COJO 3070 FINAL (1)

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Emotional reactions to interpersonal situations among people of different cultures

Final Paper

Yumiko Ojima

Eunjoo Choi

Undergraduate

University of Wyoming

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Abstract

The purpose of the study was to find out the different emotional reactions of people to the

interpersonal situation due to their different cultural backgrounds. The research focused on the

reason of the different emotional reactions due to the collectivistic cultural background and

individualistic cultural background. By understanding different emotional reactions, we are more

likely to avoid unnecessary, negative conflicts and have better relationships with people from

different cultures. The study surveyed 40 students enrolled at the University of Wyoming. The

participants completed a survey comprised of the four questions based on 7-point semantic differential

scales, one Likert scale question, and four multiple-response questions about the interpersonal situations

that could vary due to their cultural backgrounds. Also, the questions ask about participants’ background,

such as age, sex, class standing, and ethnicity. The results indicated that there were differences and also

similarities between these two groups: the international students and American students.

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Introduction

This globalized society is composed of multiple cultures which sometimes causes

struggles and misunderstandings among all kinds of culture due to the various “value, self-

concept content, relational assumptions, and cognitive style” (Oyerman & Lee, 2008, p.311). In

order to avoid conflicts or unnecessary arguments because of different cognitive style,

understanding the variations of emotional reaction is essential. Although a communication

scholar researched about the relationship between cognitive process and culture (Daphna

Oyerman & Lee, 2008), additional details are necessary to gain the depth of understanding of

interpersonal communication for internal and external expression depending on each level of

self-disclosure.

Since people are social beings, we learn sociological concepts through socialization from

the other people who are living with. The things that people learned from the others affect the

individual’s value, attitude, and behavior toward all the things that they encounter. However, not

all the same sociological norms are applied to the whole world; they are all different from each

culture. According to the book Emotion and Culture, “every cultural group has some key ideas

that have been traditionally and collectively held in place and that are used to select and organize

their own sociopsychological process,” and this book indicates this concept as a “core cultural

ideas” (Kitayama & Markus,1995, p.341). The core cultural ideas make the members of cultural

groups to be “socialized or trained to think, act, and feel in a more or less adaptive fashion”

(Kitayama & Markus,1995, p.343). The object of the research is to investigate how the people

who are from different cultural backgrounds would react differently to interpersonal situations

due to the differences of their cultural characteristics among them. Especially, the research

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focused on the influence of the collectivistic cultural background and individualistic cultural

backgrounds; how would they differ toward the same interpersonal situation and whether the

participants show their feelings toward others externally or not in daily lives of them.

Literature Review

Definition of Terms

Emotion is one of the major phenomena that will be focused on in this research paper,

however emotion has different definitions depending on context. The definition of emotion in

this research is “transient, bio-psycho-social reaction to events that have consequences for our

welfare and potentially require immediate reaction” as defined by Matsumoto and Hwang (2012,

p.92).

Also, collectivism and individualism are the important feature to determine in order to

see the relationship in the emotional responses in interpersonal situations. Collectivists are

people who are motivated by the surroundings such as families, coworkers, and other people who

share the same cultures with while individualists are influenced by their personal desires and

needs to achieve their goals (Triandis, &, Charalamdos 1995).

Those two cultures are strongly related to the surroundings of individuals for emotional

responses which can be observed by self-disclosure from the social learning perspective. The

Social Learning Theory coined by Albert Bandura (1969) is about “an indetificatory event is

defined as the occurrence of similarity between the behavior of a model and another model

(p.213).

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Nationalities and patterns of emotional expressions.

The comparison between collectivistic and individualistic cultures is a popular topic. The

similarities of emotional responses have been found in past research. For example, a study

(Shulruf, 2011) conducted in Australia indicated similar results in New Zealand Asian and New

Zealand Asian as well as New Zealand Maori and Romanians. As the results shows,

geographical area does not affect the result but the cultures in which each individual belongs to

do. In addition to this example, a research suggests that Asian cultures have less unpleasant

emotions than western cultures (Schimmack, 2002). Therefore, this RQ is posed:

RQ 1: Do negative emotional response differ among people of different nations?

