted. In study 1, participants interacted with three agents (worsened, improved, baseline) in a modified social learning task and evaluated the moral level of these agents. Results showed that positivity bias appeared among interdependent individuals, with larger updating for the improved agent than for the worsened agent. Moreover, interdependent individuals exhibited less immediate decreases toward the worsened agent and steeper increases toward the improved agent than did independent individuals. To validate the results of study 1, we used a narrative description paradigm in study 2. Participants read the behavior descriptions of agents and rated them on morality. The negativity bias was significantly mitigated among individuals with high interdependence, though it did not reverse. These results indicate that interdependent individuals focus more on positive information when others change, yielding a more positive pattern in impression updating. This flexible interpersonal coping strategy can bring advantages to social interaction and cooperation.

Effect of Space Order on Impulse Buying: Moderated by Self-Construal

OBJECTIVE

Impulse buying is a recognized phenomenon as consumers have abundant shopping opportunities. We investigate whether orderly space encourages consumers to buy impulsively and whether this relationship is moderated by self-construal. Specifically, we hypothesize that consumers show greater impulse buying intentions when space is orderly than disorderly. We also hypothesize that when interdependent self-construal is primed, the effect of orderly space on consumers' increased impulse buying intentions will be attenuated.

BACKGROUND

Our hypotheses are based on the research about emotions that consumers experience while they shop in a retail store. When the store is orderly, consumers experience pleasure. In contrast, disorganized shelves, unsorted merchandise, and messy clothing racks evoke negative emotions. A recent study shows consumers' positive emotional responses to a retail environment result in heightened impulse buying.

METHODS

Two experiments were carried out to test the two hypotheses. Experiment 1 employed a 2 (space order: orderly vs. disorderly) between-subjects design. Participants randomly received one of the two store images and were asked to indicate their impulse-buying intentions. Experiment 2 employed a 2 (space order: orderly vs. disorderly) × 2 (self-construal: independent vs. interdependent) between-subjects design. Participants were randomly given one of the two store images and one of the two self-construal priming tasks to measure their impulse buying intentions.

RESULTS

As hypothesized, Experiment 1 demonstrated that participants exerted stronger impulse-buying intentions in an orderly space. Experiment 2 also showed that when participants were primed by interdependent self-construal, their impulse buying intentions did not differ, regardless of whether the space was orderly.

IMPLICATIONS

Our findings provide insights for offline store managers. To nudge visitors to buy impulsively, managers should organize their spaces orderly. However, the effect of space order on consumers' impulse buying will disappear when consumers' interdependent self-construal is activated. Our findings contribute to the academic research into the factors that lead consumers to buy impulsively.

Differences in Aggressive Behavior of Individuals with Different Self-Construal Types after Social Exclusion in the Same Cultural Background

Aggressive behavior is one of the pervasive and costly negative behaviors in everyday life. Previous studies have shown that individuals who are excluded tend to exhibit more aggressive behaviors, but it is unclear whether the type of self-construction of individuals in the same cultural background will affect the differences in aggressive behavior after being excluded. Therefore, the current study examined the differences in aggressive behavior of individuals with different self-construal types in the same cultural background after social exclusion through two experiments. A total of 128 effective participants were recruited for Experiment 1. Individuals' self-construal types were classified by the Self-Construal Scale, the cyberball game was used for the manipulation of social exclusion, and the laboratory assistant application paradigm was used to measure individuals' relational aggression. The results showed that compared with interdependent self-constructors, independent self-constructors exhibited more relational aggression in the exclusion group. A total of 141 effective participants were recruited for Experiment 2. Using the same method as Experiment 1 to classify participants' self-construal types and induce excluded experiences, the hot sauce paradigm was used to measure individuals' physical aggression. The results showed that compared with interdependent self-constructors, independent self-constructors exhibited more physical aggression in the exclusion group. The current study helps to understand whether social exclusion negatively impacts individuals with different self-constructors in the same cultural background and provides enlightenment on how individuals who are self-constructors cope with social exclusion.

Impact of Social Interaction on Customer Engagement in China's Social Commerce-A Moderated Chain Mediation Model

With the emergence of social commerce, customer engagement is increasingly considered as an important influencing factor for enterprises to maintain a competitive advantage. Despite the extensive literature examining the determinants of customer engagement in social commerce from the perspectives of platform functions and technical dimensions, discussions on social interaction remain rare. Based on a sample dataset of 460 valid questionnaires collected via an online survey within China, using the structural equation model, this study attempts to investigate the effect of social interaction on customer engagement. Specifically, it divides social interaction into two dimensions, namely information-oriented and relation-oriented interactions. It is found that both informational and relational interactions are essential for driving customer engagement. Social presence and customer trust sequentially mediate the effect of social interaction to enhance customer engagement. In other words, social interaction enhances the sense of social presence, which in turn heightens customer trust, ultimately spurring a greater customer engagement. Self-construal moderates the relationship between social interaction and customer engagement. For interdependent customers, the effect of social interaction on customer trust is particularly significant. This study provides novel insights into how and when social interaction shapes customer engagement, highlighting the mechanisms and boundary conditions involved in this relationship within a social commerce context, which can also offer practical guidance for platforms and merchants seeking to facilitate greater engagement among customers.

Enhancing e-commerce recommendation systems through approach of buyer's self-construal: necessity, theoretical ground, synthesis of a six-step model, and research agenda

The current recommendation system predominantly relies on evidential factors such as behavioral outcomes and purchasing history. However, limited research has been conducted to explore the use of psychological data in these algorithms, such as consumers' self-perceived identities. Based on the gap identified and the soaring significance of levering the non-purchasing data, this study presents a methodology to quantify consumers' self-identities to help examine the relationship between these psychological cues and decision-making in an e-commerce context, focusing on the projective self, which has been overlooked in previous research. This research is expected to contribute to a better understanding of the cause of inconsistency in similar studies and provide a basis for further exploration of the impact of self-concepts on consumer behavior. The coding method in grounded theory, in conjunction with the synthesis of literature analysis, was employed to generate the final approach and solution in this study as they provide a robust and rigorous basis for the findings and recommendations presented in this study.

