1

Monika Wrobel, Ph.D.
M17. People Across Cultures: An Introduction to Cross-Cultural Psychology

#4

EMOTIONS AND

EMOTIONS AND

WELL

WELL

-

-

BEING

BEING

ACROSS CULTURES

ACROSS CULTURES

12/17/2009

2

Cross

Cross

-

-

cultural research on

cultural research on

emotions

emotions



Darwin’s “The Expression of Emotions in Man and
Animals”



Universality studies



Ekman’s research on universality of facial
expression



Argentina, Chile, Brazil, USA, Japan



the Fore



Heider’s replication (the Dani)

12/17/2009

3

Universal facial expression of

Universal facial expression of

emotions

emotions



Ekman’s studies



6

universal expressions:

anger, disgust, happiness,

sadness, surprise, fear



the 1980s



contempt



recent studies



embarrassment

2

12/17/2009

4

Neurocultural

Neurocultural

theory

theory



Tomkins, Ekman & Friesen



Duchenne smile



Facial Action

Coding System

(

FACS

)

12/17/2009

5

Differences

Differences

in

in

emotion

emotion

recognition

recognition



No study ever reported perfect cross-cultural

agreement.



Matsumoto (1992)



Americans were better at recognizing

anger

,

disgust

,

fear

, and

sadness

than the Japanese;



accuracy rates did not differ for

happiness

or

surprise.

12/17/2009

6

Intensity ratings of facial

Intensity ratings of facial

expression

expression



When comparing

pairs of expressions

, people of

different cultures agree on which is more intense.



BUT

when people from different cultures rate

intensity of single emotions

on a scale

their

attributions differ:



intensity ratings are lower for the Asian respondents
than for the Western ones;



the differences are more significant in case of negative
emotions.

3

12/17/2009

7

Cultural display rules

Cultural display rules



Culturally prescribed rules, learned early in life, that

dictate the management and modification of the

universal expressions, depending on social

circumstances.



The experiment of Ekman an Friesen (1973)



emotional expression of the Japanese students vs.

emotional expression of the American students.

12/17/2009

8

Smile across cultures

Smile across cultures

(1)

(1)

12/17/2009

9

Smile across cultures

Smile across cultures

(2)

(2)



The expression of enjoyment or joy.



BUT

it may also hide negative feelings.



Asian cultures



Japanese tatemae
(= facade, mask)



Amrozi – „the
smiling bomber”

4

12/17/2009

10

American

American

vs

vs

.

.

Polish smile

Polish smile

(Szarota, 2006)

(Szarota, 2006)

AMERICAN SMILE



cheerfulness

- keep

smiling even for no
reason



friendliness

- be nice to

everyone



happiness

- even if

something bad happens,
try not to worry

POLISH SMILE



spontaneity

and

naturalness

- do not

express emotions that
you don’t feel



martyrdom

- be proud

of the terrible
experiences of your
descendants

12/17/2009

11

Cultural differences in subjective

Cultural differences in subjective

well

well

-

-

being (SWB)

being (SWB)



Suh, Diener, Oishi, & Triandis (1998)



43 nations



the mean life satisfaction ratings on a 7-point
scale ranged from 3.3 (China) to 5.4
(Netherlands)



nations also have different opinions on the
ideal levels of SWB



Brazilians (6.2) vs. the

Chinese (4.5)

12/17/2009

12

W

W

hy

hy

do cultural differences in

do cultural differences in

SWB occur?

SWB occur?



A strong correlation between GNP and SWB across nations

(r ≈ 0,80)



But this

"richer = happier" argument is incomplete

, because:



rich nations are not only economically better off, but they also
possess various non-materialistic characteristics that
contribute to SWB



there are exceptions that challenge the income explanation
(Japan vs. Puerto Rico)



after a certain income level, economic factors lose their
predictive power



Cultural explanations:

individualism/collectivism and

uncertainty avoidance

5

12/17/2009

13

Happiness in individualist and

Happiness in individualist and

collectivist cultures

collectivist cultures

INDIVIDUALISM

COLLECTIVISM

lack of strong social support



adverse life events might have
severe negative consequences

COSTS

there is less freedom to pursue
personally rewarding goals

BENEFITS

people freely choose personal
goals and lifestyles

strong social support may

protect against stressful events

12/17/2009

14

IDV

IDV

-

-

COL and happiness

COL and happiness

–

–

possible

possible

explanations

explanations



It might be more crucial to have a high sense of

personal choice and freedom than to have a

reliable social safety net during difficult times.



In individualist cultures each person feels

responsible for his/her happiness and tries harder

to be happy, while in many collectivist cultures

people are believed to have only limited control

over their happiness.