Emotional Responses and Collectivism and Individualism

A research from Chen and Nakazawa (2009) shows, it is not recommended to generalize

the cultural differences to the country itself. Then, can we categorize and predict the emotional

reaction depending on cultures? Culture is such a hard aspect to have a common sense for all

kinds of people and cultures that exist. Moreover, the function of cultures can be differed in

various societies. In this research, the cultures is defined as the way of creating and keeping the

society from chaos by creating a system of values that help create norms for controlling emotions

(Matsumoto, Yoo, & Nakagawa,2008).

Each social individual tends to behave differently when they interact with strangers, so in

this research, we investigated the different emotional reactions toward self-disclosure from

strangers between individualism and collectivism culture. Therefore, the second research

question is:

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RQ2: Do emotional responses on self-disclosure of strangers differ between people from

individualism and collectivism culture?

External Emotional Expressions and Cultural Background

Collectivism and individualism work as a collection of values which concern the

relationships among each individual and social connectedness (Chen, & Nakazawa, 2009). In

other words, one concern about the connection between others within the culture regardless of

difference of collectivistic and individualistic cultures. Then, it can be assumed that people hide

their true feelings in order to “fit” into the culture that they belong to.

There are variations of ways to express one’s positive and negative feeling for varied

situations. Sometimes one feels comfortable sharing their true feeling to others, so the next target

of this research is to find out what effect one’s hesitation or willingness of showing their

emotions externally. A research conducted by Cuming and Rapee (2010) implies sharing

negative feeling with others can be disturbed by external noise such as social anxiety. As well as

the other factors, we are especially interested in effects from cultures in which individual lives

in. A research shows that Japanese people are more oriented than American people which

indicates that Japanese people determine culture and society as an important regulations for all

(Noguchi, 2007). Because culture is what they follow, they try to be a part of the culture by

adjusting their behavior that could include the forms of emotional expressions.

RQ3: Are the reasons for different level of honesty toward their emotional expressions between

people from individualism and collectivism culture?

Methods

Participants

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This study surveyed 20 international students and 20 American students from the

University of Wyoming. The ratio of international students and American students of the

participants of the study represents a collectivistic culture and individualistic culture.

Procedure

The participants filled out survey questions sheets in person. The survey were handed out

to the participants. The questions were answered at any time of their convenience.

Instruments

The questions composed of seven questions, and a 7-point Semantic-Differential scale

was used to measure negative emotional expression, self-disclosure to strangers, and honesty

toward their feelings.

Negative emotional expression. Participants were asked by this question “When I[they]

am[are] mad/annoyed/angry at my teacher, my closest response would be” and whether “I can say no to

them when I don’t want to go out with them.”

Self-disclosure to Strangers. Participants were asked by a question “What kind of topic

you and the stranger have shared/talked about?” Also, to compare how students of different

cultural backgrounds show their internal and external reactions toward the situation, we asked

question like “when a stranger talks about his or her personal stories, I am most likely to” and

were asked to choose their closest response among the categories of 1)Listen quietly, 2)Ask them

to stop talking to you, 3)Show your feelings nonverbally, 4)Ask them follow-up questions, and

5) Share my own stories.

Honesty toward your emotion. Participants were asked by “Overall, how honest are you

toward your emotion?” the response categories include 1) always hide feelings, 2) show positive

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feelings but hide negative ones and 5) always show your feelings whether it is negative or

positive.

Results

The data were analyzed by calculating the most frequent response for each cultural

background of individualism and collectivism.

This research examined the influence of cultural backgrounds on the emotional reactions

to the interpersonal situation among the students of the University of Wyoming. The research

participants were divided into two groups: American and international students. The nationality

of the students in the international students group consisted of students from Asian countries and

Mexican students mostly. Therefore, the American group represents the individualistic culture,

and the international group represents the collectivistic culture.

