Are Human Emotions Universal - Essay Example

Are Human Emotions Universal? The topic of human emotions has been widely discussed within the field of psychology. To their roots, purpose, and essence were dedicated a significant base of research and literature. Yet, the question over the universality of human emotions remains open and often delusive with different opinions being expressed in this regard. Subsequently, the goal of this paper is to make an insight into the issue and to structure the available data in order to explain the way human emotions are universal, but can be expressed and evaluated differently, depending on cultural traditions and norms. Among the first substantial arguments considering human emotions should be named the work by Charles Darwin “The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals” in which the naturalist persuaded that understanding of human emotions is possible together with understanding emotions of animals because they are the products of evolution aimed at facilitating mutual understanding between people, needed to both warn people about possible threats and reinforce the process of socialization. (Wagner & Manstead, 1989) The explanation of the argument for the universality of emotions can be found in the fact that the significant majority of the genetic makeup is shared among all humans and there is a set of physical features that are typical for all, regardless of the presence of some minor differences between individuals. Subsequently, emotions are parts of the shared biological heritage and are kinds of psychological universals that, to some extent, serve as a specific communicative system. The argument concerning emotions being biologically based and universal has been reviewed and tested for years, but the following topic still remains relevant. During decades the research on emotions was rather episodic and not consistent as far as different their aspects and different opinions were expressed. However, in a sum, the following enabled to formulate the base of knowledge concerning different aspects of emotions, such as the functions of facial expressions, the degree to which they are culturally conditioned, and what is different in the experience of emotions of people from various cultures. Moreover, it became possible to delimit the list of basic emotions that are universal across cultures. The years of experiments and research resulted in listing basic emotions that are proved to be universal. Among such are happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, contempt, surprise, and anger. Their definition is possible due to facial expression as far as each emotion is proven to have a particular facial expression that can be associated with it. Thereof, the facial expression of these emotions can be recognized around the world, regardless of gender, language, religion, or age. During the last decades, the following conclusion was several times tested and reinforced by studies. For instance, a research by Professor Sophie Scott and colleagues from University College London focused on comparing the way the sounds associated with the basic emotions are perceived across cultures. . ("Everybody laughs, everybody," 2010) The grounding for the generalization was made by Dr Disa Sauter, who studied near 20,000 people from Britain and Himba, northern Namibia, who live without knowing any manifestations of civilizations, such as electricity or formal education, and do not maintain any contacts with the outside world. ("Everybody laughs, everybody," 2010) Not surprisingly, the results confirmed the fact the mentioned above types of emotions are shared by all humans as biological attributes. As a whole, the set of universal emotions is not narrowed to the defined basic ones, but they exemplify the fact that emotions are biologically based and innate; however, it is true that other emotions as embarrassment or amusement can also have universal characteristics. At the same time, specialist revealed that some emotions are not as universally and easily recognizable as basic, primary emotions, which creates a ground to argue for the presence of social factor in emotions recognition. Namely, pleasure and achievement are said to be specific to particular cultural groups, possibly due to the fact that positive emotions “facilitate social cohesion between the members of social groups” and are restricted to these members with whom relationships are formed. ("Everybody laughs, everybody," 2010) Therefore, some shades of emotions are likely to have some social attributes that result in emotions being perceived in a different way, depending on a context in which they occur. To this group are likely to belong the secondary emotions, which appear after the primary ones and are often a combination of more complex emotions. It follows that although the emotions people experience are universal in general, some cultural differences in several aspects of emotions are still present. To start with, there are differences in antecedent events that cause certain differences in emotions. (Mesquita & Walker, 2003) Some emotions can be more prevalent and desirable in some cultures than in other. For instance, while Americans promote happiness by means of encouraging creation of contexts in which it occurs, the Tahitians focus on the reduction of contexts that stimulate appearance of anger. (Mesquita & Walker, 2003) Therefore, it is naturally to render some emotions as rare and desirable and some as prevalent, which in its turn, results in differences in thresholds for judging anxiety levels. Putting it in simple words, an event would cause different degrees of emotions, depending on the way this event is evaluated in a society. The following is also reinforced by the fact that different cultures pursue different goals, such fostering positive outlook on life, such as Americans do, or, as it is common for East Asians, promoting self-critical and self-corrective approach to life. Thereof, it was also revealed that different events can cause similar facial expressions in different cultures. For example, in a study Japanese students responded that it was more appropriate to display “negative facial expressions to outgroup members while Americans responded that it was more appropriate to display negative emotions to ingroup members.” (Haviland-Jones & Lewis, 2000) Furthermore, there is also a question over the degree to which representatives of different cultures vary in their expressive behavior, such as the time needed for a facial expression to appear after the stimulus. In one study U.S. infants showed anger quicker than Japanese infants. (Haviland-Jones & Lewis, 2000) In addition, it is also likely that different cultures can differ in a set of expressions that are used to convey specific emotions. These and other issues are to be further investigated in order to form a deeper and more profound understanding of human emotions, their cultural differences and universalities. To sum up, different aspects of human emotions have been widely investigated for decades. Among the most crucial questions has been the one touching upon the degree to which emotions are innate and biologically conditioned as it was argued by the famous naturalist Charles Darwin. Consequently, the years of research and numerous studies made it possible to conclude that humans possess the set of basic emotions that are universal and can be easily recognized by all people regardless of their age, religion, gender, or their place of living. Such emotions have specific set of visual characteristics that make them recognizable due to facial expressions they produce. At the same time, there are doubtless cultural differences in the way emotions are perceived, what causes them and how they are experienced across cultures. The reason lies in the fact that to the great extent emotions have certain social attributes that influence associations which different people have with emotions. As a result, it is possible to conclude that while the basic and primary emotions are universal, related to them experiences are culturally conditioned. References Everybody laughs, everybody cries: Researchers identify universal emotions. Science Daily, (2010). Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100125173234.htm Haviland-Jones, J., & Lewis, M. (2000). Handbook of emotions. (pp. 242-43). New York: Guilford Press. Retrieved from http://books.google.com.ua/books?id=SQ8F7zdhORwC&pg=PA243&lpg=PA243&dq=expression of emotion varies from culture to culture.&source=bl&ots=ENv2iQ-k30&sig=g-4_pb4t2M0QVNqDLgiL_7v5NCU&hl=uk&sa=X&ei=AK87VOyeCo6xadfXgqgM&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBTgK Mesquita, B., & Walker, R. (2003). Cultural differences in emotions: a context for interpreting emotional experiences. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 777–793. Retrieved from https://ppw.kuleuven.be/home/english/research/cscp/documents/mesquita/mesquita-walker-2003-cultural-differences-in.pdf Wagner, H., & Manstead, A. (1989). The argument and evidence about universals in facial expressions of emotion. In H. Wagner (Ed.), Handbook of Social PsychophysiologyRetrieved from http://www.ekmaninternational.com/ResearchFiles/The-Argument-And-Evidence-About-Universals-In-FacialExpressi.pdf Read More