Cultural factors that influence the perception of emotions
The evidence to date suggests that basic emotion expressions are by and
large universally recognized. However, there is also evidence for
cultural variation. This observation has let to the dialect theory of
emotion by Elfenbein and colleagues. The present project investigates
the sources of cultural differences and how they can be
explained.
One plausible explanation is based in appraisal theory of emotion and
proposes that emotion expressions do not represent a unitary phenomenon
but are the cumulative result of underlying appraisals (Scherer, 1992;
Smith & Scott, 1997). Scherer (1987) conceives of emotions as
families. Thus, irritation, rage and anger would all be members of an
anger family. Members of these families share central appraisals (such
as goal obstruction for anger) but may differ with regard to other
appraisals. He proposes that within a given culture a "modal" (in the
sense of statistically most common) appraisal pattern will develop for
each emotion as a function of the cultural constraints posed. As
emotional facial expressions are a function of appraisal outcomes and
because central appraisals are shared amongst member of the family, key
recognizable elements of the expression are shared as well. Yet, the
subtle differences in appraisals would result in subtly different
expressions. From this perspective emotions would be expressed somewhat
differently in different cultures because modal emotions are subtly
different, but retain enough similarity to allow cross-cultural
decoding. This notion is currently being followed up in two
intercultural studies.
Thibault, P., Gosselin, P., Brunel, M.-L., Hess, U. (2009). Children's
and adolescents' perception of the authenticity of smiles. Journal of
Experimental Child Psychology, 102, 360-367.
Elfenbein, H. A., Beaupré, M. G., Levesque, M., & Hess, U. (2007).
Toward a dialect theory: Cultural differences in expressing and
recognizing facial expressions. Emotion, 7, 131-146.
Thibault, P., Bourgeois, P., & Hess, U. (2006). The effect of
group-identification on emotion recognition: The case of cats and
basketball players. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42,
676-683.
Beaupré, M. G. & Hess, U. (2006). An in-group advantage for
confidence in emotion recognition judgments: the moderating effect of
familiarity with the expressions of out-group members. Personality and
Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 16-26.
Beaupré, M. G. & Hess, U. (2005). Cross-cultural emotion
recognition among Canadian ethnic groups. Journal of Cross-Cultural
Psychology, 26, 355-370.
Beaupré, M.G, & Hess, U. (2003). In my mind, we all smile: A case
of in-group favoritism. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 39,
371-377.