09 September2016

For immediate release

Researcher unearths impact of multiculturalism

A CNWL Assistant Psychologist has sparked interest from international colleagues in her innovative research on the increasing impact of multiculturalism on people's emotional responses from different countries.

Aska Matsunaga, 23, analysed anger rumination (unintentionally engaging in recurring thoughts about anger episodes) and aggressive behaviour based on crowd-sourced samples from three countries - the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan.

It was the first research in this field to be completed with an applied sample from more than two countries and has shown unique results on cross-cultural trends in relation to emotional expression.

It was also the first time work had been carried out to explore comparisons between the US and the UK.

Lecturers, professors and researchers from Japan and Australia who saw her findings at a conference in Japan are now looking to build on the initial research, particularly in terms of the differences between collectivist and individualist societies, such as Japan and America. These differences could lead to differences in treating people with affective disorders in different societies.

Her results tallied with previous research showing higher levels of rumination among the Japanese and higher levels of aggression among the Americans but few significant differences between American and British participants and UK and Japanese participants.

However an unexpected finding was that Japanese samples reported the highest levels of anger and the lowest levels of verbal aggression and yet also reported the lowest levels of behavioural-inhibition, such as wariness and shame.

It was unexpected because cultural norms suggest Japanese culture disapproves of anger so it was presumed that higher levels of behavioural inhibition were required.

This could be suggestive of the influence Western culture has had on Japan.

Aska said: "The feedback I gained has been really useful and will allow me to refine my report for publication with support from my supervisor at the University of Kent. On a personal level I gained a huge amount of confidence in my abilities and gained a greater appreciation for the depth and range of research that cross-cultural psychology has to offer."

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