THE SOCIAL APPROACH TO EMOTION
The fifth way of approaching emotion concerns its mainly social nature. This highlights the importance of emotional expression as well as personal characteristics, such as gender, that may be related to differences in emotional expression. Are emotional expressions universal? How do we recognise emotions in other people? How do we express emotion?
Body language – nonverbal expression of emotion Although we can experience emotion when alone, emotion is mainly a social occurrence. Emotional expressions communicate a great deal, and we rely on recognising them in others to assist in the smooth running of our social interactions. Body language is central to emotional communication, which is essentially nonverbal. [body language expressions, gestures, movements, postures and paralinguistic aspects of speech that form the basis of nonverbal communication]. While we communicate about the world verbally, there is a nonverbal subtext that relates to the interplay of our emotions. The interpretation of the emotional meaning of body language is a skill that we seem to acquire and use unconsciously, even automatically. Some people are better at it than others, just as some people are more openly expressive of their emotions than others. Our ability to suppress and moderate our emotional expression further complicates matters.
To find out more about emotional expression, we first have to decide whether to study it in everyday settings or in the laboratory. Both have their difficulties – the context of ordinary life is complicated by a multitude of influences, while the laboratory is essentially an artificial environment with respect to normal social interaction. Methods used in the laboratory to study the accuracy of emotional expression include photographs of real or posed expressions, actors, schematic drawings, emotional readings of the alphabet, and electronic filtering of voices (leaving only the manner rather than the content). For example, actors may be asked to express a range of emotions, with photographs of these expressions being shown to volunteers to determine if they can be recognized correctly. Or emotion-laden conversations may be recorded and then the actual words used filtered out electronically, with volunteers then being asked if they can recognize any emotions being expressed in the resultant sounds. Back in the 1970s, Ekman, Friesen and Ellsworth (1972) demonstrated that most people are able to judge emotional expressions reasonably accurately. In other words, we can correctly recognize the emotion being expressed on another person’s face. One way of studying this is to ask participants to identify the emotions portrayed in photographs posed by actors. Many of these expressions are universal, to the extent that they are present in all the cultures studied. Emotional expressions are also recognisable across cultures, including pre-literate cultures untouched by Western influence. Izard (1980) argues that there are ten basic emotions that are interpreted similarly across cultures, each with its own innate neural programme (that is, a programme defining how the nervous system is wired up, present from birth):
1. interest/excitement
2. joy
3. surprise/startle
4. distress/anguish
5. disgust
6. contempt
7. anger/rage
8. shame/humiliation
9. fear/terror
10. guilt
The possible universality of the facial expression of emotion and its recognition is another central debate in the study of emotion. In general, although there is a very widespread agreement across cultures, it is difficult to make a completely compelling generalization from this type of research. Without investigations into all cultures, universality cannot be finally concluded. There are also cultural and subcultural rules governing the display of emotional expression. Fear might be expressed in a similar way universally, but its expression might be more suppressed in some cultures than others. And in Western cultures, anger is usually more openly expressed by men than by women. Ekman (e.g. 1982, 1992) bases his theory of emotion on three assumptions:
1. Emotion has evolved to deal with the fundamental tasks of life.
2. To be adaptive in evolutionary terms, each emotion must have a distinct facial pattern.
3. For each emotion, a distinctive pattern exists between expression of that emotion and the physiological mechanisms associated with it, and this is linked to appraisal of the emotion.
Some of Ekman’s more fascinating work concerns what happens when we attempt to hide or suppress an emotion. Ekman and Friesen (1969) suggest that feelings ‘leak out’ nonverbally. Although we might successfully suppress our facial expression, our social anxiety might be expressed through movements of our hands and arms, and even our legs and feet. Ekman (1985) developed this research with respect to deception in general, mentioned earlier in this chapter in the context of lie detection. The expressive aspect of emotion has generated the facial feedback hypothesis (Tomkins, 1962). [facial feedback hypothesis the view that our experience of emotion is determined by physiological feedback from facial expressions] This suggests that the experience of emotion is intensified by the proprioceptive feedback we receive from its facial expression. So if you fix a smile or a frown on your face for some minutes, you should begin to feel happier or more irritable, respectively. Try holding a pen sideways between our front teeth for a few moments, a technique used by Strack, Martin and Stepper (1988), and you might begin to experience feedback effects, such as you might experience if you were feeling happy and in good humour. Now compare holding the pen between your lips.
