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INNATE AND CULTURAL INFLUENCES


EMOTIONAL


Charles Darwin observed that some facial expressions seem to be universal. He proposed that these expressions are genetically determined, passed on biologically from one generationto the next. The facial expressions seen today, deducedDarwin, are those that have evolvedto facilitatethe communication of an emotion to another person. If someone is giving you an angry look, for example, you will probably abandonyour plan to ask for a loan.

Evidence for innate facial expressions comes from studies showing that for the most fundamentalemotions, people in all cultures show intrinsicallysimilar facial responses to analogousemotional stimuli. The pattern of facial movements we call a smile, for example, is universally related to positive emotions. Sadness is almost always accompanied by loose muscle tone and a "long" face. Likewise, in almost all cultures, people distorttheir faces in an almost identicalway when shown something they find disgusting, and a lined forehead frequently conveysthe notionof frustration. Movements of the eyebrows also denoteanger and conflictin almost all cultures.

Whereas some fundamental emotional expressions are innate, many others are neither innate nor universal. Even innate expressions are flexibleand modifiable,changing as necessary in the social contexts within which they occur. For example, facial expressions become more intense and change more frequently when people have mentalimages of social scenes rather than solitary scenes. Similarly, facial expressions in response to odors tend to be more intense when others are watching than when people are alone.

Furthermore,although a core of emotional responses is recognized by all cultures, there is acertain degree of cultural variation in recognizing some emotions. In one study, for example, Japanese and North American people agreed about which facial expressions signaled happiness, surprise, and sadness, but they frequently revealeddisagreement about which faces showed anger,


Chapter 11 • Psychology



disgust, and fear. Members of preliterate cultures, such as the Fore of New Guinea, have only a

25 marginalawareness of the meanings of different stylesof facial expressions in Western cultures. In addition, people in different cultures have the capacityto differentiateemotions expressed by tone of voice. For instance, Taiwanese participants were best at detectinga sad tone of voice, whereas Dutch participants were best at recognizing happy tones.

As children grow, they become oriented to expressing certain emotions in definiteways, as

30 specified by cultural norms.Suppose you say, "I just bought a new car," and all your friends stick their tongues out at you. In North America, this deviationfrom the norm would mean that they are envious or resentful. But in some regions of China, such a displayexpresses surprise.

Even smiles can vary as people learn to use different qualitative stylesto communicate certain feelings. Researchers have categorized seventeen types of smiles, including "false smiles,"



35 which fake enjoyment, and "masking smiles," which hide unhappiness. They called the smile that occurs with real happiness the Duchenne (pronounced "do-SHEN") smile after the French researcher who first noticed a difference between spontaneous, happy smiles and posedsmiles. A genuine Duchenne smile exhibitscontractions of the muscles around the eyes (creating adistinctive wrinkling of the skin in these areas) as well as of the muscles that raise the lips and

40 cheeks. Few people are capableof successfully contracting the muscles around the eyes during a simulatedsmile, so this feature can be used to differentiate "lying smiles" from genuine ones.

Physical expressions of emotion also shape how people describe them. English has over 500 emotion-related words, but some emotion words in other languages have no English equivalent,such as the Czech word 'litest (comprised of grief, sympathy, remorse, and desire) and the

45 Japanese word ijirashii (resulting from seeing a praiseworthy person overcoming an obstacle). Similarly, other cultures have no equivalent for some English words of emotion. The Ilongot, aPhilippine headhunting group, have only one word, liget, for both anger and grief, while the Tahitians have words for forty-six different types of anger but no word for sadness.

Adapted from Douglas A. Bernstein, Louis A. Penner, Alison Clarke-Stewart, and Edward J. Roy, Psychology, 6th ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003), 425-27.


1. Vocabulary in Context

spoke resolved adequate mentally hypothesis exclude

Choose the best meaning according to the context in which the word is used in the reading.

