Revisiting diversity: cultural variation reveals the constructed nature of emotion perception

Gendron, Maria

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.07.014

Cited by 24 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Other sources of context, including relational history, perceiver motivation, and affect should also be examined as important sources of variance in emotion perception across societies. Figure adapted from Gendron (2017) .…”

Section: Epoch 1: Constrained Tests Of the Universality Thesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Universality Reconsidered: Diversity in Making Meaning of Facial Expressions

Gendron

Crivelli

Barrett

2018

Curr Dir Psychol Sci

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172

119

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It has long been claimed that certain facial movements are universally perceived as emotional expressions. The critical tests of this universality thesis were conducted between 1969 and 1975 in small-scale societies in the Pacific using confirmation-based research methods. New studies conducted since 2008 have examined a wider sample of small-scale societies, including on the African and South American continents. They used more discovery-based research methods, providing an important opportunity for reevaluating the universality thesis. These new studies reveal diversity, rather than uniformity, in how perceivers make sense of facial movements, calling the universality thesis into doubt. Instead, they support a perceiver-constructed account of emotion perception that is consistent with the broader literature on perception.

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Section: Epoch 1: Constrained Tests Of the Universality Thesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Universality Reconsidered: Diversity in Making Meaning of Facial Expressions

Gendron

Crivelli

Barrett

2018

Curr Dir Psychol Sci

Self Cite

172

119

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Others have argued that the European horror film is distinct from other types of horror film and has a specific “esthetic” (Allmer et al, 2012). There is a considerable literature on the difference between collectivistic and individualistic cultures with research suggesting that the psychological responses of individuals from each type of cultural background are different (Matsumoto et al, 2008; Alotaibi et al, 2017; Gendron, 2017). In the field of horror film perception, experience, and enjoyment, it could be hypothesized that individuals from collectivistic cultures might respond differently to horror (and victims in horror) than do individuals from individualistic cultures – specifically individuals from collectivistic cultures may express greater fear compared to those from individualistic cultures – and this is an hypothesis that can be easily tested.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

(Why) Do You Like Scary Movies? A Review of the Empirical Research on Psychological Responses to Horror Films

Martin

2019

Front. Psychol.

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Why do we watch and like horror films? Despite a century of horror film making and entertainment, little research has examined the human motivation to watch fictional horror and how horror film influences individuals’ behavioral, cognitive, and emotional responses. This review provides the first synthesis of the empirical literature on the psychology of horror film using multi-disciplinary research from psychology, psychotherapy, communication studies, development studies, clinical psychology, and media studies. The paper considers the motivations for people’s decision to watch horror, why people enjoy horror, how individual differences influence responses to, and preference for, horror film, how exposure to horror film changes behavior, how horror film is designed to achieve its effects, why we fear and why we fear specific classes of stimuli, and how liking for horror develops during childhood and adolescence. The literature suggests that (1) low empathy and fearfulness are associated with more enjoyment and desire to watch horror film but that specific dimensions of empathy are better predictors of people’s responses than are others; (2) there is a positive relationship between sensation-seeking and horror enjoyment/preference, but this relationship is not consistent; (3) men and boys prefer to watch, enjoy, and seek our horror more than do women and girls; (4) women are more prone to disgust sensitivity or anxiety than are men, and this may mediate the sex difference in the enjoyment of horror; (5) younger children are afraid of symbolic stimuli, whereas older children become afraid of concrete or realistic stimuli; and (6) in terms of coping with horror, physical coping strategies are more successful in younger children; priming with information about the feared object reduces fear and increases children’s enjoyment of frightening television and film. A number of limitations in the literature is identified, including the multifarious range of horror stimuli used in studies, disparities in methods, small sample sizes, and a lack of research on cross-cultural differences and similarities. Ideas for future research are explored.

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“…Cross-cultural validation of databases of facial expressions is particularly advised for a number of reasons. For instance, research has suggested that both the experience and display of emotion (for reviews, see Immordino-Yang and Yang, 2017 ; Niedenthal et al, 2017 ), as well as emotional recognition (for reviews, see Chen and Jack, 2017 ; Gendron, 2017 ) may vary across cultures. Several studies have shown an advantage in emotion recognition when the targets are members of the in-group (e.g., Yan et al, 2017 ; for a review, see Elfenbein, 2015 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

KDEF-PT: Valence, Emotional Intensity, Familiarity and Attractiveness Ratings of Angry, Neutral, and Happy Faces

Garrido

Prada

2017

Front. Psychol.

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The Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF) is one of the most widely used human facial expressions database. Almost a decade after the original validation study (Goeleven et al., 2008), we present subjective rating norms for a sub-set of 210 pictures which depict 70 models (half female) each displaying an angry, happy and neutral facial expressions. Our main goals were to provide an additional and updated validation to this database, using a sample from a different nationality (N = 155 Portuguese students, M = 23.73 years old, SD = 7.24) and to extend the number of subjective dimensions used to evaluate each image. Specifically, participants reported emotional labeling (forced-choice task) and evaluated the emotional intensity and valence of the expression, as well as the attractiveness and familiarity of the model (7-points rating scales). Overall, results show that happy faces obtained the highest ratings across evaluative dimensions and emotion labeling accuracy. Female (vs. male) models were perceived as more attractive, familiar and positive. The sex of the model also moderated the accuracy of emotional labeling and ratings of different facial expressions. Each picture of the set was categorized as low, moderate, or high for each dimension. Normative data for each stimulus (hits proportion, means, standard deviations, and confidence intervals per evaluative dimension) is available as supplementary material (available at https://osf.io/fvc4m/).

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Revisiting diversity: cultural variation reveals the constructed nature of emotion perception

Cited by 24 publications

References 57 publications

Universality Reconsidered: Diversity in Making Meaning of Facial Expressions

Universality Reconsidered: Diversity in Making Meaning of Facial Expressions

(Why) Do You Like Scary Movies? A Review of the Empirical Research on Psychological Responses to Horror Films

KDEF-PT: Valence, Emotional Intensity, Familiarity and Attractiveness Ratings of Angry, Neutral, and Happy Faces

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