Cross-cultural differences in happiness (West VS East)

It is often known that there is a large gap between the Eastern and Western culture. How people of the different regions are shape by their own cultures and gain happiness from it is an interesting topic. With the diverse living background, beliefs and values, the way people of West and East attain happiness from the same situation is very different. In the following, happiness from relationship, family and perception of the self will be discussed.

Relationship 

In the West, people are more likely to search and search for their true love. They are less bound by the commitment and when they find out they are not match with their partners, they may just separate easily and continue to search for the right person. They will not be stuck with the relationship that get bad and make themselves unhappy.  But in the East, people are often taught by the parents that when they choose and make commitment with the partner, they should stay together forever and in the past, divorce is even seen as a sin, which people should never break the promise even they did not feel happy in the relationship anymore.

Family

Family is always important to every people, but the way of getting along with the family members may be somehow different between the West and East. First, Western people are often encouraged to move out when they become older. Their parents show them their love by pushing them out of the comfort zone and explore the world by themselves. While in Eastern family, most of the children will continue to live with their families even they hit adulthood as Eastern people usually prefer staying together and this is what makes them happy.

Perception of the self      

      

In Western countries, people are bring up by individualism, which they have strong belief in independence and autonomy of the self. They gain happiness by their personal achievement and self-esteem. Therefore, people in the West do things more likely due to the perceived emotion and achievement brought by the action itself. However, Eastern people are shaped by the culture of collectivism, which the relationship with others is very important in lives. People are taught to follow the social norms and try to fit into the expectation of other people towards him. They gain their happiness more likely when they are appreciated by others and being accepted in the social network.

In conclusion, different countries have their own culture and it somehow shape the belief of people of what is happiness to them. The most important thing is that there is no right or wrong for which culture is forming the most happiness to people. Therefore, respect should be given to every culture and people try to understand it instead of challenging it.