Ethnic and Gender Differences in Emotional Ideology, Experience, and Expression

Abstract

How universal are men and women's attitudes toward the expression of emotion? How similar are the emotions that men and women from various ethnic groups experience and express in their close love relationships? In this study, 144 men and 307 women of European, Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, and Japanese ancestry were asked about their ideologies as to how people ought to deal with strong emotions in close relationships, how often they themselves felt a variety of emotions, and how they dealt with such feelings in close relationships. Finally, they were asked how satisfied they were with their close relationships. Men and women appeared to possess different emotional ideologies. Women tended to favor direct expression of emotion; men to favor emotional management. People of Chinese, European, Filipino, Hawaiian, and Japanese ancestry also possessed different ideologies as to how people ought to deal with strong emotions in intimate relationships.Keywords: emotion; ethnic differences; gender differences; love Do men and women possess different philosophies as to how people ought to deal with positive and negative emotions in close relationships? Are there crucial differences in the way people from a variety of ethnic groups feel and in their willingness to express their emotions? Does the way people deal with their emotions affect their satisfaction with their close relationships? This study was designed to find out.The first step was to compile a list of representative emotions. A Taxonomy of EmotionsMany psychologists have attempted to provide a taxonomy of the -basic emotions.‖ Researchers generally have little trouble classifying emotions as positive versus negative in feeling tone (See Carlson & Hatfield, 1992;Fischer, Shaver, & Carnochan, 1990;Frijda, 1986; Plutchik & Kellerman, 1983;or Zajonc, 1980.) Descartes, 1967, andSpinoza, 1963; continuing through Darwin, 1872;on to Fischer, Shaver, & Carnochan, 1990.) In fact, some theorists (such as Averill, 1982, andKemper, 1978) argue that emotions are -social constructions.‖ Thus, there could be an indeterminate number of emotions. In designing this research, we finally settled on a taxonomy proposed by Sprecher (1985), who compiled a list of 15 -folk‖ emotions that have been found to be important to a variety of ethnic groups in love relationships-the domain of this paper. These were:Positive Emotions: joy, love, and sexual excitement.Negative Emotions: anger, anxiety, depression, fear, frustration, grief, guilt/shame, hate, hurt, jealousy, loneliness, and resentment.How might one expect men and women from various ethnic groups to differ in their philosophies? How often do men and women from various ethnic groups experience and express such common emotions in their close relationships? A. Ethnic Group DifferencesSince William James inaugurated the first psychology laboratory at Harvard, social scientists have attempted to formulate universal laws of social cognition, emotion, and behavior. Cultural critics point out, however, that until very recently, ...

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