A Cross-Cultural Study Between Japan and the United States Examining How Culture Influences What Categories of Emotions Are Valued.

Previous studies suggest that Japanese self report experiencing emotions that are associated with accomplishing interpersonal goals (socially engaging emotions) more intensely and frequently, whereas North Americans self report experiencing emotions that are associated with accomplishing personal goals (socially disengaging emotions) more intensely and frequently. The current study attempts to go beyond self reported emotional experiences to measure what social orientation of emotions Japanese and Americans implicitly or automatically prefer experiencing, This was done with a test called the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The IAT specifically involves having participants make associations between pictorially represented emotional situations and words representing pleasantness and unpleasantness, rather than having participants consciously evaluate which emotions they prefer experiencing. Both latency and accuracy were recorded in this association task. Faster and more accurate responses represent implicit preferences. Following the IAT, three emotion questionnaires were also given to examine the correspondence between implicit preference for socially engaging and socially disengaging emotions and explicit attitudes towards these same emotions. It is expected that, at both the implicit and explicit levels, Japanese will prefer to experience socially engaging emotions, while North Americans will prefer to experience socially disengaging emotions