Cultural variations in emotions: A review.
Abstract
The psychological and anthropological literature on cultural variations in emotions is reviewed. The literature has been interpreted within the framework of a cognitive-process model of emotions. Both cross-cultural differences and similarities were identified in each phase of the emotion process; similarities in 1 phase do not necessarily imply similarities in other phases. Whether cross-cultural differences or similarities are found depends to an important degree on the level of description of the emotional phenomena. Cultural differences in emotions appear to be due to differences in event types or schemas, in culture-specific appraisal propensities, in behavior repertoires, or in regulation processes. Differences in taxonomies of emotion words sometimes reflect true emotion differences like those just mentioned, but they may also just result from differences in which emotion-process phase serves as the basis for categorization.
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There are cultural differences in how emotion-eliciting events are categorized, in the appraisal of emotion-eliciting events, in typical behavioral responses to them, and in how responses are regulated.
“there are also cultural differ- ences in how emotion-eliciting events are categorized, in the appraisal of emotion-eliciting events, in typical behavioral re- sponses to them, and in how responses are regulated”
From Implications of an Emerging Integration of Universal and Culturally Specific Psychologies (2006) · cites this paper as Mesquita & Frijda, 1992
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- Authors
- Mesquita, B., & Frijda, N. H.
- Affiliations
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
- ORCID
- Mesquita, Batja
- Venue
- Psychological Bulletin
- Published
- 1992
- Volume
- 112
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 179-204
- ISSN
- 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1455
- OpenAlex
- W1966210085
- Cited by
- 1,084
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 34 · 2025: 63 · 2024: 44 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 49 · 2020: 65 · 2019: 41 · 2018: 41 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 46 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 44 · 2013: 33 · 2012: 40
- FWCI
- 17.86
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- UvA-DARE (University of Amsterdam) (submittedVersion)
- Lirias (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Cultural Differences and Values
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Emotions and Moral Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Categorization, perception, and language
- Keywords
- cultural variation in emotion, cross-cultural comparison, emotion appraisal, emotion regulation, emotion taxonomy, emotional words, cultural schemas, behavior repertoire
- MeSH terms
- Cognition, Cross-Cultural Comparison, Emotions, Female, Humans, Male
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