Cultural variations in emotions: A review.

Abstract

The psychological and anthropological literature on cultural variations in emotions is reviewed. The literature has been interpreted within the framework of a cognitive-process model of emotions. Both cross-cultural differences and similarities were identified in each phase of the emotion process; similarities in 1 phase do not necessarily imply similarities in other phases. Whether cross-cultural differences or similarities are found depends to an important degree on the level of description of the emotional phenomena. Cultural differences in emotions appear to be due to differences in event types or schemas, in culture-specific appraisal propensities, in behavior repertoires, or in regulation processes. Differences in taxonomies of emotion words sometimes reflect true emotion differences like those just mentioned, but they may also just result from differences in which emotion-process phase serves as the basis for categorization.

The shifting basis of life satisfaction judgments across cultures: Emotions versus norms.

“…Second, our findings have tapped into an interesting issue for cross-cultural studies on emotion. Although culture is becoming an increasingly important variable in mainstream emotion research (e.g., Kitayama & Markus, 1994;Russell, FernandezDols, Manstead, & Wellenkamp, 1995), much of the attention has been centered on the structural similarity or difference of emotional experience across cultures (e.g., Mauro, Sato, & Tucker, 1992;Mesquita & Frijda, 1992;Roseman, Dhawan, Rettek, Naidu, & Thapa, 1995;Russell, 1991;Scherer & Wallbott, 1994). Along with the question of whether different cultural members are alike or different in their affective reactions to various antecedent conditions of emotion, our findings suggest that the functional value or significance attached to such affective experience may differ across cultures.…”

Gender Differences in Emotional Content of EFL Written Narratives

“…Compared with younger participants, older ones reported fewer negative emotional expressions and greater emotional control. Furthermore about culture influence, Mesquita and Frijda (1992) and Wilkins and Gareis (2006) in their study reported the significant effects of cultural variations in emotion expressions. At the present study, the age of the participants and also their culture, were supposed to be at an approximate range without any sharp difference.…”

Emotion: The self-regulatory sense

“…1 Despite this insight, philosophers and psychologists remain haunted by the question: What is the biological function of emotion? It has been difficult to disentangle emotion from biological drives and physiological responses, 2 from motivational appetites and defenses, 3 from cognitive appraisals 4,5 or moral intuitions 6 ; to make sense of the cultural similarities and differences, 7 or to reconcile divergent theories 8,9 ; so difficult, that theorizing about emotion as a functional whole has largely been abandoned. As one critic put it: "My central conclusion is that the general concept of emotion is unlikely to be a useful concept in psychological theory."…”