Psychology of Emotions: The Implications of Universality and Variability
Maria K. Almoite
The James-Lange Theory of Emotions (1895)
suggests that emotions are physiological responses or bodily
reverberations to stimuli on our worlds, while our autonomic nervous
system creates physiological events (e.g. changes in our heart rate,
breathing, pupil dilation, tear secretion, stomach contractions, and
blood flow to our skin). Thus, emotions are perhaps the “feelings” which come about as a result of physiological changes rather than being the cause.

These
theories imply very different origins of our emotions, and these
theories make different predictions regarding whether emotional
experience is universal or culturally variable. If the assumptions of The James-Lange Theory are
correct (i.e. the assumption that emotions are largely based on the
particular and specific physiological reactions that humans have to
various events) then this suggest that human emotions may arise from
evolutionary origins. Hence, The James-Lange Theory
suggests that people in all cultures should have the same emotional
experiences. Conversely, if the two-factor theory of emotions is correct
(i.e. those emotions are our interpretations of our physiological
signal) – this suggests that in addition to a physiological basis, our
emotions are grounded in the belief systems that shape our
interpretations. Theories that focus on the centrality of interpretation
in emotions (e.g. the two-factor theory, etc.) make the case for
cultural variability in emotional experiences.

According to Russell (1991) when it comes to exploring how different
cultures describe their emotional experiences we see tremendous cultural
variation. For instance, English speakers are particularly well
equipped to describe the most subtle of variations in their emotional
experience because the English language has over 2,000 different emotion
descriptors. Conversely, other populations (e.g. Chewong of Malaysia)
have only eight emotion words, and only three of these fit with Ekman’s
basic emotions (e.g. anger, fear, and shame).
The
field of culture and emotions has experienced considerable debate
regarding the role of culture in shaping emotions. The controversy grows
based on the different conceptions of researchers’ emotions. Indeed,
there is solid evidence for universality in emotions around the world
when it comes to facial expressions. Generally, humans are
universally adept at producing and recognizing facial expressions
associated with the basic emotions, but aspects of emotional experience
contain much more cultural variation. The results of these studies have
supported the implication that experience varies more across cultures
than do people’s facial expressions for basic emotions.
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