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 Cognitive
appraisal patterns the same for
each emotion across cultures.
 Novelty/Expectedness:
Expected or Unexpected?
 Unpleasantness: Pleasant or Unpleasant?
 Goal Obstruction: Goal blocked or facilitated?
 Unfairness: Fair or unfair?
 External causation: Event caused by someone
else? self?
 Coping ability: Able to cope? Unable to cope?
 Immorality: Moral or immoral?
 Self-consistency: Affected self-esteem negatively?
Positively?
6 Regions
• North/Central
Europe
• New World
• Asia
• Mediterranean
Basin
• Latin American
• Africa
• Total Sample
7 Emotions
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Joy
Anger
Fear
Sadness
Disgust
Shame
Guilt
8 Cognitive
Appraisals
• Novelty
• Unpleasantness
• Goal
Obstruction
• Unfairness
• External
Causation
• Coping Ability
• Immorality
• Self-consistency
[Scherer, K.R. (1997). The role of culture in emotion-antecedent appraisal.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 902-922.]
 Which
emotion provides the BEST evidence
for universal cognitive appraisals?
 Which
emotion/s show cross-cultural
differences in cognitive appraisals?
 Which
cognitive appraisal shows the greatest
cross-cultural differences?
 Which
two emotions have the most similar
pattern in cognitive appraisals?
JOY
SADNESS
SHAME
ANGER
FEAR
DISGUST
GUILT
[Scherer, K.R. (1997). The role of culture in emotion-antecedent appraisal.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 902-922.]
(Scherer, 1997)

In general, all countries show same appraisal
patterns for same emotions

Joy = MOST UNIVERSAL APPRAISALS!

Cultural Differences: for all emotions except
JOY:



African countries
Latin American countries
**Researchers unsure whether morality is a
universal cognitive appraisal dimension
[Scherer, K.R. (1997). The role of culture in emotion-antecedent appraisal.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73, 902-922.]
 Agreement
on 5: joy, sadness, anger, disgust,
and fear
 Ekman
says 7: anger, fear, surprise, sadness,
disgust, contempt, happiness
 Disagreement



Contempt?
Surprise?
Love?
on whether more than 5 exist.
 Strengths


Evidence exists for universal emotions
Clear evidence to distinguish negative emotions
 Weaknesses



Disagreement on number of basic emotions
Less success distinguishing positive emotions
Cross-cultural differences are present too!

Barrett’s work, Morality Dimension
 The
battle continues!
 View
#1: Appraisals cause emotion
 View
#2: Emotions cause appraisals
 May
be universal (i.e., basic emotions)
 May
be culturally-specific (i.e., social
constructionist)
[Schirmer, A. (2014). What is an emotion? Modern thoughts and
concepts. Emotion (Chapter 3, pp.42-69). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.]
 Some




Pleasantness
Goal Significance
Coping Potential
Novelty/Familiarity
 Some


are older and more primitive
are younger and more complex
Immorality
Responsibility
 We
consciously and unconsciously assess
Varying Appraisal Checks
Changes in other emotion
components
Emotion
New appraisals
Emotional experience changes!
Relevance
Check
Check of
event
significance
Check of
Event
Implications
Check of
Coping
Potential
[Schirmer, A. (2014). What is an emotion? Modern thoughts and
concepts. Emotion (Chapter 3, pp.42-69). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.]
 Is
this event relevant to my well-being?
Novelty /
Expectedness
Pleasantness
Goal
Significance
Approach /
Avoidance
Behavior
[Schirmer, A. (2014). What is an emotion? Modern thoughts and
concepts. Emotion (Chapter 3, pp.42-69). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.]
 What
are the outcomes and consequences of
this event?
Causality
Possible
Outcomes
Goal
Conduciveness
[Schirmer, A. (2014). What is an emotion? Modern thoughts and
concepts. Emotion (Chapter 3, pp.42-69). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.]
 Can
I cope with this event?
Controllability
Resources
to cope
Coping
Potential
[Schirmer, A. (2014). What is an emotion? Modern thoughts and
concepts. Emotion (Chapter 3, pp.42-69). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.]
 Can
I cope with this event?
Is this event immoral or
moral?
Does this event
violate cultural
norms?
[Schirmer, A. (2014). What is an emotion? Modern thoughts and
concepts. Emotion (Chapter 3, pp.42-69). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.]
 Strengths


Explains a large number of emotions
Explains why people may experience the same
event, but report different emotions
 Weaknesses



Too many dimensions to provide accurate test
Difficult to assess quick, unconscious appraisals
Can we experience emotion without appraisal?
 Accounts
for cultural differences in #
emotions present in a language
 English:
500-2000 emotion words
 Malay (Indonesia): 230 emotion words
 Ifaluk (Western Pacific): 50 emotion words
 Culture


constructs our emotions
Emotions are learned from society’s values,
norms, and practices
We cannot experience an emotion until we learn
to interpret events according to society’s
standards
 Rejects
evolutionary idea of biologically preprogrammed emotions

Begins with analysis of emotional language

Suppression or expression of the emotion varies
by culture


Experience of the same emotion as severe or
mild varies by culture


Ex: Shame (Japan) vs. Guilt (US)
Ex: Shame
Over time, emotions have dropped out of
language altogether

Ex: “accidie” in Middle Ages
 Evolutionary


Emotions developed to solve adaptive problems
and to increase survival of gene
Biology determines our emotions
Eliciting Event
ANS Activity
Expressive Behavior
Subjective
Feelings
 Evolutionary


Emotions developed to solve adaptive problems
and to increase survival of gene
Biology determines our emotions
 Cognitive

Appraisal
Our interpretation of the event determines our
emotions
Eliciting Event
Cognitive Appraisal
ANS Activity
Expressive Behavior
Subjective
Feelings

Evolutionary
Emotions developed to solve adaptive problems and
to increase survival of gene
 Biology determines our emotions


Cognitive Appraisal
Our interpretation of the event determines our
emotions
 Simpler → Universal; Complex → Culturally-Specific


Social Constructivist


Cognitive appraisal of event determines our emotions
But, our culture provides the context through which
we interpret the emotion-eliciting event
Eliciting Event
CULTURE
Cognitive Appraisal
ANS Activity
Expressive Behavior
Subjective
Feelings