What We Will Feel Depends on Who We Are: Cross-Cultural Differences in Affective Forecasting of “Ego-Focused” Versus “Other-Focused” Emotions

In this research we aim to demonstrate that cross-cultural differences exist in the way individuals construct future events and consequently predict specific emotions. Five hundred and sixty-two participants from USA and India completed one of ten different versions of a questionnaire that varied 1) the positivity of the future experience, 2) whether the future experience was an individual vs. a group experience, and 3) familiarity with the future experience. Open-ended analysis is designed to reveal cross-cultural differences in the way future events are constructed. Quantitative assessment is designed to reveal differences in the forecasted emotions associated with these events.

Citation:

Vanessa Patrick and Henrik Hagtvedt (2009) ,"What We Will Feel Depends on Who We Are: Cross-Cultural Differences in Affective Forecasting of “Ego-Focused” Versus “Other-Focused” Emotions", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36, eds. Ann L. McGill and Sharon Shavitt, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 870-871.