Is it okay to feel this way? Exploring the joint effect of emotional experiences and expectations on life satisfaction.

This research investigates the joint effect of individual emotional experiences and societal expectations on life satisfaction. Inspired by the Affect Valuation Theory and Self-Discrepancy Theory, we explored how discrepancies between actual emotional experiences and what society believes we "ought" to feel are linked with life satisfaction. A total of 301 U.S. online participants rated their emotional experiences and societal expectations for emotions, along with measures of life satisfaction. Response surface analyses were used to assess the effect of emotional experience-norm congruence on life satisfaction. Findings revealed that the highest life satisfaction reported by individuals infrequently experiencing negative emotions but perceiving high societal expectations for these emotions, while congruence effects were not supported. These findings suggest the potential benefits of a societal shift toward greater acceptance of a wider range of negative emotions. The study may potentially stimulate interventions to enhance individuals' life satisfaction by reconsidering societal beliefs about emotions.

Happiness Maximization Is a WEIRD Way of Living.

Psychological science tends to treat subjective well-being and happiness synonymously. We start from the assumption that subjective well-being is more than being happy to ask the fundamental question: What is the ideal level of happiness? From a cross-cultural perspective, we propose that the idealization of attaining maximum levels of happiness may be especially characteristic of Western, educated, industrial, rich, and democratic (WEIRD) societies but less so for others. Searching for an explanation for why "happiness maximization" might have emerged in these societies, we turn to studies linking cultures to their eco-environmental habitat. We discuss the premise that WEIRD cultures emerged in an exceptionally benign ecological habitat (i.e., faced relatively light existential pressures compared with other regions). We review the influence of the Gulf Stream on the Northwestern European climate as a source of these comparatively benign geographical conditions. We propose that the ecological conditions in which WEIRD societies emerged afforded them a basis to endorse happiness as a value and to idealize attaining its maximum level. To provide a nomological network for happiness maximization, we also studied some of its potential side effects, namely alcohol and drug consumption and abuse and the prevalence of mania. To evaluate our hypothesis, we reanalyze data from two large-scale studies on ideal levels of personal life satisfaction-the most common operationalization of happiness in psychology-involving respondents from 61 countries. We conclude that societies whose members seek to maximize happiness tend to be characterized as WEIRD, and generalizing this across societies can prove problematic if adopted at the ideological and policy level.

WEIRD-Confucian comparisons: Ongoing cultural biases in psychology's evidence base and some recommendations for improving global representation.

The realization that most behavioral science research focuses on cultures labeled as WEIRD-Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic (Arnett, 2008; Henrich et al., 2010; Thalmayer et al., 2021)-has given an impetus to extend the research to more diverse populations. Confucian East Asian societies have relatively strong social and technological infrastructure to advance science and thus have gained much prominence in cross-cultural studies. This has inadvertently fostered another bias: the dominance of WEIRD-Confucian comparisons and a tendency to draw conclusions about "non-WEIRD" cultures in general based on data from Confucian societies. Here, analyzing 1,466,019 scientific abstracts and, separately, coverage of 60 large-scale cross-cultural psychological projects (Nsamples = 2,668 from Ncountries = 153 covering nparticipants = 3,722,940), we quantify the dominance of Confucian over other non-WEIRD cultures in psychological research. Our analysis also reveals the underrepresentation of non-European Union postcommunist societies and the almost total invisibility of Pacific Island, Caribbean, Middle African, and Central Asian societies within the research database of psychology. We call for a shift in cross-cultural studies toward midsize (7+ countries) and ideally large-scale (50+ countries) cross-cultural studies, and we propose mitigations that we believe could aid the inclusion of diverse researchers as well as participants from underrepresented cultures in our field. People in all world regions and cultures deserve psychological knowledge that applies to them. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Maximizing economic prosperity, strengthening military, or developing social bonds? Study protocol for research on the relationship between regulatory focus and preferences for the direction of societal development.

Recent research has pointed to cross-cultural differences with regard to preferences for the directions that societies should take in their development. From an individual's perspective, these directions might be understood as 'goals', i.e., internal representations of desired end states. To date, research on individual differences that determine preferences for such directions is scarce. However, people's motivational concerns, i.e., what they fundamentally value, may shape their views about the desired paths for their country's future. The role of such motivational concerns has been described by regulatory focus theory, which distinguishes between promotion concerns related to advancement needs and prevention concerns linked with security needs. The overall aim of this project is to map the different pathways of societal development with regulatory focus concerns. This will be achieved in two studies. In Study 1, a group concept mapping method will be employed, and leading psychologists will assess the extent to which various societal development goals represent promotion and prevention goals. Based on these ratings, a two-dimensional map of the goals will be created and presented to the same experts, who will be asked to create goal clusters based on their proximity with regard to promotion and prevention ratings. This study will reveal which societal development directions have promotion concerns that outweigh prevention concerns (and vice versa) and which are both high (or low) on these dimensions. This initial mapping will be corroborated in correlational Study 2 with representative samples from two countries differing in dominating regulatory orientations (Poland vs. USA). Here, the roles of individual promotion and prevention orientations in preferences for specific societal development directions will be evaluated. This project will provide new insights into the roles of individual motivational systems in preferences for goals that might be pursued in country development.

Outside the "Cultural Binary": Understanding Why Latin American Collectivist Societies Foster Independent Selves.