The RQ1 asked “Do negative emotional response differ among people of different

nations?” To answer this RQ, the results of the survey Q1 and Q2 were analyzed below.

Questions number 1 asked how the participant will react to the situation when he or she is

mad at his or her teacher. As seen in the graph [Q1. (a)], the most frequent reaction of the

situation was to “accept the feeling and deal with it by yourself” with 42.5%. Unlike the research

question, which expected to see the different result from each groups, the general reaction from

those two groups were similar. As seen in the graph [Q1. (b)] and [Q1.(c)], the number of

students who chose to react as “accept the feeling and deal with it by yourself” was 9 in

American group(42.5%) and 8 in International group(40%). The most frequent reaction from the

International group was to “get mad but not show your feelings toward the teacher” with 45%,

which was the option that 7 out of 20 students from the American group picked (35%) [Q1. (c)].

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Question number 2.1 asks what kind of method would be the best for the students to ask

him or her out. 21 out of 40 students (52.5%) answered that they prefer to be contacted by face to

face. Similar to the result for the question number 1, the result for this question also turned out to

be similar in both groups. The most frequent answer that the students from both groups answered

was the face to face. 11 of American students preferred the face to face contact (55%); 10 of

International students preferred the face to face contact when they are asked out (50%). The

second preferred way of contact was same too, the text. Both of American and International

students preferred the text message as the second best way of contact to ask out.

The purpose of the question number 2.2 was to see whether the students can say no

directly when they do not want to go out with someone or not. The mean of the answer from 5

Likert scale question was 3.25 and the standard deviation was 1.17. Similar from the previous

questions, the results from those groups did not have significant difference. As you can see in the

graphs [Q2.2 (b)] and [Q2.2 (c)], 10 students of each group, which is the 50% of each group, are

ok with saying no directly to the person who they do not want to go out with. Even the total

number of students who disagreed or strongly disagreed to saying no directly are exactly same;

six students of both groups are feeling uncomfortable of rejecting ask.

The RQ2 asked “Do emotional responses on self-disclosure of strangers differ between

people from individualism and collectivism culture?” To answer this RQ, the results of the

survey Q3 analyzed below.

Based on the scale analysis, in the Question 3-1, the most frequent response was they feel

somewhat comfortable when talking strangers as the Chart: Q3-1.a and i shows (35% of

American students and 25% of the international students). The average response of this questions

among American students is 5.05 (s.d.= 1.54) [δand s.d. A]. Similarly, the average response of

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international students is 4.55 (s.d.= 1.79) [δand s.d. I]. Within the international group, the most

frequent response among Asian students was that they feel uncomfortable, and Hispanic students

answered the opposite; they feel comfortable.

When the UW students were asked what they share when they talk to strangers in the

Question number 3-2., 70% of American students share background [Chart:Q3-2.A], and 55 % of

international students [Chart:Q3-2.I] have casual conversation with strangers .

Next, there were differences of how they feel about the conversation content. According

to our results of the Question number 3-3.1 to 3-3.3, international students are neither surprised

nor interested. In addition to that, those students don’t even feel comfortable or uncomfortable to

talk to strangers. On the other hand, American students are interested and feel comfortable, but

yet somewhat surprised when strangers talk to them [Q3-3.1.A to Q3-3.3.I].

The mean of American students response of Question 3.3-1 is 3.45 (s.d.=1.54) [Chart:Q3-

3.1.A] while international student’s mean is 3.7 (s.d.=1.38) [Chart:Q3-3.1.I]. Also, for the

Questions 3.3-2, American student’s mean is 3.82 (s.d.=1.39) [Chart:Q3-3.2.A], and international

student’s mean is 3.75 (s.d.= 1.41) [Chart:Q3-3.2.I]. In addition to that, the mean response of

Question 3.3-3 for American students is 2.85 (s.d.= 1.3) [Chart:Q3-3.3.A], and the one for

international students is 3.05 (s.d.=1.54) [Chart:Q3-3.3.I].

