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The experience of anger and sadness in response to hurtful behavior: Effects of gender-pairing and national culture

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Abstract

We report a study of recalled experiences of anger and sadness following hurtful events, focusing on the differentiated effects of cognitive appraisals, culture, and gender of perpetrator and subject. Results from a sample of 321 participants recruited in Hong Kong and the United States show that emotional experiences in response to hurt differ cross-nationally. We found that participants’ reports of hurtful experiences were related to their experience of anger and sadness, with anger responses proportional to the perception of perpetrator responsibility for the hurt. Compared to Hong Kong participants, Americans reported experiencing more anger, whereas Hong Kong participants’ experience of anger was ameliorated by familiarity with the perpetrator. The results for gender pair effects showed that male participants reported their experience of anger following a hurtful event was reduced when the perpetrator was female, while their experience of sadness was reduced when the perpetrator was another male. We discuss the implications of our findings for emotion management in Hong Kong and the United States.

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Notes

  1. The data were collected as part of a larger project assessing cross-cultural effects of reported personal harm. A different sub-set of the data was reported in Liao and Bond (2010), which examined culture effects on face loss. The variables included in the present study do not substantively overlap with those used in Liao and Bond, however.

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Acknowledgments

This research is supported by the Chinese Nature Science Fund (No. 71371029).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China

    Yan Li & Khalid Mehmood

  2. The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, 4072, Australia

    Neal M. Ashkanasy

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Correspondence to Neal M. Ashkanasy.

Appendix 1

Appendix 1

Instructions that Acquire Information regarding the Past Hurtful Episode

Think about a specific time within the last two years someone has harmed you. The harm that occurred could have been physical harm or emotional harm (such as insulting you or betraying you). When you have thought of an episode, please answer the following questions concerning that incident. Your responses will remain completely anonymous and confidential. Please do not use your name or any other person’s name in your responses. Please take your time and try to answer the questions as thoroughly as possible.

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Li, Y., Ashkanasy, N.M. & Mehmood, K. The experience of anger and sadness in response to hurtful behavior: Effects of gender-pairing and national culture. Asia Pac J Manag 34, 423–441 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-016-9493-9

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