Cultural psychologists often treat binary contrasts of West versus East, individualism versus collectivism, and independent versus interdependent self-construal as interchangeable, thus assuming that collectivist societies promote interdependent rather than independent models of selfhood. At odds with this assumption, existing data indicate that Latin American societies emphasize collectivist values at least as strongly as Confucian East Asian societies, but they emphasize most forms of independent self-construal at least as strongly as Western societies. We argue that these seemingly "anomalous" findings can be explained by societal differences in modes of subsistence (herding vs. rice farming), colonial histories (frontier settlement), cultural heterogeneity, religious heritage, and societal organization (relational mobility, loose norms, honor logic) and that they cohere with other indices of contemporary psychological culture. We conclude that the common view linking collectivist values with interdependent self-construal needs revision. Global cultures are diverse, and researchers should pay more attention to societies beyond "the West" and East Asia. Our contribution concurrently illustrates the value of learning from unexpected results and the crucial importance of exploratory research in psychological science.

Polish Honor and Norwegian Dignity: Life Satisfaction, Acculturation, and Self-Worth / El Honor Polaco, La Dignidad Noruega: Satisfacción de Vida, Aculturación y Autoestima

Abstract Locus of self-worth shifts from internal in cultures of dignity to external in cultures of honor. It remains yet unknown whether it can be modified, for example, under an influence of important life events, as migration to a culture of a distinct logic. Our study aimed to analyse relationships between the locus of self-worth and the acculturation strategies on life satisfaction. We collected data from 60 heterosexual Polish couples living in Poland, 120 Polish migrant couples in Norway, and 60 Norwegian couples living in Norway. Groups differed from each other in life satisfaction and in locus of self-worth, with Norwegians valuating the self the most internally and Poles in Poland the most externally. Our results on locus of self-worth show that Polish culture fits in the classification of culture of honor, while Norwegians represent culture of dignity. Moreover, a series of hierarchical linear regressions demonstrated that both locus of self-worth and acculturation strategy are significant predictors of participants' life satisfaction, with a moderating role of migrants' attachment to Polish culture and adaptation to Norwegian society.

Resumen En las culturas de dignidad, que ocurren principalmente en los estados del norte de los Estados Unidos, Canadá y el noroeste de Europa, la autoestima es inalienable y se valora internamente. Esto significa que la autoestima se basa en los logros, las decisiones y los valores del individuo (Aslani et al., 2016). En las culturas de dignidad, nadie puede privar a los individuos de su valor, ya que su ubicación está en lo más profundo de la persona. Por el contrario, en culturas de honor, el valor de una persona se basa en cualidades internas y externas. El honor puede ser quitado, si una persona rompe las reglas de conducta social. El locus de la autoestima cambia de lo interno en las culturas de dignidad, a lo externo en las culturas de honor. Aún no es claro si se puede modificar, por ejemplo, bajo la influencia de eventos importantes de la vida, como la migración a una cultura de una lógica distinta. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo analizar las relaciones entre el locus de autoestima y las estrategias de aculturación sobre la satisfacción con la vida. Se levantaron datos de 60 parejas heterosexuales polacas que viven en Polonia, 120 parejas polacas de inmigrantes en Noruega y 60 parejas noruegas que viven en Noruega. Los grupos diferían entre sí en la satisfacción con la vida y en el locus de la autoestima, los noruegos valoraban el yo más internamente y los polacos en Polonia más externamente. Los resultados en el locus de la autoestima muestran que la cultura polaca encaja en la clasificación de la cultura del honor, mientras que los noruegos representan la cultura de la dignidad. Además, una serie de regresiones lineales jerárquicas mostraron que tanto el locus de la autoestima como la estrategia de aculturación son predictores significativos de la satisfacción con la vida, con un papel moderador del apego de los migrantes a la cultura polaca y la adaptación a la sociedad noruega.

Catching up with wonderful women: The women-are-wonderful effect is smaller in more gender egalitarian societies.

Inequalities between men and women are common and well-documented. Objective indexes show that men are better positioned than women in societal hierarchies-there is no single country in the world without a gender gap. In contrast, researchers have found that the women-are-wonderful effect-that women are evaluated more positively than men overall-is also common. Cross-cultural studies on gender equality reveal that the more gender egalitarian the society is, the less prevalent explicit gender stereotypes are. Yet, because self-reported gender stereotypes may differ from implicit attitudes towards each gender, we reanalysed data collected across 44 cultures, and (a) confirmed that societal gender egalitarianism reduces the women-are-wonderful effect when it is measured more implicitly (i.e. rating the personality of men and women presented in images) and (b) documented that the social perception of men benefits more from gender egalitarianism than that of women.

Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals.

Smiling individuals are usually perceived more favorably than non-smiling ones-they are judged as happier, more attractive, competent, and friendly. These seemingly clear and obvious consequences of smiling are assumed to be culturally universal, however most of the psychological research is carried out in WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) and the influence of culture on social perception of nonverbal behavior is still understudied. Here we show that a smiling individual may be judged as less intelligent than the same non-smiling individual in cultures low on the GLOBE's uncertainty avoidance dimension. Furthermore, we show that corruption at the societal level may undermine the prosocial perception of smiling-in societies with high corruption indicators, trust toward smiling individuals is reduced. This research fosters understanding of the cultural framework surrounding nonverbal communication processes and reveals that in some cultures smiling may lead to negative attributions.

It is better to smile to women: gender modifies perception of honesty of smiling individuals across cultures.

Social perception studies have revealed that smiling individuals are perceived more favourably on many communion dimensions in comparison to nonsmiling individuals. Research on gender differences in smiling habits showed that women smile more than men. In our study, we investigated this phenomena further and hypothesised that women perceive smiling individuals as more honest than men. An experiment conducted in seven countries (China, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Republic of South Africa and USA) revealed that gender may influence the perception of honesty in smiling individuals. We compared ratings of honesty made by male and female participants who viewed photos of smiling and nonsmiling people. While men and women did not differ on ratings of honesty in nonsmiling individuals, women assessed smiling individuals as more honest than men did. We discuss these results from a social norms perspective.