The Impact of Culture and Social Distance on Humor Appreciation, Sharing, and Production

Building on the benign violation theory and self-construal theory, we conducted four studies to examine how culture and social distance would influence humor appreciation, sharing, and production. Study 1 found that Chinese participants appreciated and intended to share a joke involving distant others more than that involving close others. They also generated funnier titles for a joke involving distant others than close others. Studies 2a and 2b compared Chinese and Americans using various types of jokes, replicating the social distance effect among Chinese but finding little effect of social distance among Americans. In Study 3, interdependence-primed participants generated more humorous titles for a joke involving distant than close others, whereas independence-primed participants showed no effect of social distance. The research provides further support to the benign violation theory from a cultural perspective and has important implications for cross-cultural communications.

The Moderation Effects of Self-Construal Between Dispositional Mindfulness and Interpersonal Forgiveness

Previous studies found an association between mindfulness and forgiveness. However, the effects of self-construal on this association are still unclear. In the present study, self-reported forgiveness and a behavioral measure of forgiveness were used to explore the moderating effect of self-construal plays between mindfulness and forgiveness among 126 participants recruited based on their mindfulness scores. Results showed that participants with high level of mindfulness in the interdependent self-construal condition reported greater forgiveness and gave more money donations towards transgressors than those in the independent self-construal condition, while there is no significant difference between interdependent and independent self-construal groups among participants with low level of mindfulness. These findings suggest that self-construal moderates the relationship between mindfulness and interpersonal forgiveness.

Waking up "We" or "I"? How Start Temporal Landmarks Influence Arousal Product Preferences

Start temporal landmark is the beginning of a period of time. Previous research has established that individuals have the need for arousal at the start temporal landmarks but less research has focused on individual differences and the relationship between self and others (independent vs. interdependent). This research examines the influence of individuals' self-construal on the relationship between start temporal landmarks and arousal product preference. Three experiments with 1136 participants were recruited from a university, community, and online store in Southern China. The data were analyzed by Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel on SPSS 26.0 software program. The results showed that self-construal influenced the effect of start temporal landmarks on arousal product preference. Specifically, compared with ordinary temporal landmarks, individuals with interdependent self-construal prefer high arousal products under start temporal landmarks, whereas those with independent self-construal show no significantly different preference for high or low arousal products under the start temporal landmarks. Furthermore, psychological resources play a mediating role. This research extends the theoretical research on self-construal in the field of temporal landmarks and arousal. It also has important practical implications for improving the sales of high arousal products.

Examining the association between cultural self-construal and dream structures in the United States and Japan

Cultural differences in self-construal, human relationships, and values between Western and East Asian people have been suggested. The aim of this article is to investigate cultural difference in dreamers' self-construal based on their dreams. We examined the dreams sampled via online questionnaires from 300 non-clinical participants from America and Japan, respectively. The free response for the contents of "impressive dreams in childhood" "recent impressive dreams" was categorized into the five general dream structural patterns. Besides, the participants were asked to answer the scales to investigate participants' cultural self-construal. The current results revealed the prevalence of the independent view of self in American participants and the interdependent view of self in Japanese participants. In addition, we found significant cultural differences in the dream length and structural patterns. For American dreams, the dream-ego had a clear will and strong mobility, and there were obvious ends of dream events. Conversely, for Japanese dreams, the weak agency and vague conscious of the dream-ego were shown, and others could play a main role in one's dreams. These results suggested that each characteristic of the American and Japanese samples may be influenced by the differences in self-construal or in the process of self-formation between American and Japanese cultures.

The Effect of Presentation Characteristics of "Quantified Self" Data on Consumers' Continuance Participation Intention: An Empirical Study Based on Health-Related Apps

PURPOSE

The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly influenced the health and lifestyles of individuals. Increasing numbers of consumers now participate in quantified self (QS) process to learn more about their health-related behaviors. Understanding how to increase consumers' QS continuance participation intention is critical. Drawing on Social Cognitive Theory and Self-Construal Theory, this study investigates how the presentation characteristics of QS data and consumers' self-construal can influence their continuance participation intention during QS process.

METHODS

Three between-subjects scenario simulation experiments were conducted to examine the influence mechanisms of the presentation mode and type of QS data and self-construal on consumers' continuance participation intention.

RESULTS

The study found: (1) the presentation mode (horizontal comparison vs vertical comparison) and type (descriptive vs analytic) of QS data had significant interaction effects on consumers' continuance participation intention; (2) consumers' self-construal (interdependent vs independent) and the presentation mode of QS data had obvious interaction effects on their continuance participation intention; and (3) consumers' self-construal and the presentation type of QS data had interaction influences on their continuance participation intention.

CONCLUSION

This research combined Social Cognitive Theory and Self-Construal Theory to analyze the influence mechanisms of the presentation characteristics of QS data and consumers' self-construal on their continuance participation intention. These findings not only expand the research field and the scope of application of Social Cognitive Theory, but also provide new insights for the study of consumers' QS problems. They have reference value for the optimization of the presentation features of QS data, and for improving the match between QS data presentation and consumers' self-construal types, to motivate continued participation in QS process.

