Culture, emotion, and well-being: Good feelings in Japan and the United States

We tested the hypothesis that "good feelings"-the central element of subjec tive well-being-are associated with interdependence and interpersonal engag ement of the self in Japan, but with independence and interpersonal disenga gement of the self in the United States. Japanese and American college stud ents (total N = 913) reported how frequently they experienced various emoti onal states in daily life, In support of the hypothesis, the reported frequ ency of general positive emotions (e.g. calm, elated) was most closely asso ciated with the reported frequency of interpersonally engaged positive emot ions (e.g. friendly feelings) in Japan, but with the reported frequency of interpersonally disengaged positive emotions (e.g. pride) in the United Sta tes. Further, for Americans the reported frequency of experience was consid erably higher for positive emotions than for negative emotions, but for Jap anese it was higher for engaged emotions than for disengaged emotions. Impl ications for cultural constructions of emotion in general and subjective we ll-being in particular are discussed.