Module 05 · Understanding Love理解爱情
Cross-Cultural Differences in Love爱情的跨文化差异
Overview 概述
Up to this point, we’ve been talking about the various types of love as if they were universal. Indeed, bonding between human parents and their children evolved over time as a means to enhance human survival—and many researchers argue that bonding between romantic partners has also played a crucial role in human evolution (Blumenthal & Young, 2023; Fletcher et al., 2015; Johnson & Young, 2015). While people across nearly all cultures experience intimacy, passion, and commitment in their love relationships, there are some important cultural differences in how people view love and what type of love they value (Sorokowski et al., 2021).
到这一点为止，我们一直在谈论各种类型的爱情，仿佛它们是普遍存在的。确实，人类父母与子女之间的纽带随着时间的推移而演变，作为一种增强人类生存的手段——许多研究人员认为，浪漫伴侣之间的纽带在人类进化中也发挥了关键作用（Blumenthal & Young，2023；Fletcher 等，2015；Johnson & Young，2015）。虽然几乎所有文化中的人们在爱情关系中都会体验到亲密、激情和承诺，但在人们如何看待爱情以及他们重视哪种类型的爱情方面，仍存在一些重要的文化差异（Sorokowski 等，2021）。
Eastern Versus Western Cultures 东方与西方文化
When cultural psychologists evaluate how psychological processes vary across cultures, they frequently compare Western cultures (e.g., the culture of the United States) and Eastern cultures (e.g., the culture of South Korea).
当文化心理学家评估心理过程在不同文化中的差异时，他们通常会对比西方文化（例如，美国文化）和东方文化（例如，韩国文化）。
Let’s start by talking about one fundamental difference in how Western and Eastern cultures appreciate emotions. If you ask Americans to describe their ideal emotions, they typically describe high-arousal positive emotions, like elation and excitement. Contrast this with the typical answer provided by Chinese people, who name low-arousal positive emotions, such as calmness and satisfaction, as their ideals (Tsai, 2021; Tsai et al., 2006). Given these differences in ideal emotions, you can probably predict that there would be differences in idealized versions of love.
让我们先从西方和东方文化在欣赏情绪方面的一个基本差异开始讨论。如果你问美国人描述他们理想的情绪，他们通常会描述高唤醒度的积极情绪，如狂喜和兴奋。与此相对照的是，中国人通常会提到低唤醒度的积极情绪，如平静和满足，作为他们的理想（蔡，2021；蔡等，2006）。鉴于这些理想情绪的差异，你可能会预测，在理想化的爱情版本中也会有差异。
Although both cultures value passionate love, each takes a different view on the emotion. For example, Americans generally view passionate love as the ideal form of love, the form that everyone should strive for. A life without passion is something to be avoided. While people from China do value passionate love, their conception of the emotion is typically much more ambivalent. That is, in addition to characterizing passionate love as being an elated state, they also describe it as potentially being a state of sad love—a wistful, unrequited longing for another person. Although that feeling of lost love is present in Western cultures, it isn’t viewed as an inherent part of love, and is less prominent in people’s thinking than in Eastern cultures (Shaver et al., 1992).
尽管两种文化都重视激情之爱，但每个人对这种情感的看法都不同。例如，美国人通常认为激情之爱是理想的爱的形式，是每个人都应该追求的形式。没有激情的生活是应该避免的。而中国人虽然也重视激情之爱，但他们对这种情感的理解通常要复杂得多。也就是说，除了将激情之爱描述为一种快乐的状态外，他们还将其描述为可能是一种悲伤的状态——对另一个人的一种怀旧、单相思的渴望。尽管这种失落的爱在西方文化中也有存在，但它并不被视为爱的固有部分，在人们的思想中比在东方文化中不那么突出（Shaver et al., 1992）。
Given this background, it should not be surprising that there are also cultural differences in the extent to which love is seen as necessary to having a happy marriage. Specifically, Western cultures tend to view love as a vital factor in marriage, especially in the establishment of a marriage. On the other hand, in Eastern cultures, love is viewed as less necessary to marriage (Levine et al., 1995). This pattern is consistent with the idea that arranged marriages are more common in many Asian, Middle Eastern, and African cultures than they are in the Western world (Anukriti & Dasgupta, 2017; Izugbara et al., 2024).
考虑到这一背景，人们对爱情在幸福婚姻中的必要性存在文化差异，这并不令人惊讶。具体来说，西方文化倾向于将爱情视为婚姻中的关键因素，尤其是在婚姻的建立过程中。另一方面，在东方文化中，爱情被视为婚姻中不那么必要的因素（Levine 等人，1995）。这一模式与许多亚洲、中东和非洲文化中包办婚姻比西方世界更为普遍的观点相一致（Anukriti & Dasgupta，2017；Izugbara 等人，2024）。
Summarizing this section, it is clear that love is valuable and valued cross-culturally, but there are substantial differences in how love is interpreted and the role it takes in relationships.
总结本节内容，显然爱情在跨文化中具有价值和被重视，但在爱情的理解方式和它在关系中的作用方面存在显著差异。
Reflection Activity 反思活动
Take a moment and consider how your cultural background has influenced your perspective on love. Do you identify more with the idea that excitement and passion create the ideal form of love, or that calm companionship is the ideal? Is your view consistent with or inconsistent with the general view of your culture?
花点时间思考一下你的文化背景是如何影响你对爱的看法的。你是否更认同激情和兴奋是理想爱情的形态，还是认为平静的伴侣关系才是理想的？你的观点是否与你的文化普遍观点一致或不一致？