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BSS1: The Individual and His / Her World: Cultural and Gender Differences in Emotional Responses

BSS1: The Individual and His / Her World
Cultural and Gender Differences in Emotional Responses
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table of contents
  1. INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
    1. What Is Sociology?
    2. The History of Sociology
    3. Theoretical Perspectives in Sociology
    4. Why Study Sociology?
  2. SOCIOLOGICAL RESEARCH
    1. Approaches to Sociological Research
    2. Research Methods
    3. Ethical Concerns
  3. SOCIETY AND SOCIAL INTERACTION
    1. Types of Societies
    2. Social Construction of Reality
  4. CULTURE
    1. What Is Culture?
    2. Elements of Culture
    3. Pop Culture, Subculture, and Cultural Change
    4. The Paradoxes of Culture
    5. Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativism
    6. Theoretical Perspectives on Culture
  5. SOCIALIZATION
    1. Introduction To Socialization
    2. Agents of Socialization
    3. Socialization Across the Life Course
    4. Theories of Self-Development
    5. Why Socialization Matters
  6. GROUPS AND ORGANIZATION
    1. Group Size and Structure
    2. Types of Groups
  7. RACE AND ETHNICITY
    1. Racial, Ethnic, and Minority Groups
    2. Race And Ethnicity In The United States
    3. Theoretical Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity
    4. Prejudice, Discrimination, and Racism
  8. GENDER
    1. Gender
    2. Gender Enculturation Agents
    3. Gender Identity
    4. Stereotypes and Gender Roles
    5. Sex and Gender
    6. Sex and Sexuality
  9. RELIGION
    1. Introduction To Religion
    2. Sociological Approach To Religion
    3. World Religions
    4. Religion In The United States
  10. SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
    1. Introduction To Stratification
    2. What Is Social Stratification
    3. Social Stratification And Mobility In The United States
    4. Global Stratification And Inequality
    5. Theoretical Perspectives On Social Stratification
  11. MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
    1. What Is Marriage? What Is a Family?
    2. Variations in Family Life
    3. Challenges Families Face
  12. MEDIA
    1. Social media’s growing impact on our lives
    2. Global Implications of Media and Technology
    3. Technology Today
    4. Theoretical Perspectives on Media and Technology
    5. Media and Technology in Society
  13. INTRODUCTION TO THE SOCIAL SCIENCES
    1. Cases That Drove Research In The Social Sciences
    2. What Is Social Psychology?
    3. Social Influence
    4. Cultural Norms
  14. SOCIAL COGNITION
    1. Automatic vs. Controlled Cognition
    2. Cognitive Heuristics
    3. Counterfactual Thinking
    4. Overconfidence Bias
    5. Importance of Cognitive Biases in Everyday Life
  15. SOCIAL AFFECT
    1. Universal Emotions
    2. Cultural and Gender Differences in Emotional Responses
    3. Moods
    4. Misattributing Arousal
  16. SOCIAL PERCEPTION
    1. Impression Formation
    2. Nonverbal Behavior
    3. Implicit Personality Theory
    4. Attribution Theory
    5. Individual And Cultural Differences In Person Perception
  17. SELF & SOCIETY
    1. Self Concept
    2. Self Esteem
    3. Social Self
  18. CONFORMING
    1. Varieties of Conformity
    2. Obedience To Authority
    3. Person, Gender, & Cultural Differences In Conformity

Cultural and Gender Differences in Emotional Responses

Although there are many similarities across cultures in how we experience emotions, there are also some differences (Marsh, Elfenbein, & Ambady, 2003). In Japan, there is a tendency to hide emotions in public, which makes them harder for others to perceive (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Triandis, 1994). And as we would expect on the basis of cultural differences between individualism and collectivism, emotions are more focused on other concern in Eastern cultures, such as Japan and Turkey, but relatively more focused on self-concern in Western cultures (Kitayama, Mesquita, & Karasawa, 2006; Uchida, Kitayama, Mesquita, Reyes, & Morling, 2008). Ishii,

Reyes, and Kitayama (2003) found that Japanese students paid more attention to the emotional tone of voice of other speakers than did American students, suggesting that the Japanese students were particularly interested in determining the emotions of others. Self-enhancing emotions such as pride and anger are more culturally appropriate emotions to express in Western cultures, whereas other-oriented emotions such as friendliness and shame are seen as more culturally appropriate in Eastern cultures. Similarly, Easterners experience more positive emotions when they are with others, whereas Westerners are more likely to experience positive emotions when they are alone and as a result of their personal accomplishments (Kitayama, Karasawa, & Mesquita, 2004; Masuda & Kitayama, 2004).

There are also gender differences in emotional experiences. Women report that they are more open to feelings overall (Costa, Terracciano, & McCrae, 2001), are more likely to express their emotions in public (Kring & Gordon, 1998), and are more accurate and articulate in reporting the feelings of others (Barrett, Lane, Sechrest, & Schwartz, 2000). These differences show up particularly in terms of emotions that involve social relationships. Kring and Gordon (1998) had male and female students watch film clips that portrayed sadness, happiness, or fear and found that the women reacted more visibly to each film. Coats and Feldman (1996) found that it is easier to read the emotions that women express. Some of these observed gender differences in emotional experiences and expression are biological in orientation, but they are also socialized through experience.

References

Barrett, L. F., Lane, R., Sechrest, L., & Schwartz, G. (2000). Sex differences in emotional awareness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 1027–1035.

Coats, E. J., & Feldman, R. S. (1996). Gender differences in nonverbal correlates of social status. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 1014–1022.

Costa, P., Jr., Terracciano, A., & McCrae, R. R. (2001). Gender differences in personality traits across cultures: Robust and surprising findings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 322–331.

Elfenbein, H. A., & Ambady, N. (2002). On the universality and cultural specificity of emotion recognition: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 128(2), 203–235.

Ishii, K., Reyes, J. A., & Kitayama, S. (2003). Spontaneous attention to word content versus emotional tone: Differences among three cultures. Psychological Science, 14, 39–46.

Kitayama, S., Mesquita, B., & Karasawa, M. (2006). Cultural affordances and emotional experience: Socially engaging and disengaging emotions in Japan and the United States. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 890–903.

Kring, A. M., & Gordon, A. H. (1998). Sex differences in emotion: Expression, experience, and physiology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(3), 686–703.

Markus, H., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion and motivation. Psychological Review, 2, 224–253.

Marsh, A. A., Elfenbein, H. A., & Ambady, N. (2003). Nonverbal “accents”: Cultural differences in facial expressions of emotion. Psychological Science, 14(4), 373–376.

Kitayama, S., Karasawa, M., & Mesquita, B. (Eds.). (2004). Collective and personal processes in regulating emotions: Emotion and self in Japan and the United States. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Masuda, T., & Kitayama, S. (2004). Perceiver-induced constraint and attitude attribution in Japan and the US: A case for the cultural dependence of the correspondence bias. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 40(3), 409–416.

Triandis, H. C. (1994). Culture and social behavior. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company.

Uchida, Y., Kitayama, S., Mesquita, B., Reyes, J. A. S., & Morling, B. (2008). Is perceived emotional support beneficial? Well-being and health in independent and interdependent cultures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 741–754.

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