Chapter 10-Cultural Psych Emotion

Two-Factor Theory of Emotions

a theory that emotional experience is based on two factors: physiological arousal and cognitive labeling of the cause of that arousal -emotions are interpretations of bodies physiological autonomic responses -redirected emotions from body to mind

6 Primary Emotions

anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, surprise - biologically based emotions and universally performed and recognized -shows a universality to emotion -these were most likely the facial expressions needed for survival since they are universal (needed for natural selection and evolution across cultures)

James-Lange Theory of Emotions

you have a stimulus, then a physical response from the autonomic nervous system, then a subjective emotion has a result of that physical response -the physiological response is the emotion, if you did not have the physiological response then you would not have the emotion

Cultural Variation of Emotional Experience Study w/ Blood Pressure

-Emotions usually have a corresponding physical responses -studied blood pressures after anger provoking events between Asian Canadians and European Canadians -results: had the same initial spike in blood pressure but then Asian Canadians blood pressure returned to baseline much quicker than European Canadians -reasoning: experienced anger less intensely because they were more comfortable with strategies to compose their anger because they come from cultures where anger is not as easily expressed so they do not experience anger as strongly

Problems with James-Lange Theory

-can have the same physical response for emotional reactions, so which one is it really -psychopathy - no emotions, no physical reaction -some surveys question the specificity of the physiological patterns associated with emotion -autonomic nervous system is too simple to cover the wide range of emotions people feel (can interpret pounding of heart in several ways depending on the emotion

Cultural Differences in Subjective Well Being and the Factors they are Affected By

-can lead to cultural differences: 1. Wealth 2. Human Rights 3. Definition of life Satisfaction 4. theory regarding how happy cultures think they should feel *sometimes wealth and human rights are not always reliable factors for happiness and are opposite of what is expected in some nations*

Importance of Happiness as a Factor for Cultural Differences in Subjective Well-Being

-cultures vary in the importance they ascribe to happiness -different emphasis on how important it is to be happy -positive emotions have different meanings and consequences across cultures

Cultural Variability in Ritualized displays (the face)

-existence of cultural display rules lead people to have idiosyncratic (distinct, unique) facial expressions to the same emotion -voluntarily produced instead of reflexes since they are not universal -example: difference in facial expressions between Indians and Americans for embarrassment

Ekman and Colleagues - Universality of Face and Fore Culture Study

-goal: needed to question people w/o a lot of experiences of different cultures so there was no risk of socialization/learning of facial expressions -the FOre people were least exposed to Western ways/culture that they could find -evidence: still universal since they showed very similar expressions to Western cultures w/o potential of having learned expressions

Pride and Universality

-has been proposed as a universally recognized expression, but it is not solely in the face -the entire body is used to express pride -erect posture, head titled back, slight smile, arms extending away or in akimbo (on hips) -occurs around the whole world AND in blind people

Cultural Variability in Emotional Experience

-if certain cultures promote exhibiting emotions more than others (different levels of expression between cultures) - they should have higher rates of those emotions (i.e. Western vs. Eastern) -if culture has rules regarding the intensity of our expressions, they may also affect the intensity of our emotional experience based on the facial feedback hypothesis -different cultural display rules can effects more than just the expressions, can also effect the level of emotions you feel (based on the facial feedback hypothesis and since expressions and emotions are not always unrelated)

Definition of Subjective Well-Being (Individualistic Cultures) as a Factor of Cultural Differences

-individualistic cultures based on how many positive emotions they themselves experience -more happy when acting in ways consistent with their inner desires

Wealth as a Factor of Cultural Differences in Subjective Well-Being

-money has less impact if the basic needs of the human have been met -relation b/w income and subjective well being is smaller in developed countries (bc the basic needs have been met) -wealth and subjective well being are more related/correlated at lower level of health/underdeveloped countries

Study - Cross-Cultural Differences in Benefits of Happiness

-negative correlation for depression and positive emotions (one goes up and the other goes down) for European Americans -no correlation between positive emotions and depression for Asian Americans (there is no loss of positive emotions with depression) -reasons: may be fewer benefits for positive states, not as many/the same beneficial consequences

Cultural Variability in Emotional Experience b/w Individualistic and Collectivistic Cultures

-people from interdepedent cultures respond to anger provoking events more calmly than people from independent cultures -Asian-Canadians report feeling less anger than European-Canadians (b/c less expressions) -Asian culture promotes less expressions on the face, since they have less expressions they feel less anger (according to facial feedback hypothesis)