This provides an interesting link with the James–Lange theory – perhaps it is possible that we become irritable because we frown or happy because we smile?
Gender
Are Western women irrational and emotional, and Western men logical and non-emotional? Brody and Hall (1993) showed that women are generally more emotionally expressive than men. They are also better at expressing sadness and fear, whereas men have the edge on them with anger. Yet such gender differences are probably more dependent on cultural than genetic factors. In Western society, girls are usually brought up to be more emotionally accountable to society than boys, and also to be responsible for their own emotional lives and for the emotional lives of those around them. Relatively speaking, boys are often encouraged to deny their emotions. Whether these differences are currently changing in Western society is an open question. See Shields (2002) for a recent thorough exploration of the relationship between gender and emotion.
[Carroll Izard (1923– ), with his differential emotions theory, has been the main proponent of the study of individual, distinct emotions since the 1970s. He has stressed the importance of studying emotion from a developmental perspective. In Differential Emotions Theory, he suggests that emotions are motivational and organize perception, cognition and behaviour, helping us to adapt and cope with the environment, and to be creative. Arguing that there are several discrete emotions, Izard has proposed that the emotional system is independent of any other, although linked closely with motivation and personality, and that they develop together from the early years.]
[Paul Ekman (1934– ) has been the acknowledged expert on the expression and recognition of emotion from the early 1960s to the present. Among important research issues that he has investigated over his long and influential career, he has drawn attention to the importance of nonverbal behaviour, context, deception and many other aspects of emotional expression, particularly in the face. The findings of his work have generated considerable discussion of the possible universality of facial expression. Deriving from his research findings, his theory of emotion is based on three central assumptions: 1) emotion has evolved to deal with the fundamental tasks of life, 2) to be adaptive in evolutionary terms, each emotion must have a distinct facial pattern, 3) for each emotion, a distinctive pattern exists between expression of that emotion and the physiological mechanisms associated with it, and this is linked to appraisal of the emotion.]
The fifth way of approaching emotion concerns its mainly social nature. This highlights the importance of emotional expression as well as personal characteristics, such as gender, that may be related to differences in emotional expression. Are emotional expressions universal? How do we recognise emotions in other people? How do we express emotion?
Body language – nonverbal expression of emotion Although we can experience emotion when alone, emotion is mainly a social occurrence. Emotional expressions communicate a great deal, and we rely on recognising them in others to assist in the smooth running of our social interactions. Body language is central to emotional communication, which is essentially nonverbal. [body language expressions, gestures, movements, postures and paralinguistic aspects of speech that form the basis of nonverbal communication]. While we communicate about the world verbally, there is a nonverbal subtext that relates to the interplay of our emotions. The interpretation of the emotional meaning of body language is a skill that we seem to acquire and use unconsciously, even automatically. Some people are better at it than others, just as some people are more openly expressive of their emotions than others. Our ability to suppress and moderate our emotional expression further complicates matters.
To find out more about emotional expression, we first have to decide whether to study it in everyday settings or in the laboratory. Both have their difficulties – the context of ordinary life is complicated by a multitude of influences, while the laboratory is essentially an artificial environment with respect to normal social interaction. Methods used in the laboratory to study the accuracy of emotional expression include photographs of real or posed expressions, actors, schematic drawings, emotional readings of the alphabet, and electronic filtering of voices (leaving only the manner rather than the content). For example, actors may be asked to express a range of emotions, with photographs of these expressions being shown to volunteers to determine if they can be recognized correctly. Or emotion-laden conversations may be recorded and then the actual words used filtered out electronically, with volunteers then being asked if they can recognize any emotions being expressed in the resultant sounds. Back in the 1970s, Ekman, Friesen and Ellsworth (1972) demonstrated that most people are able to judge emotional expressions reasonably accurately. In other words, we can correctly recognize the emotion being expressed on another person’s face. One way of studying this is to ask participants to identify the emotions portrayed in photographs posed by actors. Many of these expressions are universal, to the extent that they are present in all the cultures studied. Emotional expressions are also recognisable across cultures, including pre-literate cultures untouched by Western influence. Izard (1980) argues that there are ten basic emotions that are interpreted similarly across cultures, each with its own innate neural programme (that is, a programme defining how the nervous system is wired up, present from birth):
1. interest/excitement
2. joy
3. surprise/startle
4. distress/anguish
5. disgust
6. contempt
7. anger/rage
8. shame/humiliation
9. fear/terror
10. guilt
The possible universality of the facial expression of emotion and its recognition is another central debate in the study of emotion. In general, although there is a very widespread agreement across cultures, it is difficult to make a completely compelling generalization from this type of research. Without investigations into all cultures, universality cannot be finally concluded. There are also cultural and subcultural rules governing the display of emotional expression. Fear might be expressed in a similar way universally, but its expression might be more suppressed in some cultures than others. And in Western cultures, anger is usually more openly expressed by men than by women. Ekman (e.g. 1982, 1992) bases his theory of emotion on three assumptions:
