Deck 3: Culture and Emotion

Question 1

When Ann Swidler asked middle-class men and women in California to define "real love" in the romantic sense, what answers did they give?

A) Most participants described real love as an overwhelming, passionate, unique, lifelong bond that is felt at first sight.
B) Most participants described real love as a connection that grows slowly over time, and is based on compatibility of personality, values, and interests.
C) Participants described either the "Hollywood" or the "prosaic" concept of romantic love, in about equal numbers.
D) Many participants included elements of both the "Hollywood" and "prosaic" concepts in their answers, using both to explain their own experiences.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The German word for enjoyment of another person's suffering is .

A) litost
B) schadenfruede
C) liget
D) jodo

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following statements about the Japanese concept of amae is FALSE?

A) In Japan, amae is considered an important characteristic of relationships between spouses, family members, and close friends.
B) Amae involves enjoying the feeling of being dependent on another person.
C) The English word "affection" is the equivalent of the Japanese word amae.
D) All of the statements above are true of amae; none are false.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Haidt and Keltner (1999) conducted a study in which participants in the United States and Eastern India looked at posed expressions of embarrassment and shame, provided an emotion label for that expression, and were asked to tell a story about what might have happened to cause the person's emotion. Which of the following is FALSE regarding the results of the study?

A) Participants in the United States consistently gave the expected labels for the embarrassment and shame expressions.
B) Participants in India gave the same word - lajya - as the label for both expressions.
C) Participants in the United States said the embarrassed-looking person was probably the focus of awkward social attention, but that the ashamed-looking person had probably done something morally wrong.
D) Participants in India said that both the embarrassed-looking and the ashamed-looking people had probably done something wrong.

Question 5

What is the main implication of Haidt and Keltner's (1999) study of how people interpret embarrassment and shame expressions in the United States and Eastern India?

A) The emotion words available in one's language strongly shape our beliefs about what events cause emotional responses.
B) People can tell the difference between embarrassment and shame, even if their language does not have two different words for these emotions.
C) "Embarrassment" and "shame" are synonyms - two words in English for the same emotion concept.
D) People in Eastern India do not experience embarrassment.

Question 6

Which of the following statements about individualism is TRUE, according to evidence discussed in your textbook?

A) As societies become wealthier, they tend to become more individualistic.
B) Japanese culture is less individualistic in the 21^st century than it was in the mid-20th century.
C) Individuals across the United States all show very similar, high levels of individualism.
D) All of the above are true of individualism.

Question 7

Two students, Jia from China and Julie from the United States, each learn that their best friend has cheated on an important exam. Which of the following predictions is most consistent with existing research on culture and emotion?

A) Jia will feel more ashamed than Julie, because Jia's language has more words for shame and embarrassment.
B) Jia will feel more ashamed than Julie, because Jia's self-concept is more strongly defined by her relationship with her friends.
C) Julie will feel more ashamed than Jia, because Julie's culture is more concerned with status differences.
D) Jia and Julie will feel equally ashamed of their friend's behavior.

Question 8

Which of the following statements regarding the cultural dimension of power distance is FALSE?

A) Power distance is higher in India than in the United States.
B) Individuals from cultures high on power distance display pride more readily after an achievement, such as winning a medal in the Olympics.
C) In high-power distance cultures, low-status people display anger more readily than high-status people because they have less self-control.
D) All of the statements above are true; none are false.

Question 9

Which of the following is the best definition of epistemology?

A) The study of how people in different cultures define the self
B) A branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of knowledge and understanding
C) The study of religious and spiritual writings written as letters to individuals or groups
D) A branch of sociology concerned with the formation of social hierarchies

Question 10

Western cultures, including the United States, are characterized by epistemology, whereas East Asian cultures are more strongly characterized by epistemology.

