Discussion
Raciel1990
CULTPSY3_Ch10_PPT_Emotions.pptx
Lecture PowerPoint Slides
By
Benjamin Cheung
Chapter 10—Emotions
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Cultural Psychology
Third Edition
Steven J. Heine
Chapter Objectives
In this chapter, you will:
Differentiate between the James-Lange Theory of Emotions and the Two-Factor Theory of Emotions
Assess the validity of the James-Lange Theory of Emotions and the Two-Factor Theory of Emotions
Discuss how facial expressions of emotion can be both universal and culturally variable
Identify the universal emotions
Explain how display rules and ritualized displays lead to different types of cultural variability in facial expressions of emotions
Discuss the relationship between emotional experiences and expressions
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Chapter Objectives
In this chapter, you will:
Explain how linguistic relativity affects emotional categorization across cultures
Discuss how emotions are experienced and conceptualized differently across cultures
Differentiate between positive/negative interpersonally engaged/disengaged emotions
Discuss the different factors that affect cultural differences in perceived subjective well-being (life satisfaction) levels
Describe cultural differences in preferences for ideal affect
Understand the consequences of cultural differences in ideal affect
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Overriding Themes in This Chapter
It is hard to reach a consensus on definitions for emotions, or even the word “emotion.”
An emotion will have both universal and culturally variable components.
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What Is an Emotion?
Two perspectives have influenced how researchers view and define emotions:
James-Lange Theory of Emotions
Two-Factor Theory of Emotions
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Discuss: What is an emotion?
What Is an Emotion?
James-Lange Theory of Emotions
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Responses stem from autonomic nervous system
No physiological response = no emotion
Problems with this view?
James-Lange Theory of Emotions
Emotions are our physiological responses to stimuli.
Responses are products of autonomic nervous system.
No physiological reactions = no emotions
What problems do you see with this view?
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Stimulus/Situation (e.g. Bear attack)
Response (e.g. pounding heart)
Subjective emotion (e.g. fear)
What Is an Emotion?
Two-Factor Theory of Emotions
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Emotion are interpretations of our physiological responses
Stimulus/Situation (e.g. Competitor in a race catching up)
Subjective emotion (e.g. fear)
Two-Factor Theory of Emotions
Emotions are our interpretations of our physiological responses.
Interpretation is often not important—usually the cause of physiological responses is clear.
But sometimes, the cause isn’t clear—this yields evidence for the Two-Factor Theory.
For instance, a study demonstrated that when people were given an epinephrine injection, which is supposed to lead to increased physiological arousal, but are told that the injection is not supposed to have any physiological side effects, people assumed that the resulting physiological arousal was due to either being annoyed or excited about the people around them.
In contrast, people who were told that they should expect physiological side effects attributed their arousal to the epinephrine.
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Stimulus/Situation (e.g. Bear attack)
Response (e.g. pounding heart)
Subjective emotion (e.g. fear)
Interpretation
Universality vs. Cultural Variability of Emotions
James-Lange Theory of Emotions focuses on physiology.
Predicts that emotions should be universal due to physiological similarities of all humans
Two-Factory Theory of Emotions focuses on interpretation.
Predicts that emotions should vary across cultures because different cultural experiences may lead us to have different interpretations of physiological responses
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Assessing Universality— the Face
Darwin was one of the first people to study universality of emotional expressions
Facial expressions are often reflexive.
Adults make approximately the same expressions as infants do (even infants who are born blind).
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Darwin one of first people to study universality of emotional expressions
He thought that universality in facial expressions would be indicative of the idea that they emerged as a function of natural selection in our evolutionary process, allowing us to communicate with each other.
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Assessing Universality— the Face
Ekman and colleagues:
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Ekman and colleagues explored how similarly people made emotional expressions around the world.
Found much similarity across industrialized countries in that people from a variety of industrialized cultures had high degrees of agreement on matches between facial expressions and emotion terms.
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Assessing Universality— the Face
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
“Your friend has come and you are happy.”
“You are angry and about to fight.”
“You see a dead pig that has been lying there for a long time.”
“Your child has died and you are sad.”
To rule out the possibility of shared cultural learning, he also examined an isolated culture—the Fore of New Guinea.
Participants were asked to show expressions while imagining a number of events happening to them.
