While affective expressions on social media have been extensively studied, most research has focused on the Western context. This paper explores cultural differences in affective expressions by comparing valence and arousal on Twitter/X (geolocated to the US) and Sina Weibo (in Mainland China). Using the NRC-VAD lexicon to measure valence and arousal, we identify distinct patterns of emotional expression across both platforms. Our analysis reveals a functional representation between valence and arousal, showing a negative offset in contrast to traditional lab-based findings which suggest a positive offset. Furthermore, we uncover significant cross-cultural differences in arousal, with US users displaying higher emotional intensity than Chinese users, regardless of the valence of the content. Finally, we conduct a comprehensive language analysis correlating n-grams and LDA topics with affective dimensions to deepen our understanding of how language and culture shape emotional expression. These findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of affective communication across cultural and linguistic contexts on social media.

翻译：尽管社交媒体上的情感表达已得到广泛研究，但多数研究聚焦于西方语境。本文通过比较Twitter/X（地理位置限定为美国）与新浪微博（中国大陆）平台上的情感效价与唤醒度，探究情感表达的文化差异。利用NRC-VAD词典测量效价与唤醒度，我们发现两个平台呈现出显著不同的情感表达模式。分析揭示了效价与唤醒度之间的函数表征关系，显示出与传统实验室研究（通常表明正向偏移）相反的负向偏移特征。此外，我们发现了唤醒度方面显著的跨文化差异：无论内容效价如何，美国用户均表现出比中国用户更高的情感强度。最后，我们通过将n-gram语言单元和LDA主题模型与情感维度相关联的综合性语言分析，深化了对语言与文化如何塑造情感表达的理解。这些发现为理解跨文化、跨语言社交媒体情境中的情感传播机制提供了更精细的认知框架。