The value of predicted enjoyment : decision making with individuals from East Asian and North American cultural backgrounds
department or school: Arts, Faculty of
department or school: Psychology, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Falk, Carl Francis
issued: 2011-02-23T20:19:42Z
issued: 2007
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: In North American culture, research shows that individuals often make decisions based on affective forecasts. In contrast, East Asian cultures often warn against excessive hedonism - instead preferring harmony and balance. We predict that with these individuals, expectations about future positive affect may have less influence on decision making. In Study 1, North American and East Asian participants made a choice between two activities: One framed as enjoyable but not useful, and the other as useful but not enjoyable. In Studies 2 and 3, we measured the relationship between predicted enjoyment and predicted likelihood of taking hypothetical university courses. Our findings suggest that East Asians place less weight on affective forecasts in decision making and this may be due to differences in independent and interdependent self construals. However, our results also suggest that affective forecasts are still important for decision making among those from East Asian cultural backgrounds.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/31687
note: THE V A L U E OF PREDICTED ENJOYMENT: DECISION M A K I N G WITH INDIVIDUALS F R O M EAST A S I A N A N D NORTH A M E R I C A N C U L T U R A L B A C K G R O U N D S by C A R L FRANCIS F A L K B.Sc. (Comprehensive Honors), The University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2004 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL F U L F I L L M E N T OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS In THE F A C U L T Y OF G R A D U A T E STUDIES (Psychology) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH C O L U M B I A August 2007 © Carl Francis Falk, 2007 11 ABSTRACT In North American culture, research shows that individuals often make decisions based on affective forecasts. In contrast, East Asian cultures often warn against excessive hedonism -instead preferring harmony and balance. We predict that with these individuals, expectations about future positive affect may have less influence on decision making. In Study 1, North American and East Asian participants made a choice between two activities: One framed as enjoyable but not useful, and the other as useful but not enjoyable. In Studies 2 and 3, we measured the relationship between predicted enjoyment and predicted likelihood of taking hypothetical university courses. Our findings suggest that East Asians place less weight on affective forecasts in decision making and this may be due to differences in independent and interdependent self construals. However, our results also suggest that affective forecasts are still important for decision making among those from East Asian cultural backgrounds. i i i TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Table of Contents i i i List of Tables v List of Figures vi Acknowledgements vii Preface viii Introduction 1 Affective Forecasting and Decision Making 1 Culture and the Pursuit of Positive Affect 4 Culture and Affective Forecasting 7 The Present Studies 8 Study 1 10 Method 10 Participants 10 Design, Procedure, and Materials 11 Results 13 Main Hypothesis: Activity Choice 13 Manipulation Check 14 Discussion 15 Study 2 16 Method 16 Parti…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0100890
language: eng
degree discipline: Psychology
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/31687