1. The impact of culture on adaptive versus maladaptive self-reflection.
- Author
-
Grossmann I and Kross E
- Subjects
- Adaptation, Psychological, Adolescent, Cross-Cultural Comparison, Depression etiology, Depression psychology, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male, Psychological Tests, Russia, Thinking, United States, Young Adult, Culture, Self Concept
- Abstract
Although recent findings indicate that people can reflect either adaptively or maladaptively over negative experiences, extant research has not examined how culture influences this process. We compared the self-reflective practices of Russians (members of an interdependent culture characterized by a tendency to brood) and Americans (members of an independent culture in which self-reflection has been studied extensively). We predicted that self-reflection would be associated with less-detrimental outcomes among Russians because they self-distance more when analyzing their feelings than Americans do. Findings from two studies supported these predictions. In Study 1, self-reflection was associated with fewer depressive symptoms among Russians than among Americans. In Study 2, Russians displayed less distress and a more adaptive pattern of construals than Americans after reflecting over a recent negative event. In addition, they self-distanced more than Americans while analyzing their feelings, and self-distancing mediated the cultural differences in self-reflection. These findings demonstrate how culture shapes the way people reflect over negative experiences.
- Published
- 2010
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