Interdependent self-construal moderates the relationship between pro-generation investment and future orientation: A cross-cultural comparison

INTRODUCTION

Cultural orientation and interdependent self-construal can moderate the relationship between perceived pro-generation investment and future orientation of young adults. To test how interdependent self-construal moderate the relationship between pro-generation investment and future orientation of young adults from two different cultural ecologies was the aim of the current study.

METHODS

A cross-cultural comparison was conducted among study participants from China, Germany, and the United States. Interdependent self-construal, perceived pro-generation investment by parents (parental investment), and future orientation were measured. Cross-cultural data were collected from 205 college students in China, a collectivist culture, and 169 college students in Germany (n = 50) and the United States (n = 119), which are individualist cultures. We examined a three-way interaction with cultural orientation and interdependent self-construal as moderators in the relationship between perceived parental investment and future orientation.

RESULTS

In the collectivist cultural context, there appeared no moderating effect of interdependent self-construal on the relationship between perceived parental investment and future orientation, although interdependent self-construal and perceived parental investment predicted future orientation. In the individualistic cultural context, there was a moderating effect. For individuals high in interdependent self-construal, future orientation remained stable as perceived parental investment increased. For individuals low in interdependent self-construal, future orientation decreased as perceived parental investment increased.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings have practical implications in that parents should follow the cultural orientation of their background and provide their children with individualized investment and education to shape the future orientation of their offspring.

Cultural differences in earliest memory reports by European and Chinese American university students born in the United States

Grounded by the ecological systems perspectives proposed by Bronfenbrenner (1977, 1979) and Fivush and Merrill (2016), the present study was conducted to examine whether autobiographical memory (AM) and self-construal differed in young adults raised in the same macrosystem, but with unique microsystems. European American (EA) participants were born in the United States to mothers who were born in the United States (n = 61) and Chinese American (CA) participants were born in the United States to mothers who were born in China (n = 47). Participants completed an online study in which they reported on and rated aspects of their earliest memory; they also completed measures of self-construal and acculturation. EA participants identified more with mainstream American culture relative to CA participants, who identified to a greater extent with their heritage culture. EA participants also talked and thought more about their earliest memories relative to CA participants; interactions between group and sex were found for social words. Group differences were not observed on measures of self-construal. These findings indicate that microsystem-level factors are associated with differences in AM in young adults even when individuals are born and raised in the same macro-level cultural environment.

Role of Self-Control and Self-Construal in the Army Morale and Suicidal Ideation of Chinese Military Cadets

The current study investigated the relationship between army morale and suicidal ideation in Chinese military cadets, including the mediating role of self-control and the moderating role of self-construal. A total of 1124 male navy cadets participated in the study, completing a series of questionnaires. The results revealed the following: (1) army morale could negatively predict suicidal ideation; (2) the negative predictive effect of army morale on suicidal ideation could be partially mediated by self-control; and (3) self-construal moderated the predictive effect of army morale on suicidal ideation among navy cadets. Finally, the current study suggested that building some relevant assessment, diagnostic, and training programs may help build army morale and further prevent suicidal ideation in the military context.

Dual-Path Effect of Mortality Salience Induced by COVID-19 on Food Safety Behavior in China

During the pandemic, the mortality salience of COVID-19 has affected everyone. The public is extremely sensitive to food safety, especially cold chain food and imported food. This research is based on the terror management theory, protective motivation theory, and self-construal theory. It proposes an integrated dual-path framework to explore the different mechanisms that mortality salience has on food safety behavior. The result of three experiments verified our conjectures. First, mortality salience positively affects individuals’ food safety behavior. More importantly, we found the dual-path mechanism that underlies the effect, that is, the mediating of self-protective motivation and prosocial motivation. In addition, different self-construals make the confirmed effect clear. These findings provide implications for the government to protect public food safety and health.

The Effect of Ostracism on Adults' Materialism: The Roles of Security and Self-Construal

With consumer culture becoming more prominent, the value of materialism is growing rapidly. This study explored the formation of materialism in adults, based on the temporal need–threat model of ostracism and the theory of materialistic values. Specifically, this study examined the link between ostracism and materialism from the perspective of security and the moderating role of self-construal in this process. A sample of 1,272 Chinese adults (M_age = 35.90 ± 11.59, 47.2% male) was recruited to complete the Ostracism Experiences Scale, the Material Values Scale, the Security Questionnaire, and the Self-Construal Scale. The results showed that (1) ostracism positively predicted materialism in Chinese adults; (2) security partially mediated the relationship between ostracism and materialism; (3) and self-construal moderated this mediation model. The moderating effect of self-construal on the relationship between ostracism and security was significant. Specifically, the direct effect of ostracism on security was much stronger for adults with interdependent self-construal than for those with independent self-construal. However, self-construal had no significant moderating effect on the direct effect of ostracism on materialism. These findings suggest that ostracism may affect materialism by damaging adults’ feelings of security, and independent self-construal can buffer the damage of ostracism on security.

Examining Cultural Differences in the Associations between Appraisals and Emotion Regulation and PostTraumatic Stress Disorder in Malaysian and Australian Trauma Survivors

Appraisals and emotional regulation play a central role in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Despite research demonstrating cultural differences in everyday appraisals and emotion regulation, little research has investigated the influence of culture on these processes in PTSD. This study examined cultural differences in the associations between appraisals, emotion regulation and PTSD symptoms using trauma survivors from an individualistic Western culture (Australia) and a collectivistic Asian culture (Malaysia). Trauma survivors (N = 228; 107 Australian with European cultural heritage, 121 Malaysian with Malay, Indian or Chinese cultural heritage) completed an on-line survey assessing PTSD (PTSD Checklist for the DSM-5 with Life Events Checklist), appraisals (trauma-related, fatalism, cultural beliefs about adversity) and emotion regulation (suppression, reappraisal, interpersonal). The Malaysian group reported significantly greater fatalism, cultural beliefs about adversity, suppression and interpersonal emotion regulation than the Australian group. Greater trauma-specific appraisals, greater suppression, fewer cultural beliefs about adversity, and less use of social skills to enhance positivity were generally associated with greater PTSD symptom severity, with little evidence of cultural group moderating these associations. Interdependent self-construal mediated the relationships between cultural adversity beliefs, enhanced positivity, reappraisal, perspective taking and PTSD symptoms. Independent self-construal mediated the relationships between fatalism and perspective taking and PTSD symptoms. Cultural group did not moderate these indirect effects. Interdependent self-construal mediated the associations between interpersonal regulation strategies of soothing and social modelling with PTSD symptoms for the Malaysian but not the Australian group. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering self-construal and culture in understanding factors associated with PTSD.

