Empirical Research on the Meaning of Amae and its Universality across Cultures

AAME剧集包括演员的不当行为或要求(根据演员的年龄、社会地位等)。以及他/她期望对方会接受演员的不当行为或要求。因此，我们预测，行为/请求的不恰当和被接受的期望对于观察者将这一事件视为AMAE是至关重要的。六个视频故事被构建并呈现给受试者，受试者被要求描述每个故事，而不是被暗示关于AME。结果表明，正如预期的那样，当事件既包括不适当的行为/请求又包括被对方接受的期望时，被试对事件的感知最多(研究1)。研究2考察了人们对三种不同类型的人的看法，这些人要么经常，有时要求，要么从不要求。受试者倾向于认为，与那些经常或有时要求amae的人相比，从不要求amae的人在更大程度上是有能力和独立的。然而，当谈到社交能力(即善良、合作)时，那些从不要求AMAE的人被认为是最不具备这些特征的。此外，当被要求选择一个他们愿意共事或一起玩乐的人时，受试者有时最喜欢提出要求的人，这表明提出要求的人有时可以适应，因为它促进了积极的人际关系。尽管那些从不要求AMAE的人被认为是最有能力的，但受试者并没有选择他们作为工作伙伴。研究3考察了AMAE在不同文化中可能的普遍性。结果表明，AAME发作至少在一定程度上是普遍存在的。未来的研究应该在更多的亚洲和西方国家考察人们对AAME事件的反应。

Amae episodes include actor's inappropriate behavior or request (according to the actor's age, social status, etc.) as well as his/her expectation that the counterpart will accept the actor's inappropriate behavior or request. We predicted, therefore, that the inappropriateness of behavior/request and the expectation of acceptance are essential for observers to perceive the episode as amae. Six video stories were constructed and presented to subjects, who were requested to describe each story without being hinted about amae. The results indicated that, as expected, that the subjects perceived the episodes as amae most when the episodes included both inappropriate behavior/request and the expectation of acceptance by the counterpart (Study 1). Study 2 examined people's perception about three kinds of people who request amae either often, sometimes, or never. The subjects tended to perceive that those who never request amae are competent and independent to a greater extent, relative to those who request amae often or sometimes. However, when it comes to sociability (i.e., kind, cooperative), those who never request amae were perceived as having those traits least. In addition, the subjects liked those who request sometimes most, when they were asked to choose a person they would like to work or have a fun with, indicating that requesting amae sometimes can be adaptive in the sense it promotes positive interpersonal relationships. Despite the fact that those who never request amae were perceived as most competent, the subjects did not choose them as a job partner. Study 3 examined a possible universality of amae across cultures. The results suggest that amae episodes are universal at least to some extent. Future research should examine people's response to amae episodes in more countries both in Asian and the West.