Emotions and Culture

Emotions and Culture: Universality vs. Cultural Construction

Initial Perspectives on Emotions

• Initial View: Emotions are often perceived as universal, biologically wired, and not heavily influenced by culture.
• Personal Experience: However, emotions seem to be the least influenced by culture.
• Evolutionary Perspective: Emotions like fear are considered instinctive and crucial for survival (fight or flight).
  • Facial expressions of fear can warn others of danger, aiding survival.

The Question of Universality

• Core Question: Are emotions universal, or are they shaped by culture?
• Significance: Understanding whether emotions are evolutionary or culturally specific is important.

Lecture Objectives

• Understand popular perspectives of emotions as universal.
• Recognize anthropological challenges to this idea.
• Comprehend how emotions are socialized in culturally appropriate ways.
• Differentiate between materialist and constructivist approaches to emotions.
• Articulate why anthropologists insist emotions be studied in context.

Facial Expressions and Universality

• Assumptions:
  • Emotions themselves are shared across cultures.
  • Expressions of emotions are universal.
• Emojis: Emojis are presumed to be a universal language; however, their meanings are culturally contextual.
• Common View: Facial expressions are universal indicators of internal emotions.
• Challenge: How certain are we that facial expressions for anger, joy, sadness, etc., are the same across cultures?

Scientific Perspectives on Facial Expressions

• Darwin: Argued that facial expressions are a common, universally shared feature essential for evolution.
  • Facial expressions indicate fear or danger, preparing others to flee or fight.
• Ubiquitous Documentaries: Showed that recognizable facial expressions occur in expected contexts across the world.

Studies on Emotion Recognition

• Matching Faces to Concepts: Studies ask people to match faces to stories conveying emotions.
• Agreement: There is often significant agreement in recognizing certain facial expressions.
• Visually Impaired Individuals: Studies on visually impaired people suggest similar expressions, implying instinct.
• Non-Human Primates: Comparisons between human and non-human primate facial expressions suggest biological connections.
• Six Core Emotions: Happiness, sadness, fear, surprise, disgust, and anger are linked to core facial expressions.

Critiques of Universality Research

• Context Matters: Emotions only make sense within context.
  • Example: A nervous smile may not indicate happiness.
• Eyelash Twitch vs. Wink: The meaning of a gesture (like a wink) can only be understood in context.
• Lack of Context: Research that removes context cannot determine if emotions are innate or culturally shaped.

Emotional Complexity in Cultural Context

• Expression of emotions mean nothing outside of context.
• Gift Giving Example: Emotional states are intricately linked to the cultural centrality of gift-giving.
• Translation Challenges: Difficulty in directly translating emotional concepts into English due to cultural uniqueness.
• Cultural Context: Emotions only make sense within specific cultural contexts.
• Question: What are we actually comparing in different cultural context?

Socialization of Emotions

• Learning Emotions: From birth, babies are exposed to expressions of emotions and learn their associations.
• Babies' Cries: Cries are not always linked to specific emotions initially but become associated through socialization.
• Cartoons and Preschools: Teach children which emotions are appropriate in certain contexts.

Socialization: Indian Parenting Example

• Emotion Regulation: In the 1960's, parents would postpone reprimanding their children when they got angry.
• Re-enactment Through Play: Parents taught children how to respond in those contexts through play.
• Critical View: This illustrates a different way of teaching children what anger means and how to respond to anger.

Constructivist Approaches to Emotions

• Brain's Role: The brain interprets information and prepares the body to act.
• Concept Reliance: The brain relies on past experiences (stored as concepts) to interpret new information efficiently.
• Lisa Feldman Barrett's Theory: Emotions are concepts constructed by the brain, not pre-existing hardwired entities.
• Physical Sensations vs. Emotional Concepts: Physical sensations are distinct from the emotional concepts used to label them.
• Need for Concepts: Concepts are essential to recognize emotions as things in and of themselves.
• Explicit Formulation: We cannot formulate emotions explicitly if our brains have not been taught certain sensations in context.

Implications of Barrett's Theory

• Brain Rewiring: We can learn to rewire our brains to respond differently in certain situations.
• Neurodivergence: Emphasizes constructed concepts in brains of patients and claims that this is not dysfunction.

Cultural Considerations and Anthropological Perspectives

• Culture Complicates Everything: Even with possible hardwired aspects, culture shapes emotional expression.
• Defining Emotions: It is important to clarify whether we are discussing serotonin levels or the role of emotions within cultural context.
• Meaning within Context: Human emotions gain meaning within specific cultural contexts.

Ronald Rosaldo and the Ilongot Headhunters: A Case Study

• Approach: Immersing in the Ilongot culture to understand their perspective.
• Challenge: Initially, all concepts seemed similar to English except for "liget".
• First Understanding: Energetic feeling, tied to being productive and vital.
• Legget Revelation: The mood in the community changed upon hearing the voice of someone who had died.
• Connection to headhunting: Ligget = a desire to throw and cut a head.
• Legget Embodiment: The anthropologist was only able to understand this concept once his wife had died and he was in great pain emotionally.
• Rosalvo's Conclusion: Concepts allow you to perceive and fully experience the sensations of emotions.