I Reincarnated with Motivation for Emotion – Week 7

This was the week I was very excited for. I really love cultural psychology, and I definitely want to pursue research about emotions in the future so combining both of them was very euphoric for me. However, and probably because I had the discussion leadership this week, both the chapter and the article was very overwhelming for me. I wanted to understand everything they talked about precisely, so it got a bit hectic for me.

Most Interesting Points in the Chapter

I guess it is now very clear and annoying for each of us that cultural research is mainly focused on the East vs. West comparisons, and most of us as Türkiye natives feel a bit left out. However, I loved how some of the research and theories were at least a bit ambigious because it encouraged me to think about my own theories about Türkiye.

I especially liked the ideal and actual affect differention in the chapter. As the article has too mentioned, most research in the area focus also on social rather than intrapersonal. I think authors made a great job of including how the ideal and actual affect could be different and that brought a new perspective for the intrapersonal processes behind emotions. Most importantly, it was intriguing to find out that people from different cultures have completely different experiences with emotions.

Regarding that topic, it made me question if and how therapy should be more culturally constructed. I always thought that some emotions were better put in boxes, maybe hidden, so not expressed. Most of the time when my therapist mentions “I’m bottling stuff up” or “it is okay to express my emotions”, I would be surprised, almost startled about the idea. The chapter also talks about how suppressed emotions are still causing stress for individuals with interdependent self-construals, but not as much as in the individuals with independent self-consturals. Whatever it may be, I think there are very foundational ideas about therapy that we don’t usually challenge. The emphasis on expressing emotions, getting active and keeping your energy levels high, or “putting yourself in front of others that are close to you” are some examples I can think of. Most importantly, it is very confusing for a person with an interdependent self-constural when they hear “acting for yourself, and yourself only” isn’t selfish. In clinical psychology classes we always talk about how therapy should provide a safe space but how can it manage to do so when it pays only little attention to an individual’s culture?

Another topic that caught my attention was the view of emotional expression changed how people perceived faces. Chapter mentioned interdependent individuals focusing on the eyes while independent individuals focused on the mouth. It turned into quite a fun game when I was trying to see the differences in popular media posters that were marketed to different countries. An example for this on top of my head is for the game “Like a Dragon” (from the Yakuza series). Just a quick search for it on Google, with it’s English name you mainly find the main character’s face. But with it’s original name (Ryu Ga Gotoku), you not only mainly find images for all the characters in the game but also tattoos, stances, and scenes from the game. It is very upfront that Japanese-speaking people perceive emotions more holistically from the marketing campaign.

Last section I found noteworthy was how individuals from East Asia preferred mixed emotions or a balance of positive and negative states. The example of consumer goods really captured my attention. According to some research, individuals from East Asia even preferred goods with mixed emotional messages like photo albums, or films. I feel like I always pick gifts either for emotions I can’t express or of something bittersweet. Also adding to that, I find it very offensive when people choose gifts for me that I’m not really interested in or can’t tie to a personal event or emotion, so maybe it’s related.

Overall, this week was the greatest (!) I feel like it encouraged me more to actually become a psychologist that is pursuing clinical-cultural-affective science (?). Also I really hope everyone enjoyed my discussion leadership as the article was a bit much for me and I’ve heard it was hard for you too.