Chapter 12: Universals and Cultural Differences in Emotions

Question 1

Tsai and Levenson 1997 found out what about the universality of bodily feelings of emotion when they tested the physiology of E. Asians and Europeans American couples during conflicts? (2) What hypothesis does this support?

Answer 1

1. They found that physiological changes did not differ by national group. 2. This supports the universality hypothesis.

Question 2

Levenson, Ekman, Heider, & Friesen (1992) found out what about the universality of the feelings of emotion when they posed facial expressions using guided muscle contraction procedure in Minangkabau men? (2)

Answer 2

1. Physiological responses were similar for all but 2 measures. 2. Some cross-cultural similarity.

Question 3

A study focused on the universality of self-reported bodily sensations found what?

Answer 3

A consensus in descriptions of joy, anger, fear, and sadness.

Question 4

What is an issue with studies on the universality of self-reported bodily sensations?

Answer 4

They rely on language and certain nuanced meaning that might be lost in translation.

Question 5

Nummenmaa et al 2014 used a non-verbal approach (emBODY) for the universality of self-reported bodily sensations and found what?

Answer 5

Emotions associated with clearly distinct bodily sensation maps and were consistent across cultures.

Question 6

What is in-group advantage?

Answer 6

People recognize the expressions of people from their own cultural group better than others.

Question 7

What is the dialect theory of facial expression?

Answer 7

There is an innate language of emotion expression, but cultures also develop unique ‘dialects’ of expression.

Question 8

Elfenbein et al. 2007 found out what about dialects in facial expression when they asked participants from different cultures to pose different emotion expressions? (2) What explained their results?

Answer 8

1. They found variability across cultures. 2. Cultures, not race explains the variability.

Question 9

Is there evidence for the hypothesis presented in The Spirit of the Laws” declaring that warmer climates cause people to be more emotionally expressive?

Answer 9

People from 26 countries rated the expressiveness of people in the northern and southern parts of their country and found support for the hypothesis.

Question 10

Scherer et al 1988 study where they asked people in the US, 8 European countries and Japan to describe situations in which anger, sadness, happiness, and fear occurred found what?

Answer 10

There was a huge amount of variability for all 4 emotions.

Question 11

What is the universal contingency hypothesis?

Answer 11

Appraisal-emotion link is universal.

Question 12

When is the universal contingency hypothesis true?

Answer 12

For most appraisal dimensions (pleasantness, attention).

Question 13

When does the universal contingency hypothesis vary?

Answer 13

For cognitively demanding appraisals (control, responsibility, anticipated effort) vary in relation to emotion.

Question 14

Do cultures appraise general classes of situations differently?

Answer 14

Yes.

Question 15

What is culture? (3)

Answer 15

1. A learned set of shared interpretations. 2. Established beliefs, values, and norms. 3. Affects the behavior of a large group of people.

Question 16

What 3 general approaches are used to group cultures?

Answer 16

1. Socio-orientation expectations. 2. Values and goals taught by religions. 3. Socio-ecological factors.

Question 17

It is thought that people in a collectivist society are more likely to define themselves in terms of what?

Answer 17

In terms of their memberships in groups.

Question 18

Is is thought that people in individualist society are more likely to define themselves in terms of what?

Answer 18

In terms of their personally defining characteristics.

Question 19

Do people in collectivist societies tend to show less emotional expressivity?

Answer 19

Yes.

Question 20

How do collectivists regulate their emotions differently that individualists?

Answer 20

They regulate more to promote smooth social functioning.

Question 21

In an experiment where participants were asked to perceive the emotions of a target person with a crowd around them, what was found?

Answer 21

Cultures that take information in more holistically, so they were more likely to think the target person was more happy if surrounded by a happy crowd.

Question 22

What is a problem with studies on cross-cultural visual cognition?

Answer 22

The studies tend to lack large-scale replication.

Question 23

Do individualist societies contain collectivist values and vice versa?

Answer 23

Yes.

Question 24

Is there support for the individualist vs. collectivist view?

Answer 24

No, but there is support for several categories of difference.

Question 25

What are three main principles of a culture of honor?

Answer 25

1. Self-respect and respect of family or group. 2. Family member obliged to uphold reputation of family. 3. Avoid shame at all costs.

Question 26

Ijerman et al. (2007) study where researchers bumped into people on a train found what?

Answer 26

Those who endorsed honor values more angry and saw more anger in faces.

Question 27

Are Eastern religions are more about dialectical emotions? What are Western religions more about?

Answer 27

Yes. Western religions are more about optimizing emotions.

Question 28

What is the ancestral diversity hypothesis?

Answer 28

Cultures with high heterogeneity show more extreme emotional expressivity since it would have helped when people could not use language.

Question 29

What is the best predictor for explaining display rules for emotion expressivity?

Answer 29

Heterogeneity.

Question 30

Do people who come from countries with high heterogeneity have easier to read emotional expressions?

Answer 30

Yes.

Question 31

Is historical heterogeneity correlated with laughing and smiling?

Answer 31

Yes.

Question 32

In Sievers and colleagues study on the movement of a ball and universal expression of emotion in movement found what? (3)

Answer 32

1. Americans and Cambodians represented movement and music in the same way. 2. (Happy movements were smooth movements. 3. Movement and music were highly correlated.

Question 33

Are the antecedents for emotions universal across cultures?

Answer 33

No.

Question 34

What is the affect valuation theory?

Answer 34

Ideal affect is distinct from actual feeling and we strive for ideal affect over actual affect.

Question 35

Are movement and music correlated?

Answer 35

Yes

Question 36

Do children’s books in different countries contain content that upholds the countries’ general view of ideal affect?

Answer 36

Yes.

Question 37

In a study about the affect valuation theory and people’s view of their physician, what was found?

Answer 37

Participants who endorsed a dialectical view of ideal affect tended to prefer physicians who also seemed to promote low-arousal pleasant states. Those who preferred optimizing view preferred likewise physicians.

Question 38

In a study about the affect valuation theory and people’s view of their physician, did people’s real affect affect their preference in physician?

Answer 38

The frequency of actual emotional states did not predict their preferences in physicians.

Question 39

In a study about the affect valuation theory and people’s view of their physician, what do people tend to choose physicians based on?

Answer 39

Based on whether the affective states a physician wants to achieve matches how people ideally want to feel.

Question 40

Besides children’s books and physician preferences, what is another application of the affect valuation theory?

Answer 40

Consumer preferences. People with optimizing beliefs tend to prefer exciting consumer products.

Question 41

Diary studies of bicultrual individuals found out what about emotional experiences?

Answer 41

Bi-cultural individuals fluidly adopt the emotional experiences that are consistently recognized and associated with the culture that they are currently operating in.

Question 42

Which culture is more likely to dampen their mood? Which is more likely to savoir it?

Answer 42

1. Eastern. 2. Western.

Question 43

What results when a culture is less likely to dampen their mood?

Answer 43

They experience more positive feelings.

Question 44

Keller and Otta’s study on German ans Nso mothers found out what about parental teaching of display rules and emotion expression? (3)

Answer 44

1. German mothers prioritized autonomous socialization goals, resulting in teaching children to express more positive emotionality. 2. Nso mothers prioritized social relatedness, resulting in mothers believing that children should learn to control expression of their emotions during the first 3 months of life. 3. German mothers did not have control as a goal.

Question 45

Which culture (German or Nso) thought that the expression of specific emotions should emerge earlier?

Answer 45

German mothers, except for expressions of shame and guilt.