Showing papers by "David Matsumoto published in 1989"

American-Japanese cultural differences in intensity ratings of facial expressions of emotion

Abstract: Findings from a recent study by Ekmanet al. (1987) provided evidence for cultural disagreement about the intensity ratings of universal facial expressions of emotion. We conducted a study that examined the basis of these cultural differences. Japanese and American subjects made two separate intensity ratings of Japanese and Caucacian posers portraying anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness, and surprise. The Americans had higher mean intensity ratings than the Japanese for all emotions except disgust, regardless of the culture or gender of the poser. Americans gave happy and angry photos the highest intensity ratings, while Japanese gave disgust photos the highest ratings. But there was considerable cross-cultural consistency in the relative differences among photos.

Cultural Influences on the Perception of Emotion

Abstract: Previous cross-cultural research on the emotions have operationalized culture by country. This article suggests that the use of stable and meaningful dimensions of cultural variability, such as those offered by Hofstede (1980), may be useful in studies on emotion. To illustrate their potential usefulness, cultural differences in previous judgment studies of universal facial expressions were reanalyzed, using Hofstede's (1980, 1983) dimensions. The results indicated that meaningful dimensions of cultural variability can be a potentially useful theoretical and empirical construct in future cross-cultural research on the emotions.

Face, culture, and judgments of anger and fear: Do the eyes have it?

Abstract: Three studies examine the contribution of the eyes to judgments of anger and fear. In Study 1, expressions of anger and fear posed by American and Japanese individuals were presented to American subjects, who judgedwhich emotion was shown, andhow intensely it was shown. In Study 2, the stimuli were judged by American and Japanese subjects, in order to test the effects of judging faces of another visibly different culture. In Study 3, the stimuli were shown to American subjects, who made judgments concerning degree of control and artificiality in the stimuli. The findings from all three studies indicated that the eyes play an important role in labelling emotion and judging its intensity, but do not provide information concerning control or artificiality. The findings also implicated effects of the eyes as a function of facial physiognomy.