psych unit 8.3

Universalist

• emotions. evolved as a response to the environments of our primordial ancestors

• emotions are the same across all cultures

social constructivist

• different groups of humans evolved to adapt to their distinctive environments

• people’s emotions are also culturally variable

Display rules

rules about what emotions are appropriate to show in a given situation

Independent self

• being a person means being distinct from others and behaving according across situations

• north american

interdependent self

• being a person means being fundamentally connected to others and being responsive to situational demand

• east asian

North American culture and emotion

• individuals tend to express their emotions to influence others

• emotional suppression is associated with higher levels of depression and lower levels of life satisfaction

• people rarely feel bad after good experiences

• value maximizing positive states and minimizing negative ones

• learn toward feelings excited, enthusiastic, energetic, and other “high arousal positive” states

• prefer feeling arousing leisure activities

Why cultural differences in emotion matter

• important to preventing potentially harmful miscommunications

• provides insights into other paths to psychological health and well-being

affect valuation theory

cultural factors shape how people want to feel (“ideal affect”) more than how they actually feel (“actual affect”)

East Asian culture and emotion

• individuals tend to control and suppress their emotions to adjust to others

• emotional suppression is simply a part of normal life and therefore not associated with depression or life satisfaction 

• people are more likely to feel bad and good (mixed emotions) during events

• value a greater balance between the positive and negative states

• prefer feeling calm, peaceful, and other “low arousal positive” states

• prefer clammer leisure activities