Abstract
Studies suggest that emotional complexity-the experience of positive and negative emotion in response to the same event-is unusual in Western samples. However, recent research finds that the co-occurrence of positive and negative emotion during unstructured situations is more common among East Asians than Westerners, consistent with theories emphasising the prevalence of dialectical folk epistemology in East-Asian culture. The present study builds upon previous research by examining Asian- and European-Americans' experience of a particular positive emotion-love-and a situationally appropriate negative emotion during four structured laboratory conversations with their romantic partner. Among Asian Americans, love and the experience of negative emotion were typically less negatively correlated during these conversations than was true for European Americans.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 786-799 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Cognition and Emotion |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 14 2010 |
Keywords
- Culture
- Emotion
- Emotional complexity
- Love
- Romance
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)