The Experiencing and Remembering of Well-Being: A Cross-Cultural Analysis

Abstract

Four studies were conducted to examine cultural differences in specific and global reports of well-being. The first two studies were designed to determine whether cultural differences in emotional experiences would emerge at the time of actual experience or at the time of retrospective judgments, using a daily diary and an experience sampling method. Using more controlled methods, Studies 3 and 4 examined the memory, conscious weighting, and nonconscious weighting hypotheses. The results indicate that although there were no cultural differences in online experiences of well-being, European Americans reported a higher degree of well-being than did Asians in retrospective reports. Studies 3 and 4 also indicate that these cultural differences were not due to explicit memory for emotional events or conscious weighting of positive versus negative information. Rather, the cultural difference in retrospective reports of well-being appears to be due to nonconscious weighting of positive versus negative information.