Are gender differences in emotion culturally universal? To answer this question, the current study compared gender differences in emotional arousal (intensity) ratings for negative and positive pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) across cultures (Chinese vs. German culture) and age (younger vs. older adults). The raters were 53 younger Germans (24 women), 53 older Germans (28 women), 300 younger Chinese (176 women), and 126 older Chinese (86 women). The results showed that gender differences in arousal ratings were moderated by culture and age: Chinese women reported higher arousal for both negative and positive pictures compared with Chinese men; German women reported higher arousal for negative pictures, but lower arousal for positive pictures compared with German men. Moreover, the gender differences were larger for older than younger adults in the Chinese sample but smaller for older than younger adults in the German sample. The results indicated that gender differences in self-report emotional intensity induced by pictorial stimuli were more consistent with gender norms and stereotypes (i.e., women being more emotional than men) in the Chinese sample, compared with the German sample, and that gender differences were not constant across age groups. The study revealed that gender differences in emotion are neither constant nor universal, and it highlighted the importance of taking culture and age into account.

The present study tested how exposure to two types of responses to a hypothetical simulated Facebook setting influenced cyber-bystanders’ perceived control and normative beliefs using a 4 cyberbully-victim group (pure cyberbullies, non-involved, pure cyberbullied victims, and cyberbullied-victims) × 2 condition (offend vs. defend) experimental design. 203 Hong Kong Chinese secondary school and university students (132 females, 71 males; 12 to 28; M = 16.70; SD = 3.03 years old) were randomly assigned into one of two conditions. Results showed that participants’ involvement in cyberbullying significantly related to their control beliefs about bully and victim assisting behaviors, while exposure to the two different conditions (offend vs. defend comments) was related to both their control and normative beliefs. In general, the defend condition promoted higher control beliefs to help the victims and promoted higher normative beliefs to help the victims. Regardless of their past involvement in cyberbullying and exposure to offend vs. defend conditions, both cyber-bullies and cyber-victims were more inclined to demonstrate normative beliefs to help victims than to assist bullies. These results have implications for examining environmental influences in predicting bystander behaviors in cyberbullying contexts, and for creating a positive environment to motivate adolescents to become “upstanders” in educational programs to combat cyberbullying.

This study developed and evaluated an innovative six-session constructivist-based anti-cyberbullying e-course to raise Hong Kong college students' awareness of cyberbullying and increase their intention to help cyberbullied victims. A total of 144 undergraduate students (118 female students, 26 male students; M _age = 21.05, SD = 2.19) from a Hong Kong university were randomly assigned to an intervention ( n = 78) or control ( n = 66) group. The intervention group participated in two 15-minute anti-cyberbullying online classes per week for 3 weeks. Participants in both groups completed five measures at the outset (T1) and end (T2, 5 weeks after the program): about their awareness of cyberbullying, likelihood, and intention to help victims, and self-efficacy to combat cyberbullying. At T1, there were no significant group differences on the five measures. Controlling for time spent on social networking sites, and previous involvement in cyberbullying, repeated-measures analyses of covariance revealed significant interaction effects for all five measures. Subsequent analyses indicated the intervention group had higher scores on the five measures than the control group. These findings show how the constructivist e-learning program promotes prosocial behavior and can reduce cyberbullying by challenging students' understanding of cyberaggression.