UC Riverside

Experiences of daily situations are important for how people think, feel, and behave. Even so, it was not until recently that studies have considered the nature of situational experiences as a whole, as well as how these experiences may vary with culture. With recent developments in tools to assess situational experience, researchers are now poised to better understand it and in turn the processes by which persons and environments interact. The purpose of the present study is to assess the experience of different classes (i.e., types) of situations while considering the cultures of the individuals experiencing them. The first set of analyses identify notable relationships between the cues and characteristics of situations that exist even when one accounts for the participants’ country of residence. The second set of analyses explore similarities and differences in these relationships across cultures, specifically, a deep dive into cultural differences by comparing the experiences of people in the United States and China. Despite some differences across cultures, what was most apparent was how similar the situational experiences were.