Development of Emotion Regulation in Cultural Context

This study was supported by a grant to the first author by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (TR 169114-2). We thank Michael Boiger for his careful copy-editing of the manuscript. Emotions have usually been studied with regard to three components: cognitive-experiential ("feelings"), behavioral-expressive (e.g., facial expression), and physiological-biochemical (physical states). The concept of emotion regulation refers to the process of altering stimuli and modulating responses that have their basis in these components (Eisenberg, 2004; Thompson, 1994). "Emotion regulation refers to the process by which individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express these emotions" (Gross, 1998b, p. 275). This view is in line with Campos's (Campos, Campos, & Bar-rett, 1989) notion that an understanding of emotions necessarily entails an understanding of emotion regulation. Emotion regulation is an aspect of self-regulation, which includes efforts to manage behavioral as well as emotional responses. To date, most studies on the development of emotion regulation have been conducted in the United States and other Western countries. Therefore , it is unclear whether the findings obtained can be generalized to We assume that emotion regulation is related to a person's self-construal and to his/her goals. Research has pointed to culture-specific construals of the self-with an independent self more emphasized and valued in the West and an interdependent self more emphasized and valued in much