Cultural explanations Flashcards
Similarities in emotion in a group can arise from (5)
Parkinson, Fischer & Manstead, 2005
1) exposure to same event
2) mutual influence (eg. contagion & appraisal)
3) shared norms and values (eg. respond similarly to issue)
4) identifying with the group (eg. regulate affect to fit group)
5) requirement to feel or express a particular emotion in the group
4 criteria for group level emotions
Smith et al, 2017
1) distinct from person’s individual level
2) depend on identification with group
3) socially shared in group
4) contribute to intragroup & intergroup attitudes and behaviours
Intergroup emotion
intergroup emotion theory (Smith, 1993)
specific intergroup emotion depends on (2)
= emotions arising in one group that concern another group (eg. intergroup fear)
theory:
- intergroup emotions are experienced by individuals when they identify with a social group, making the group part of the psychological self
specific intergroup emotion depends on perceived competence and warmth of the target group (Fiske, Cuddy & Glick, 2002) LOW c // LOW w = contempt eliciteed LOW c // HIGH w = pity HIGH c// LOW w = envy HIGH c // HIGH w = pride
prejudice and conflict between groups
may be able to understand prejudice in terms of intergroup emotions
emotions posed for an ingroup are clearer = more potential for misunderstanding with an outgroup (Leyens et al, 2002)
- conflict and atrocities (Eg. genocide) involve rejecting another group, and protecting own group from contamination, so usually better understood in terms of disgust and contempt than anger
collective guilt
- usually high when an indivdiual thinks their group has wronged an outgroup, but it wasn’t them personally (Doosje et al, 1998)
- however, this tend to lead to self-focused restitution rather than out-focussed help (Iyer et al, 2003)
- Also, individuals who identify strongly with ingroup prefer to repair guilt in a way that does not affect group identity (eg, financial compensation because it doesn’t admit responsibility, but an apology does)
- need to focus on out-group suffering to stimulate sympathy, not guilt
cultural differences in emotions
- emotions as social roles
- ethnotheories
cultural approaches see emotions as being constructed primarily by cultural approaches:
- values and concepts about the self are expressed in rituals, practices and institutions and these shape how we experience emotion (language shapes this too)
emotions as social roles:
some cultural approaches see emotions as transitory roles that people play in order to fulfil culture-specific identities eg. falling in love = transition between social relaionships)
- people make it known when they fall in love = want people to recognise and respect it (social roles)
ethnotheories (emotionologies): the way that people deal with their own and other peoples emotions, and how they depend on culture-specific beliefs
- focus is on the actual practice of emotion, not on its potential (Mesquita, 2001)
Approaches
1) self-construal
- individualist
- collectivist
-can construe oneself as independent (autonomous) or interdependent (connected) = maps onto individualistic and collectivist cultures
INDIVIDUALISTIC:
- people may report being more emotional but the autonomic NS responses may be the same (Levinson et al, 1992)
- emotions may be stronger determinant of life satisfaction and the expression of happiness is associated with portraying success (suh et al, 1998)
(own satisfation dependent on self)
COLLECTIVIST
- people more likely to mask posture and negative feelings = have more impact when they are displayed (Miyake et al, 1986)
- people exert greater control over negative emotions with in-group member but less likely to smile at out-group member (less concerned with outgroup)
Approaches
2) Values
- cultural difference in principles for social behaviour, such as the priority given to freedom, rights, equality
- when a value is prioritised in a culture, then emotions will relate to it eg. monogamy valued, a lover will elicit jealousy and hatred (if not valued = not elicited) (Hupka, 1991)
- in American Declaration of Independence, individual has right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness = happiness is important in this culture
- Honour is important in chinese culture, so ‘shame’ is hypercognised because it reinforces respect. 113 words for shame (Li et al, 2004)
- different cultures within a nation. Southern states of USA have honour culture = more likely to respond aggressively to insult than northerners (Cohen et al, 1985)
Approaches
3) Epistemology
- knowledge structures within a culture guide affect, behaviour and cognition
eg. East Asian culture guided by a dialectical system that accepts contradictions
= more likely to feel positive and negative emotions at same time when West Europeans (Kitayama et al, 2000)
Methods
1) cross cultural comparisons
- emotion expressions
- emotion recognition
- emotion decoding
- cause of emotions
- response to emotion
- subjective well-being of nations
Emotion expressions
- same culture less expressive (Howell, 1981)
- Japanese and USA show some expressions if observed, but different if unobserved (Ekman & Friesen, 1971) – Japanese try to mask feelings when observed
- Populations made up of numerous source countries (eg hetergenous) have more emotional expressivity & smiles are linked to social bonding, not hierarchy (Rychlowska et al, 2015)
- Heterogenous = allows for better communication
Emotion recognition
- universal recognition of basic emotion expressions, but accuracy declines with distance from Anglo-American culture (Russell, 1994)
- could be due to translation problems or understanding what experimenter wants or because those emotions are rarely displayed (less likely to recognise)
