Here, I will summarize our discussion on the Introduction and Chapter 1 of Lisa Barrett’s book “How Emotions are Made.”
In the introduction, Barrett describes the Classical View of Emotions, which she disagrees with throughout her work. The Classical View of Emotions, as we discussed, says that emotions are mechanical things that every human shares. Emotions are “universal” (because they are evolutionary and biological), and they display themselves as natural reactions to things (such as a rapid heart beat or the release of tears). Everyone experiences emotions the same way, thus they are “universal.”
Barrett disagrees with this notion and, in that vein, describes her view of Constructed Emotion: that emotion is learned. According to this premise, emotions cannot be universal, but rather they are constructed on an individual basis. To understand Barrett’s thinking, the class discussed the existence of fear and its functionality.
The classical approach to fear is the activation of the amygdala. Barrett, as well as a study with twin subjects, disproves this “activation” as the sole source of fear. According to the twin study, while they both grew up in the same environment with the same biological processes and makeup, the twins experienced “fear” (amygdala activation) differently. As a result, Barrett says that there is no such thing as a “fear center” or, for that matter, individual brain locations for separate emotions at all. Instead, as she says, “you are your brain.” In opposition to this Classical View, Barrett argues that there are, in fact, multiple ways to realize fear. While we are all prone to believing the classical view, we all have different experiences which lead us to experience our emotions differently.
From there, we discussed how our different cultures treat emotions differently. As we discussed in class, different cultures lead us to have different experiences from each other, which lead us to have different relationships to our emotions. I will focus on sadness and use a personal example to shed further light on this topic of our discussion. My sister and I grew up with two very different hobbies: she loved track and cross country, while I enjoyed another competitive hobby with no “team” involved whatsoever. Growing up in these two contrasting “cultures,” per say, we learned to experience and process sadness differently.
In track and cross country, my sister was a part of a team. If her team lost, it was acceptable for her to demonstrate her sadness on the bus ride home from meets. As a team, the girls would feel disappointment and sadness together, sometimes tear up together, and share each others’ emotions. This sharing of a team experience enabled the girls to embrace their sadness immediately, and together. If one did not display disappointment or sadness publicly, it seemed to others that the individual was less invested in the team.
On the other hand, my environment was in no way a team sport. Instead, it was a one-person sport in which every person advocates for oneself. A popular phrase from a very famous teacher in the field is “save your tears for your pillow” – thus demonstrating that sadness after a letdown in this world is considered a sign of weakness. Teachers want us to be strong and prepared for the harsh environment of our hobby. As a result, they want to teach us to have “tougher skin,” a “stronger mind,” and “self-sufficiency” for when massive letdowns come. “The best competitors in this field,” I was once told, “shoot for the stars and let nothing get them down.” As a result of this experience, I was raised in an environment where sadness was not to be put on display. It was not something to share with the world, and it was something to be dealt with on an individual level, or with one’s closest friends and family in private.
From this difference between the way my sister and I process sadness, I understand the notion that cultures lead us to treat emotions differently. It was acceptable for my sister to publicize her sadness, thus she has never been one to hold her emotions back. I, on the other hand, wait until I am alone or with a close friend or family member to let it all out. It feels more comfortable for me to embrace my sadness more privately, while my sister has significantly more comfort feeling things publicly.
Relating this back to culture and emotion processes, we see with this example that two different cultures – a competitive team environment versus an individual competitive sport – lead us to have different values. Sadness was either valued as a public and shared emotion or, in another culture, an ability to fend off or be immune to sadness (until one is alone) was valued.
As a result, my sister and I have different reactions to sadness today. When something sad happens to my sister, she is unafraid to hide it. I, on the other hand, feel I must mask it completely until I am within the safety of my own home with family and close friends. Furthermore, mine and my sisters’ experiences with sadness are extremely different, as she may tear up more instantly while I may have larger bursts later on. Our relationships with sadness are thus altered by the contrasting cultures we were a part of as we grew up.
Ultimately, this serves as one example to support the conversation we had in class, answering the question of whether different cultures lead us to experience emotions differently (and thus disproving universality). Our class conclusion, as well as the one I come to here, is that emotions are, indeed, influenced by culture: we understood this notion of Barrett’s.
As Barrett argues, our emotions are constructed by our individual perceptions and experiences (we get into this more technically in later class discussions). Therefore, if we grow up in different cultures with different values, our perceptions will vary, thus causing our relationships with different emotions to vary. It is with this thought process that we can disclaim the Classical View of Emotions and, more specifically, the idea that emotions are “universal.”
Shared by: Anonymous
Image Credit: https://giphy.com/explore/sadness