PSYC 307 October 30 emotional variability 3 lines of evidence >variability of 1)emotional expression -when people share same ethnic heritage, differing in nationality yields to differences -when looking at faces expressing variety of emotion -Japanese recognize expressions better than Japanese living in USA -growing up in different countries and being exposed to different ideas leads to identification of different expressions display rules- certain rules about emotional responses that are culture specific -some emotional expressions are ritualised display (emotional expressions that exist in only some cultures) -learn early on in life-become automatic as we age a) amplification when we express an emotional more strongly than our actual experience b) deamplification expressing emotion less intensely than is felt seen in cultures where it is harmful to express emotions strongly c) neutralization even if experiencing emotion-do not express it no emotion on face motivations are- controlling emotions so as to not be disruptive d) qualification when we display emotion along with another emotion at same time to soften one of the emotions eyes express something, but mouth expresses it differently dampening emotion is key affect blend-genuinely experiencing a lot of emotions at the same time e) masking display some other emotion than what is truly felt concern about stigma or harmony masking internal emotion and in doing so express something completely different seen in depressive individuals
f) simulation displaying emotion when one is not experiencing an emotion trying to be as least disruptive to harmony as possible d,m,n,q -seen in east Asian collectivism-dampen negative emotions amplification- seem in south American-collectivism ritualised displays -facial expressions idiosyncratic to specific cultural environments example- biting tongue- to avoid talking in English environments -in Asian environments- it is expression of regretting or making a mistake-way of expressing oops Inuit people-unique way of expressing anger goal-to minimise direct confrontation and conflict -diffusing conflicts through satirical songs and non-threatening jokes tti)emotional information gathering when we make emotional judgements-we look at the face most commonly to decipher emotions cannot always rely on face research- collectivistic environments-look at faces and background people as emotional cues individualistic environments-focus less on environmental cues and more on focal object more attention to central target, less to external factors 3) emotional lexicon unique words in different languages for different emotions Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis -soft version- language affects how we think, but is not deterministic language helps us think about/articulate ideas, experiences without words, it hinders ability to remember/discuss experience having a language/structure makes it easier to talk about it
Gendron, Roberson, van der Vyver and Barrett Namibia and USA participants 1)anchored sort -pictures of facial expression and 6 categories with labels -sort pictures into categories >directing people what expression to look for >evidence for universality tti)free sort -categories not labelled -put pictures into categories that make sense American Anchored Sort -consistent and reliable clusters American Free Sort -deviation from consistent clusters Himba Anchored Sort -lot of variability -consistency in happy and fear Himba Free Sort -variability we underestimate role of culture in variability and recognizability of emotional