中国人的积极理想情绪:近几十年来的变迁

The positive ideal affect of Chinese people:Trends over the past decades

理想情绪是人们理想中想体验的情绪,和文化密切相关。在当今社会快速变迁的背景下,已有大量研究探讨了人们日常体验的实际情绪的变迁,但是尚未有研究关注理想情绪的变迁。本研究第一次在中国对积极理想情绪的变迁进行研究。研究1让1966年之前出生的被试根据自己的判断,评估1980年代初、2000年代初和2020年前后中国人理想中想体验的积极情绪。结果发现,从1980年代初到2020年前后中国人对高唤醒积极情绪、低唤醒积极情绪、一般积极情绪的偏好都在上升。研究2让大学生被试根据自己的判断,评估祖辈、子辈和孙辈理想中想体验的积极情绪。结果表明,大学生知觉到的祖辈、子辈和孙辈这三代人对高唤醒积极情绪、低唤醒积极情绪、一般积极情绪的偏好也都在上升。研究3利用全国性大学生调查数据,通过横断对比分析发现,来自城市的大学生比来自农村的大学生更偏好高唤醒积极情绪、低唤醒积极情绪、一般积极情绪。总起来,3个研究一致启示,近几十年来,中国人对高唤醒积极情绪、低唤醒积极情绪和一般积极情绪的偏好都在上升。这些发现不仅拓展了对社会变迁的心理影响的认识,更加深了对理想情绪本身特性的认识。

As a kind of affect state that individuals ideally want to experience,ideal affect is closely associated with culture.While people from individualistic culture prefer high arousal positive affect(i.e.,enthusiastic,excited,elated),people from collectivistic culture prefer low arousal positive affect(i.e.,calm,relaxed,peaceful).Society and culture,however,are not static.How would ideal affects shift along with massive sociocultural change?For the first time,we addressed this issue by examining the change of ideal affects in China,a collectivistic nation that has experienced huge social transformation and witnessed a rise in individualism in recent decades.In doing this,we focused on three main kinds of widely studied ideal affects:high arousal positive affects(HAP),low arousal positive affects(LAP)and positive affects(P;i.e.,happy,satisfied,content).We conducted three studies,using cross-time comparison,cross-generational comparison and cross-regional comparison in each of the three studies,respectively.In Study 1,a total of 84 participants who were born before 1966 and have experienced the whole process of Chinese reform and opening-up were recruited.They were asked to assess the extent to which Chinese people prefer each of 9 affections as listed above at beginning of 1980,2000,2020.Results showed that the preferences for HAP,LAP and P have been rising among Chinese since 1980.In Study 2,a total of 1561 college students were asked to assess the extent to which people from each of the three generations(i.e.,their grandparents generation,their parents generation and their own generation)prefer the 9 affects.Results showed that the youngest generation manifested higher preferences for HAP,LAP and P than old generations.In Study 3,a large sample of college students from 31 provinces in China participated in the survey(N=26209).They were asked to indicate the extent to which they prefer the 9 affects.Their cultural orientations of individualism and collectivism were also assessed as control variables.Results indicated that students from urban areas reported higher preference for HAP,LAP and P than those from rural areas after controlling their main demographic information and cultural orientations;moreover,HAP,LAP and P were positively correlated with each other at both individual and provincial levels.Together,by using three different comparisons and assessing ideal affects from both inter-subjective(Study 1 and Study 2)and intra-subjective perspectives(Study 3),our three studies convergently showed that preferences for HAP,LAP and P have been rising in recent decades.The simultaneous rises of HAP and LAP as well as the positive correlation between them form a sharp contrast with the existing theoretical conceptualization and empirical findings about HAP and LAP,which suggest that HAP and LAP should be negatively correlated and manifest opposite shifting trends.Our findings,however,dovetail well with Chinese traditional culture of naïve dialecticism,according to which two seemingly contradictory opposites could coexist and even facilitate each other in some circumstances.Hence,theories originated from the West may not be applicable in China and novel theories may be needed.