Is Societal Progress Muting the Expressivity of Negative Emotions? Evidence from Two Cross-national Studies

Yeung J.C.; Lun V.M.-C.; Li L.M.W.; Bond M.H.; Joshanloo M.; Górski M.R.; Kalinowski M.; Yeung V.W.L.; Yau E.K.; Hussain M.A.; Poláčková Šolcová I.; Haas B.W.; Guemaz F.; Boussena M.; Sánchez-Rodríguez Á.; Iter N.; Vlasenko O.; Aminnuddin N.A.; Işık İ.; Barry O.; Fülöp M.; Igbokwe D.; Adamovic M.; Garðarsdóttir R.B.; Soboleva N.; Teyssier J.; Kano Glückstad F.; Park J.; Zelenski J.; Yakhlef B.; Xing C.; Wasiel A.; Vauclair C.-M.; van Tilburg W.; van Osch Y.; Uchida Y.; Turjačanin V.; Kieu T.T.T.; Torres C.; Sun C.-R.; Stoyanova S.; Stogianni M.; Sokolov B.; Sobhie R.; Sirlopú D.; Serdarevich U.; Selim H.; Schwarz B.; Sargautytė R.; Samekin A.; Røysamb E.; Romashov V.; Rocha A.M.; Rizwan M.; Rabby R.-A.; Pavlović Z.; Pavlopoulos V.; Palikot E.; Olechowski M.; Okvitawanli A.; Ochoa D.; Nadi A.; Nader M.; Myślińska-Szarek K.; Mustaffa N.F.; Murdock E.; Mosca O.; Mosanya M.; Mokadem F.; Mohorić T.; Mohammed L.; Maricchiolo F.; Malyonova A.; Malyonov A.; Łużniak-Piecha M.; Lee J.H.; Kwiatkowska A.; Kronberger N.; Kostoula O.; Kosiarczyk A.; Kocimska-Bortnowska A.; Klůzová Kračmárová L.; Kazimzade E.; Kascakova N.; Iqbal N.; Igou E.R.; Henk K.; Gavreliuc A.; Gamsakhurdia V.; Esteves C.S.; Espinosa A.; Domínguez Espinosa A.; Denoux P.; Boer D.; Barrientos Marroquin P.E.; Baltin A.; Bakyono-Nabaloum R.; Mira D.M.A.; Appoh L.; Andrade L.; Almakaeva A.; Albert I.; Al-Zoubi M.; Akotia C.; Akello G.; Krys K. · Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology (2026) · DOI: 10.1177/00220221261471052

Resumen

Contemporary theories of emotion emphasize the dual role of emotions as both personal experiences and communicative signals during social interactions. However, the impact of macro-level societal structures on emotional expression remains underexplored. This study investigates the expression-experience discrepancy for self-reported emotions across nations, focusing on how societal development relates to this discrepancy, which captures expressivity. Using meta-analysis and multilevel modeling with a multinational sample (Nsample = 12,549, knation = 48; Study 1), we assessed the directions and variabilities in the frequency of expression of both positive and negative emotions, relative to the frequency of experiencing them. Negative emotions were more likely to be under-expressed. Further analyses revealed that societal trust, system quality and fairness, and the human development index significantly predicted the size of these discrepancies. Surprisingly, these effects were not associated with traditional cultural dimensions such as individualism versus collectivism, providing new insights into the social functionality of emotions from a macro perspective. These findings were replicated in an extended multinational sample (Nsample = 19,690, knation = 65; Study 2). Our findings highlight the importance of considering structural and societal factors in emotion research and provide a foundation for future explorations into the relations between cultural contexts and the expression of emotions. © The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

Instituciones: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú