Work

Further evidence for the cultural norm hypothesis: Positive emotion in depressed and control European American and Asian American women.

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: How does culture shape the effects of depression on emotion? A previous study showed that depression dampened negative emotional responses in European Americans, but increased these responses in Asian Americans (Chentsova-Dutton et al., 2007). These findings support the cultural norm hypothesis, which predicts that depression reduces individuals' abilities to react in culturally ideal ways (i.e., disrupting European Americans' abilities to express emotions openly and Asian Americans' abilities to moderate emotions). In the present study, we examined the generalizability of this hypothesis to positive emotion. We measured the emotional reactivity of 35 European Americans (17 depressed) and 31 Asian Americans (15 depressed) to an amusing film. Consistent with the cultural norm hypothesis, European Americans who were depressed showed dampened emotional reactivity (i.e., fewer smiles, less intense reports of positive emotion, lower cardiac activation) compared to control European Americans, whereas Asian Americans who were depressed showed similar (for smiles and reports of positive emotion), and even greater (for higher cardiac activation) emotional reactivity compared to control Asian Americans. These findings suggest that the cultural norm hypothesis generalizes to positive emotion.

Source: Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology

DOI: 10.1037/a0017562

Authors: Yulia E. Chentsova-Dutton, Jeanne L. Tsai, Ian H. Gotlib

Institutions: Georgetown University, Stanford University

Language: English

Topic: Cultural Differences and Values

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, National Institute of Mental Health