Motivation and Emotion 377facial expressions.) Charles Darwin (1898) was one of the first to theorize that emo-
tions were a product of evolution and, therefore, universal—all human beings, no
matter what their culture, would show the same facial expression because the facial
muscles evolved to communicate specific information to onlookers. For example, an
angry face would signal to onlookers that they should act submissively or expect a
fight. Although Darwin’s ideas were not in line with the behaviorist movement of the
early and middle twentieth century, which promoted environment rather than hered-
ity as the cause of behavior, other researchers have since found evidence that there is
a universal nature to at least seven basic emotions, giving more support to the evolu-
tionary perspective within psychology (Ekman, 1973; Ekman & Friesen, 1969, 1971).
to Learning Objective 1.3. Even children who are blind from birth can pro-
duce the appropriate facial expressions for any given situation without ever having
witnessed those expressions on others, which strongly supports the idea that emo-
tional expressions have their basis in biology rather than in learning (Charlesworth &
Kreutzer, 1973; Fulcher, 1942).
In their research, Ekman and Friesen found that people of many different cul-
tures (including Japanese, European, American, and the Fore tribe of New Guinea)
can consistently recognize at least seven facial expressions: anger, fear, disgust, hap-
piness, surprise, sadness, and contempt (Ekman & Friesen, 1969, 1971). Although the
emotions and the related facial expressions appear to be universal, exactly when,
where, and how an emotion is expressed may be determined by the culture. Display
rules that can vary from culture to culture (Ekman, 1973; Ekman & Friesen, 1969) are
learned ways of controlling displays of emotion in social settings. For example, Japa-
nese people have strict social rules about showing emotion in public situations—they
simply do not show emotion, remaining cool, calm, and collected, at least on the out-
side. But if in a more private situation, as a parent scolding a child within the home,
the adult’s facial expression would easily be recognized as “angry” by people of any
culture. The emotion is universal and the way it is expressed on the face is universal,
but whether it is expressed or displayed depends on the learned cultural rules for dis-
playing emotion.
Display rules are different between cultures that are individualistic (placing the
importance of the individual above the social group) and those that are collectivistic (plac-
ing the importance of the social group above that of the individual). Whereas the culture
of the United States is individualistic, for example, the culture of Japan is collectivistic.
At least part of the difference between the two types of display rules may be due to these
cultural differences (Edelmann & Iwawaki, 1987; Hofstede, 1980; Hofstede et al., 2002).
to Learning Objective 13.13.
Display rules are also different for males and females. Researchers looking at the
display rules of boys and girls found that boys are reluctant to talk about feelings in a
social setting, whereas girls are expected and encouraged to do so (Polce-Lynch et al.,
1998). With adults, researchers looking at the expression of anger in the workplace
found that women are generally less willing than men to express negative emotions,
although factors such as status complicate the findings somewhat (Domagalski &
Steelman, 2007).
Crying is also an emotional behavior—we cry for many different reasons such as
being sad, grieving, angry, or even happy. While most of us don’t like to cry, many peo-
ple seem to think that “a good cry” can make them feel better. Researchers in one study
examined the effects of crying on mood both immediately after participants watched two
emotionally charged films and after a delay (Gračanin et al., 2015). They found a fasci-
nating difference between the people who cried and those who did not: While the mood
of those who did not cry was not affected immediately, those who cried experienced a
slight dip in mood immediately but an increase in positive mood after a delay. This may
explain why many people claim to feel “better” after crying.
display rules
learned ways of controlling displays of
emotion in social settings.How might the display rules for this family
differ if they were in a public place rather
than at home?