Sense of Coherence in Parents of Children With Cancer and Its Relationship With Self-Construal in Southeastern Iran

This study aimed to determine sense of coherence and its relationship with self-construal in parents of children with cancer in southeastern Iran. In this descriptive correlational study, 127 parents of children with cancer were studied using sense of coherence scale (SOC) and self-construal scale (SCS) in Iran. The results of the study showed that total mean score of SOC was 51.4 ± 14.2 and the interdependent self-construal (INT) in parents was higher than independent self-construal (IND). Also, the relationship between SOC and SCS showed that IND had a positive and statistically significant relationship with SOC manageability subscale. The weak SOC in the studied parents can cause more stress and suffering in dealing with their child's disease. It is essential that health care providers provide a comprehensive program to enhance parents' SOC and it should be noted that people who have a more INT felt less able to manage challenging situations.

Underdog or Top Dog Brand Story? The Role of Self-Construal and Need of Uniqueness

The design of an effective brand story has become a key issue in marketing strategies. This study aims to explore what kinds of brand stories (underdog or top dog) individuals prefer from the perspective of the level of self-construal and the need for uniqueness. In this study, a questionnaire survey was used to collect data from China. One-way analysis of variance and bootstrapping via the Process plug-in were adopted to test the hypotheses. This study confirms that individuals with independent self-construal have a higher need for uniqueness and prefer underdog brand stories, while individuals with interdependent self-construal have a lower need for uniqueness and prefer the top dog brand story. This paper promotes theoretical research in the fields of self-construal, the need for uniqueness, and brand stories, and provides rich theoretical support for enterprises in designing and adjusting brand stories. Implications, limitations and future studies are discussed.

"I" Am Willing to Disclose, but "We" are Unwilling: The Impact of Self-Construal on Individuals' Willingness to Disclose

Purpose

In the big data era, many institutions (ie, hospitals) and firms use various methods to encourage people to disclose more personal information to gain competitive advantages in many businesses, such as healthcare and the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Discussions on antecedents of individuals’ willingness to reveal private data from individual differences perspective are limited. Drawing on information boundary theory, we examine how self-construal prompts a different regulatory focus (promotion focus versus prevention focus), thus, affects individuals’ willingness to disclose private data.

Methods

A mixed-method approach was used to examine our hypothesis. Study 1 (N = 93, participants in China) manipulated self-construal in lab experiments and examined participants’ actual disclosure behavior in the emerging IoT context of connected cars. Study 2 (an online survey, N = 200, participants in US) measured chronic self-construal in another disclosure context (healthcare app), replicating the preliminary effect and examined the mediating effect of the regulatory focus. Study 3 (an online experiment, N = 284, participants in US) tested the moderating effect of message framing.

Results

Study 1 showed that participants primed an independent self-construal were more willing to share private information, whether it is real driving data or private identity information. Study 2 showed that independent (interdependent) self-construal individuals tend to have promotion focus (prevention focus), thus leading to higher (lower) willingness to disclose personal health information. Study 3 demonstrated that independent (interdependent) self-construal individuals are more willing to share information when presented with gain-framing (loss-framing) information.

Conclusion

Independent (interdependent) self-construal positively (negatively) affects individuals’ willingness to disclose and these effects will be mediated by regulatory focus and moderated by message farming. Our study provides a theoretical paradigm that is new to the willingness to disclose literature, and offers an effective, actionable strategy on how institutions and firms can facilitate individuals’ personal information disclosure.

Understanding the Emotion Coping Strategies During Public Emergencies - From the Perspective of Psychological Distance

Research has investigated behavioral coping strategies for the negative emotions that public emergencies elicit. Accordingly, our current research explored how people coped with negative emotions in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, from a cognitive perspective. Building on the theory of psychological distance and self-construal, we proposed that people who experienced fear, sadness and anxiety responded with independent-self construal, focusing on information that related to themselves and the novel virus (independent information). On the other hand, people who experienced fear, sadness and anger responded with interdependent-self construal, focusing on information that pertained to “us”, the virus and nature (interdependent information). We collected data from 1,142 participants at both the initial peak of the outbreak and when its spread had subsided. Based on this longitudinal data, we examined the effectiveness of these strategies, and our findings suggested that independent information was effective in decreasing fear and anxiety, while interdependent information effectively mitigated sadness. The findings could help researchers, practitioners, governments, and organizations to implement appropriate information strategies to regulate individuals’ negative emotions during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Minding Your Own Business? Mindfulness Decreases Prosocial Behavior for People With Independent Self-Construals

Mindfulness appears to promote individual well-being, but its interpersonal effects are less clear. Two studies in adult populations tested whether the effects of mindfulness on prosocial behavior differ according to individuals' self-construals. In Study 1 (N = 366), a brief mindfulness induction, compared with a meditation control condition, led to decreased prosocial behavior among people with relatively independent self-construals but had the opposite effect among those with relatively interdependent self-construals. In Study 2 (N = 325), a mindfulness induction led to decreased prosocial behavior among people primed with independence but had the opposite effect among those primed with interdependence. The effects of mindfulness on prosocial behavior appear to depend on individuals' broader social goals. This may have implications for the increasing popularity of mindfulness training around the world.

