REMINDER: PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR PHONES

PSYCHOLOGY OF EMOTION: CULTURE AND EMOTION

Wesley G. Moons, Ph.D. University of California, Davis Department of Psychology

CULTURAL VARIATION
!! Culture !!

heritability

Familial culture/behavior/values
!!

Generational differences in findings

!!

Current cultural context

Acculturation !! Earlier influences more powerful !! Shape schema/lens
!!

!! Cultural !! !!

differences in:

Emotion experience? Emotion expression?

CONSIDER THIS:
!! Pencil/pen !! Facial !! !!

activity

feedback

Experience to expression Expression to experience

!! Cultural

influences on one might impact other

CULTURE DIFFERENCES
!! Cultural !! !!

psychology focus:

Western cultures (e.g., U.S., Western Europe)

!!

European-Americans Asians or Asian-Americans

Eastern cultures (e.g., China, Korea)

!!

!! Self-construal !! !!

differences

Independence (aka individualism) Interdependence (aka collectivism)

!! Cognitive !! !!

attentional differences

Central/analytic focus Holistic/global focus

FISH PROBLEM

PANAS HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW?

1 Not at all
1.! 2.! 3.! 4.! 5.! 6.! 7.! 8.! 9.! 10.!

5 Very much

Enthusiastic Interested Determined Excited Inspired Alert Active Strong Proud Attentive

11.! 12.! 13.! 14.! 15.! 16.! 17.! 18.! 19.! 20.!

Scared Afraid Upset Distressed Jittery Nervous Ashamed Guilty Irritable Hostile

CULTURE DIFFERENCES
!!

Cultural psychology focus:

!! !!

Western cultures (e.g., U.S., Western Europe)

!!

European-Americans Asians or Asian-Americans

Eastern cultures (e.g., China, Korea)

!!

!!

Self-construal differences
!! !!

Independence (aka individualism) Interdependence (aka collectivism)

!!

Cognitive attentional differences

!! !!

Central/analytic focus Holistic/global focus

!!

Different tolerance for inconsistency

SOME FINDINGS
!!

Euro-American (EA) vs. Asian or Asian-American (AA)

!!

Similar underlying physiology

!!

Similar cardiovascular response when experiencing an emotion

! Roberts, Levenson, & Gross (2008)

!!

Cultural differences in suppression/expression

Suppression = Less emotional expressivity !! Expression = More emotional expressivity !! More suppression in Asian or Asian-American participants
!!

! Gross & John (2003)

!!

Cultural differences in effects of suppression

When EA suppress negative emotion blood pressure increases !! When AA suppress negative emotion blood pressure decreases
!!

! Butler, Lee, & Gross (2009)

ACTUAL AND IDEAL AFFECT

!!

Actual vs. Ideal Affect

!! !!

Actual affect
!!

Our current feelings (e.g., calm) What we would ideally like to feel (e.g., ecstatic)

Ideal affect
!!

!!

Cultural differences in actual affect

!!
!!

EA tend to report less negative affect than AA overall

May be due to AA tolerance for reporting feeling negative and positive affect simultaneously

!!

Cultural differences in ideal affect

!!

Differences in preference for high arousal (e.g., excited) vs. low arousal positive emotions (e.g., serene) Compared EA, AA and Hong Kong Chinese (CH)
!! !!

!!

EA and AA value high arousal positive affect more than CH AA and CH value low arousal positive affect more than EA

OTHER CULTURES?
!!

Americans vs. Russians

!! !!
!!

Americans relatively more independent Russians relatively more interdependent

Grossman & Kross (2010)

!!

Cultural differences in response to negative event (e.g., failure),

!!

Russians tend to self-distance more from negative event than Americans

!! !!

e.g., I cant believe I did so poorly on that test. (American) e.g., That test didnt go well. (Russian)

!!

Russians have fewer negative consequences

!! !!

Report feeling less distressed Report having more adaptive (positive) construals of event

!!

Cultural differences in extent to which we tie in our own selfconcept and self-worth in an experience

WITHIN-COUNTRY CULTURE
!!

Culture of Honor American South

!!

! Richard Nisbett and colleagues

!!

Populated by herdsman (not farmers)

!! !!

Theft of stock Little authority Reputation for toughness Associated with men Gentlemanly behavior Dueling Blood feuds

!!

Retribution functional
!! !!

!!

Extends to infraction of personal rights

!! !! !!

!!

Similar cultural values across world

!! !!

Middle East Greece

CULTURE AS CONTEXT
!! Culture !!

as a social context

Widespread, ingrained over time (acculturation)

Countries/Regions !! Ethnicity/Race !! Religions !! Sex !! Sexual Orientation !! University
!!

!! Hierarchical !!

organization of cultures

Sorority within a university within a town, etc

CULTURAL CONSTRAINTS
!! Different

situations exert cultural influence on emotion experience and expression

!!

Appropriate emotion experiences in situation

Library !! Funeral !! Meeting children !! Rehab
!!

!!

Appropriate expression
Subject R !! Subject Z
!!

THE END!