Emotion & Culture Case Studies

Why Emotion?

I believe in a holistic educational approach that supports students' academic, social, and psychological well-being. Current educational research has been student achievement driven. While I think student achievement scores are important, education involves more than test scores. In fact, if we primarily focus on students' achievement scores as indicators of success, what message does that send to youth about what priorities they should have in their life?

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Furthermore, studying emotion within cultural contexts will be an integral component of supporting students through strength based approaches. By understanding how facets of Asian American racial and ethnic identity serve protective roles in emotion regulation and well-being, we can then further promote these aspects of identity for students. 

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Continuing with a social constructivist instructional approach, reflect on the following questions as you learn about the research on emotion and culture:

1. How might your cultural identity influence your emotion regulation?

2. Have you considered the significance of emotion and culture for students in your own research?

3. How can we become more critical of educational research that is primarily student outcomes driven?

Goldenberg et al. (2015)

The Process Model of Group-Based Emotion

Similar to self-regulation theory, where it is believed that students are active, not passive, agents in their learning, the theory in this group-based model of emotion is that individuals are active regulators, rather than passive victims, of their emotions (individual and group-based). Following the modal model of emotion, emotions are a repeated sequence of different stages. In other words, emotion regulation does not occur in a linear fashion, but the different stages represent a cycle that is continuously activated during an emotion. Group-based emotions are dependent upon an individual's identity to a social group. Based upon inter-group emotion theory, individuals may react to situations relevant to his or her identity with a group, even if these situations have no direct influence on one's individual goals. Figure 2 (shown above) is the modal model of group-based emotions. First, a situation, whether external or internal, must occur before the conscious can attend to it. Cognition in emotion regulation is dependent on the situation receiving attention. During the appraisal stage, an individual assesses the situation, according to one's self-categorization. For example, in the figure above the situation is hearing the national anthem, and one attends to the words of the song. The individual identifies as an American and thinks about brave Americans. Then, the individual responds with excitement through smiling and loud singing, which is the emotional response stage. The emotional response stage includes the experiential and action readiness stages that result in behavior. It is critical to study group-based emotions in sociocultural contexts, as group-based emotions often fuel collective action among groups. Remember, the stages are presented in a linear demonstration, but the emotion regulation process is circular, and the individual is continuously engaged in actively regulating emotion through appraisal and suppression. 

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The authors noted two main goals of group emotions. First, hedonic goals include regulating group based emotions to increase positive emotions (i.e. pride and respect) and decrease unpleasant emotions (i.e. guilt). Also, group-based instrumental goals include short-term negative emotions that individuals are willing to experience to fulfill longer-term goals. Now, individuals may not be conscious of of the group goals they are participating in, but their self-categorization of self-identity actively regulates their emotion regulation process to contribute to larger group objectives. 

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Furthermore, there are various strategies that individuals use to regulate their emotions or change their behavioral responses. For instance, individuals can implement situation selection, such as choosing to ignore the anthem, or selection modification, where an individual may choose to call a friend during the national anthem. During the attention stage, individuals can exercise attentional deployment, where they choose to focus on something other than the anthem, like the stats board. Cognitive change takes place during the appraisal stage, where individuals may alter their self-categorization (i.e. from an American to an independent individual). Cognitive change can also include changing one's assessment of the situation, so an individual may choose to internally affirm that anthems should not be played at sports events. Additionally, individuals can regulate their responses through suppression of facial expressions, so others can not see their experiential emotions.

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Notes: It is important to understand emotion regulation processes in group and culture contexts. Researchers can build upon this work to understand how racial and ethnic groups regulate their emotions to promote group goals. An area that needs to be explored is the emotion regulation of Asian American students in response to discrimination. This will provide further insight into their lived experiences and possibilities for future culturally relevant facilitation of student well-being.

Butler, Lee, & Gross (2007)

Emotion Regulation & Culture: Are the Social Consequences of Emotion Suppression Culture-Specific?

The authors examined how emotion suppression consequences may be moderated by cultural values. Participants were all women, so gender was not applicable moderator. They conducted their study in two parts. First, they measured participants' cultural background, cultural values (compared between European American and Asian values), suppression, social goals, and negative emotion. All variables were measured utilizing standardized scales. They found that cultural values predicted differences in frequency and functions of suppression, as well as associated negative emotions. For instance, habitual suppression was positively linked to self-protective goals and negative emotion for women with European values, while the reverse was true to for women with bi-cultural (European and Asian) values.

For the second portion of the study, the authors conducted an experiment where participants were paired and reported emotional responses after viewing a documentary of the WWII bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. They analyzed participants’ cultural background, suppression, emotion expression, partner perception, and affiliation. Their findings confirm their hypothesis of emotion suppression being culture specific, as culture differences moderated emotion responsiveness and negative impacts of suppression. Their findings also have implications for analyzing relationship formation. Similar to previous research of Asian cultures encouraging conformity and social cohesion over the individual, women with bi-cultural values adapted their behavior to fit the expressive norms of the situation and suppressed at low levels comparable to women with European women. Also, when women with bi-cultural values suppressed emotion, it was perceived by their partners as less hostile than when when women with European values suppressed emotion. This may relate to the Asian custom of accommodating oneself to the needs of others, thereby minimizing negative confrontations. 

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Notes: This is a key study of emotion regulation, culture, and cognition. It is one of, if not the very, first experimental studies of comparing the influences of culture and emotion regulation on social outcomes. It sheds light onto how one's cultural values influence one's emotion regulation, as well as social relations. Given that emotions are a significant aspect of a student's educational experience, it is necessary to gain a clearer understanding of how culture moderates emotion regulation. As this study has demonstrated, emotion regulation has impacts on social relationships. Today's students represent diverse backgrounds and cultural values, which influence emotion regulation in nuanced ways. Furthermore, we should continue to explore emotion regulation of Asian Americans to debunk stereotypes of emotionless robots, as well as foster their well-being. Asian cultural values encourage conformity and suppressing one's own emotions for group cohesion, but that doesn't warrant educational researchers to ignore them. 

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