The Deceptive Nature of Emotions and Affective Realism
Powerful emotions often feel like irrefutable facts, overwhelming us and changing our perceptions. This phenomenon is described as affective realism, where emotional experiences are perceived as the absolute truth of the world. In reality, our culture significantly shapes our emotions, which then act as a lens through which we interpret our surroundings. The brain, functioning as a predictive organ, constructs a model of the world based on prior learning and experiences, which are deeply embedded in culture. This cultural influence can even affect the operation of individual neurons processing sensory information.
The Dual Foundations of Emotion Study and Cultural Influence
The academic study of emotion has evolved from two main intellectual lineages: medicine and anthropology (the study of culture), leading to a historical tension between these perspectives within psychology. While emotions may have evolved to ensure human survival in a dangerous world, they are also considered cultural artifacts, passed down through generations much like art, religion, and language. Although all humans possess the fundamental biological "hardware" for creating emotions, the specific emotions an individual experiences are largely a product of their culture.
Emotion-Induced Biases in Perception
Emotions can literally shape how the brain processes information from our senses, leading to specific biases. A classic example is "shooter bias," where individuals under high cardiovascular intensity tend to misperceive neutral objects as threatening, such as guns. To mitigate such biases, it is crucial to cultivate awareness of our current feelings and to critically assess whether these feelings are consistent with the objective context.
Cultural Variability in Emotional Experience and Expression
Emotions are not universal across cultures; the meaning of emotions like anger, sadness, or fear can vary significantly. Cultures often differ in their emphasis on individualism (where self-identity is rooted in personal thoughts, beliefs, and emotions) versus collectivism (where self-value is derived from belonging to a group). These cultural differences extend to physiological responses to emotions; for instance, anger in the United States is associated with increased inflammation and signals a personal violation, potentially contributing to conditions like cardiovascular disease. In Japan, however, anger signals a disruption in group harmony and prompts efforts to mend relationships, without showing a robust increase in inflammation.
Gender, Culture, and Emotional Stereotypes
Beyond biological sex differences, cultural "gendered information" significantly influences the perception and expression of emotions. For example, women are often stereotyped as overly emotional, which can lead to misdiagnoses in medical settings; women presenting with heart palpitations may be diagnosed with anxiety instead of heart attacks, contributing to higher mortality rates from heart attacks in the emergency room. Conversely, boys are typically expected to be stoic or to express strong, dominant emotions such as anger or pride. Adherence to or deviation from these societal norms can cause significant stress and self-doubt for individuals, despite the reality of far greater variation in emotional experiences across both genders than stereotypes suggest. Finding authenticity involves aligning how one truly feels with how one wishes to perceive oneself, rather than conforming to external expectations.
Language, Meaning-Making, and Cross-Cultural Misunderstandings
For decades, emotion science erroneously assumed that people worldwide experienced emotion categories identical to the "basic level categories" prevalent in English, such as anger, sadness, fear, and disgust. However, research indicates that emotion words hold culturally distinct meanings. For example, only approximately 22% of global languages have a word comparable to the English word "fear," and only 13% have an equivalent for "surprise". The absence of a specific word for an emotion does not imply the absence of the underlying physiological sensation (e.g., a rapid heartbeat when in danger). Instead, it affects how brains interpret and differentiate these instances from other mental states. Some small-scale cultures focus more on accompanying behavioral actions than on internal emotion words, which can lead to misunderstandings of others' internal states.
Facial Expressions as Culturally Interpreted Social Signals
Early theories of emotion posited facial muscle movements as automatic, reflexive signals of internal states. However, current understanding suggests that facial expressions communicate feelings more like language, intentionally rather than automatically. Our interpretations of facial movements are heavily influenced by our own cultural biases. An example is the concept of "Resting Bitch Face" attributed to women, without a male equivalent, reflecting cultural biases about who should express which emotions. Studies using computer graphics have demonstrated significant cultural variability in how specific facial muscle movements are associated with different emotion categories, with perceivers from different cultures interpreting the same movements differently (e.g., China versus Western perceivers, or the UK versus China regarding anger). This underscores that facial signals do not necessarily offer a literal representation of internal feelings and that we often impose our cultural biases onto others' facial expressions. Many emotions (e.g. guilt, shame, embarrassment, jealousy, envy, hope, and anticipation) may not have any specific facial expressions at all.
The Challenge of Solipsism and Fostering Intercultural Connection
The philosophical concept of solipsism highlights that we can never truly comprehend the inner workings of another person's mind. Encountering people from diverse cultural, regional, religious, or political backgrounds, even within our own cities, can be a source of stress when perceived differences lead to feelings of being "out of sync". However, recognizing that each individual's psychology is unique and adopting an open-minded approach to understanding what others are feeling, rather than making assumptions, can pave the way for deeper connections across groups. This diversity in perceptions, with each person bringing a unique perspective to the world, ultimately holds the potential for better insights into how the world operates.