Culture and Emotions - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Culture and Emotions

Week 10Slide2

Today’s questions

If “emotions are universal”, what do we really mean?

To what extent does culture influence emotions

?

We will not cover how emotions

 culture (I’m not even sure what that means.)Slide3

Note

Cultural psychology

≠

C

ross-cultural psychology

Your reading is on ‘cultural psychology’; much of this seminar is on ‘cross-cultural psychology’Slide4

Framework for todaySlide5

Quantity

Part 1

: The nagging question

againSlide6

How many basic emotions are there

?

Ekman: originally 6, now 9

Classic: anger

, fear, sadness,

happiness, surprise

,

disgust

,

New: interest, shame

,

contemptSlide7

“Basic emotions” of the

Natyasastra

1 AD treatise on performing arts

Anger

Disgust

Fear

Heroism

Love

Humor

Peace

Sadness

WonderSlide8

“Basic emotions” of the

Rasadhyyaya

3 AD Sanskrit text

1. sexual

passion, love, or delight (

rati

)

2. amusement

, laughter, humor, or mirth (

hsa

);

3. sorrow

(

oka

)

4.

anger (

krodha

)

5. fear or

terror (

bhaya

)

6.

perseverance, energy,

dynamic energy

, or heroism (

utsha

)

7. disgust or

disillusion (

jugups

)

8. amusement, wonder

, astonishment, or amazement

(

vismaya

).Slide9

Universal recognition of

6 basic facial expressions

Western cultures

America

Brazil

Britain

Germany

Sweden

Finland

Greece

Chile

Argentina

Italy

Scotland

Non-western

Japan

Kazakhstan

Malaysia

Ethiopia

China

IndonesiaTurkey

Russell (1994). Is there universal recognition of emotion from facial expression? A review of the cross-cultural studies.

Psy

Bull.Slide10

Universal recognition of 6 basic facial

expressions

Sig. differences in accuracy

Western: 77-96%

Non-western: 63-89%

Accuracy differs by research design

Within-subj minus between-subj

≈

9%

Accuracy differs by response format

Forced-choice minus free response ≈ 25%

Russell (1994). Is there universal recognition of emotion from facial expression? A review of the cross-cultural studies.

Psy

Bull.Slide11

What exactly do we mean by “basic”?

Structural irreducibility:

Fewest number of emotions that can be recognized by everyone

Problem: Past method used static displays of photographs

Temporal irreducibility

:

Fewest number of emotions that can be recognized

in a defined temporal period

by

everyone Slide12

Using the criteria of temporal irreducibility

Four basic emotions: Fear, disgust, happiness, sadness

Not all

facial muscles appear simultaneously during facial expressions, but rather develop over

time

Watch

(02:21 onwards) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNWMO7GkgOk

Jack et al.

(2014).

Dynamic facial expressions of emotion transmit an evolving hierarchy of signals over time.

Curr

Biol.Slide13

What do you think – how many basic emotions are there?

My view

It depends on the definition of “basicness”

It depends on timescale

It depends on whether you mean decoding, enacting, experiencing, etc.

It depends on whether you want to focus on the face as the

only

diagnostic criteria of emotionSlide14

But what is clear is…

The answers do not just differ between cultures, but also differs within culture

There is no reason to cling on to your own culture’s answer as the correct answer

Always ask:

What is the evidence for X?

Is the evidence for X good enough?Slide15

Quality

Part 2

: Similarities &

differencesSlide16

Emotional differences between cultures represent adaptations

Cultures differ in constraints (i.e., challenges, and opportunities) that they

face

(recall: Seminar on evolution)

Constraints favor some emotions, some emotional expressions, and disfavor

others

Emotions

are adapted to the problems people face in different places and different

timesSlide17

Jealousy across cultures

Elicitors of jealousy

Hungary

, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Soviet Union, the United States, and

Yugoslavia

Kiss, hug, sexual activities

Buunk

&

Hupka

(1987). C

ross-cultural differences in the elicitation of sexual jealousy.

J Sex Res.Slide18

Would jealousy differ across cultures?