Exploring the Relationship Between Visual Aesthetics and Social Commerce Through Visual Information Adoption Unimodel

The visual revolution and attention economy of the digital world have put visual aesthetic communication into the primary position of social media marketing. However, this phenomenon remains underexplored within social commerce research. This study thus develops a visual information adoption unimodel (VIAUM), to explore the relationship between visual aesthetics and social commerce intentions. Users with social commerce experience are invited to complete our online survey, and 321 valid data are collected. The results reveal that visual aesthetics has direct and indirect (via perceived usefulness) effects on the social commerce intention of users. Besides, interdependent self-construal (InterSC) strengthens the direct effect between visual aesthetics and social commerce intention. In contrast, independent self-construal weakens the mediation effects of perceived usefulness. This study is among the first attempts to empirically examine the intervening mechanism and boundary conditions between the visual aesthetics of self-presentation of micro-celebrity and the social commerce intention of consumers.

Symphony of Well-Being: Harmony Between Neural Variability and Self-Construal

Both neural activities and psychological processes vary over time. Individuals with interdependent self-construal tend to define themselves and adjust their behaviors to social contexts and others. The current research tested the hypothesis that the coordination between interdependent self-construal and neural variability could predict life satisfaction changes in university freshmen. We integrated resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning and self-construal assessment to estimate self-dependent neural variability (SDNV). In the whole-brain prediction, SDNV successfully predicted individuals’ life satisfaction changes over 2 years. Interdependent individuals with higher neural variability and independent individuals with lower neural variability became more satisfied with their lives. In the network-based prediction, the predictive effects were significant in the default mode, frontoparietal control, visual and salience networks. The important nodes that contributed to the predictive models were more related to psychological constructs associated with the social and self-oriented functions. The current research sheds light on the neural and psychological mechanisms of the subjective well-being of individuals from a dynamic perspective.

Cross-Generational Differences in Independence and Interdependence: Discrepancies Between Their Actual and Ideal Selves in the Japanese Cultural Context

The current study examined cross-generational differences in both independent and interdependent self-construal. Two studies using samples from across Japan that included a wide age range demonstrated that, with increasing age, Japanese respondents scored higher on independence, which was measured by a self-expression scale, and lower on interdependence, as measured by a rejection avoidance scale. Furthermore, these cross-over effects were not observed with regard to participants' preferences (i.e., the ideal state of the self), but were only observed in their actual selves (i.e., the actual state of the self). These results suggest that the Japanese, especially younger generations, cannot help but behave in an interdependent way despite being eager to be independent.

The Influence of Tertiary Education Disciplines on Self-Construals and Conflict Management Tendencies

While cultural difference on self-construal are well-documented, how acculturation to a new cultural environment could change an individual’s self-construal remains under-explored. In this research, how tertiary education disciplines could be associated with the endorsement of self-construals which, in turn, affect students’ conflict management tendencies were explored. Study 1 revealed that across the United States and Singapore, college students from business and social science disciplines exhibited the trend of endorsing more independent and interdependent self-construal respectively, regardless of the different dominant self-construals in the two countries. Study 2 explored how tertiary education disciplines is associated with individuals’ conflict management tendencies via the endorsement of different self-construals among Singaporeans. Findings showed that individuals from business discipline possess a more independent self-construal and in turn endorsed more of a competing conflict management style than those from social sciences. Different disciplinary cultures could link to conflict management tendencies via the endorsement of self-construals, yielding significant theoretical and practical implications.

The gray matter volume of the temporoparietal junction varies across cultures: a moderating role of the dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4)

Prior work shows that compared to European Americans, East Asians show an enhanced propensity to take the perspective of another person. In the current work, we tested whether this cultural difference might be reflected in the gray matter (GM) volume of the temporoparietal junction (TPJ), a brain region selectively implicated in perspective taking and mentalizing. We also explored whether the cultural difference in the TPJ GM volume might be moderated by dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) exon 3 variable-number tandem repeat polymorphism. Structural magnetic resonance imaging of 66 European Americans and 66 East Asian-born Asians were subjected to voxel-based morphometry. It was observed that the GM volume of the right TPJ was greater among East Asians than among European Americans. Moreover, this cultural difference was significantly more pronounced among carriers of the 7- or 2-repeat allele of DRD4 than among the non-carriers of these alleles. Our findings contribute to the growing evidence that culture can shape the brain.

How Long Has It Been? Self-Construal and Subjective Time Perception

Do people with independent and interdependent self-construals perceive the amount of time that has passed differently? Results from four experiments (one preregistered) and three supplementary ones reveal that an independent (vs. interdependent) self-construal elongates time perception by making individuals feel that more time has passed than in reality. We find evidence that this is likely because an independent self-construal increases arousal that affects one's "internal clock," which determines the subjective passage of time. We find this effect with externally valid and practical measures, such as by measuring how long an online video feels, how long loading a webpage feels, and how long waiting in a line feels. Our research adds to an understanding of the consequences of self-construal for one of human beings' most important judgments-time. We discuss the theoretical and practical considerations of our results as well as research limitations in closing.

