Cultural Differences in Emotion
In independent cultures like the U.S., emotions are understood as arising from where?
Internal states within an individual
What facial feature do East Asian cultures focus on when interpreting emotions?
The eyes
In independent cultures, success is typically attributed to what?
Personal effort and individual ability
At what age do children begin to match facial expressions to emotion words?
Preschool age, around 3-5 years old
In what type of culture is guilt seen as a desirable emotion?
Collectivist cultures, where guilt signals concern for relational harmony.
In Japan, emotions are often viewed as occurring in what type of context?
A relational or social interaction context
How does emotion perception differ between Eastern and Western cultures in speech processing?
Eastern cultures focus more on verbal tone, while Western cultures focus more on verbal meaning.
In interdependent cultures, failure is more likely to be attributed to what?
Personal shortcomings and self-blame
What is the “McGurk effect” in emotion perception?
A phenomenon where conflicting visual and auditory cues create a third perception, demonstrating multisensory integration.
What emotion is more frequently depicted in American children's books compared to those from Turkey and Romania?
Anger, which is more common in individualistic cultures.
What did Kitayama et al. (2000) find about emotional differences between North Americans and Japanese individuals?
North Americans experienced more socially disengaging emotions like pride and anger, while Japanese participants experienced more socially engaging emotions like shame and friendliness.
What was the main finding of Masuda et al. (2008) regarding emotion recognition?
Japanese participants used the facial expressions of surrounding people to judge a target person’s emotion, while Westerners focused only on the target's face
What did Imada & Ellsworth (2011) find about success and failure appraisals in Japan vs. the U.S.?
Americans attributed success to themselves and failure to external factors, while Japanese attributed success to external factors and failure to themselves.
What did Kawahara et al. (2024) find about cultural differences in emotion perception development?
Younger children in both cultures relied on facial expressions, but as they grew, East Asians increased their reliance on vocal cues while Westerners continued to rely on facial cues.
What did Tsai's research on ideal emotions find about cultural differences?
Western cultures prefer high-arousal emotions (e.g., excitement), while Eastern cultures prefer low-arousal emotions (e.g., calmness).
How does the experience of anger differ between American and Tibetan cultures?
American anger aligns with autonomy and assertiveness, whereas Tibetan lung lang is viewed as morally harmful and in conflict with Buddhist values.
In which culture is expressing anger associated with better biological health outcomes?
Japan, as found by Kitayama et al. (2015), where anger expression was linked to lower blood pressure.
How do cultural differences in appraisal influence the experience of anger and frustration?
Western cultures prioritize personal goals, making anger more common, while Eastern cultures value harmony, making anger less frequent.
What is the “face-first hypothesis” in emotion perception?
The idea that children initially rely on facial expressions and that East Asians gradually shift toward greater reliance on vocal cues.
How did mothers in Nepal’s Tamang and Brahman groups differ in their socialization of emotions?
Tamang mothers discouraged anger and accepted shame, while Brahman mothers reinforced anger but ignored shame.
What does research on immigrant emotional adaptation suggest about cultural influence on emotions?
Immigrants' emotional patterns fall between their heritage and host cultures, with adaptation influenced by years in the new culture and interactions with majority culture members
According to Levenson et al. (1992), how did West Sumatran participants differ from Americans in emotion recognition?
West Sumatran participants did not report experiencing "emotion" when posing facial expressions because emotions were understood as necessarily involving social interaction
What is the cognitive appraisal theory of emotion?
This theory posits that emotions are the result of an individual's evaluation (or appraisal) of an event or situation
What developmental pattern describes early vocal sensitivity, its decline, and later increase in East Asian emotion perception?
A U-shaped developmental curve in vocal sensitivity.
What did Immordino-Yang et al. (2014) find about cultural differences in brain activation related to emotion?
Chinese participants' emotions were linked to autonomic processing (ventral AI), while Americans' emotions were linked to cognitive processing (dorsal AI).