Cross Cultural Psychology Discussion

Collectivist cultures have different impacts on emotion than individualistic cultures. For
this discussion, a collectivist culture to be considered is the Japanese culture and to evaluate how
and why that might be a problem for the enculturation of a young teenager into an individualistic
culture like the USA.
In Japan, public display of affection is taboo. Japanese couples may go out on dates and
have fun activities but may not kiss in public (Seira, 2020). This is because Japanese couples
may seem lacking in a public moral sense (Seira, 2020). Public display of affection may make
those around them uncomfortable. This is so because collectivist societies complete the stem
from social roles (Tsai, 2022). Their actions are likely to be taken considering societal
responsibility (Tsai, 2022). Even when a Japanese couple may feel the urge to express their
affection publicly, they are likely to suppress such feelings to adjust to the immediate society.
However, in individualistic societies, people like to express themselves and influence others to
express themselves. As such, a young teenager from an individualistic society may not have a
problem with public display of affection. In a Japanese setting, such an American teenager may
have to suppress urges of public display of affection despite being completely normal in the
USA. Countries with higher individualism scores have higher levels of general emotional
expression, but collectivist societies may require emotional suppression (van Hemert et al.,
2007). Such suppression may cause the teenager to have a reduced satisfaction with life. Such
suppression may also reduce psychological satisfaction and function (Tsai, 2022). This may be
challenging for an American teenager to deal with, even though a Japanese teenager in the same
situation would be comfortable with it because it is what they have been used to since birth.

Emotional expressions that are parts of culture are passed on across generations (Gendron et al.,
2014). As such, a young teenager from an individualistic culture may have difficulties adapting.
References
Gendron, M., Roberson, D., van der Vyver, J. M., & Barrett, L. F. (2014). Perceptions of
emotion from facial expressions are not culturally universal: Evidence from a remote
culture. Emotion, 14(2), 251–262. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036052
Seira (2020, September 9). Learn About Japan’s Unique Dating Culture from a Japanese Writer
in her Twenties. Tsunagu Japan. https://www.tsunagujapan.com/japan-dating-culture-
twenties/
Tsai, J. (2022) Culture and emotion, In Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds), Noba textbook series:
Psychology. Champaign, IL: DEF publishers. Retrived from
http://nota.to.gtqmxtyw(http://noba.to/gfqmxtyw)
van Hemert, D. A., Poortinga, Y. H., & van de Vijver, F. J. R. (2007). Emotion and culture: A
meta-analysis. Cognition and Emotion, 21(5), 913–943.
https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930701339293