Happiness and unhappiness in east and west: Themes and variations.

TLDR

Cultural folk models of happiness and unhappiness are thought to influence social cognition and behavior, yet their nature remains largely unknown. The study systematically analyzes American and Japanese participants’ spontaneous descriptions of happiness and unhappiness to investigate cultural differences. Americans described happiness in terms of personal achievement and, when unhappy, focused on externalizing behaviors such as anger and aggression, whereas Japanese linked happiness to social harmony and frequently mentioned social disruption and transcendental reappraisal, and for unhappiness Japanese emphasized transcendental reappraisal and self‑improvement while Americans highlighted externalizing actions.

Abstract

Cultural folk models of happiness and unhappiness are likely to have important bearings on social cognition and social behavior. At present, however, little is known about the nature of these models. Here, the authors systematically analyzed American and Japanese participants' spontaneously produced descriptions of the two emotions and observed, as predicted, that whereas Americans associated positive hedonic experience of happiness with personal achievement, Japanese associated it with social harmony. Furthermore, Japanese were more likely than Americans to mention both social disruption and transcendental reappraisal as features of happiness. As also predicted, unlike happiness, descriptions of unhappiness included various culture-specific coping actions: Whereas Americans focused on externalizing behavior (e.g., anger and aggression), Japanese highlighted transcendental reappraisal and self-improvement. Implications for research on culture and emotion are discussed.