1. Emotion has evolved to deal with the fundamental tasks of life.
2. To be adaptive in evolutionary terms, each emotion must have a distinct facial pattern.
3. For each emotion, a distinctive pattern exists between expression of that emotion and the physiological mechanisms associated with it, and this is linked to appraisal of the emotion.
Some of Ekman’s more fascinating work concerns what happens when we attempt to hide or suppress an emotion. Ekman and Friesen (1969) suggest that feelings ‘leak out’ nonverbally. Although we might successfully suppress our facial expression, our social anxiety might be expressed through movements of our hands and arms, and even our legs and feet. Ekman (1985) developed this research with respect to deception in general, mentioned earlier in this chapter in the context of lie detection. The expressive aspect of emotion has generated the facial feedback hypothesis (Tomkins, 1962). [facial feedback hypothesis the view that our experience of emotion is determined by physiological feedback from facial expressions] This suggests that the experience of emotion is intensified by the proprioceptive feedback we receive from its facial expression. So if you fix a smile or a frown on your face for some minutes, you should begin to feel happier or more irritable, respectively. Try holding a pen sideways between our front teeth for a few moments, a technique used by Strack, Martin and Stepper (1988), and you might begin to experience feedback effects, such as you might experience if you were feeling happy and in good humour. Now compare holding the pen between your lips.
This provides an interesting link with the James–Lange theory – perhaps it is possible that we become irritable because we frown or happy because we smile?
Gender
Are Western women irrational and emotional, and Western men logical and non-emotional? Brody and Hall (1993) showed that women are generally more emotionally expressive than men. They are also better at expressing sadness and fear, whereas men have the edge on them with anger. Yet such gender differences are probably more dependent on cultural than genetic factors. In Western society, girls are usually brought up to be more emotionally accountable to society than boys, and also to be responsible for their own emotional lives and for the emotional lives of those around them. Relatively speaking, boys are often encouraged to deny their emotions. Whether these differences are currently changing in Western society is an open question. See Shields (2002) for a recent thorough exploration of the relationship between gender and emotion.
[Carroll Izard (1923– ), with his differential emotions theory, has been the main proponent of the study of individual, distinct emotions since the 1970s. He has stressed the importance of studying emotion from a developmental perspective. In Differential Emotions Theory, he suggests that emotions are motivational and organize perception, cognition and behaviour, helping us to adapt and cope with the environment, and to be creative. Arguing that there are several discrete emotions, Izard has proposed that the emotional system is independent of any other, although linked closely with motivation and personality, and that they develop together from the early years.]
[Paul Ekman (1934– ) has been the acknowledged expert on the expression and recognition of emotion from the early 1960s to the present. Among important research issues that he has investigated over his long and influential career, he has drawn attention to the importance of nonverbal behaviour, context, deception and many other aspects of emotional expression, particularly in the face. The findings of his work have generated considerable discussion of the possible universality of facial expression. Deriving from his research findings, his theory of emotion is based on three central assumptions: 1) emotion has evolved to deal with the fundamental tasks of life, 2) to be adaptive in evolutionary terms, each emotion must have a distinct facial pattern, 3) for each emotion, a distinctive pattern exists between expression of that emotion and the physiological mechanisms associated with it, and this is linked to appraisal of the emotion.]
No comments:
Post a Comment