Broadcasters' Leadership Traits and Audiences' Loyalty With the Moderating Role of Self-Construal: An Exploratory Study

Although considerable attention has been paid to the application of leadership in virtual communities, the field of live streaming has not been involved. This exploratory study aimed to explore how different broadcaster leadership traits (charismatic, authoritarian, and servant) influence audiences' loyalty (cognitive and conative). And audience self-construal was chosen as a key moderator. The top 15 broadcasters from the regional rankings were selected from each of the two popular live streaming platforms, Douyu and YouTube, for the study. And we used snowball sampling with a link to an online questionnaire as a recruitment procedure. 310 audiences with live streaming experience from the Chinese Mainland and Taiwan participated. Hierarchical linear modeling was adopted for the analysis. This study found that broadcasters with servant and charismatic leadership traits positively affected cognitive loyalty. Broadcasters with servant leadership traits also had a positive effect on conative loyalty. Additionally, independent self-construal negatively moderated the relationship between servant leadership and cognitive loyalty. Independent self-construal positively moderated the relationship between authoritarian leadership and conative loyalty. Furthermore, interdependent self-construal negatively moderated the relationship between charismatic leadership and conative loyalty. Interdependent self-construal positively moderated the relationship between authoritarian leadership and conative loyalty. These conclusions extend the understanding of broadcasters' traits and audiences' psychology concerning the booming phenomenon of live streaming and can help platform managers motivate audiences' loyalty on these platforms.

The Effect of Attribute Alignability on Product Purchase: The Moderating Role of Product Familiarity and Self-Construal

Previous studies on the Structural Alignment Model suggest that people compare the alignable attributes and nonalignable attributes during the decision-making process and preference formation process. Alignable attributes are easier to process and more effective in clue extracting. Thus, it is believed that people rely more on alignable than nonalignable attributes when comparing alternatives. This article supposes that consumers’ product experience and personal characteristics also play a significant role in regulating consumers’ reliance on attribute alignability. The authors conducted three experiments to examine the moderating role of consumers’ product familiarity and self-construal in the impact of attribute alignability on consumer product purchase. The results show the following: (1) When making a purchase decision, consumers with a high level of product familiarity will rely more on nonalignable attributes, while those with a low level of product familiarity will rely more on alignable attributes. (2) The difference in consumer dependency on attribute alignability is driven by their perceived diagnosticity of attributes. (3) The dependency of consumers with different levels of familiarity on attribute alignability will be further influenced by consumers’ self-construal. Individuals with interdependent self-construal rely more on alignable attributes when unfamiliar with the product, while relying more on nonalignable attributes when familiar with the product. Individuals with independent self-construal, however, rely more on nonalignable attributes regardless of the degree of product familiarity. The conclusions of this paper can be used as references for enterprises to establish product positioning and communication strategies.

The Relationship Between the Need to Belong and Nature Relatedness: The Moderating Role of Independent Self-Construal

The perception of the relationship between humans and nature is important for promoting not only pro-environmental behaviors but also psychological well-being. The present research explored how people’s self-construal would moderate the relationship between the need to belong, the desire for social acceptance and connectedness and perceived nature relatedness. Two studies using community samples with diverse demographic characteristics in two different cultures (Study 1: the United States; Study 2: Singapore) obtained consistent findings. The results showed that independent self-construal, which emphasizes separateness from others in the social contexts, moderated the relationship between the need to belong and nature relatedness. Specifically, the need to belong was negatively associated with nature relatedness among people with a stronger independent self-construal, while this pattern was not significant among those with a weaker independent self-construal. No evidence for the moderating role of interdependent self-construal was found in the two studies. These findings highlighted the importance of non-nature experience in understanding people’s perception of human–nature relationships.

Not All Forms of Independence Are Created Equal: Only Being Independent the "Right Way" Is Associated With Self-Esteem and Life Satisfaction

Past research has found a strong and positive association between the independent self-construal and life satisfaction, mediated through self-esteem, in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures. In Study 1, we collected data from four countries (the United States, Japan, Romania, and Hungary; N = 736) and replicated these findings in cultures which have received little attention in past research. In Study 2, we treated independence as a multifaceted construct and further examined its relationship with self-esteem and life satisfaction using samples from the United States and Romania (N = 370). Different ways of being independent are associated with self-esteem and life satisfaction in the two cultures, suggesting that it is not independence as a global concept that predicts self-esteem and life satisfaction, but rather, feeling independent in culturally appropriate ways is a signal that one’s way of being fits in and is valued in one’s context.

Improving Patient Preparedness and Confidence in Discussing Advance Directives for End-of-Life Care with Health Care Providers in the United States and Japan

BACKGROUND

The low completion rate of advance directives (ADs) has received attention in Japan and the United States, as policy makers and health care professionals face aging populations with multiple comorbidities. Among the barriers to AD planning, cultural values and attitudes appear to be particularly influential. A comparison of culturally distinct societies provides a deeper understanding of these barriers. Through such an approach, this study identifies strategies for increasing AD planning among late-middle-age Japanese and US individuals.

METHODS

After giving informed consent for the Institutional Review Board-approved study, Japanese and US respondents (45-65 y; 50% female) without ADs completed a language-appropriate online survey. Participants were asked to review a decision aid as part of a scenario-based physician consultation regarding artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH). Hypotheses were analyzed using multigroup structural equation modeling.

RESULTS

Important similarities were identified across the 2 groups. After reviewing the decision aid, both samples strongly preferred "no ANH." Respondents who strongly valued either self-reliance or interpersonal relationships experienced greater preparedness for AD planning. In both countries, greater decision preparedness and positive death attitude predicted greater confidence to discuss care options with a provider. Finally, cultural values predicted preference for family participation: respondents with a strong interdependent self-concept desired more family involvement, whereas high independents preferred less.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate the importance of documenting care preferences and accounting for individual differences. To increase AD adoption, providers should identify patient segments likely to benefit most from the interventions. Targeting individuals in both countries who value self-reliance and interpersonal relationships appears to be a good place to begin. Such individuals can be identified clinically through administration of validated measures used in this study.

