“Shame on You”: Collectivistic cultural values influence the relationship between shame experiences and psychosocial well-being
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2024
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Haverford College. Department of Psychology
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Tri-College users only
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Abstract
This study examined whether collectivistic cultural values moderated the relationship between shame experiences and psychosocial well-being (self-esteem, satisfaction with life, perceived social support, depression, anxiety, and stress). Shame remains a significantly understudied emotion, yet recent literature indicates its potential adaptiveness within harmony collectivistic cultural settings. This study aims to enhance our understanding of shame's role in harmony cultures and collect empirical data on its function in convivial collectivistic cultural contexts. Overall, we hypothesized that collectivistic cultures (and their respective cultural values) would mitigate the association between shame experiences and negative psychosocial well-being outcomes. We used a sample (N = 446) with participants from Japan (harmony collectivists), Mexico (convivial collectivists), and the United States (individualists) to measure shame proneness & frequency and adherence to collectivistic cultural values. Surprisingly, we found no significant differences in shame proneness and frequency between the three country groups. Nevertheless, our analyses revealed that harmony collectivistic cultural values are protective against the maladaptive links between shame withdrawal and self-esteem. Moreover, harmony collectivistic cultural values are protective against the maladaptive links between shame withdrawal and satisfaction with life. Contrarily, harmony collectivistic cultural values exacerbated the maladaptive links between shame negative self-evaluation and perceived social support. Additionally, the convivial collectivistic cultural value of simpatía is protective against the maladaptive links between shame withdrawal and self-esteem. Also, simpatía is protective against the maladaptive links between shame withdrawal and depression, and against the maladaptive links between shame withdrawal and perceived social support. Overall, this study suggests that people higher on collectivism may not be as disadvantaged by shame than their low-collectivism values counterparts.