Among the all UW respondents, 45% of the international students [Chart:Q3-4.I] and 35%

of American [Chart:Q3-4.A]students answered they ask follow up questions during the

conversation. However, another 35% of American students answered they listen quietly

[Chart:Q3-4.A].

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The RQ3 asked “Are the reasons for different level of honesty toward their emotional

expressions due to different cultural backgrounds?” To answer this RQ, the results of the survey

Q4 analyzed below.

Half of the American students answered they only show the positive feeling [Q4.A] but

they hide their negative emotions (mean=2.6, s.d.=1.47). Interestingly, within the international

students, the most common response was “always show your feeling whether it is negative or

positive [Q4.I](mean=3.1, s.d.=1.59).” In the group of international students, the most frequent

answer of Asian students was to show their every feeling, followed by “show positive feelings

but hide the negative feelings.” For Hispanic students, they show their positive feelings and

cover their negative feelings with “artificial” positive feelings.

To investigate the overall emotional reaction about the feeling toward the self-disclosure

from stranger, we combined the Q3.31 and Q3.32. All respondents spread between the score of

seven and 19 while the most frequent score is 15 [Chart:CBC]. In addition to that, the mean

score of this combined score is 13.675 with 2.6 standard deviation [CBC].

Discussion

The purpose of the study was to find out the differences in the emotional reactions

toward interpersonal situations between international students and American students. Overall,

this study found UW American students don’t prefer to talk to students, but once strangers talk to

them they reveal their personal backgrounds. Then, they would either listen quietly or ask follow

up questions. Based on the result, American students tend to be shy to talk to strangers and can

be passive listeners or active listeners.

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For international student, it is not easy for them to talk to strangers as well, and don’t

feel comfortable to share their backgrounds. Instead, they talk about casual topics. Even though

they don’t share their simple backgrounds, they ask follow-up questions and have the

conversation last. This can be affected by the fact that they sometimes do not have confidence to

speak in English.

Within the international students, they are divided into two groups; Asian and Hispanic

groups. For Asian groups, they don’t prefer interacting with the strangers, so they are not

interested in the conversation. Because they are surrounded by their friends or people they know,

they can express their feelings. For Hispanic students, they don’t hesitate to talk to strangers or

feel comfortable when strangers talk to them. They share personal backgrounds and somewhat

interested in the conversation topics. Plus, they tend to try to be positive all the time by trying to

mask their negative feelings regardless of who they are surrounded by.

Unlike previous research by Noguchi, the results show more similarities of the two

groups; international students showed similar kind of reactions to the various emotional reaction

as American students. According to the social learning theory we assume that the international

students adjust their ways of thinking to fit into the American society. There are some possible

reasons of finding similar results between American group and International group. First of all,

all of the samples, the international students, are studying abroad. They are exposed to the

environment where western cultures are full of; the international students might adopt the

cultural norms of the U.S. society consciously or unconsciously. To survive from the unfamiliar

society, they would have tried to accept the western cultures. Also, because of the globalization

and the improvement of technology, mass media such as the Internet or television help people in

other countries be able to know the western cultures and become familiar to them. Therefore, not

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like before, it can be hard to see the distinct differences between the two groups. The

international students are “Americanized” to survive from the new environment which is totally

different from where they lived. Despite the limitations, this research found out that there are

similarities in responses from both international and American students in University of

Wyoming. Therefore, the future research should be carried out to investigate the reason of

internalizing of Western cultural norms by international students to say that the cultural

background is not the only reason that can influence the emotional reactions toward some

interpersonal situations.