Self-Affirmation Moderates Self-Congruency Effect in Health Messaging

Previous research found that health risk messages framed to be congruent with people's independent or interdependent self-construal were not consistently more effective than incongruent messages. We argue that people potentially process the self-construal congruent health risk messages in a biased manner. To test this proposition, we examined the role of self-affirmation, which is expected to reduce defensive processing, in college nonsmokers' responses to an antismoking message congruent vs. incongruent with their dominant self-construals. Results from an online experiment suggested that self-affirmation moderated the self-congruency effect. Specifically, among college nonsmokers endorsing a dominant interdependent self-construal, self-congruency effect emerged only when the group was engaged in self-affirmation. Among college nonsmokers endorsing a dominant independent self-construal, with no prior affirmation, the group reported self-incongruent messages better than the self-congruent messages. After being engaged in self-affirmation, the group reported similar effects for self-congruent and self-incongruent messages. Theoretical and practical implications of our findings are discussed.

Mind the Gap: The Relation Between Identity Gaps and Depression Symptoms in Cultural Adaptation

Personal-enacted identity gaps, defined as the difference between an individual’s self-view and the self that one expresses in communication, affect depression levels of international students living in the United States. Thus, identity gaps are an important construct for understanding the relation between identity and health outcomes. The present research examined the relation between personal-enacted identity gaps formed through communication with Americans and depression, extending previous work by considering the roles of acculturative stress and self-construal and providing one of the first tests of the relation between identity gaps and acculturative stress. A sample of 171 undergraduate and graduate international students studying in the United States was recruited to participate in an online study consisting of self-report questionnaires. Results indicated that as hypothesized, higher levels of personal-enacted identity gaps were associated with depression symptoms and that acculturative stress mediates this relation. However, independent self-construal did not moderate the relation between these variables. Testing additional models revealed multiple ways in which these factors could affect each other. Overall, results suggest that personal-enacted identity gaps, acculturative stress, and depression symptoms are important to consider in tandem in order to understand the emotional experiences of the international students and identify who is at risk for poor mental health. Future longitudinal research is needed to further understand the relations amongst these factors.

Effect of Peer Work Performance on the Focal Employee's Voice Taking: The Role of Trust and Self-Construal

Based on persuasion theory, this study examines the influence of peer work performance on the focal employee's voice-taking relationship. Our study purposes that peer work performance contributes to the focal employee's cognition-based trust and that their interdependent self-construal moderates this relationship. Our study suggests that cognition-based trust mediates the relationship between peer work performance and the focal employee's voice taking. Finally, we intend to show that the focal employee's interdependent self-construal moderates the mediating role of cognition-based trust in transmitting the effect of peer work performance on the focal employee's voice taking. Analyses of the data collected from China support these hypotheses.

Neural Correlates of Self-Construal Priming in the Ultimatum Game

Research from cultural and social psychology has identified a central role of self-construal, or the way one views themselves in relation to others, in social cognition. Accordingly, it is plausible that self-construal plays an instrumental role in important aspects of decision-making relating to fairness considerations. Prior research has shown that priming methodology is a useful tool to experimentally isolate the effect of self-construal on social decision-making processes. In the current study we investigated the neural effects of self-construal priming on fairness considerations, using an Ultimatum Game setup (N = 97). Based on previous findings, we predicted an interaction between the self-construal prime and gender on Ultimatum Game behavior; males primed with interdependence would reject the offer relatively more compared to independence, and vice versa for females. As previous neuro-imaging research has established an instrumental role of the anterior insula (AI) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in the rejection of unfair offers, we expected higher rejection rates to be mirrored by increased activity in these regions. However, the analyses did not confirm these predictions. As further inspection of the data revealed a habituation effect, we performed a follow-up analysis on the first block (N = 59). This subsequent analysis revealed that priming interdependence resulted in reduced AI activity compared to priming independence, although no behavioral differences were observed. The difference was theorized to result from motivations as conflict avoidance and harmony maintenance, commonly associated with interdependence. Furthermore, the analysis revealed greater vmPFC activity for females compared to males for rejected offers, although this effect was not robust when controlled for trait self-construal. These follow-up analyses suggest that self-construal priming influences insula activity, as well as implicating an underlying role of trait self-construal in observed gender differences in vmPFC activity relating to fairness considerations.

Cultural Orientation of Self-Bias in Perceptual Matching

Previous research on cross-culture comparisons found that Western cultures tend to value independence and the self is construed as an autonomous individual, while Eastern cultures value interdependence and self-identity is perceived as embedded among friends and family members (Markus and Kitayama, 1991). The present experiment explored these cultural differences in the context of a paradigm developed by Sui et al. (2012), which found a bias toward the processing of self-relevant information using perceptual matching tasks. In this task, each neutral shape (i.e., triangle, circle, square) is associated with a person (i.e., self, friend, stranger), and faster and more accurate responses were found to formerly neutral stimuli tagged to the self compared to stimuli tagged to non-self. With this paradigm, the current study examined cross-cultural differences in the self-bias effect between participants from Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Results demonstrated a reliable self-bias effect across groups consistent with previous studies. Importantly, a variation was identified in a larger self-bias toward stranger-associated stimuli in the United Kingdom participants than the Hong Kong participants. This suggested the cultural modulation of the self-bias effect in perceptual matching.