These are all expressions that people from other cultures would also associate with each scenario, despite the fact that theis culture has had almost zero contact with Western cultures.
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Assessing Universality— the Face
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Given the similarities found comparing Western expressions and Fore expressions, Ekman proposed six “basic emotions”
Happiness, Surprise, Sadness, Anger, Disgust, and Fear
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Assessing Universality— the Face
On top of the “basic emotions,” some controversy exists on the universality of the following:
Contempt
Shame
Interest
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Assessing Universality— the Face
In particular, pride has been proposed to be a universally recognized expression.
Pride is different in that it involves much of the body, not just the face:
Erect posture
Head tilted back
Slight smile
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Arms extending away or held akimbo
Moreover, pride is another emotion that is argued to have universality because people recognize pride expressions around the world, and is expressed even by people who are congenitally blind.
Pride is different in that it involves much of the body, not just the face:
Erect posture
Head tilted back
Slight smile
Arms extending away or held akimbo
The pride expression is universally recognized and produced.
This is even produced by people who are born blind.
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Assessing Universality— the Face
Emotional expressions may be universal; but cultural variability still exists
Cultures vary in terms of “display rules.”
Display rules dictate the intensity of expressions, when an expression is appropriate, and “ritualized displays” (i.e. expressions not made universally).
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Emotional expressions may be universal; but cultural variability still exists
On average, people are 58% accurate in correctly identifying emotional expressions; but when looking at emotional expressions from one’s own cultural group, they are about 9% more accurate.
In fact, people’s brains show a greater fear response when seeing the fear expression on the face of someone from the same culture than on the face of someone from another culture.
Facial expressions also vary culturally enough that people can reliably guess the nationality of someone from looking at their facial expressions.
Even people from similar cultural backgrounds (e.g. Americans vs. Australians, Japanese vs. Japanese American) can be distinguished based on their facial
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Assessing Universality— the Face
Some cultures dictate that people must express emotions very intensely, while others have rules where people should refrain from strongly expressing their emotions.
People from collectivistic cultures tend to mask or restrain their emotional expressions (e.g. Japan).
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
People from collectivistic cultures tend to conceal their emotional expressions by presenting more neutral or pleasant faces
This affects where on the face one attends to in deciphering another person’s emotional state.
Because muscles around the eyes are harder to control than muscles around the mouth, Japanese are more likely than Americans to attend to the eyes.
Americans are more likely than Japanese to attend to the mouth because it is a larger source of information than the eyes.
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Assessing Universality— the Face
Display rules also lead to ritualized displays, or culturally idiosyncratic facial expressions that are not recognized universally.
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Display rules also lead to ritualized displays, or culturally idiosyncratic facial expressions that are not recognized universally.
An example is embarrassment, which has both a universal expression, and culturally specific expressions (or ritualized displays).
The one on the left is generally recognized to be an expression of embarrassment, while the one on the right is recognized by India (and some other Asian countries) to be an expression of embarrassment.
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Assessing Universality—Emotional Experience
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Discuss: Do differences in emotional expressions affect emotional experiences, too?
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Assessing Universality— Emotional Experience
“Facial feedback hypothesis” provides one reason to expect cultural variability.
Hypothesis proposes that we use our facial expression to infer our emotional state.
This suggests that by making a particular emotional expression, we can think that we are experiencing the corresponding emotion.
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
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Assessing Universality— Emotional Experience
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In one study, participants were asked to hold a pen between either their teeth or their lips when reading cartoons.
These motions mimicked the muscles used when one is smiling and frowning.
The “teeth” participants found a subsequent set of cartoons more amusing than did the “lips” participants.
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Assessing Universality— Emotional Experience
This suggests that:
Our facial expressions can affect our emotional experience.
If our culture has rules regarding the intensity of our expressions, they may also affect the intensity of our emotional experience.
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Assessing Universality— Emotional Experience
People from interdependent cultures respond to anger-provoking events differently than people from independent cultures.
Asian-Canadians report feeling less anger than do European-Canadians.
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Such different display rules can be seen in independent versus interdependent cultures
Compared to independent cultures, people from interdependent cultures perceive it to be more socially damaging and inappropriate to express anger, especially in hierarchical societies. This has negative implications for the harmony of a group.