The weakness of this research would be the small sample size. However, it can be

avoided by the snowball sampling within the University of Wyoming based upon the purpose of

this research. Even though this research is not random sampling, the result could be one of the

representation of the responses about external expression and internal emotion the University of

Wyoming. As well as the representation, confounding variables could be found in the research

such as individual personalities. Not only the personality of participants, but other threats due to

the respondents such as Hawthrone effect, selection, and social desirability existed. Because the

survey question sheets will be handed to respondents directly, the participants are aware of from

whom they are observed. Moreover, the response could be manipulated by the social desires that

could be an interruption of honest responses regardless of the research purpose. Moreover, this

research was completely based on self-report, so the responses could be different if someone else

reports one’s behavior via multiple perspectives. For example, if an international students who

just visited UW would be able to find variable that we could not find. Also, many of the

international students have been in the United States for more than a year, so it is possible that

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they have Americanized. As a result, their behavior would not be the same as international

freshman.

Therefore, to minimize the problems of data collection procedure, we can collect more

data and distribute the surveys to more diverse students. Also, to know whether the time spent in

America affected the international students or not, we need to compare same numbers of students

from each class standings. Since we did not have equal numbers of students from each class

standing, we can allocate same numbers of students to each class standing for the later research.

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Reference

Bandura, A. (1969). Social-learning theory of identificatory processes. Handbook of socialization theory and research, 213, 262.

Chen, Y., & Nakazawa, M. (2009). Influences of culture on self-disclosure as relationally situated in intercultural and interracial friendships from a social penetration perspective. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 38(2), 77-98. doi:10.1080/17475750903395408

Countries - Geert Hofstede. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2015.

Cuming, S., & Rapee, R. M. (2010). Social anxiety and self-protective communication style in close relationships. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 48, 87-96. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2009.09.010

Kitayama, S., Markus, H. R., & International Conference on Emotion and Culture. (1994). Emotion and culture: Empirical studies of mutual influence. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Noguchi, K. (2007). Examination of the content of individualism/collectivism scales in cultural comparisons of the USA and japan. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 10(3), 131-144. doi:10.1111/j.1467-839X.2007.00220.x

Matsumoto, D., & Hwang, H. S. (2012). Culture and emotion: The integration of biological and cultural contributions. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43(1), 91-118.

doi:10.1177/0022022111420147Matsumoto, D., Yoo, S. H., Nakagawa, S., 37 Members

Multinational Study Cul, 37 members of the Multinational Study of Cultural Display Rules, & Multinational Study of Cultural Display Rules. (2008). Culture, emotion regulation, and adjustment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(6), 925-937. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.94.6.925

Oyserman, D., & Lee, S. S. (2008). Does culture influence what and how we think? Effects of priming individualism and collectivism. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 311-342. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.134.2.311

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Shulruf, B., Alesi, M., Ciochinǎ, L., Faria, L., Hattie, J., Hong, F.. . Watkins, D. (2011). Measuring collectivism and individualism in the third millennium. Social Behavior and Personality, 39(2), 173-188. doi:10.2224/sbp.2011.39.2.173

Schimmack, U., Oishi, S., & Diener, E. (2002). Cultural influences on the relation between pleasant emotions and unpleasant emotions: Asian dialectic philosophies or individualism-collectivism? Cognition & Emotion, 16(6), 705-719. doi:10.1080/02699930143000590

Triandis, H. C. (1995). Individualism & collectivism. Westview press.

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Appendix

[Q1. (a)]

[Q1. (b)]

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[Q1. (c)]

[Q2.1 (a)]

19

[Q2.1 (b)]

[Q2.1 (c)]

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[Q2.2 (a)]

[Q2.2 (b)]

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[Q2.2 (c)]