Considering the Self in the Link Between Self-Esteem and Materialistic Values: The Moderating Role of Self-Construal

Studies consistently show that materialism might be a strategy people use to cope with low self-esteem. This link might differ among people holding different definitions of the "self" in terms of their relationships with others, however. This research examined the link between self-esteem and materialistic values from the perspective of how people define the self, or their self-construal. In three studies, we explored the moderating role of self-construal in the link between Chinese participants' self-esteem and materialistic values. Through a self-report survey (Study 1, N = 422), experimental manipulation of self-construal (Study 2, N = 151), and experimental manipulation of both self-esteem and self-construal (Study 3, N = 123), results indicated that self-esteem and self-construal interacted in predicting materialistic values. Specifically, self-esteem negatively predicted materialistic values when interdependent self-construal was low, but not when it was high. We suggest that individuals' pursuit of materialism under conditions of low self-esteem might depend on how they define the "self."

Interdependent Self-Construal Moderates Relationships Between Positive Emotion and Quality in Social Interactions: A Case of Person to Culture Fit

How emotion is experienced and expressed in social encounters can very much depend on a person's cultural orientation and the two can affect the quality of social relationships. The present research examined how an interaction between cultural orientation (person) and emotion in social encounters (situation) can influence social interaction outcomes and by extent, cultural fit. For a period of seven days, participants (N = 164) reported eight positive and eight negative emotions they experienced in naturally occurring social encounters together with indicators of quality of social interaction (satisfaction, attending to the other, perceiving others as emotionally more positive). Results from multilevel random coefficient analyses found that self-construal, interdependence in particular, moderated relationships between positive emotion and social interaction quality. At high levels of positive emotion, higher, compared to lower, interdependence was associated with lower attention to other and lower satisfaction with the encounter. At low levels of positive emotion, higher interdependence was associated with higher social interaction quality than persons lower in interdependence. These effects were more robust when social anxiety was controlled, and social anxiety was highly correlated with participants' interdependent orientation. The results support socially situated accounts to emotion and cultural constructions of the self, and depict emotion in social interaction as an important indicator of cultural fit.

Cultural Differences in Interpersonal Emotion Regulation

Cultural differences exist in the use of emotion regulation (ER) strategies, but the focus to date has been on intrapersonal ER strategies such as cognitive reappraisal. An emerging literature highlights the importance of interpersonal ER, which utilizes social cues to facilitate the regulation of emotional states. In cultures that place high value on social interconnectedness as integral to their collectivistic self-construal, including East Asian cultures, interpersonal ER strategies may be particularly effective in reducing negative affect but this has not been previously tested. In this study, two groups comprising East Asian (n = 48) and Western European (n = 38) participants were randomly assigned to receive a priming narration depicting the use of either interpersonal (e.g., social modeling, perspective taking) or intrapersonal (e.g., cognitive reappraisal) ER strategies during a stressful experience. They were then instructed to utilize similar ER strategies in an emotion reactivity task during which they viewed high arousing negative pictorial stimuli while their heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (high frequency power - HF-HRV) and subjective affective states were measured. First we found that the East Asian group reported higher use of interpersonal ER strategies of social modeling and perspective taking in daily life. During the experimental interpersonal prime exposure, the East Asian group showed elevated HF-HRV (relative to baseline) compared to the Western European group, indicating more adaptive ER, but this pattern was not sustained during the reactivity or recovery phases. Instead, the East Asian group demonstrated increased HF-HRV and decreased HR across both prime conditions. The East Asian group also showed greater decreases in positive affect across the course of the experiment. Furthermore, individual differences in social modeling and individualistic self-construal moderated the effect of the ER prime in the East Asian group at trend levels, and main effects for perspective taking and reappraisal were observed in the Western European group. The findings support the notion that engaging in interpersonal ER strategies may be more beneficial for East Asian groups when immediately exposed to a stressful situation, as these strategies are congruent with cultural context and preferences, but our priming methodology may have limited the longer-term benefits.

Social Values and Determinants of Cultural Fit in Quebec: The Roles of Ancestry, Linguistic Group, and Mental Health Status

Many quantitative cross-cultural research studies assume that cultural groups consist of anyone born and raised in the same country. Applying these criteria to the formation of study samples may produce cohorts that share a country but are heterogeneous in relevant domains of culture. For example, in Canada, Franco- and Anglo-Canadians are generally assumed to represent different linguistic groups but the same cultural group. However, speaking a different first language also can mean exposure to different media, information, and conventions, which are known to shape certain cultural domains, such as social values. Other factors may also produce cultural heterogeneity. For example, ancestral origins and recency of familial migration may influence endorsed social values after exposure to diverse cultures or norms. Mental health status or psychiatric conditions may also influence subscription of social values due to different lifestyle demands. Understanding the nuanced contributions of diverse backgrounds to cultural membership and fit (i.e., the degree to which an individual behaves like other cultural members) is useful when performing quantitative cross-cultural studies to minimize alternative explanations for statistical outcomes. This study used Cultural Consensus Analysis (CCA) to assess the cultural fit of social values for 222 Canadians, who had participated in cross-cultural neuropsychological experiments. CCA is an anthropological statistical method for evaluating cultural agreement of a sample. Participants were systematically evaluated by linguistic groups (French and English), migratory generation (1st-3rd+), and mental health status (healthy and patient). Group and individual variances were statistically interrogated. Results demonstrated that Franco- and Anglo-Canadians represent different cultural groups cohabitating in Quebec. Social values dividing Franco- and Anglo-Canadians were also identified. Second and third generation Canadians held more heterogeneous social values than Canadians, whose families had migrated earlier. Second generation Canadians with psychiatric disorders showed notably reduced cultural fit with other Canadians, which supports other literature reporting difficulties experienced by second generation migrants. However, third and later generations of Canadians with psychiatric disorders held a greater range of social values compared to healthy Canadians but still were good fits for Canadian culture. This study concluded that linguistic group and migratory generation partially determines cultural group for the social values domain while mental health status does not, contrary to theories proposed by previous literature.