Evolutionary functions of jealousy

Mate retention is a common problem faced by all pair-bonding mammals (even dogs feel jealous!)

Unlikely to differ across cultures

Harris &

Prouvost

(2014). Jealousy in dogs.

PLoS

ONE.Slide19

Different

c

onstraints within a culture:

N vs. S USA “culture of honor”

North

Settled by farmers

Livelihood not easily stolen

Cooperation valued

Honor is not

that

important

South

Settled by herders

Livelihood

easily stolen

Independence is valued

Honor is important

Cohen et al. (1996).

Insult, aggression, and the Southern culture of honor:

An

“experimental

e

thnography“.

J Per

Soc

Psy

.Slide20

How do N/S people

react to provocations?

Experimenter tells you to go to another room to meet another experimenter.

Along the hallway, someone bumps into you and calls you “asshole”.Slide21

ResultsSlide22

What’s going on?Slide23

Appraisals across cultures

Cross-cultural psychologists are often not interested to merely document cultural differences

They seek to explain why

Here is a mega-study of 37 countries (incl. India)

Scherer. (1997) The

role of culture in emotion-antecedent appraisal

.

J

Pers

Soc

Psy

.Slide24

Appraisal differences across cultures

Cultural differences

Religion

Individualism

Masculinity

Affluence

Urbanism

Tropical climate

Rainfall

Freq. cinema visits (?)

Appraisal dimensions

Expectedness

External causation

Unfairness

Immorality

Scherer. (1997) The

role of culture in emotion-antecedent appraisal

.

J

Pers

Soc

Psy

.Slide25

Appraisal style: Focus of attention

Ellsworth & Peng (1997)

“How is this fish feeling?”

American

ANGER

Chinese

SADSlide26

Moral Emotions: Shame vs. Guilt

Shame

Guilt

(1) Antecedent: Something morally wrong was done

(Semantic prosody: “committed”?)

(2) Target of evaluation: YOU

(1) + (2): YOU did something morally wrong

Object of

evaluation: __________ __________Slide27

Wong & Tsai (2007). Cultural models of shame and guilt.

Handbook of Self-Conscious

Emotions.

Moral Emotions: Shame vs.

Guilt

Individualistic cultures

Self is audience to own actions

Motive

is personal dignity

More prone to

__________ [g

uilt/shame?]

Collectivistic cultures

Others are audience to own actions

Motive

is saving face

More prone to __________ [guilt/shame?]Slide28

Implications to Indian society?

As a foreigner, I often find that Indians take them

selves

too seriously

Honor killings

Marital matches

Exam grades

Perhaps this has to do with trust in government

Landau et al. (2015). Compensatory

control and the appeal of a structured world

.

Psych Bull.

Kay et al (2009). Compensatory control achieving order through the mind, our institutions, and the heavens.

Curr

Dir

Psy

Sci.Slide29

Frequency

Part 3Slide30

Try this

Pick 10 countries. How emotionally expressive (e.g., frequency & acceptability) do you think people of these countries are?Slide31

Expressivity

Matsumoto et al.

(2008). Mapping

expressive differences around the world.

J Cross-

Cul

Psy

.Slide32

The language issue

Part 4Slide33

Language and Emotional Experiences

Clore

et al. (1987). The psychological foundations

of the

affective lexicon.

J

Pers

Soc

Psychol.

To what extent can you understand each of these emotions?

If you do not have the language for a particular emotion, does it mean that you can’t “feel” that emotion?Slide34

More cultural-specific emotions

India:

lajja

(coyness? Shame?)

Japan:

amae

(indulgent dependency)

Germany:

schadenfreude

(gloating at other’s misery)

Czech:

l

itost

(torment caused by insight into one’s miserable state)

China, SE Asia:

koro

(fear of penis shrinking)Slide35

So…

No language for that word

=

No emotional experience for that particular emotion?Slide36

Why bother?

Part 5Slide37

Class discussion

What are the implications of understanding another culture’s emotions?Slide38

Take home messages

Culture exerts trait-like influences on emotion

Partly because of language and ecological experience

Understanding another culture’s emotions has major implications on friendship, business, international relations.