 32. Culture and Personality  695
Iran, the Netherlands, and the United States 
(Joshanloo et al., 2015).
Motivation
In the 1990s and the early 2000s, cultural 
psychologists showed that the locus of mo -
tivation differs across cultures. For instance, 
Iyengar and Lepper (1999) showed that 
Asian American children worked harder 
than European American children when 
they were led to believe that the task was 
chosen by their mother, whereas European 
American children worked harder than did 
Asian Americans when they chose the task 
by themselves. Recent studies have discov -
ered some mechanisms underlying these 
cultural variations. For instance, feelings of 
closeness with parents and beliefs about who 
has better long-term foresight explained why 
Asian American children work harder when 
the choice is made by their mothers than Eu -
ropean Americans (Rudy et al., 2015).
Extending earlier research on cultural 
differences on basic motivation orienta -
tions (e.g., Elliot, Chirkov, Kim, & Sheldon, 
2001; Heine et al., 2001), recent studies in -
dicate that North Americans try to maxi -
mize positive emotions and minimize nega -
tive emotions (Sims et al., 2015). Likewise, 
Hamamura et al. (2009) found that North 
Americans are more attentive to approach- 
oriented information, whereas East Asians 
are more attentive to prevention-  oriented 
information. For instance, Japanese found 
avoidance-  focused book reviews more help -
ful, whereas Americans found approach- 
focused book reviews more helpful (Hama -
mura et al., 2009).
These cultural differences could then 
translate into cultural differences in inter -
personal motivation. For instance, Ameri -
cans are in general more motivated to ex -
pand their social network than others. This 
approach orientation in friendship forma -
tion was found to be due in part to resi -
dential mobility (Oishi et al., 2013) and re -
lational mobility (how easy it is to exit an 
undesirable relationship and form a new 
relationship; Li, Adams, Kurti ş, & Hama -
mura, 2015); that is, in a society where peo -
ple move around and form new relationships 
freely, people seem to have an approach ori -
entation toward interpersonal relationships, including self-  disclosure (Schug, Yuki, & 
Maddux, 2010) and new friendships (Oishi 
et al., 2013), whereas in a society where peo -
ple do not move around or easily form new 
relationships or exit old, undesirable ones, 
people seem to have an avoidance approach 
toward interpersonal relationships (i.e., cau -
tion about intimacy and forming new friend -
ships).
Studies have also explored motivational 
underpinnings of cultural variations in 
emotional experiences. For instance, Tsai, 
Knutson, and Fung (2006) have shown that 
East Asians tend to desire the experience of 
low- activation positive emotions (e.g., calm), 
whereas European Americans tend to desire 
high-  activation positive emotions (e.g., ex -
citement). These cultural differences could 
be due to differences in religious traditions 
(Tsai, Miao, & Seppala, 2007) and social -
ization (Tsai, Louie, Chen, & Uchida, 2007). 
In addition, Tamir et al. (2016) have shown 
that cultural differences in values determine 
the type of ideal affect people pursue, which 
in turn affects the typical emotional expe -
riences. Specifically, they found an associa -
tion between supporting self-  transcendence 
values (e.g., benevolence) and wanting to feel 
more empathy and compassion, valuing self- 
enhancement (e.g., power) and desiring to 
feel more anger and pride, valuing openness 
to change (e.g., self-  direction) and wanting 
to feel interest and excitement, and valuing 
conservation (e.g., tradition) and wanting to 
feel more calmness and less fear.
Personality and  Multicultural  Experiences
The need for culture and personality stud -
ies to respond to the theoretical and meth -
odological questions posed by the growing 
phenomenon of globalization and multicul -
turalism cannot be overestimated. The de -
mographic changes brought by rapid global -
ization, speed of travel and communication, 
and continued massive migration have re -
sulted in social spaces (schools, homes, work 
settings, media) that are culturally diverse, 
and in growing numbers of individuals who 
identify with and live in more than one cul -
ture (for comprehensive reviews, see Benet-
Martínez & Hong, 2014). To understand 
how individuals manage and respond to 
being socialized in multiple cultures, a surge 