The impact of culture on emotion suppression: Insights from an electrophysiological study of emotion regulation in Japan

Abstract

Prior theory and evidence suggest that native East Asians tend to down-regulate their emotional arousal to negatively valenced experiences through expressive suppression, an emotion regulation technique focused on suppressing one’s emotional experience. One proposed explanation for this choice of regulation strategy and its efficacy is rooted in their commitment to the cultural value of interdependence with others. However, prior work has not yet thoroughly supported this hypothesis using in vivo neural correlates of emotion regulation. Here, we utilized an established electroencephalogram (EEG) correlate of emotional arousal, the late positive potential (LPP), to examine whether down-regulation of the LPP in native East Asians might be particularly pronounced for those relatively high in interdependent self-construal. In this study, native Japanese participants attempted to suppress their emotional reaction to unpleasant images during EEG recording. In support of the hypothesis that emotion suppression among native East Asians is influenced by the cultural value of interdependence, there was a significant effect of interdependent self-construal on the LPP. Specifically, those relatively high in interdependent (versus independent) self-construal exhibited a smaller LPP in response to unpleasant pictures when instructed to suppress their emotions versus a passive viewing condition. However, this effect was negligible for those relatively low in interdependent self-construal, suggesting that cultural values impact the in vivo efficacy of different emotion regulation techniques. These results demonstrate the importance of identifying correspondence between self-report measures and in vivo correlates of emotion regulation in cross-cultural research.