In such cultures, people may have learned to experience less intense anger, and developed strategies to effectively minimize their anger.
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Assessing Universality— Emotional Experience
In another study, Asian-Canadians’ blood pressure, in response to anger-provoking events, returns to baseline much quicker than do European-Canadians’.
This suggests a
quicker dissipation
of anger among
Asian-Canadians.
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
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Emotion and Language
Cultures vary in many ways in terms of emotions based on language
English has over 2000 words, while the Chewong of Malaysia have eight.
Emotion words from one language don’t always map onto basic emotions of other languages.
English has emotion words that are absent in other languages.
Similarly, English lacks emotion works that exist in other languages.
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Cultures vary in how many emotion words exist in a language
English has over 2000 words, while the Chewong of Malaysia have eight.
Cultures also differ in categorization of emotions, like how the Ugandan language of Luganda does not differentiate between sorrow and anger
Emotion words from one language don’t always map onto basic emotions of other languages.
English has emotion words that are absent in other languages.
Similarly, English lacks emotion works that exist in other languages.
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Culture and Emotional Experiences
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Recall that independence and interdependence have some important differences.
Independence = greater concern about how things affect oneself, and the tendency to see events as ways to distinguish oneself from others
Interdependence = greater concern about interpersonal harmony, and the tendency to see events as ways to affect relations with others.
Recall that independence and interdependence have some important differences.
Independence is associated with greater concern about how things affect oneself, and the tendency to see evnets as ways to distinguish oneself from others
On the other hand, interdependence is associated with greater concern about interpersonal harmony, and the tendency to see events as ways to affect relations with others.
As a result, people from independent cultures tend to experience more interpersonally disengaged emotions, while people from interdependent cultures tend to experience more interpersonally engaged emotions.
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Culture and Emotional Experiences
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
In particular, each type of interpersonal emotion can be either positive or negative, yielding:
| Independent | Interdependent | ||
| Positive | Negative | Positive | Negative |
| Proud | Anger | Respect | Ashamed |
| Yuetsukan (superior) | Futekusare (sulky feelings) | Shitashimi (friendly feelings) | Oime (indebted) |
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Culture and Happiness
Happiness seems to be central to many people from Western cultures.
Some date this pursuit of happiness in the West as beginning in the Enlightenment of the 18th century.
The world became a more predictable and rational place.
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Happiness seems to be central to many people from Western cultures.
Some date this pursuit of happiness in the West as beginning in the Enlightenment of the 18th century.
The world became a more predictable and rational place, as opposed to associating happiness with luck.
Indeed, cultures that still associate happiness with luck tend to be less happy in general.
And over time, to become happy has turned into an individual endeavor.
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Culture and Happiness
Happiness is generally studied using the construct of subjective well-being.
There are substantial cultural differences in terms of average levels of subjective well-being that people report.
Northern European or Latin American countries usually top the list.
Former Soviet blocs and African countries are usually at the bottom of the list.
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Happiness is generally studied using the construct of subjective well-being.
There are substantial cultural differences in terms of average levels of subjective well-being that people report.
Northern European or Latin American countries usually top the list.
Former Soviet blocs and African countries are usually at the bottom of the list.
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Culture and Happiness
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Not only are there cross-national differences in subjective well-being; but there are also within-national differences as well.
In the U.S., for the regions for which there are data, people from the New England and Mountain regions are happier than the other regions, on average.
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Culture and Happiness
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Cultural differences in subjective well-being can be affected by several factors:
Wealth
Human rights
Definition of life satisfaction
Theory regarding how happy cultures think they should feel
Cultural differences in subjective well-being can be affected by several factors:
Wealth (up to a certain point – once the country has a GDP that is about 40% of the US’, wealth no longer predicts subjective well-being)
Access to enough wealth to easily meet basic needs of life tends to yield considerably more satisfaction with life
Human rights and equality – countries with greater recognition of human rights, and where people have approximately equal opportunities to succeed, also tend to be happier
Definition of life satisfaction, next slide
Theory regarding how happy cultures think they should feel, slide 33.
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Culture and Happiness
Defining life satisfaction
Individualistic cultures based life satisfaction on how many positive emotions they were experiencing.
Collectivistic cultures based life satisfaction on how much they were being respected for living up to cultural norms.