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Q3-1 American Students (Chart: Q3-1.a)

q3.1

　 Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid 1.00 1 5.0 5.0 5.0

2.00 1 5.0 5.0 10.0

4.00 3 15.0 15.0 25.0

5.00 7 35.0 35.0 60.0

6.00 5 25.0 25.0 85.0

7.00 3 15.0 15.0 100.0

Total 20 100.0 100.0 　

International Students (Chart:Q3-1.i)

q3.1


Valid 2.00 4 20.0 20.0 20.0

3.00 3 15.0 15.0 35.0

4.00 1 5.0 5.0 40.0

5.00 5 25.0 25.0 65.0

6.00 4 20.0 20.0 85.0

7.00 3 15.0 15.0 100.0

Total 20 100.0 100.0 　

Q3-2 American Students (Chart:Q3-2.A)

q3.2


Valid 2.00 6 30.0 30.0 30.0

3.00 14 70.0 70.0 100.0

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Total 20 100.0 100.0 　

International Students (Chart:Q3-2.I)

q3.2


Valid 1.00 1 5.0 5.0 5.0

2.00 11 55.0 55.0 60.0

3.00 8 40.0 40.0 100.0

Total 20 100.0 100.0 　

Q3-3.1 American Students (Chart:Q3-3.1.A)

q3.31


Valid 1.00 1 5.0 5.0 5.0

2.00 6 30.0 30.0 35.0

3.00 4 20.0 20.0 55.0

4.00 3 15.0 15.0 70.0

5.00 5 25.0 25.0 95.0

7.00 1 5.0 5.0 100.0

Total 20 100.0 100.0 　

International Students (Chart:Q3-3.1.I)

q3.31


Valid 1.00 2 10.0 10.0 10.0

2.00 2 10.0 10.0 20.0

3.00 3 15.0 15.0 35.0

4.00 7 35.0 35.0 70.0

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5.00 5 25.0 25.0 95.0

6.00 1 5.0 5.0 100.0

Total 20 100.0 100.0 　

Q3-3.2 American Students (Chart:Q3-3.2.A)

q3.32


Valid 1.00 1 5.0 5.0 5.0

2.00 1 5.0 5.0 10.0

3.00 7 35.0 35.0 45.0

4.00 5 25.0 25.0 70.0

5.00 4 20.0 20.0 90.0

6.00 1 5.0 5.0 95.0

7.00 1 5.0 5.0 100.0

Total 20 100.0 100.0 　


q3.32


Valid 1.00 1 5.0 5.0 5.0

2.00 3 15.0 15.0 20.0

3.00 3 15.0 15.0 35.0

4.00 9 45.0 45.0 80.0

5.00 2 10.0 10.0 90.0

6.00 1 5.0 5.0 95.0

7.00 1 5.0 5.0 100.0

Total 20 100.0 100.0 　

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Q3.3-3 American Students. (Chart:Q3-3.3.A)

q3.33


Valid 1.00 3 15.0 15.0 15.0

2.00 5 25.0 25.0 40.0

3.00 7 35.0 35.0 75.0

4.00 3 15.0 15.0 90.0

5.00 1 5.0 5.0 95.0

6.00 1 5.0 5.0 100.0

Total 20 100.0 100.0 　


q3.33


Valid 1.00 4 20.0 20.0 20.0

2.00 3 15.0 15.0 35.0

3.00 6 30.0 30.0 65.0

4.00 4 20.0 20.0 85.0

5.00 1 5.0 5.0 90.0

6.00 2 10.0 10.0 100.0

Total 20 100.0 100.0 　

Q3-3.4 American Students (Chart:Q3-4. A)

q3.4

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Valid 1.00 7 35.0 35.0 35.0

3.00 2 10.0 10.0 45.0

4.00 7 35.0 35.0 80.0

5.00 4 20.0 20.0 100.0

Total 20 100.0 100.0 　

International Students (Chart:Q3-4.I)

q3.4


Valid 1.00 6 30.0 30.0 30.0

3.00 3 15.0 15.0 45.0

4.00 9 45.0 45.0 90.0

5.00 2 10.0 10.0 100.0

Total 20 100.0 100.0 　

Q4 American Students (Chart:Q4.A)

q4


Valid 1.00 4 20.0 20.0 20.0

2.00 10 50.0 50.0 70.0

4.00 2 10.0 10.0 80.0

5.00 4 20.0 20.0 100.0

Total 20 100.0 100.0 　

International Students (Chart:Q4.I)

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q4


Valid 1.00 4 20.0 20.0 20.0

2.00 5 25.0 25.0 45.0

3.00 2 10.0 10.0 55.0

4.00 3 15.0 15.0 70.0

5.00 6 30.0 30.0 100.0

Total 20 100.0 100.0 　

Combined Bar Chart (Bar Graph: CBC)

Means and s.d. of Q3.1, 3.31 to Q3.33, and Q4 (All Participants) [δ∧s . d .]

