University of Ulm Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy Director: Prof. Dr. Harald Gündel Section Medical Psychology Head: Prof. Dr. Harald C. Traue Cultural Differences in Adult Attachment and Facial Emotion Recognition Dissertation to obtain the Doctoral Degree of Human Biology (Dr. biol. hum.) at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ulm by Hang Li born in Huolinguole, Inner Mongolia, P.R. China 2013 Amtierender Dekan: Prof. Dr. Thomas Wirth 1. Berichterstatter: Prof. Dr. Harald C. Traue 2. Berichterstatter: Prof. Dr. phil. Ute Ziegenhain Tag der Promotion: 18. 10. 2013 CONTENTS Contents Contents ..................................................................................................................................................... I Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................................... III 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Issues ....................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Attachment and facial emotion recognition .......................................................................................... 3 1.3 Individualism and collectivism ............................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Cultural differences in attachment ........................................................................................................ 5 1.5 Cultural differences in facial emotion recognition ................................................................................ 7 1.5.1 Individualism vs. collectivism in cross-cultural differences of facial emotion recognition ...... 8 1.5.2 Display rules and decoding rules .................................................................................................. 9 1.5.3 Dialect theory of emotion ............................................................................................................ 10 1.5.4 Cultural exposure effect of emotion ............................................................................................ 12 1.6 Exploration and attachment ................................................................................................................ 13 2 Basic theory and literature review ................................................................................................... 16 2.1 Attachment theory ................................................................................................................................ 16 2.1.1 Internal working models .............................................................................................................. 16 2.1.2 Adult attachment theory and measurements ............................................................................. 17 2.1.2.1 Self report .............................................................................................................................. 17 2.1.2.2 Attachment interviews ......................................................................................................... 21 2.2 Universal arguments on adult attachment .......................................................................................... 22 2.2.1 Universality of the attachment system ....................................................................................... 22 2.2.2 Adult attachment differences between Eastern and Western cultures .................................... 24 2.2.3 Adult attachment studies in China .............................................................................................. 24 2.2.4 Adult attachment studies in Germany ........................................................................................ 29 2.3 Emotion recognition theory ................................................................................................................. 31 2.3.1 Basic emotions .............................................................................................................................. 31 2.3.2 Emotion recognition research paradigm .................................................................................... 34 2.4 Cross-cultural studies on emotion recognition .................................................................................... 35 2.4.1 Universality of emotion recognition ........................................................................................... 36 2.4.2 Facial emotion recognition in Eastern and Western societies .................................................. 36 2.4.3 Studies on the cultural exposure effect ....................................................................................... 40 2.5 Adult attachment and facial emotion recognition .............................................................................. 40 3 Hypotheses .......................................................................................................................................... 43 4 Empirical studies ................................................................................................................................ 45 4.1 Survey of adult attachment pattern for three groups: CC, CG and GG (Study 1) ................................ 45 4.1.1 Materials and methods ................................................................................................................. 45 4.1.1.1 Participants ............................................................................................................................ 45 4.1.1.2 Measurements ....................................................................................................................... 46 4.1.2 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 49 4.1.2.1 Results for RQ ........................................................................................................................ 49 4.1.2.2 Attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance (ECR-R results) ....................................... 52 4.1.3 Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 53 I CONTENTS 4.2 Cultural differences in adult attachment and emotion recognition (Study 2) ................................... 56 4.2.1 Materials and methods ................................................................................................................. 56 4.2.1.1 Participants ............................................................................................................................ 56 4.2.1.2 Measurements ....................................................................................................................... 57 4.2.2 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 59 4.2.2.1 Results for RQ ........................................................................................................................ 59 4.2.2.2 Attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance (ECR-R results) ....................................... 61 4.2.2.3 Facial emotion recognition in the three groups .................................................................. 62 4.2.2.4 Correlation and regression analyses for adult attachment and facial emotion recognition ............................................................................................................................................................ 65 4.2.3 Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 67 4.2.3.1 Adult attachment in the three groups .................................................................................. 67 4.2.3.2 Emotion recognition in the three groups ............................................................................ 69 4.2.3.3 Adult attachment and facial emotion recognition .............................................................. 72 5 Summary and Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 74 5.1 Adult attachment ............................................................................................................................. 74 5.2 Emotion recognition ........................................................................................................................ 75 5.3 Adult attachment and emotion recognition .................................................................................. 76 6 Limitations of the present study and implications for future research ....................................... 78 7 References ........................................................................................................................................... 80 9 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................ 96 8 Curriculum Vitae ................................................................................................................................ 97 II ABBREVIATIONS 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