Emotions were once thought to be a universal language with consistency of expres

Question

Emotions were once thought to be a universal language with consistency of expression across cultures. There is much commonality in emotional expressions, but the expressions are not universal. While universally we feel the same emotions, the display rules may differ depending upon the culture. Body language may differ by culture or gender for both emotions and other types of communication. For instance in western cultures it is a sign of respect to maintain eye contact when speaking; while in African and Asian cultures it is disrespectful.

Consider how emotions are expressed through nonverbal cues. Discuss one bodily or facial expression of emotion and tell how it differs by culture, or gender. What is the significance of this?

Consider how a cultural difference or gender differrence in body language or response could alter polygraph readings.

Consider both differences and similarities in nonverbal expressions of emotions by gender or culture.

feel free to incorporate additional resources:

http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/body-speaks.aspx

http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/09/16/expression-of-emotion-varies-by-culture/18257.html

http://psych.stanford.edu/~tsailab/PDF/Culture%20and%20Emotion%20Chapter.pdf

https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are#t-129514

https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_gutman_the_hidden_power_of_smiling

Explanation / Answer

Nonverbal messages are generally the primary means of conveying emotions, attitudes, and our relationships with others, and we rely on nonverbal cues to "say" things that are difficult to vocalize. Nonverbal cues are defined as those messages embedded in nonlinguistic and paralinguistic cues that are expressed through multiple communication channels in a particular social setting. Nonlinguistic cues can be eye contact, smiles, touch, hand gestures, or silence.Paralinguistic lies in your voice, and can be speed, volume, tone or pitch. For example, some African Americans tend to have expressive voices and are passionate about their speaking points, which can be mistaken for anger. Men and women differ significantly in their propensity to use nonverbal communication, their skill in interpreting it and their means of signaling their meaning. Men generally communicate to transmit information and solve specific problems, while women usually use communication to express feelings and achieve emotional intimacy. Consequently, women tend to use nonverbal communication more than men. Women tend to make more eye contact during communication than men. Part of the reason for this is their tendency to use communication to establish emotional connection. For instance, comparing the ability of White Canadians and Indian Canadians to judge the emotional tone of content-filtered speech from either White or Indian speakers. Although both groups were able to correctly judge the emotions of the other group with above-chance accuracy, each group was better at this task when rating speech from their own cultural group. Cultural specificity in the facial expression models therefore likely reflects differences in the facial expression signals transmitted and encountered by observers in their social environment. For example, cultural differences in the communication of emotional intensity could reflect the operation of culture-specific display rules on the transmission and subsequent experience of facial expressions in each cultural context. For example, East Asian models of fear, disgust, and anger show characteristic early signs of emotional intensity with the eyes, which are under less voluntary control than the mouth, reflecting restrained facial behaviors as predicted by the literature.

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