The fundamental role that cultural context plays in shaping our emotional lives has been demonstrated in a growing number of cultural psychology studies (e.g., Mesquita & Leu, 2007). Despite the direct implications that such research holds for the study of psychopathology, mainstream clinical research largely ignores cultural context. As a result, the danger arises of pathologizing emotion-related norms and values that differ from those found in the ‘Western’ contexts that have predominantly shaped the clinical literature. These issues are particularly well captured in the construct of alexithymia, which ties lower levels of attention to emotion with emotional processing deficits. Lacking recognition of the importance of cultural context, much alexithymia research risks confounding cultural variation in the importance given to emotional experience with emotional deficits. Countering this trend, the current research critically examines alexithymia from a cultural perspective. Two studies examined the proposal that one component of alexithymia – externally oriented thinking (EOT) – is promoted within certain cultural contexts, while two other components – difficulty identifying feelings (DIF) and difficulty describing feelings (DDF) – are not.udStudy 1 tested the associations between cultural values and the components of alexithymia among Euro-Canadian and Chinese-Canadian students. As expected, ‘Western’ values negatively predicted EOT in both groups, while DIF and DDF were unrelated to values. Furthermore, cultural values mediated the effect of group membership on levels of EOT. Study 2 extended this work to a Chinese clinical sample. Again, EOT was negatively predicted by ‘Western’ values, while DIF and DDF were not associated with values. The results of both studies support a model of alexithymia whereby cultural scripts that de-emphasize the importance of inner emotional experience drive levels of EOT in certain contexts, while in other cultural contexts EOT is more likely to be associated with emotional deficits. In turn, this work provides a non-pathological explanation for cultural variations in alexithymia, countering historical stereotypes regarding emotional restraint in Chinese contexts and offering a theory-driven reconceptualization of alexithymia. ud
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机译：越来越多的文化心理学研究证明了文化背景在塑造我们的情感生活中的基本作用（例如，梅斯基塔和列伊，2007）。尽管此类研究对精神病理学研究具有直接影响，但主流临床研究在很大程度上忽略了文化背景。结果，危险的是将与情感有关的规范和价值观进行病理学检查，而这些规范和价值观与在主要影响临床文献的“西方”环境中发现的规范和价值观不同。这些问题在运动障碍的构造中尤为突出，该构造将对注意力的较低关注与情绪加工缺陷联系在一起。缺乏对文化背景重要性的认识，许多智力障碍研究冒着使文化变异混淆对具有情感缺陷的情感经历的重要性的风险。为了应对这种趋势，当前的研究从文化的角度批判性地检查了阅读障碍。两项研究检查了以下建议：在特定的文化背景下，应提高阅读障碍的一个组成部分-外向型思维（EOT），而在其他两个组成部分-难以识别感觉（DIF）和难以描述感觉（DDF）。 udStudy 1测试了欧洲和加拿大和中国加拿大学生的文化价值观与智力障碍的构成之间的联系。不出所料，“西方”价值观在两组中均预测EOT，而DIF和DDF与价值观无关。此外，文化价值观介导了团体成员资格对EOT水平的影响。研究2将这项工作扩展到了中国临床样本。同样，“西方”价值对EOT做出了负面预测，而DIF和DDF与价值没有关联。两项研究的结果都支持一种运动能力障碍的模型，在这种文化模型中，强调内在情感体验重要性的文化脚本会在某些情况下推动EOT的水平，而在其他文化背景下，EOT更可能与情感缺陷有关。反过来，这项工作为艺术障碍的文化变异提供了非病理学的解释，反驳了关于中国语境中情感约束的历史成见，并提供了理论驱动的艺术障碍的重新概念化。 ud
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