Cultural variations in emotional expression

Emotions play a role of enormous importance in our daily lives. All of us daily witness a wide variety of emotions, both ours and others. The interpretation of what these signals can mean, to determine how to respond and deal with our own emotional experiences, is actually complex.

Emotions in Psychology

Emotions are also an important issue in the psychology And researchers have dedicated a lot of energy towards understanding the effects of emotions and theories on how and why emotions occur.

Luckily, researchers have learned a lot about the real expression of emotion in recent times.

We express our emotions in a number in different ways, including both the Verbal communication Like nonverbal communication. A bodily language such as a hunched posture or crossed arms can be used to send different emotional signals. One of the most important ways than expressing emotions, however, is through facial expressions.

Are universal emotional expressions?

But signs of body language and gestures sometimes have different meanings according to different cultures. Some more than others, the emotional expressions of the people of other countries and cultures are expressed in different ways.

In his book of 1872 The expression of emotions in man and animals, The famous naturalist Charles Darwin argued that human expressions of emotion They were both innate and universal in all cultures. But the researcher and emotions expert Paul Ekman has found that, in many cases, the facial expressions used to transmit basic emotions tend to be molded by the culture of origin.

He has also found that the human face is able to create an amazing variety of expressions (more than 7.000), although there are six key basic emotions:

• Happiness
• Surprise
• Sadness
• Anger
• Disgust
• Fear

Researchers have shown with photographs the expressions of these emotions from different cultures and people from all over the world, and have been able to identify the basic emotions behind these expressions.

Eckman believes that these are only basic emotions probably innate.

Cultural variations in emotional expression

However, there are important cultural differences in the way of expressing emotions.

In an experiment carried out, the researchers observed Japanese and American participants while watching images and videos of things such as amputations and spooky surgeries. The people of both origins showed similar facial expressions, grimace and transmitting disgust by bloody images.

But curiously, when a scientist was present in the room, Japanese participants masked their feelings and maintained neutral facial expressions. Why does the presence of the scientist change the way these spectators responded?  Apparently in Japanese culture, it is considered offensive to reveal negative emotions in the presence of an authority figure.

Masking their expressions, Japanese spectators were complying with the visualization rules of their culture.

The ability to express and interpret emotions plays an essential part of our daily lives. While many expressions of emotion are innate, and they are likely to be in the structure of the human brain, there are many other factors that influence the way we reveal our internal feelings. Social pressures, cultural influences and past experience can all help shape the expression of emotion.