Cultural differences in the construal of suffering and the COVID-19 pandemic
Social Psychological and Personality Science
; 12(6):1039-1047, 2021.
Article
in English
| APA PsycInfo | ID: covidwho-2264669
ABSTRACT
The present research examines how suffering is construed across cultures. Study 1 (N1 = 264;N2 = 745) asked participants to provide free associations for suffering. Chinese individuals generated more positive associations than did Euro-Canadians. Study 2 (N = 522) had participants create a hypothetical potion of suffering to represent what people would experience while suffering. Chinese participants added more positive ingredients and fewer negative ingredients than Euro-Canadians did. How would cultural differences in the construal of suffering matter in a real-life negative situation? Study 3 (N = 608) showed that Chinese participants generated a greater proportion of potential positive outcomes for the COVID-19 outbreak and reported more positive affect during the pandemic than did Euro-Canadians. Thus, Chinese construe suffering more positively than Euro-Canadians. These findings are consistent with previous research on cultural differences in dialectical thinking and lay theory of change and have implications for coping and resilience. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)
culture; suffering; dialectical thinking; lay theory of change; COVID-19 pandemic, *Cross Cultural Differences, *Pandemics, *Resilience (Psychological), *Suffering, *covid-19, Coping Behavior, Dialectics, Free Association, Positive Emotions, Physical & Somatic Disorders [3290], Human Male Female Adulthood (18 yrs & older), China; Canada
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
APA PsycInfo
Language:
English
Journal:
Social Psychological and Personality Science
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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