- happiness most consistently recognised across cultures
(but may be because it is the only positive emotion in set of discrete emotions so is more distinctive)
- mode of emotion recognition may be modulated by culture eg. Japanese more attuned to emotion in voice than Dutch (Dutch better at visual) (Tanaka et al, 2010)
Emotion decoding
- Japanese rate intensity of expression as lower (Matsumoto, 1989) as they don’t think this emotion will be accurately expressed
BUT they compensate when rating the experience because they follow cultural display rule that expression must be masked (Matsumoto, 1999)
- expressions better interpreted by own culture because rules are known
–> Elfenbein & Ambady (2002) argue that in-group advantage is due to knowing dialect of emotion expression
Cause of emotion
- situations that give rise to emotions may be universal
- but interdependent cultures (eg, Turkish) more likely to experience positive emotions in social situations, whereas, dependent cultures (Eg, dutch) more likely to experience them with respect to personal accomplishments (Kitayama et al, 2003)
Response to emotion
- the perception of appropriateness of certain emotions determines the relative concessions
- expressing anger associated with health RISK in Amercian sample, but reduced health risk in Japanese sample (Kitayama et al, 2015) –> may be due to source of anger eg. event vs. power
- self-reflection (brooding) concerning a negative event associated with fewer depressive symptoms among Russians than Americans because they use self-distancing more (Grossman & Kross, 2010)
- positive affect associated with healthier lipid profile in American sample but not in Japanese sample (Yoo et al, 2017)
So, relation between affect and health may depend on culture (Curhan et al, 2014)
Subjective well-being of nations
- increasing recognition that nations can be judged and compared by the well-being experienced by their citizens, as well as by material wealth (such as GDP)
- material wealth of a nation appears to be an important determinant of the life satisfaction of its people, but its not importat in determining their daily emotions (Oistu & Schimmack, 2016)
Methods
2) ethnography
happiness
- Lutz (1988) –> island of Ifaluk
- found: most valued emotion was ‘fago’ = mix of compassion/ love and sadness
Sadness and grief
- considerable variation among cultures showing grief
(Tahitians use jokes instead of grief - Levy, 1973)
- cries vary from restrained to sobs to wails in cultures
- individualistic see self as independent and therefore expect grieving shouldn’t last long
Anger:
- Briggs (1970) - Utku Inuits don’t express anger to others (as its associated with sickness), but instead uses substitution to replace anger with amusement
Methods
3) historical method
= studying cultural artifacts eg. books/ letters/ art/ film to understand cultural meaning and identify cultural shifts
history of fear:
- steam & Haggarty (1991) studied advice manuals for parents
found: fear was more accepted before 1990, but then was seen as something to be managed
history of cheerfulness:
- 18th century there was a fashion for melancholy (suffering seen as a means to virtue)
- melancholy declined as individual agency gained value = moral duty to stay happy (middle class identity involved managing emotions)
- early 20th century: more cheer, less anger promoted in workplaces (self help books cultivated cheerfulness)
- emotional intensity lowered, emotion consumerism as media promoted love = desire / jealous= possesive / joy = reckless
- cheerfulness seen as economically effective + beneficial to the individual
- when cheerfulness is the norm = opposite (depression) becomes a problem
- -> can have important consequences in political system (forced emotions can be seen as inauthentic eg. Gordon Browns smile)
Sustaining cultural differences
regulation
- may be sustained by emotion regulation processes
- situations and appraisals consistent with cultural values (Leersnyder, Boiger & Mesquita, 2013) are promoted by:
1) individual tendencies (individual)
2) co-regulation within relationships (relational)
3) structure of daily life (structural)
role of emotion in cultural events eg. drama, rituals and art?
- why we have emotion in culture
- emotion in books
Scheff (1979) states these cultural forms allow us to experience emotions at an aesthetic distance (find out norms of culture)
- cue our own memories of emotions and allow us to assimilate them
- allow us to engage with negative emotion safely
- by entering emotional imagination, we can understand ourselves
expression of emotion in books:
Acerbi et al (2013) - there has been a decrease in use of emotion-related words
- Bentley et al (2014) - measured economic misery and literary misery
found: literary misery tracked economic misery = authors pick up on misery in their books = reflect current theory
sum up:
- in cultural approach, emotions:
come from practices, institutions and values
they serve to define values, negotiate roles, achieve identities and fortify ideologies
= leads to distinctive understanding of emotion
commonality with sociology of emotion
( Turner & Stets, 2006)
- 5 approaches
there are 5 main approaches to the sociology of emotions:
1) dramaturgical (Goffman, 1967) - concerned with emotions of impression management
2) symbolic interactionist (Cooley, 1964) - concerned with self and identity as central motives that influence emotion
3) interaction ritual (Collins, 2004) - concerned with emotion in rituals
4) power and status (Kemper, 1978) - concerned with effects of power and status on emotion
5) exchange (cawler, 2002) - concerned with costs and investments in obtaining resources (exchanges generate emotion)
