The impact of culture on adaptive versus maladaptive self-reflection

Psychological Science
Igor Grossmann, Ethan Kross

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.

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Citations

Apr 19, 2011·Social Neuroscience·Kuniaki YanagisawaMitsuhiro Ura
Jul 2, 2010·Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience·Shinobu Kitayama, Jiyoung Park
Apr 20, 2016·Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience·Igor GrossmannJoseph Ciarrochi
Apr 16, 2015·Child Development·Rachel E WhiteAngela L Duckworth
May 20, 2014·The Journal of General Psychology·Ezgi Tuna, Özlem Bozo
Jul 3, 2013·Memory·Celia B HarrisDorthe Berntsen
Mar 28, 2017·Perspectives on Psychological Science : a Journal of the Association for Psychological Science·Igor Grossmann
Jun 7, 2017·Cognitive Science·Julian De FreitasJoshua Knobe
Nov 1, 2014·Clinical Psychological Science : a Journal of the Association for Psychological Science·Jiyoung ParkEthan Kross
Sep 13, 2016·Clinical Psychological Science : a Journal of the Association for Psychological Science·Louis A PennerEthan Kross
Oct 4, 2017·Psychological Science·Alex C HuynhIan McGregor
Oct 17, 2017·Personality and Social Psychology Review : an Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc·June De VausBrock Bastian
Sep 9, 2020·Journal of Personality·Eranda JayawickremeRenée Zonneveld
Jan 1, 2014·Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Cognitive Science·Igor Grossmann, Jinkyung Na
Jun 29, 2018·Frontiers in Psychology·Qingzhou SunFengpei Hu
Mar 12, 2020·European Journal of Psychotraumatology·Amanda Nagulendran, Laura Jobson
Jun 28, 2018·Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience·Maureen D SatyshurJacqueline K Gollan
Dec 9, 2020·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Cortland J DahlRichard J Davidson
Feb 5, 2021·Psychological Science·Igor GrossmannAbigail A Scholer
Mar 24, 2021·Journal of Health Psychology·Zhiqin ChenXiaofei Xie

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