Culture and the Individual Emotions and Motivation.

Culture and the Individual

Emotions and Motivation

Studying Emotion

Three theoretical approaches:

Innate, evolutionarily based set of basic emotions that are the same in all human beings regardless of culture.

Emotions as reflections of culturally based experiences that differ in important ways from those in other cultures.

Componential analysis of emotions breaks down emotions to see whether particular components fall into one or the other of the above.

Emotion Terminology

Basic emotion = the most frequently selected emotions in Western Society

Blended emotion = a category of emotion that combines two or more of the basic emotions

Social emotions = emotions that depend on the presence of others (eg. Shame, guilt, love)

Categorization of emotions in these ways is controversial. Eg. Shame, guilt and love are considered to be basic emotions by some researchers.

Universal Basic EmotionsEkman’s Research

The Fore in New GuineaFacial expressions as a psycho-physiological characteristic

of emotionEmotion specific muscular patterns in the facePeople were asked to indicate one of three photos that

showed what a person’s face would look like in a particular situation

People were asked to make an expression appropriate to a specified situation and were photographed.

Results showed that the Fore selected and used the same facial expressions as Westerners.

Six unblended, basic emotions were established:happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise and disgust

These were the most consistently selected emotions in West

Universal Basic EmotionsEkman’s Research

Research in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Japan and the U.S.Individuals shown a single photo of one of the six basic

emotionsGiven a set of six emotion terms in their languages and

asked to select the term that applied.No significant differences were found between culturesPhotos were from the USA problem was that exposure to American media might

have prejudiced the responsesNew individuals among the Fore and also the Dani (New

Guinea) were exposed to the photos and asked to label them

They labeled the photos as would Westerners 80% of the time. Confusion between anger and surprise)

Conclusion is that the less exposure to Western culture, the lower the correspondence of emotion labeling

Universal Basic Emotions

Ekman’s Research

Forced choice (closed ended responces)Western studies used university students in

literate societiesPhotos were presented without contextOnly basic emotion responses were offered

Dimensional Quality of Emotions

Osgood’s ResearchThe Semantic Differential MethodPresent a wordAsk participants to rate that word on one or

more dimensionsEG. AggressionPositive 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 NegativeStrong 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 WeakActive 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Passive

Its rating on these dimensions becomes its “affective meaning.”

Dimensional Quality of EmotionsOsgood’s Research

As applied to emotion words:Anger (basic)

Positive 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 NegativeStrong 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 WeakActive 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Passive

Frustration (blended)Positive 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 NegativeStrong 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 WeakActive 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Passive

Contentment (blended)Positive 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 NegativeStrong 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 WeakActive 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Passive

Vocal Expression of EmotionSpeech samples with emotional intonation were

altered so that the words were intelligible, but the intonation remained

English speaking Canadians, Native Americans and Mexicans recognized emotions at better than chance level

Peformance for English-speaking Canadians and Native Americans was better in their own language

Mexicans did better in Canadian English than did Canadians

Dutch, Taiwanese and Japanese using a Dutch phraseDutch did much better, but all recognized emotions at better than

chance levels Emotions were easier to confuse with other emotions if they were

high activation emotions.

Emotion Display RulesConventions about showing emotions in

public settings

Japanese and US students were shown movies and videotaped both alone and when the experimenter was present

Both showed similar emotions to movie content

Japanese students showed less emotion when experimenter was present

Emotion Display RulesConventions about showing emotions in public

settingsUS, Hungarian and Polish participantsAsked how appropriate it is to show each of the six

basic emotions 1. when alone2. in the company of in-group individuals3. with outsiders

Eastern Europeans said more appropriate to show positive emotions with insiders and less appropriate to show negative emotions with outsiders than US participants

Gestures and EmotionCategories of gestures

1. Adaptors = movements connected with bodily needs and interpersonal contacts (scratch nose)2. Regulators = play a role in talking and listening turn taking (nodding head)3. Illustrators = serve to underline or depict what is being said (pointing)4. Emblems have a cognitive meaning by themselves (shrug)

Referential emblems = those whose meaning is directly tied to the gesture

Conventional emblems = those whose meaning depends on cultural content

Dutch individuals could interpret Chinese gestures when they were referential emblems

Emotions as Cultural StatesCatherine Lutz’s ResearchIfaluk, South Pacific

“fago” = compassion, love and sadness“song” = justifiable anger

Social construction of emotionsEmotions as a transitory social role

Renato Rosaldo’s ResearchIlongot, Philippines

“liget” = a form of anger combined with grief associated with head hunting

Java, IndonesiaMultiple words for shame in Javanese, only one in English

Tahiti, South PacificNo word for “sadness”

Language as the key to understanding cultural meanings overlaid on basic emotions

Components of Emotions

Antecedents of emotion = events triggering the emotion

Appraisal of events that leads to selection of emotion elicited

1. attention to change or novelty

2. pleasantness vs unpleasantness

3. certainty vs uncertainty

4. sense of control or agency

Motor expressions

Physiological symptoms

Subjective feelings

Social Sharing of emotions

Components of Emotions

Antecedents of emotion

Research shows that there is no difference in the antecedent events that lead to specific emotions

Appraisal of events that leads to selection of emotion elicited

Research shows that US, European and Japanese showed differences in the how they reacted to the same situations

Japanese showed significantly lower reactivity

US showed significantly higher reactivity

Physiological Symptoms

The same physiological symptoms characterize more than one emotional state

Increased heart rate, rapid breathing, increased blood pressure, etc can characterize anger, fear, excitement

Motivation

Authoritative fathers yield low achievement boys

Religious belief that your individualistic group is superior to others yields high achievement motivation

High status mobility leads to high achievement motivation and vice versa

Father absence associated with immediate gratification

Father present associated with delayed gratification

Delayed gratification associated with

high achievement motivation,

long term goal directedness,

future orientation,

high individual autonomy