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Chapter 14 – Emotion Regulation

Cultural Differences in the Consequences of Expressive Suppression

A recent study (Butler et al., 2007) investigated whether culture changes the consequences of suppression.  In this study, female participants self-reported their cultural values on a scale that ranged from -3 – European values only to +3 – a combination of European and Asian values (called “bipolar values”). Cultural values were positively correlated with self-reported suppression, indicating that holding people who hold both Asian and American values have a tendency to engage in suppression. This means without being instructed, Asian American women will have a tendency to engage in expressive suppression.  Figure 20 shows the relationship between tendency to suppress and the tendency to experiences negative emotion for women holding European values and women holding bi-cultural values.  This findings shows that suppression does not significantly increase negative emotions for individuals who ascribe to bi-cultural values.

Figure 20
Influence of Trait Suppression and Self-Reported Cultural Values on Tendency to Experience Negative Emotions

A graph showing the self-reported negative emotions against the tendency to suppress, with blue and red lines representing different values.
 

Long Description

The image is a line graph depicting the relationship between “Self-Reported Negative Emotions” and “Self-Reported Tendency to Suppress.” The y-axis, labeled “Self-Reported Negative Emotions (0-4 Scale),” ranges from 0 to 4. The x-axis is labeled “Self-Reported Tendency to Suppress,” with markers for “Low Tendency to Suppress” and “High Tendency to Suppress.” There are two lines on the graph: a blue line labeled “Asian and European Values,” which starts higher and slopes slightly downward, and a red line labeled “European Values,” which starts lower and slopes slightly upward. The blue line represents consistently higher values compared to the red line.

Adapted from “Emotion Regulation and Culture: Are the Social Consequences Oof Emotion Suppression Culture-Specific?” by E.A. Butler, T.L. Lee, T. L., and J.J. Gross, 2007, Emotion7(1), p. 36 (https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.1.30) Copyright 2007 by the American Psychological Association.

 

A follow-up study assigned the same women with European and bi-cultural values to suppression or control dyads as in prior studies. Both groups watched upsetting film clips and either suppressed or watched (control). Results showed that when European value participants suppressed, their partners perceived them to be more hostile and withdrawn compared to the partners of bi-cultural suppressors (see Figure 21). In addition, suppressors with European values spent more time showing hostile and unresponsive facial expressions compared to suppressors with bi-cultural values (Figures 22 and 23). What does this tell us? Well, people with European values tend to exhibit facial expressions during suppression that have a detrimental impact of their relationship interactions. This provides early support to some researchers views that suppression might be more detrimental to the health and relationships of people raised in Western countries, but not East Asian countries.

 
Figure 21
Interaction between Cultural Values and Regulation Group on Perceptions of Hostility and Withdrawal of Partners
Line graph showing perception of partner's hostility and withdrawal versus cultural values, with different trends for Suppressors, Suppressor's Partners, and Controls.
 

Long Description

The image is a line graph depicting the perception of partner’s hostility and withdrawal on a 0-3 scale, plotted against self-reported cultural values labeled as Bi-cultural and European. The vertical axis represents the scale from 0 to 2, while the horizontal axis shows the cultural values categories. Three distinct lines represent different groups: a solid blue line for Suppressors, a solid red line for Suppressor’s Partners, and a dashed black line for Controls. The red line runs diagonally upward, indicating a rise in perception from Bi-cultural to European values. The blue line is relatively flat with a slight increase. The black dashed line remains mostly unchanged across the cultural values.

Adapted from “Emotion Regulation and Culture: Are the Social Consequences Oof Emotion Suppression Culture-Specific?” by E.A. Butler, T.L. Lee, T. L., and J.J. Gross, 2007, Emotion7(1), p. 42 (https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.1.30) Copyright 2007 by the American Psychological Association.

 

Figure 22
Interaction between Cultural Values and Regulation Group on Percent of Time Expressing Unresponsive Facial Expressions
Line graph showing percentage of time being unresponsive by cultural values for suppressors, partners, and controls.
 

Long Description

The image is a line graph illustrating the relationship between self-reported cultural values and the percentage of time being unresponsive. The x-axis represents self-reported cultural values, ranging from “Bi-cultural” to “European.” The y-axis shows the percentage of time being unresponsive from 0 to 16. Three lines are plotted: a blue line for “Suppressors,” a red line for “Suppressor’s Partners,” and a black dashed line for “Controls.” The blue line starts at approximately 11% for Bi-cultural and rises to 15% at European. The red line remains relatively flat, starting at around 4% and ending slightly above 4%. The black dashed line for controls remains steady at approximately 2% across both cultural values.

Line graph showing hostile facial expressions for Suppressors, Suppressor's Partners, and Controls across Bi-cultural and European groups.
 

Long Description

The image is a line graph depicting the percentage of time expressed hostile facial expressions across two cultural groups: Bi-cultural and European. The y-axis represents the percentage of time expressed hostile facial expressions, ranging from 0 to 5. The x-axis lists two categories: Bi-cultural and European. There are three lines on the graph: a blue solid line for “Suppressors,” a red solid line for “Suppressor’s Partners,” and a black dashed line for “Controls.” The blue line gently slopes upward, the red line shows a more pronounced upward trend, while the black dashed line remains flat at the 0% mark.

Adapted from “Emotion Regulation and Culture: Are the Social Consequences Oof Emotion Suppression Culture-Specific?” by E.A. Butler, T.L. Lee, T. L., and J.J. Gross, 2007, Emotion7(1), p. 43 (https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.1.30) Copyright 2007 by the American Psychological Association.