East, West look at emotions differently
Published: March 10, 2008 at 12:38 PM
EDMONTON, Alberta, March 10 (UPI) -- Researchers from Canada and Japan found Eastern and Western cultures look at emotions differently.
The study, published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, asked participants to gauge the emotion -- happy, angry or sad -- of a person shown on a photograph. Also visible on the photograph were four background figures.
Seventy-two percent of the Japanese participants reported being influenced by the background figures, while 72 percent of the North Americans ignored the background figures when assessing the emotion of the center figure.
"What we found is quite interesting," Takahiko Masuda of the University of Alberta said in a statement. "Our results demonstrate that when North Americans are trying to figure out how a person is feeling, they selectively focus on that particular person's facial expression, whereas Japanese consider the emotions of the other people in the situation."
East Asians seem to have a more holistic pattern of attention, perceiving people in terms of the relationships to others, Masuda said. "People raised in the North American tradition often find it easy to isolate a person from its surroundings, while East Asians think that even surrounding people's facial expressions are an informative source to understand the particular person's emotion," Masuda added.
The study, published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, asked participants to gauge the emotion -- happy, angry or sad -- of a person shown on a photograph. Also visible on the photograph were four background figures.
Seventy-two percent of the Japanese participants reported being influenced by the background figures, while 72 percent of the North Americans ignored the background figures when assessing the emotion of the center figure.
"What we found is quite interesting," Takahiko Masuda of the University of Alberta said in a statement. "Our results demonstrate that when North Americans are trying to figure out how a person is feeling, they selectively focus on that particular person's facial expression, whereas Japanese consider the emotions of the other people in the situation."
East Asians seem to have a more holistic pattern of attention, perceiving people in terms of the relationships to others, Masuda said. "People raised in the North American tradition often find it easy to isolate a person from its surroundings, while East Asians think that even surrounding people's facial expressions are an informative source to understand the particular person's emotion," Masuda added.
© 2008 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
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