CULTURAL ORIENTATION AND EMOTION REGULATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL ANXIETY AND NEURAL RESPONSES TO EMOTIONAL FACES

Abstract

The current study examined relations among cultural orientation, emotion regulation (ER), and social anxiety in 175 undergraduate students (81.1% female; Mage = 19.7, SD = 1.7). Independent and Interdependent orientation was measured using the Self-Construal Scale (SCS), ER with the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and the Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (IERQ), and Social Anxiety using the Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (SIAS). Findings revealed distinct ER patterns for each orientation, such that Interdependent orientation was associated with use of Interpersonal ER strategies. Interdependent self-construal and social modeling interacted to predict against social anxiety (β = –.24, t = –2.85, p = .005). A subsample of 21 participants completed Emotion Go/NoGo tasks while electroencephalogram (EEG) was recorded. Event-related potential (ERP) components (P100, N170) to fearful, angry, and calm expressions for "Go" trials were measured over occipital and parietal regions. Independent Orientation was associated with reduced N170 amplitude to fearful (r(21) = –.474, p = .03) and angry (r(20) = –.546, p = .013) face expressions. Expressive suppression correlated with greater P100 amplitude to fearful (r(21) = .456, p = .038) and angry faces (r(20) = .453, p = .045), while Cognitive Reappraisal was related to reduced P100 (r(20) = –.447, p = .048) and N170 (r(20) = – .509, p = .022) amplitudes to angry faces. Social Anxiety was associated with greater N170 amplitude to fearful faces (r(21) = .467, p = .033). The results highlight the role of cultural orientation in ER tendencies and Social Anxiety, and demonstrate extensions to automatic neural responses to emotional faces.