A) linear; dialectical
B) individualist; collectivist
C) dialectical; linear
D) dialectical; pluralist

Question 11

Which of the following is FALSE regarding the Shiota and colleagues (2010) study of emotion in conversations between romantic partners in Asian-American versus European-American couples?

A) European-Americans typically reported feeling love or a negative emotion during each conversation, but not both; Asian-Americans were more likely to report feeling love and a negative emotion during the same conversation.
B) It is unclear from the study whether the observed differences in Asian-American and European-American couples' conversations were due to differences in epistemology, or to some other aspect of culture.
C) The content of Asian-American and European-American couples' conversations differed significantly; Asian-American partners tended to be more critical of each other than European-Americans.
D) None of the above are false; all are true.

Question 12

According to your textbook, people in the United States may live in very different cultures, depending upon:

A) their ethnic heritage.
B) their religious background.
C) the region of the country they were raised in.
D) All of the above; cultures differ in important ways across people of different ethnicities, religions, and region of the country.

Question 13

Which dimension of culture best captures the extent to which people define their identities in terms of unique characteristics and ways they differ from others, versus relationships and membership in groups?

A) Individualism-collectivism
B) Power distance
C) Linear vs. dialectical epistemology
D) Monoculturalism vs. multiculturalism

Question 14

Your textbook describes hasham, an emotion concept among the Bedouin, as a pleasant combination of shyness and embarrassment experienced in the presence of a higher-status person than one's self. The importance of this emotion among the Bedouin suggests a relatively culture.

A) individualistic
B) collectivist
C) vertical
D) dialectical

Question 15

Which dimension of culture best captures the extent to which people emphasize continuity and constancy versus fluidity and change in understanding the world?

A) Individualism-collectivism
B) Power distance
C) Linear vs. dialectical epistemology
D) Monoculturalism vs. multiculturalism

Question 16

Which dimension of culture has been used to predict the extent to which people experience mixed positive and negative emotions?

A) Individualism-collectivism
B) Power distance
C) Linear vs. dialectical epistemology
D) Monoculturalism vs. multiculturalism

Question 17

In cultural priming, researchers study bicultural people who are reminded of one or the other of their cultural identities before completing some psychological task. What is the primary purpose of this manipulation?

A) To demonstrate that a single individual can be influenced by multiple cultures
B) To show that cultures can change rapidly under certain circumstances
C) To ask whether some cultures are easier to adopt than others
D) To learn whether cultural mindset causes differences in psychological outcomes

Question 18

A researcher gathers a sample of individuals from Indian families who were raised in North America (and are presumably Indian-American biculturals) to participate in her study. She randomly assigns participants to either draw a diagram showing the hierarchical relationships among their family members, or to list ways in which their family members are equal to each other. After this experimental manipulation, all participants are asked to sing "happy birthday" out loud in front of several people, and to report how embarrassed they felt during this task. The researcher is probably interested in learning:

A) whether Indian culture promotes embarrassment to a greater extent that North American culture.
B) whether power distance, as an aspect of culture, causally influences people's experience of embarrassment.
C) whether cultural priming affects people's ability to sing well.
D) whether Indian culture is more hierarchical than North American culture.

Question 19

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of societies in which a culture of honor, as defined by Dov Cohen and colleagues (1996), tends to emerge?

A) One's wealth is stored in a form and location that is easily stolen.
B) Law enforcement is distant, unreliable, and/or corrupt.
C) People are highly dependent on their communities for food, shelter, and protection.
D) All of the above are characteristics of cultures of honor.

Question 20

In Dov Cohen and colleagues' culture of honor study, who were the "confederates?"

A) Study participants who had grown up in Southern states
B) Study participants who teamed up to solve a problem
C) Study participants in the control condition, who were not insulted
D) Members of the research team, pretending to be study participants or bystanders

Question 21

Which of the following statements is FALSE regarding the results of Dov Cohen and colleagues' (1996) culture of honor study?

