Outline. Emotion. Emotions According to Darwin. Emotions: Information Processing 10/8/2012

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1 Outline Emotion What are emotions? Why do we have emotions? How do we express emotions? Cultural regulation of emotion Eliciting events Cultural display rules Social Emotions Behavioral component Characteristic overt expressions Physiological component Bodily arousal Autonomic Nervous System Cognitive component Subjective, personal conscious experience Pleasant Unpleasant Emotions According to Darwin Emotions: Information Processing an organism s adaptive response to the environment nonverbal communication Cognitions Event Detection (Scanning and Perception) Physiology Subjective Experience Behavior Expressive Behavior 1

2 Emotions are adaptive Fear Survival by avoiding danger Humans survive better in social groups Behaving against group norms Prevents harming relationships Acknowledges social error and promotes forgiveness Blushing = nonverbal apology Emotional Expression Observable signs of emotional expression Voice Body language Facial expressions Especially important for humans Emotional expressions are adaptive Two Dimensions: Valence and Arousal Indicate your intentions Friendly Smile recognizable at throwing distance Threat displays Avoid injury Low arousal pleasant relaxation sadness Positive valence happiness joy fear anger High arousal Negative valence 2

3 Basic Emotions Self-Conscious Emotions Self-conscious emotions: associated with selfreflective processes Shame Guilt Pride Embarrassment Contempt Emotional Expressions Across Cultures and Across Species Ekman s Conclusions Evidence for basic emotions with crossculturally recognized expressions does exist emotions are biologically driven Darwin s view of innate emotions was correct 3

4 Insincere Expressions FACS: Smiles We can use emotional expressions for our own purposes To communicate your intentions To manipulate others But some characteristics give us away Duchenne vs. Pan-American smiles Real vs. Fake smiles Facial Feedback Hypothesis Other Sources of Evidence facial expressions influence our emotional experiences Universality in: Emotion expression and recognition Physiological responses to emotion Nervous system Some emotion antecedents Some emotion appraisals 4

5 Summary Emotions are universal, evolved psychological phenomenon Allow us to appraise events and situations in reliable and predictable ways Recognition of emotions in others has important social meaning Universal processes allow us to adapt, respond, and cope with problems regardless of culture Culture and Emotion SO WHERE DOES CULTURE FIT IN? Some emotions are social Ex. Embarrassment violation of social norms Contempt moral superiority Culture sets social norms and regulates morality Cultural regulation of emotion: Regulating our basic emotions Construct unique emotional experiences going beyond basic emotions Schadenfreude (German) 5

6 Cultural Regulation of the Basic Emotion System Cultures regulate emotions and ensure social coordination Front-end Calibration What events do we respond to? Back-end Calibration What is the proper way to express emotions? Front-end Calibration What events elicit emotions? Same events, different frequency Europeans and Americans Achievement and births joy Death or physical separation from loved ones sadness Strangers fear Japanese Relationship problems sadness Stranger anger Front-end Calibration What events elicit emotions? Rotten eggs or spoiled milk Disgust United Nations dinner party Steamed beef tongue, broiled dog meat, roasted lamb brains, and fermented horse milk Back-end Calibration: Cultural Display Rules Cultural display rules: universal emotions can be expressed Display rules can modify expressions: Express than actually felt (deamplification) Express than actually felt (amplification) Show nothing (neutralization) 6

7 Back-end Calibration: Cultural Display Rules Cultural display rules: how universal emotions can be expressed Display rules can modify expressions: Show emotion but with another emotion to comment on it (qualification) Mask or conceal feelings (masking) Show emotion when not felt (simulation) Cultural Calibration of Emotion Judgments Cultures affect how we perceive emotions in others Americans are better at recognizing anger, disgust, and fear than Japanese No difference for happiness or surprise Learn cultural decoding rules about how to read emotions Ingroup advantage: ability to recognize emotions of those with same culture better than others The Cultural Construction of Emotional Experience Socially engaging emotions: friendliness, respect, sympathy, guilt and shame Who do you think experience these more? The Cultural Construction of Emotional Experience Emotional complexity: co-occurrence of both pleasant and unpleasant emotions Socially disengaging emotions: pride, self-esteem, sulkiness, or frustration Who do you think experience these more? Cultural differences linked to dialectical thinking 7

8 Concepts of Emotion Categories of Emotion Focus on emotions (definitions and understanding) may differ based on cultural values Focus on the individual focus on individual emotions Definition/Recognition Categorization Expression Look at the words a culture uses to describe emotions Number of words Types of emotions Not all cultures have a word for emotion Categories of Emotions Categories of Emotion Schadenfreude (German) pleasure derived from another s misfortune Itoshii (Japanese) longing for an abest loved one Ijirashu (Japanese) feeling associated with seeing someone praiseworthy overcoming and obstacle Song (Ifaluk, Micronesia) sometimes anger, sometimes sadness Gurakadj (Gidjingali, Australia) terror, horror, dread, apprehension, and timidity Hypercognize emotions: identify and label lots of different emotions Hypocognize emotions: identify and label fewer emotions The emotions we label likely have some importance in our culture and experience 8

9 Attitudes, Values, and Beliefs about Emotion Cultures different values about emotion Actual affect (the way you feel) Influenced more by temperament and personality Ideal affect (the way you feel) Influenced by cultural values Summary Many of culturally-constructed emotions are emotions other than basic emotions More complex emotions may require more cognitive abilities than do basic emotions Emotion-related processes that depend on those cognitive abilities are more heavily related to culture Conclusion Emotions are universally expressed and recognized Cultures also exert profound influences on emotions by regulating them 9