Psychology 307: Cultural Psychology Emotions

1. Psychology 307: Cultural Psychology Emotions

2. Emotion • What are emotions? • What is the universalist vs. cultural constructionist debate regarding emotions? • What evidence provides support for the universalist position? • What evidence provides support for the cultural constructionist position? • Can the universalist vs. cultural constructionist debate be resolved?

3. What are emotions? • Although there has been disagreement among psychologists regarding how best to define emotions, most believe that emotions consist of at least 2 components: a physiological component and a subjective component. • Many psychologists also believe that emotions consist of a third component: a cognitive component.

4. There are 2 major theories of emotion: 1. James-Lange theory of emotion • Proposed by William James and Carl Lange in the late 1800s. • Suggests that the physiological changes that occur in response to antecedent events produce emotions. • According to this view, “we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble” (James, 1884).

5. James-Lange Theory of Emotion Physiological changes: Heart pounding, trembling, sweating, running away Antecedent event: Seeing an angry dog Emotion felt: Fear

6. On the basis of this theory, Tomkins (1963) proposed the facial feedback hypothesis. • Although some studies have provided support for the facial feedback hypothesis, in particular, and the James-Lange theory, in general, many researchers have criticized the theory. • In light of these criticisms, the James-Lange theory has fallen out of favor with many psychologists.

7. 2. Two-factor theory of emotion • Proposed by Stanley Schachter and Jerome Singer in the 1960s. • Suggests that the physiological changes that occur in response to antecedent events and our cognitive appraisals of those events produce emotions.

8. Two-Factor Theory of Emotion Physiological changes: Heart pounding, trembling, sweating, running away + Cognitive appraisal: That is an angry dog, it is going to attack me. Antecedent event: Seeing an angry dog Emotion felt: Fear

9. Substantial evidence has provided support for the two-factor theory. The bulk of this evidence comes from studies in which experimenters have manipulated participants’ physiological arousal and examined their appraisals of that arousal. • Example: Dutton and Aron, 1974, Capilano Suspension Bridge study. • In light of the evidence that has accumulated to support the two-factor theory, this theory is the most widely accepted theory of emotion today.

10. What is the universalist vs. cultural constructionist debate regarding emotions? • Universalist position: • emotions are experienced similarly across cultures. • common emotions have evolved among humans because they serve adaptive functions.

11. Cultural constructionist position: • emotions are experienced differently across cultures. • emotions are largely determined by our appraisals of antecedent events. • Research evidence provides support for both positions.

12. What evidence provides support for the univeralist position? • Four types of evidence support the universalist position on emotion: (a) Evidence for the universality of emotional antecedents • Emotional antecedents: Events that elicit emotion.

13. Example: Brandt and Boucher (1985) • Recruited informants from the U.S., Korea, and Samoa. • Informants wrote stories about events that produced anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, or surprise. • Stories were administered to participants in the U.S., Korea, and Samoa, who identified the predominant emotion of the individual in the story.

14. Found: (i) substantial agreement in the assignment of emotions to stories across cultures. (ii) participants’ accuracy was not greater for stories generated by informants from their own culture than stories generated by informants from other cultures.

15. (b) Evidence for the universality of physiological responses associated with emotions • Example: Scherer and Wallbott (1994) • Recruited participants from 37 countries (e.g., Australia, Botswana, Chile, El Salvador, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Japan, Lebanon, Portugal, U.S., Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe). • Had participants recall situations in which they experienced joy, anger, fear, sadness, disgust, shame, or guilt.

16. For each situation, asked participants to respond to questions assessing their physiological responses to the situation. • Participants were presented with three types of physiological responses: 1. Ergotropic responses. 2. Trophotropic responses. 3. Felt temperature responses:

17. Found that, across cultures, each emotion was associated with similar physiological responses. E.g., Anger: Associated with relatively high levels of ergotropic responses, relatively low levels of trophotropic responses, and the sensation of being hot. Sadness: Associated with relatively low levels of ergotropic responses, relatively high levels of trophotropic responses and the sensation of being cold.

18. (c) Evidence for the universality of emotional appraisal • Emotional appraisal: Process by which individuals evaluate the antecedent events or stimuli that elicit emotions. • Example: Scherer et al., 1997 • Proposed the Stimulus Evaluation Check (SEC) Model of Emotional Appraisal.

19. According to this model, emotional appraisal of antecedent events occurs in the form of a series of “stimulus evaluation checks.” Antecedent events are evaluated along 8 dimensions:

20. Scherer et al.’s (1997) Emotional Appraisal Dimensions

21. Recruited participants from 37 countries (e.g., Austria, Botswana, Brazil, China, Finland, Greece, Honduras, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Zambia). • Had participants recall situations in which they experienced joy, anger, fear, sadness, disgust, shame, or guilt. • For each situation, asked participants to respond to questions assessing each of the 8 appraisal dimensions identified by the SEC Model.