A) Men from southern states were angrier after being bumped and insulted than those from Northern states.
B) Men from southern states showed increases in the hormones cortisol and testosterone after being bumped and insulted; men from northern states did not.
C) Men from southern states were more dominant and assertive than men from northern states even in the control condition, where they were not bumped or insulted.
D) All of the statements above are true; none are false.

Question 22

Markus is attending a meeting with his team at work, including his supervisor. At one point, the supervisor makes a joke. Although Markus does not think the joke is funny, he laughs anyway. This illustrates the concept of .

A) display rules
B) individualism
C) facial action programs
D) dialecticism

Question 23

Which of the following is NOT a reason why people from different cultures might show different facial expressions in response to the same eliciting situation, according to Paul Ekman's (1972) neurocultural theory of emotion?

A) People in different cultures may have learned to interpret the situation in different ways, leading to different emotional experiences.
B) People in different cultures may have evolved different facial action programs for expressing an emotion, even if they experience the same emotion.
C) People in different cultures may have learned to override or fake certain emotional expressions, depending on the social context.
D) All of the above are consistent with Ekman's neurocultural theory of emotion.

Question 24

According to James Russell's (1991) theory of emotion episodes as socially constructed scripts, which of the following aspects of emotion is MOST likely to be culture-specific rather than universal?

A) The perceived cause of the emotional response
B) The physiological aspect of the emotional response
C) The facial expression accompanying the emotion
D) The action tendency associated with the emotional response

Question 25

According to Keltner and Haidt's (1999) approach to integrating evolutionary and cultural influences on emotion, the greatest cultural variability should be seen at which of the following levels of analysis?

A) The intraindividual level
B) The dyadic level
C) The group level
D) According to Keltner and Haidt, cultural variability should be similar at each of these levels of analysis.

Question 26

Anthropologists define "culture" as the extent to which a society has sophisticated literature, music, and art.

Question 27

Every language has a word corresponding closely to the English term "emotion."

Question 28

The Tahitian language has no word that translates directly into "sadness."

Question 29

Because the English language has no word corresponding to amae, North Americans are incapable of feeling this emotion.

Question 30

When asked to describe themselves by completing the stem "I am…" 20 times, Chinese participants list relationships and group memberships more often than participants in North America.

Question 31

In several studies, people from East Asian cultural backgrounds have reported experiencing simultaneous positive and negative emotions more often than did people from western European cultural backgrounds.

Question 32

In Dov Cohen and colleagues' (1996) culture of honor study, southern men showed more aggressive and dominant behavior than northern men regardless of whether they had been bumped and insulted or not.

Question 33

According to Paul Ekman's neurocultural theory of emotion, people should show the same facial expression of emotion in a given situation, regardless of what culture they are in.

Question 34

Most theorists agree that human emotion is influenced by both evolutionary and cultural forces.

Question 35

Compare and contrast the concepts of sadness in English and pe'a pe'a in Tahitian.

Question 36

Describe the strong version of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.

Question 37

A researcher is interested in studying the effects of culture on people's experience of romantic love. He administers a questionnaire to people in the United States and Japan asking how intensely people feel different aspects of romantic love (such as physical attraction, emotional intimacy, enjoyment of spending time together, and so forth) when they are in love with someone; all items are answered on a scale from 1 to 7. According to your textbook, what are three likely problems with studying culture and love in this way?

Question 38

Your textbook distinguishes between the "Hollywood" and "prosaic" concepts of romantic love commonly found in North American culture. Describe each of these concepts, and give an example of each from a well-known movie or television show (not one discussed in the text or in class); explain your examples carefully.

Question 39

Give an example of an emotion that is hypercognized in your culture, providing examples and evidence from language and media (e.g., movies, television, popular music) to support your argument.

Question 40

Have you ever felt the emotion called hasham in Bedouin - a pleasurable combination of embarrassment, admiration, and shyness felt in the presence of a higher-status person? Give an example, and explain the features of the situation that likely elicited this emotional response.