Americans Want To Make Themselves Feel Better More than Japanese Do: Cultural Differences in Prohedonic Emotion Regulation Goals in Daily Life

Emotion regulation is initiated when a goal to influence emotions is activated. The goals people pursue when regulating their emotions, however, may differ across cultures. We tested whether individuals from the United States and Japan differ in the goals they pursue in emotion regulation in daily life. In a preregistered ecological momentary assessments study (N = 221), we examined how Americans and Japanese students felt and how they wanted to influence their feelings in daily life. As predicted, Americans were more motivated to decrease their unpleasant emotions and increase their pleasant emotions than Japanese were, even when controlling for differences in experienced emotions. These effects replicated across arousal levels, though their strength varied. The findings demonstrate that the degree to which people want to make themselves feel better when regulating their emotions in daily life varies across cultures.