Emotion and culture: A meta-analysis

Abstract

A meta-analysis of 190 cross-cultural emotion studies, published between 1967 and 2000, was performed to examine (1) to what extent reported cross-cultural differences in emotion variables could be regarded as valid (substantive factors) or as method-related (statistical artefacts, cultural bias), and (2) which country characteristics could explain valid cross-cultural differences in emotion. The relative contribution of substantive and method-related factors at sample, study, and country level was investigated and country-level explanations for differences in emotions were tested. Results indicate that a correction for statistical artefacts and method-related factors reduced the observed cross-cultural effect sizes considerably. After controlling for valence (positive vs. negative emotions) and kind of study (self-report vs. recognition studies), the remaining cross-cultural variance was associated with subsistence mode, political system, values, and religiosity. Values explained more variance than did ecological or sociopolitical variables. It was concluded that both method-related factors (13.8% of variance explained) and culture-level factors (27.9% of variance explained) underlie observed cross-cultural differences.

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Monique Coppens and Brigitte Verwer for help in data collection and to Seger Breugelmans and three anonymous reviewers for useful comments on an earlier draft. We would like to thank Marcel Croon for statistical advice on the calculation of the expected value of the absolute Hedges’ d.

Notes

¹In most literature emotions are treated as categorically distinct variables. In the present study we followed this approach.

²Most comparisons involved negative emotions and all types of methods were represented. Seven studies (19 comparisons) involved emotions in social situations, asking questions about circumstances in which emotions are experienced. Another study (one comparison) involved feelings of alienation, which also refers to a social context. Still another study (one comparison) involved test anxiety, an emotional reaction to a specific situation.

³A list of references included in the meta-analysis and a detailed outline of the literature search strategy are available from the first author.