How Culture Influences Our Emotions
Imagine you are at a wedding. The happy couple has just entered the reception and things are about to get underway. What do you imagine will happen? What about at a funeral? What do you imagine the mood to be? Culture and location play a big role in what influences our emotions. North Americans prefer high-energy emotions, like excitement, enthusiasm, and elation. East Asians, on the other hand, tend to prefer low-energy emotions, such as calm, peacefulness, and relaxation. While culture has a huge impact on our emotions and behavior, everyone has their own unique way of how they handle emotions.
Understanding Our Emotional Goals & How Culture Influences Them
Our emotional well-being is largely related to how we've learned to regulate and view our emotions, based on cultural lessons and ideologies we've been raised with. This affects everything we do in our daily lives. From the people and music we like to the way we smile, but also the way we parent. What we think is acceptable behavior as a society also shapes our emotions. Is someone angry enough at something? Too angry? Is their reaction “normal”. What we consider normal may vary from region to region. We also want to treat people based on how unsettling we perceive their behavior to be. Some cultures have a higher tolerance than others for certain behaviors, but are the lower levels of tolerance too strict? Are the higher tolerances too relaxed? This is reflected in how culture, region, religion, and our own beliefs affect us.
As parents we want our children to have similar emotional attitudes that we do to specific situations. You’ve just planned a birthday party or a special outing for your child. You have taken care of every little detail. What reaction are you hoping your child has? In North American cultures we want our children to show excitement. We spend a lot of time planning and preparing to do something that we will believe will make them happy, it can be disheartening when the children aren’t as excited about it as we are. Your life Is shaped by the emotions you want to feel. However, the expectations in other parts of the world may be a little bit more subdued.
Our Emotional Objective Molds our Thoughts & Actions
A woman is at work and her colleagues rub her the wrong way or they just have very different personalities. Every time they have a conversation it makes her uncomfortable. Later they suggest going to see a horror movie together. She quickly finds an excuse to get out of going with them.
If we’re uncomfortable feeling certain emotions we usually try to avoid things attached to those emotions. If you’re easily affected by negative emotions and you may avoid horror movies or being around unpleasant people. On the other hand, if you are in a negative frame of mind, and struggling to see other people happy and enjoying themselves, a party or a wedding may be the last place you want to be. People may not understand your reason for not wanting to partake in these activities. We may not understand it ourselves, but it is self-preservation at that moment. Whether or not we are trying to avoid negative or positive emotions at a specific time, our goal remains the same. We’re simply trying not to intensify the current feelings we are experiencing.
People also feel emotions physically and every person is different. During times of anxiety, some people can take just a few deep breaths and power through, others can find it crippling and even experience serious symptoms, such as chest pain.
Universally we all recognize the following facial expressions and associate them with the same emotions.
Happiness
Surprise
Sadness
Fright
Disgust
Contempt
Anger
.
A blind man hears the voices of his grandchildren as they bound into the room. They run over and give him a hug. He’s so happy to see them that he smiles. They let go and slowly his smile begins to retreat. One of the children breaks a treasured belonging. Now the man frowns as he hears it crash. His facial expressions change, based on his emotions without ever having seen any in his entire life.
Researchers have discovered that people who were born blind at birth also displayed the same facial expressions, without the knowledge of ever seeing another individual make the same expressions under similar circumstances. This implies that facial expressions are universal and not learned from observing others.
North Americans and Europeans tend to display their emotions more intensely and frequently than East Asians. Studies show that while, psychologically, we all feel emotions similarly, our facial expressions that follow those emotions are more influenced by cultures.
Understanding our Surroundings Helps us Understand Others
Understanding the impact of our surroundings can help us understand those around us and give us peace in understanding ourselves. North Americans are beginning to realize the benefits of calmer emotions. More people are embracing yoga and meditation. The more people meditate, the more they desire calm in their lives. Learning how to deal with uncomfortable emotions can help you achieve a more desirable balance of positive and negative emotions. By understanding the full range of emotions that every culture experiences, it’s possible we could become more open-minded to the ways other people feel.
