w1 - Culture and happiness

Question 1

What is the East vs. West paradox?

Answer 1

While people from East Asian cultures self report higher levels of negative emotions than western, this flips when using one-on-one psychiatric surveys

structured interviews

Question 2

List one possible reason for the east/west divide on mental health

Answer 2

Cultural differences affect how we perceive the world f

Question 3

Name one dividing descriptor between the east/west.

Answer 3

Individualism v. collectivism

Question 4

List some factors of a independent self construal.

Answer 4

• Seperate from social contexts
• Inernal, private
• Bounded, unitary

Question 5

List some factors of a interdependent self construal.

Answer 5

• Socially connected
• Flexible
• External, public

Question 6

What difference does the ‘role of others’ play between independent and interdependent self?

Answer 6

independent: self-evaluation, others are important for comparison

interdependent: self-definition, relationships in specific contexts defines self

Question 7

What is the basis of self-esteem between independent v. interdependent?

Answer 7

Independent: ability to express self, validate internal attributes

interdependent: ability to adjust, restrain self, maintain harmony with social context

Question 8

Describe continunity (Chinese) and discreteness (Greek)

Answer 8

Continuity: world as a collection of overlapping and interpenetrating things

Discreteness: world as a collection of discrete objects that ‘have’ properties

Question 9

What are some implication for having an interdependent view of the world?

Eastern

Answer 9

• Allows contradictions
• Change expected
• Focus on the context

Question 10

What are some implication for having an independent view of the world?

Answer 10

• Avoid contradition (things are seperate)
• Expect continuity
• Focus on individual

Question 11

What is naïve dialecticism?

Answer 11

A lay belief that guides East-Asain thought.

An expression of dialectical thinking: possibility of two contradictory arguments being true (chinese)

As opposed to formal logic

Question 12

What is formal logic?

Answer 12

And formal logic: ‘if one is true the other must be false’ (american/western)

As opposed to naive dialectisicm

Question 13

What is an example of priming culture?

Answer 13

How symbols (eg. Yin/Yang) can prime the expectations of a culture

example : priming american’s with symbols decreased their likelihood to reinvest / symbols represent change and flux

Question 14

What is object-focused and contextualised attention?

Answer 14

Japanese cultures recognised previously perceived objects if they appeared in their same context

American’s saw no difference in recall ability between same or different context

context = background in study

Question 15

Psychologically, what does an acceptance of contradiction allow for an individual?

dialectical thinkers

Answer 15

• different emotions are able to co-exist (reduces primaitising pos’ emotion)
• reduces effort to regulate pos and dow reg neg’ emotion
• more like to experience mixed emotions

Question 16

What are some of the outcomes from accepting that emotions change

Answer 16

• Increased perceive self-efficacy to regulate emotions
• Reduction of perceived threat of neg’ emotions (less struggle)

Question 17

What are some of the implications for internalising that emotions can be casued by ones context?

Answer 17

• Allows for increased self distancing / not taking things personally
• greater ability for flexibility in emotional regulation stratergies

Question 18

Why could thinking about yourself as part of a wider context decrease depression?

Answer 18

One could reflect on their depression as:
1. I’m a depressed person (individual)
2. I’m a person in broder situation experiencing depression

Question 19

What is one predictor of higher negative emotion in a country that prioritises happiness?

Answer 19

Having an already high level of neg’ emotion is increased when ones context locates happiness as the goal

Question 20

What is SEDAS and what does it speak to?

Answer 20

Social Expectancies for Depression Anxiety Scale.

Results speak the pressure to stay happy having an inverse affect.

Question 21

What did the daily dairy study show about negative emotion?

Answer 21

That higher SEDAS scores on any given day correlated with higher recordings of negative emotion.

Question 22

What did priming subjects with the expectation of happiness induce?

Answer 22

People who failed in the happy primed room ruminated more on task failiure than those in the non-primed room

Question 23

Other than culture, what is an ecological factor than can impact happiness?

Answer 23

Income inequality.
- less trust
- perceived trust