Study - Importance of Happiness in Different Cultures

-study: investigated role of predicting happy feelings when making decisions -methods: presented with a game that was fun but not useful or a fame that useful but dull -results: European Canadians played the fun game whereas Asian-Americans preferred the useful fame interpretations: Asian cultures were less intersted in doing things for the sake of anticipated positive feelings and more interested in Western cultures *similar findings were found in studies where people chose made-up university courses

Cultural Variation in Subjective Well-Being

-there are cultural differences in the average subjective well being that people report -Northern European or Latin Americans usually have a higher average of subjective well being vs. soviet blocs and African countries are at the bottom of the list -study: there is also variation within different regions of the same culture -results: Mountain states and New England had higher than national average subjective well-beings/more positive z-score

facial feedback hypothesis (emotional experience)

-variability in facial expression (i.e. Indians and Americans displays of embarrassment) and the level of those facial expressions (i.e. between Western and Eastern cultures) presupposes that emotional experiences are unaffected by facial expressions BUT the emotional experience someone has and their facial expressions are not always unrelated - shown in this -facial feedback suggests that we use our facial expression to infer our emotional state (expressions and emotions are NOT unrelated) -by making a particular emotional expression, we can think we are experiencing the corresponding emotion -study: smile or frown with pencil

2 theories of emotion

1. James-Lange Theory - universal 2. Two-Factor Theory - more context and situational based

Controversy of Universality of 3 Emotions

Controversy exists on the universality of: 1. Contempt 2. Shame 3. Interest -debate over whether these emotions are universally recognized

Universality of Emotions - Face/Facial Expressions

Darwin - studied the universality of emotional expressions -studied infants -realized facial expressions are the same in adults as they are in infants -reflexive responses to stimuli -important that infants showed it since they have not yet been exposed to culture - shows evidence of universality -they are universal and stayed bc they are a product of natural selection - needed a way to communicate information before language as a means for survival

Variability in Cultures - Display Rules (of the face)

Definition: culturally specific rules that govern which facial expressions are appropriate in a given situation and how intensely they should be executed - people have universal expressions but what varies are the display rules -display rules dictate intensity of expressions of face, appropriateness of an expression on the face, and ritualized displays

Ekman and Colleagues Study - Universality of Face

Goal: to show that certain emotions are universal -took thousands of pictures -Am. participants were asked to identify expressions that matched expressions in the photos -identified emotions correctly in 80-90% of photos -evidence for claim of universality of emotions PROBLEM: cultures they took pictures of were not all that different from each other/from America (same media, institutionalized, literature cultures)

Culture and Happiness

Happiness seems to vary across cultures and is central to many Western cultures -focus in many Western literatures about how you can become happy -Enlightenment of the 18th century - the world became a more predictable and rational place (i.e. it can be achieved through your own efforts) rather than happiness just seen as luck/chance

Universality vs. Cultural Variability in Relation to Theories

James-Lange Theory: -predicts that emotions should be universal due to physical similarity fo all humans -there are evolutionary origins to some physiological responses so they are all inherited as adaptive evolutionary signals Two-Factor Theory: -emotions should vary across cultures because different cultural experiences can lead us to have different interpretations of physiological responses -emotions and their interpretations are based on context and culture -suggests people should have the same emotional experiences, but some patterns should be more distinctive in some backgrounds/cultures than in others

Cultural Variability in Level of Expression of Emotions (the face)

Some cultures dictate that people must express emotions very intensely, while others have rules where people should refrain from showing on their face strong expressions of emotion -cultural expression on our faces is shaped by experiences over time (older people have more variances) -Western cultures tend to be more expressive with their face and Eastern cultures less (BUT just bc they are not expressing it does not mean they are not experiencing the emotion) -people from collectivistic cultures do not show emotions on their face to the same degree *look up reasons why?*

Definition of Subjective Well-Being as a Factor of Cultural Differences (collectivistic cultures)

based life satisfaction on how much they were being respected by others for living up to cultural norms -satisfied when living up to others standards for being a good person -more about how involved they are/a part of something -living up to cultural norms is the basis for a good life

Human Rights as Factor of Cultural Differences Subjective-Well Being

more human rights and overall equality is likely associated with more happiness -some cultures have more human rights and equality than others

Subjective Well-Being

the feeling of how satisfied one is with their life (how happiness is studied)