Report

　 q3.1 q3.31 q3.32 q3.33 q4

Mean 4.8000 3.5750 3.8000 2.9500 2.8500

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N 40 40 40 40 40

Std. Deviation 1.66718 1.44803 1.38119 1.41331 1.52836

Means and s.d. of Q3.1, 3.31 to Q3.33, and Q4 (American) [δ∧s . d .A]

Report

　 q3.1 q3.31 q3.32 q3.33 q4

Mean 5.0500 3.4500 3.8500 2.8500 2.6000

N 20 20 20 20 20

Std. Deviation 1.53811 1.53811 1.38697 1.30888 1.46539

Means and s.d. of Q3.1, 3.31 to Q3.33, and Q4 (International) [δ∧s . d . I]

Report

　 q3.1 q3.31 q3.32 q3.33 q4

Mean 4.5500 3.7000 3.7500 3.0500 3.1000

N 20 20 20 20 20

Std. Deviation 1.79106 1.38031 1.40955 1.53811 1.58612

Mean and s.d. of Combined Variables [δ∧s . d .CBC ]

Report

Feelings_on_selfdisclosure_of_strangers

Mean N Std. Deviation

13.6750 40 2.60559

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Emotional Reaction Survey

Hello,

We are junior students in Communication at the University of Wyoming. I am conducting this to find out how your cultural background would affect to your emotional reactions toward the interpersonal situations. Especially, we are trying to figure out whether you show your true internal emotions externally or not. Your participation in this study is completely voluntary. You are free not to answer any question and you can withdraw from this study at any time. In addition, all information collected will remain anonymous and confidential. Please feel free to ask any questions you have via [email protected] or [email protected].

Thanks for your time,

Eunjoo Choi & Yumiko Ojima

Sex: M / F

Age:

Class Standing:

Ethnicity:

1. . When I am mad, annoyed, or angry at my teacher, my most likely response would be

1) Show your annoyed feelings by yelling at the teacher

2) Get mad but not show your feelings toward the teacher

3) Accept the feeling and dealing with it by yourself

4) Talk back in an appropriate/ polite way

5) Give the teacher a dirty look

2-1. When someone asks me out for a date, I prefer to be contact by

1. Text 2) Phone calls ) email 4) online social networks (such as Facebook) 4) Face to Face2. 5) other (please specify_________)

2-2. I prefer saying no directly when I don’t want to go out with him or her

1 2 3 4 5Strongly Disagree Disagree Mutual Agree Strongly Agree

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3-1.How comfortable are you when talking to strangers?

3-2. What kind of topic do you and a stranger typically talk about?

1. Personal story 2) Casual story 3) Simple background, such as hometown, hobby,…etc. 3-3.how do you feel when a stranger talks about his or her personal stories?

1. Comfortable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 uncomfortable

2. Surprised 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 unsurprised

3. Interesting 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 boring

3-4. when a stranger talks about his or her personal stories, I am most likely to

1. Listen quietly

2. Ask them to stop talking to you

3. Show your feelings nonverbally

4. Ask them follow-up questions

5. Share my own stories4. Overall, how honest are you with your emotion

1) Always hide feelings

2) Show positive feelings but hide negative ones

3) Show negative feelings but hide positive ones

4) Mask negative feelings with positive feelings

5) Always show your feelings whether it is negative or positive

COJO 3070 FINAL (1)

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