People in different cultures have strikingly different construals of the self, of others, and of the interdependence of the 2. These construals can influence, and in many cases determine, the very nature of individual experience, including cognition, emotion, and motivation. Many Asian cultures have distinct conceptions of individuality that insist on the fundamental relatedness of individuals to each other. The emphasis is on attending to others, fitting in, and harmonious interdependence with them. American culture neither assumes nor values such an overt connectedness among individuals. In contrast, individuals seek to maintain their independence from others by attending to the self and by discovering and expressing their unique inner attributes. As proposed herein, these construals are even more powerful than previously imagined. Theories of the self from both psychology and anthropology are integrated to define in detail the difference between a construal of the self as independent and a construal of the self as interdependent. Each of these divergent construals should have a set of specific consequences for cognition, emotion, and motivation; these consequences are proposed and relevant empirical literature is reviewed. Focusing on differences in self-construals enables apparently inconsistent empirical findings to be reconciled, and raises questions about what have been thought to be culture-free aspects of cognition, emotion, and motivation.

/pdf/culture-and-the-self-implications-for-cognition-emotion-and-2phi5i0grk.pdf

Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation.

In this article, the author describes a new theoretical perspective on positive emotions and situates this new perspective within the emerging field of positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory posits that experiences of positive emotions broaden people's momentary thought-action repertoires, which in turn serves to build their enduring personal resources, ranging from physical and intellectual resources to social and psychological resources. Preliminary empirical evidence supporting the broaden-and-build theory is reviewed, and open empirical questions that remain to be tested are identified. The theory and findings suggest that the capacity to experience positive emotions may be a fundamental human strength central to the study of human flourishing.

http://www.elaborer.org/cours/A13/lectures/Fredrickson2001.pdf

The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions.

Emotions are viewed as having evolved through their adaptive value in dealing with fundamental life-tasks. Each emotion has unique features: signal, physiology, and antecedent events. Each emotion ...

http://files.espertaemozionietaevolutiva.webnode.it/200000014-c9216ca1b9/Ekman%20(1992)%20an%20argument%20for%20basic%20emotion.pdf

An argument for basic emotions

In this chapter a theory of motivation and emotion developed from an attributional perspective is presented Before undertaking this central task, it might be beneficial to review the progression of the book In Chapter 1 it was suggested that causal attributions have been prevalent throughout history and in disparate cultures Studies reviewed in Chapter 2 revealed a large number of causal ascriptions within motivational domains, and different ascriptions in disparate domains Yet some attributions, particularly ability and effort in the achievement area, dominate causal thinking To compare and contrast causes such as ability and effort, their common denominators or shared properties were identified Three causal dimensions, examined in Chapter 3, are locus, stability, and controllability, with intentionality and globality as other possible causal properties As documented in Chapter 4, the perceived stability of a cause influences the subjective probability of success following a previous success or failure; causes perceived as enduring increase the certainty that the prior outcome will be repeated in the future And all the causal dimensions, as well as the outcome of an activity and specific causes, influence the emotions experienced after attainment or nonattainment of a goal The affects linked to causal dimensions include pride (with locus), hopelessness and resignation (with stability), and anger, gratitude, guilt, pity, and shame (with controllability)

/pdf/an-attributional-theory-of-achievement-motivation-and-2eu5g13rxj.pdf

An attributional theory of achievement motivation and emotion.

The emerging field of emotion regulation studies how individuals influence which emotions they have, when they have them, and how they experience and express them. This review takes an evolutionary perspective and characterizes emotion in terms of response tendencies. Emotion regulation is denned and distinguished from coping, mood regulation, defense, and affect regulation. In the increasingly specialized discipline of psychology, the field of emotion regulation cuts across traditional boundaries and provides common ground. According to a process model of emotion regulation, emotion may be regulated at five points in the emotion generative process: (a) selection of the situation, (b) modification of the situation, (c) deployment of attention, (d) change of cognitions, and (e) modulation of responses. The field of emotion regulation promises new insights into age-old questions about how people manage their emotions.

http://www.elaborer.org/cours/A13/lectures/Gross1998.pdf

The emerging field of emotion regulation: An integrative review.

Visual behavior appears to provide information at several different communicational levels in social interaction. As a dependent variable, it has been used to measure stable individual and group differences, the regulation of the flow of conversation, and the search for feedback in an interaction. As an independent variable, it has been shown to influence emotional responses and cognitive attributions. Research efforts to specify and understand the functioning of visual behavior at each level are reviewed. An example of a multi-level approach to an area is provided by a survey of the research on visual behavior in relation to interpersonal attraction and involvement. Finally, some speculations about future questions and concerns are presented.

Visual Behavior in Social Interaction

Effects of eye contact and verbal content on affective response to a dyadic interaction.

Possible biases in police practices of obtaining identifications of suspects from eyewitnesses were investigated in a test of the hypothesis that picking out an incorrect photograph from an array would affect witness performance on some later identification task. A psychology class was interrupted by a confederate. Twenty-five minutes later, half of the class (the control group) was dismissed, and the remaining subjects (the prior choice group) were asked to pick out the face of the confederate from an array of 12 photographs, none of which was actually that of the confederate. Four to 6 days later, all subjects were asked to pick out the face of the confederate from an array of 6 photographs, 1 of which was of the confederate and 1 of which, for participants in the prior choice group, was the incorrect face selected by that participant in the first identification task. Control subjects picked out the face of the confederate with better than chance accuracy (39% of the time,/? < .05), whereas prior choice subjects picked out the actual confederate no more often than chance (22% of the time) and picked out the face they had previously chosen from the array of 12 photographs significantly more often than chance (44% of the time, p < .005).

Effect of choosing an incorrect photograph on a later identification by an eyewitness.

/pdf/are-twelve-heads-better-than-one-d2f04si96d.pdf

Are Twelve Heads Better Than One

Attitudes toward the death penalty are consistently predictive of jurors' verdicts in criminal trials. Two studies were conducted to find out why. In Study 1, eligible jurors viewed a videotape showing conflicting testimony by a prosecution and defense witness in an assault case. “Death-qualified” subjects (those permitted to serve on capital juries) interpreted testimony in a manner more favorable to the prosecution than “excludable” subjects (those excluded from serving on juries in capital cases due to their opposition to the death penalty), suggesting that differing interpretations of evidence may mediate the relationship between attitudes toward the death penalty and verdicts. In Study 2, the same jurors indicated their reactions to a number of hypothetical situations in which a jury had convicted an innocent defendant or acquitted a guilty one. “Death qualified” subjects expressed less regret concerning erroneous convictions and more regret concerning erroneous acquittals than “excludable” subjects. Theoretical interpretations of this pattern of results suggest that “death qualified” subjects may have a lower threshold of conviction than “excludable” subjects; thus the relationship between attitudes toward the death penalty and verdicts may also be mediated by differing thresholds of conviction.

Phoebe C. Ellsworth

Papers

Visual Behavior in Social Interaction

Effects of eye contact and verbal content on affective response to a dyadic interaction.

Effect of choosing an incorrect photograph on a later identification by an eyewitness.

Are Twelve Heads Better Than One

Death penalty attitudes and conviction proneness: The translation of attitudes into verdicts.