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Psychology 307: Cultural Psychology

Lecture 14

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Announcement

I will hold additional office hours in preparation for the midterm exam:

Friday, March 8: 11:30-1:30Monday, March 11: 11:00-12:30Tuesday, March 12: 1:00-2:30

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Group Processes, Relationships, Interpersonal Attraction, Love, and Emotion

1. Are attitudes regarding romantic love similar across cultures?

2. What are emotions?

3. What is the universalist vs. cultural constructionist debate regarding emotions?

4. What evidence provides support for the universalist position?

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By the end of today’s class, you should be able to:

3. define the facial feedback hypothesis.

2. distinguish between the James-Lange theory of emotion and the two-factor theory of emotion.

1. discuss cultural differences in the experience of romantic love and marriage.

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5. discuss the universalist vs. cultural constructionist debate regarding emotions.

6. review evidence that supports the universalist position on emotions.

4. discuss the criticisms of and evidence supporting the James-Lange theory of emotion and the two-factor theory of emotion.

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Are attitudes regarding romantic love similar across cultures?

● Theorists believe that individualism promotes an emphasis on the married couple; romantic love is viewed as the primary force that binds the couple.

● In contrast, collectivism promotes an emphasis on the married couple’s position within an extended family; romantic love may pose a threat to the extended family.

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● Evidence that indicates that cultures promote distinct attitudes regarding romantic love:

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● Although romantic love has been documented in all cultures, there is cultural variation in the extent to which romantic love is believed to be associated with positive outcomes and emotions.

(a) Beliefs about romantic love:

● Example: Rothbaum and Tsang (1998)

Examined American and Chinese love songs.

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(b) significantly more Chinese than American songs identified negative outcomes of the love relationship.

(c) significantly more Chinese than American songs expressed suffering as a consequence of the love relationship.

Found that:

(a) significantly more Chinese than American songs depicted love as embedded within a broader social context.

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Consistent with these findings, Wu (2002) found that Chinese students agreed more strongly than

did American students with the statement “love without pain is not true love.”

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● Romantic love is more likely to be viewed as a precondition for marriage in individualistic cultures than collectivistic cultures.

(b) The importance of romantic love as a basis of marriage

● Example: Levine et al. (1995)

Recruited participants from 11 countries (e.g., Australia, Brazil, England, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Thailand,

U.S.).

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Asked participants to respond to the following question:

If a man (woman) had all the other qualities you desired, would you marry this person if you were not in love with him (her)?

Found that participants from collectivistic cultures were more likely to respond “yes” than participants from individualistic cultures.

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E.g., Percentage of participants who responded “yes”:

Australia 4.8% India 49.0%

England 7.3% Pakistan 50.4%

U.S. 3.5% Thailand 18.8%

Consistent with these findings, people from collectivistic cultures often report that they “love the

person they marry,” not “marry the person they love.”

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● Most psychologists believe that emotions consist of at least 2 components: a physiological component and a subjective component.

What are emotions?

● Many psychologists also believe that emotions consist of a third component: a cognitive component.

● There are 2 major theories of emotion:

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1. James-Lange theory of emotion

Suggests that the physiological changes that occur in response to antecedent events produce emotions.

Proposed by William James and Carl Lange in the late 1800s.

According to this view, “we feel sorry because we cry, angry because we strike, afraid because we tremble” (James, 1884).

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Antecedent event: Seeing an

angry dog

Physiological changes: Heart

pounding, trembling, sweating,

running away

Emotion felt: Fear

James-Lange Theory of Emotion

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On the basis of this theory, Tomkins (1963) proposed the facial feedback hypothesis.

Although some studies have provided support for the facial feedback hypothesis and James-Lange theory, many researchers have criticized the theory.

In light of these criticisms, the James-Lange theory has fallen out of favor with many psychologists.

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2. Two-factor theory of emotion

Proposed by Schachter and Singer in the 1960s.

Suggests that the physiological changes that occur in response to antecedent events and our cognitive appraisals of those events produce emotions.

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Antecedent event: Seeing an

angry dog

Physiological changes: Heart

pounding, trembling, sweating,

running away

Emotion felt: Fear

Two-Factor Theory of Emotion

Cognitive appraisal: That is an angry dog,

it is going to attack me.

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Substantial evidence has provided support for the two-factor theory:

Example: Dutton and Aron (1974), Capilano Suspension Bridge study.

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In light of the evidence that has accumulated to support the two-factor theory, this theory is the most

widely accepted theory of emotion today.

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What is the universalist vs. cultural constructionist debate regarding emotions?

● Universalist position:

Emotions are experienced similarly across cultures.

Common emotions have evolved among humans because they serve adaptive functions.

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● Cultural constructionist position:

emotions are experienced differently across cultures.

emotions are largely determined by our appraisals of antecedent events.

● Research evidence provides support for both positions.

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● Several lines of evidence support the universalist position on emotion:

(a) Evidence for the universality of emotional antecedents

Emotional antecedents: Events that elicit emotion.

What evidence provides support for the univeralist position?

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Example: Brandt and Boucher (1985)

Recruited informants from the U.S., Korea, and Samoa.

Informants wrote stories about events that produced anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, or surprise.

Stories were administered to participants in the U.S., Korea, and Samoa, who identified the predominant emotion of the individual in the story.

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Found:

(ii) participants’ accuracy was not greater for stories generated by informants from their own culture than stories generated by informants from other cultures.

(i) substantial agreement in the assignment of emotions to stories across cultures.

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Example: Scherer and Wallbott (1994)

Recruited participants from 37 countries (e.g., Australia, Chile, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Japan,

Lebanon, Portugal, U.S., Yugoslavia, Zimbabwe).

Had participants recall situations in which they experienced joy, anger, fear, sadness, disgust, shame, or guilt.

(b) Evidence for the universality of physiological responses associated with emotions

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Participants were presented with three types of physiological responses:

2. Trophotropic responses.

3. Felt temperature responses.

For each situation, asked participants to respond to questions assessing their physiological responses to the situation.

1. Ergotropic responses.

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Found that, across cultures, each emotion was associated with similar physiological responses.

Examples:

Anger: High ergotropic responses, low trophotropic responses, sensation of being hot.

Sadness: low ergotropic responses, high trophotropic responses, sensation of being cold.

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Group Processes, Relationships, Interpersonal Attraction, Love, and Emotion

1. Are attitudes regarding romantic love similar across cultures?

2. What are emotions?

3. What is the universalist vs. cultural constructionist debate regarding emotions?

4. What evidence provides support for the universalist position?