Understanding Emotions and Culture

Brief, biologically based patterns of perception, experience, physiology, action, and communication, responding to challenges and opportunities.

Anger, fear, disgust, surprise, happiness, and sadness; considered fundamental and universally recognizable.

Emotions aid survival and communication; expressions are continuous between humans and animals.

To trigger an emotion, something must be assessed as impacting you personally and your aims.

Emotions are learned and expressed based on culture. Responses are shaped by society.

Evaluation, physiological changes, expressions, subjective experience, mental processes and behavioral responses.

Evaluation of a situation's impact on you.

Similarities and differences in how emotions are experienced and expressed across cultures.

Japanese participants (ppts) tend to suppress emotional expressions, especially in the presence of authority figures, like experimenters.

Individualistic cultures encourage open expression of emotion, while collectivistic cultures prioritize group harmony and may discourage overt emotional displays.

Cultures influence thinking patterns. Individualistic cultures favor analytical thinking (focusing on individual elements), while collectivistic cultures prefer holistic thinking (considering context and relationships).

People from collectivistic cultures are more influenced by the overall emotional tone of a situation than those from individualistic cultures.

Eastern philosophies, like Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism, emphasize a balance between positive and negative emotions. Good and bad experiences are seen as interconnected.

Western cultures traditionally valued negative emotions, but later shifted to emphasizing happiness and cheerfulness as virtues.

Different cultures value positive and negative emotions differently. Westerners prefer high-arousal positives (e.g., excitement), while East Asians favor low-arousal positives (e.g., contentment).

East Asians are more likely to acknowledge negative aspects of happiness and experience more moderate positive and negative emotions compared to Westerners.

People are better at recognizing and interpreting facial expressions of individuals from their own culture.

Facial expressions can vary slightly between cultures, similar to how language dialects differ.

Value constructs used to describe specific cultures, allowing comparisons and grouping.

A cultural dimension assessing whether people prioritize community and group harmony (collectivism) or personal goals and autonomy (individualism).

Cultures differ in the way they perceive the self in relation to others. Individualistic cultures emphasize personal uniqueness, while collectivistic cultures emphasize group membership.

Cultural norms that influence how emotions are expressed, particularly negative emotions. Collectivistic cultures tend to suppress negative emotions.

A well-recognized framework describing cultural dimensions, including individualism vs. collectivism, based on a survey of IBM employees.

This theory highlights the cultural differences in defining the self. Individualistic cultures see the self as separate and unique, while collectivistic cultures emphasize interconnectedness and group harmony.

The study of how emotions are influenced and shaped by cultural factors, including expressions, interpretations, and social norms.

Variations in the way individuals from different cultures experience, express, and interpret emotions due to cultural norms, values, and beliefs.

Research samples predominantly composed of Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic participants, limiting generalizability to other populations.

The knowledge and understanding of cultural norms, values, and beliefs that are often unconsciously held by individuals, making it difficult to objectively study culture.

The idea that emotions are innate and universal, suggesting that basic emotions are shared across cultures despite variations in expression.