Lovesongs in the United States and China : On the Nature of Romantic Love

Abstract

Prior research suggests that for Chinese as compared with Americans, love is more embedded and is less associated with intense desire. Love is defined as embedded when it is incorporated within a larger context, namely, the natural world and broad aspects of the relationship that entail devotion over time. This study included 42 popular Chinese lovesongs (half from Hong Kong and half from Mainland China) and 38 popular U.S. lovesongs. Findings indicated that Chinese songs depicted love as more embedded, but there were no cultural differences in expressions of intense desire. The Chinese lovesongs had more negative expectations about the outcome of the relationship and they conveyed more suffering than did the U.S. lovesongs. These cultural differences and similarities may be particular to romantic love and may not be common in other contexts or relationships. The findings point to the importance, but also the limits, of cultural influence on romantic love.