Within-Person Changes in the Structure of Emotion

This study explored the within-person dynamic organization of emotion in East-Asian Canadian bicultural individuals as they function in two cultural worlds. Using a diary design, we examined under what conditions their emotional structure resembles that of Westerners or that of East Asians. As predicted, when these bicultural individuals identified with a Western culture or had recently spoken a non-Asian language, their positive and negative affect were inversely associated. When they identified with an Asian culture or interacted in an Asian language, this inverse association disappeared. This study shows that as bicultural individuals identify and communicate with members of one or the other cultural group, they may adopt a culturally congruent phenomenology, including a distinct affective pattern.

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