Culture and Somatic Focused Attention

In a two-study investigation, cross-cultural differences between Ghanaian and American university students in somatic-focused attention were explored. Study 1 showed that Ghanaian participants paid more attention to their body and less to emotions than did American participants. However, these differences were not explained by differences in individualism/collectivism, self construal, or perceived level of embodiment. In Study 2, Ghanaian participants used fewer emotion words than American participants while recalling significant emotion events. However, there was no difference in body words used. Cultural priming did not appear to have a significant effect on the tendency to use emotion or body words. Together, these findings provide some empirical support for cultural differences in the experience and verbal expression of emotions.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2015

Author dc:creator

• Dzokoto, Vivian A.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Okazaki, Sumie

• Psychology, Social

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

(MiAaPQ)AAI3198981

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/82087