22. Found that, across cultures, each emotion was produced by a similar appraisal process. E.g., Joy: Elicited by events that were appraised as high in expectedness, pleasantness, goal conduciveness, and fairness; for which participants felt they had coped effectively, behaved morally, and experienced an increase in self-worth. Anger: Elicited by events that were appraised as low in expectedness, pleasantness, goal conduciveness, and fairness; that participants believed were caused by others or an impersonal agent.

23. (d) Evidence for the universality of emotional expression • Cross-cultural studies: • Have shown that, across diverse cultures, people create similar facial expressions when they experience happiness, anger, disgust, fear, sadness, or surprise.

24. Example: Ekman and Friesen (1971) • Took posed photos of facial expressions reflecting happiness, anger, disgust, fear, sadness, and surprise. • Showed the photos to participants in 5 countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Japan, and the U.S. • Asked participants to select the emotional label that best described the individual in each photo.

25. Ekman and Friesen’s (1971) Six Emotional Expressions

26. Percentage of Participants Who Correctly Identified Each Emotion

27. Found that: (a) the rate of correct identification was high across cultural groups. (b) when the six emotions were combined, there were no significant differences across cultural groups. • These findings were replicated among the Fore of New Guinea.

28. On the basis of these findings, Ekman concluded that there are 6 emotions for which there are universal facial expressions (i.e., “basic emotions”):

30. Ekman and Friesen’s (1971) Six Emotional Expressions

31. More recent work by Ekman suggests that there is a 7th emotion for which there is a universal facial expression:

32. Developmental studies: • Have shown that: (a) newborn infants possess the same facial musculature as adults. (b) the facial musculature of infants is fully functional at birth. (c) infants display facial expressions similar to those that adults display when they experience happiness, anger, disgust, fear, sadness, and surprise.

33. Examples of Infant Facial Expressions

34. At birth, infants are capable of producing facial expressions that display disgust and happiness. At 2 months, infants are capable of producing facial expressions that display anger and sadness. At 6 months, infants are capable of producing facial expressions that display fear and surprise. • Infants’ ability to produce facial expressions similar to those of adults appears to be culturally universal.

35. What evidence provides support for the cultural constructionist position? • Two types of evidence support the cultural constructionist position on emotion: (a) Evidence for the cultural construction of emotional expression: Display rules • According to Ekman (1973), display rules dictate how universal emotions are expressed, are learned early in life, and become automatic determinants of emotional expression by adulthood.

36. Ekman and Freisen (1969) identified 6 display rules: Amplification, deamplification, neutralization, qualification, masking, and simulation. • Researchers have examined cultural differences in the tendencies to amplify, deamplify, neutralize, qualify, mask, and simulate emotional expression.

37. Example: Matsumoto et al. (2005) • Developed the Display Rule Assessment Inventory (DRAI) to assess the extent to which participants modify their emotional expressions in diverse social situations (e.g., with family, close friends, colleagues, strangers).

38. Sample Response Sheet from the DRAI Instructions: Please tell us what you think people should do when they feel each of the emotions listed toward someone in each of the four situations when interacting with that person. At the top of the page is a list of seven possible responses for how one may behave in those situations. Please select a response for each emotion and each situation. Record that number in the appropriate space provided for that emotion and situation.

39. Possible responses: 1. Express the feeling as is with no inhibitions. 2. Express the feeling, but with less intensity than one's true feelings. 3. Express the feeling, but with more intensity than one's true feelings. 4. Try to remain neutral; express nothing. 5. Express the feeling, but together with a smile to qualify one's feelings. 6. Smile only, with no trace of anything else, in order to hide one's true feelings.

40. Recording sheet:

41. Recruited participants from Japan, Russia, and the U.S. • Found that: (a) the American participants had higher expression and amplification scores than the Japanese and Russian participants. (b) the Japanese participants had higher deamplification and qualification scores than the American and Russian participants.

42. Consistent with these findings, Matsumoto et al. (1998) found that the tendency to “control” emotional expression through the use of deamplification, neutralization, qualification, and masking was positively correlated with collectivism.

43. Sponge Bob

44. Hello Kitty

45. In addition, Matsumoto et al. (1998) found that in collectivistic cultures, the tendency to control the expression of negative emotions (e.g., anger) was greatest when interacting with ingroup members (e.g., family). In contrast, in individualistic cultures, the tendency to control the expression of negative emotions was greatest when interacting with outgroup members (e.g., strangers).

46. Notably, research suggests that when individuals control the expression of emotion through deamplification, neutralization, qualification, and masking, the subjective experience of the emotion is dampened. Thus, people living in cultures that promote the control of emotional expression tend to report fewer and less intense emotional experiences than people living in cultures that promote emotional expression.

47. (b) Evidence for the cultural construction of emotional states: Emotional lexicon • Analyses of diverse languages suggest that different languages recognize different emotions. • Although some languages have equivalent terms for all of the “universal” emotions identified by Ekman, other languages do not.

48. Languages in Which Terms for Ekman’s “Universal” Emotions Do Not Exist

49. Moreover, there are emotional terms in some languages for which an equivalent term does not exist in English.

50. Emotional Terms for Which an Equivalent Term Does Not Exist in English