Perceptions of emotion from facial expressions are not culturally universal: evidence from a remote culture.
It is widely believed that certain emotions are universally recognized in facial expressions. Recent evidence indicates that Western perceptions (e.g., scowls as anger) depend on cues to U.S. emotion concepts embedded in experiments. Because such cues are standard features in methods used in cross-cultural experiments, we hypothesized that evidence of universality depends on this conceptual context. In our study, participants from the United States and the Himba ethnic group from the Keunene region of northwestern Namibia sorted images of posed facial expressions into piles by emotion type. Without cues to emotion concepts, Himba participants did not show the presumed "universal" pattern, whereas U.S. participants produced a pattern with presumed universal features. With cues to emotion concepts, participants in both cultures produced sorts that were closer to the presumed "universal" pattern, although substantial cultural variation persisted. Our findings indicate that perceptions of emotion are not universal, but depend on cultural and conceptual contexts.
Affective Science Institute, Northeastern University.
Maria
M
Gendron
Department of Psychology, University of Essex.
Debi
D
Roberson
School of Nursing and Public Health, University of Namibia.
Jacoba Marietta
JM
van der Vyver
Affective Science Institute, Northeastern University.
Lisa Feldman
LF
Barrett
D000328:Adult; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D004644:Emotions; D005149:Facial Expression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009276:Namibia; D010465:Perception; D014481:United States