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Psychology 307: Cultural Psychology

Lecture 15

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Reminders

1. The second midterm exam is scheduled for Tuesday, March 15th.

2. The midterm exam will cover the contents of Chapters 5, 6, 8, and 11 of the textbook and all material

discussed in class since the last exam.

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3. As was the case with the last exam, this exam will include questions unique to the textbook content, questions unique to the lecture content, and

questions that reflect overlap between the two sources of information. You are encouraged to study both sources of information thoroughly.

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Announcement

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

Wednesday, March 9th: 2:00-3:00 Friday, March 11th: 3:00-4:30Monday, March 14th: 2:30-4:30

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Emotion

1. What are emotions?

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

3. What evidence provides support for the universalist position?

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

2. define the facial feedback hypothesis.

1. distinguish between the James-Lange Theory of Emotion and the Two-Factor Theory of Emotion.

3. discuss the criticisms of and evidence supporting the James-Lange Theory of Emotion and the Two-Factor Theory of Emotion.

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

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

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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, in particular, and the James-Lange theory, in general, 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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● Four types 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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(c) Evidence for the universality of emotional appraisal

Emotional appraisal: Process by which individuals evaluate the antecedent events or stimuli that elicit emotions.

Example: Scherer et al., 1997

Proposed the Stimulus Evaluation Check (SEC) Model of Emotional Appraisal.

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According to this model, emotional appraisal of antecedent events occurs in the form of a series of “stimulus evaluation checks.” Antecedent events are

evaluated along 8 dimensions:

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Expectation Did you expect the event to occur?

Pleasantness Did you find the event pleasant of unpleasant?

Goal conducivenessDid the event help or hinder you in the

achievement of your goals?

Fairness Was the event unjust or unfair?

CausationWho caused the event—you, someone else,

or an “impersonal agent?”

Coping abilityWere you able to cope effectively with the

event and its consequences?

MoralityWas your behaviour in relation to the event

improper or immoral?

Self-consistencyDid the event have a positive or negative

influence on your self-worth?

Scherer et al.’s (1997) Emotional Appraisal Dimensions

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Recruited participants from 37 countries (e.g., Austria, Botswana, Brazil, China, Finland, Greece, Honduras, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, New Zealand, Nigeria, Poland, Zambia).

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

or guilt.

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For each situation, asked participants to respond to questions assessing each of the 8 appraisal

dimensions identified by the SEC Model.

Found that, across cultures, each emotion was produced by a similar appraisal process.

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Examples:

Joy: Elicited by events that were appraised as high in expectedness, pleasantness, goal conduciveness, and fairness; for which participants felt they had coped effectively, behaved morally, and experienced an increase in self-worth.

Anger: Elicited by events that were appraised as low in expectedness, pleasantness, goal conduciveness, and fairness; that participants believed were caused by others or an impersonal agent.

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(d) Evidence for the universality of emotional expression

Cross-cultural studies:

Have shown that, across diverse cultures, people create similar facial expressions when they experience happiness, anger, disgust, fear, sadness, or surprise.

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Example: Ekman and Friesen (1971)

Took posed photos of facial expressions of happiness, anger, disgust, fear, sadness, and surprise.

Showed the photos to participants in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Japan, and the U.S.

Asked participants to select the emotional label that best described the individual in each photo.

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Ekman and Friesen’s (1971) Six Emotional Expressions

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Country Happiness Anger Disgust Fear Sadness Surprise

Argentina 94 72 79 68 85 93

Brazil 97 82 86 77 82 82

Chile 90 76 85 78 90 88

Japan 87 63 82 71 74 87

U.S. 97 69 82 88 73 91

Percentage of Participants Who Correctly Identified Each Emotion

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Found that:

(b) when the six emotions were combined, there were no significant differences across cultural groups.

(a) the rate of correct identification was high across cultural groups.

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Emotion

1. What are emotions?

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

3. What evidence provides support for the universalist position?