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Cultural differences in subjective well-being can also be explained by:
Definition of life satisfaction: individualistic cultures tend to base life satisfaction on how many positive emotions they are experiencing, while collectivistic cultures tend to base life satisfaction on how much they were being respected for living up to cultural norms
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Culture and Happiness
Theory about emotional experience
East Asians believe in having more balance in experiencing emotions.
In retrospective studies, they are more likely to recall themselves having balanced emotional states.
Americans believe that they should be happy in general.
In retrospective studies, they are more likely to over-remember how happy they were.
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Another factor that explains cultural differences in subjective well-being is also cultural theories about emotional experiences.
Because different cultures have different theories about the kinds of emotions that one should experience, that expectation affects our recall of those emotions.
That can be seen in a study that found that, when Euro-Americans recall their week, they recall greater levels of satisfaction than Asian-Americans, even though their actual experiences during those days did not differ.
This has been attributed to cultural differences in theories about happiness – whereas East Asians tend to have a balanced cultural theory about experiencing positive and negative emotions, Western cultures have a cultural theory that suggests that people should be experiencing more positivity.
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Culture and Happiness
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
European-Americans and Asian-Americans gave similar overall satisfaction ratings about their daily experience. However, when both groups looked back on their experiences, European-American recalled them as being more satisfying than Asian-Americans did.
This finding suggests that the recollections of European-Americans are being shaped by a theory that life should be more happy than the theory held by Asian-Americans.
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Culture and Happiness
Cultures also vary in terms of the importance that they ascribe to happiness.
When presented with either a game that was fun but not useful, or a game that was useful but dull:
European-Canadians preferred the fun game.
Asian-Americans preferred the useful game.
Similar findings emerged for studies where people chose made-up university courses.
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Different cultures also place different levels of importance to happiness, and different consequences for happiness exist for different cultures.
For instance, when fun and practicality are pitted against each other, European Canadians are more likely to opt for fun, while Asian-Canadians opt more for practicality.
In one study, researchers found that European-Canadians preferred games that were fun but not useful, and preferred university courses that were fun but not useful.
On the other hand, Asian-Canadians preferred games that were not fun but were useful, and they also preferred useful university courses that were not fun.
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Culture and Happiness
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Euro-Americans
Positive emotions
Depression
Positive emotions
Depression
Asian-Americans
Benefits of happiness differ cross-culturally
Cultures also differ in what consequences are associated with happiness.
For instance, for Euro-Canadians, experiencing more positive emotions is associated with fewer signs of depression, while Asian-Americans don’t have different risks of depression depending on their experience of positive emotions.
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Culture and Happiness
Cultures also vary in terms of what kind of happiness is preferred, or is ideal.
East Asians prefer low arousal positive states (e.g. calm, relaxed, peaceful).
North Americans prefer high arousal positive states (e.g. enthusiastic, excited, elated).
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
Cultures also vary in terms of what kind of happiness is preferred, or is ideal.
Thinking about emotions as either positive versus negative, and whether they are high arousal or low arousal, research has demonstrated reliable differences in what kind of “ideal affect” different cultures prefer to have.
Euro-Americans prefer high arousal positive states (e.g. enthusiastic, excited, elated), while East Asians prefer low arousal positive states (e.g. calm, relaxed, peaceful)
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Culture and Happiness
These differences seem to be communicated by the children’s books, as well as self-help and religious texts, from these respective cultures.
Western children’s books and religious texts place stronger emphases on excitement and enthusiasm
Asian children’s books and religious texts place greater emphases on calming emotions
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
These differences seem to be communicated by children’s books, as well as self-help and religious texts, from these respective cultures.
Children’s books and Western religious texts place stronger emphases on excitement and enthusiasm, while Asian children’s books and religious texts place greater emphases on calming emotions.
This difference also has consequences for people’s behaviors, such that high arousal positive ideal affect is associated with preferences for fast-paced activities such as rollerblading and fast-tempo music, compared to low arousal positive ideal affect, which is associated with slow-paced activities such as picnicking, and calm music
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Summary
Emotion can be examined by focusing on different aspects of emotion.
Each focus leads to different conclusions about universality and cultural variability.
Pursuit of happiness is not a universal endeavor.
© 2016 by W. W. Norton & Company