1. deduced(line 3) concentrated inferred

2. evolved(line 3) developed gradually contributed

3. fundamental(line 7) constitutional basic

4. likewise (line 10) similarly justifiably

5. notion(line 12) mechanism idea

6. denote(line 12) represent regulate


Essential Academic Vocabulary


 

7. conflict(line 12) constraints
8. modifiable(line 15) specific
9. furthermore(line 20) distantly
10. revealed(line 23) displayed
11. capacity (line 26) conduct
12. definite(line 29) specific
13. display(line 32) exhibition
14. posed (line 37) caused
15. comprised(line 44) conducted

disagreement

distinct

additionally

removed

ability

domestic

advertisement

simulated

composed


emphasis

changeable

considerably

required

category

flexible

document

illustrated

commissioned


2. Reading Comprehension

E9 Getting the Facts

1. Describe the specific facial expressions that show the following emotions (paragraph 2).

a. positive feelings_______________________________________________________

b. sadness______________________________________________________________

c. disgust______________________________________________________________

d. frustration____________________________________________________________

e. anger________________________________________________________________

2. In the following cultures, describe the facial expressions or the words that describe emotions
that are different from the North American norm.

a. Fore of New Guinea-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

b. Taiwanese-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

c. Dutch-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

d. Chinese---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

e. Czechs----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

f. Japanese-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

g. Ilongot of the Philippines-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

h. Tahitians--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. In your own words, explain how a real smile of happiness can be differentiated from a posed
smile.__________________________________________________________________


Chapter 11 • Psychology


in


u Making Inferences

1. Why do people display more facial expressions when they are with others than when they
are alone?____________________________________________________________


2. How can facial expressions facilitate communication? What kinds of miscommunication
may occur between people from different cultures who use facial expressions less frequently
or who are expressing a different message?

_______________________________________________________________________ □

It takes between five and sixteen repetitions of a word through review and practice to get it into long-term memory.

3. Describe any differences in facial expressions or emotional
expressions that you have observed among people from different
cultures.

3. Dictionary Skills

Use the correct word form from the dictionary entry to complete the sentences grammatically and meaningfully.

de^duce(dl doos')tr.v. de'duced, de»duc»ing, de»duc»es.To reach (a conclusion) by rea­soning, especially from a general principle: The engineers deduced from the laws of physics that the new airplane would fly.

de*duct(dl dukt')tr.v. To take away (a quantity from another); subtract: The dealer deduct­ed- the amount of our earlier deposit from the final payment for the car.

de#duct*i*ble(dl diik'ta bal) n. [C; U] An amount that an owner of an insurance policy must pay on a claim before the insurance company begins to pay: I have a $200 deductible on my health insurance, -adj. Capable of being deducted, especially from one's taxable income. de#duc*tion(dl duk'shan) n. 1. [C] An amount that is deducted: a deduction from one's tax­able income for medical expenses. 2.a. [U] The process of reaching a conclusion by reasoning, especially from general principles: the judges deduction that the law violated the Constitution. b. [C] A conclusion reached by this process: a brilliant deduction.

de#duc*tive(dl duk'tlv) adj. Involving logical deduction: deductive reasoning. -de'duc'tive'lyadv.

1. This year I was able to take a tax__ deduction_ for my home business.

2. My health insurance policy covers most illnesses, but there is a $50___________ for

psychological services.


Essential Academic Vocabulary


3. When you pay your rent this month, you should last month.


the amount you overpaid


4. Our Spanish instructor expects us to learn the rules of grammar through------------

reasoning.

5. Although I didn't tell my friend that I was having some relationship problems, she
that I was feeling sad.


6. In our analysis of the data, we were able to

7. The best the police can do is to make____


some significant information.

from the known facts of the case.


8. Business expenses such as office supplies, telephone bills, and equipment purchases are tax

9. His salary is about $35,000 before____________ , making his take-home pay $29,000.

10. The professor used a____________ argument to make her point at the meeting.

4. Word Forms

Chart Completion

Complete the following chart with the different forms of each word. Note that some words do not have all forms.


Noun


Adjective


Adverb


 

deduction deduce deductive deductively
    marginal  
    flexible  
  evolve   X
norm      
  X fundamental  
  X qualitative  
  X capable  
deviation      
    detectable X

st vie


Chapter 11 • Psychology




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