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Emotion and economic development — Data and speculations concerning the relationship between economic factors and emotional experience
Author(s) -
Wallbott Harald G.,
Scherer Klaus R.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2420180305
Subject(s) - disgust , psychology , sadness , shame , anger , emotion classification , social psychology , emotional expression , expression (computer science) , emotionality , appraisal theory , two factor theory of emotion , cognitive appraisal , scale (ratio) , emotion work , cognitive reappraisal , cognition , affective science , physics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience , computer science , programming language
While proponents of biological theories of emotion claim the existence of universal emotion and expression patterns, recent theories stress cognitive appraisal mechanisms as elicitors of emotion, thus suggesting the influence of cultural and social factors on emotional experience and emotional expression. Data from a large‐scale questionnaire study with about 2400 respondents in 30 countries allowed us to test that notion in part. In this study, respondents had to describe in detail situations in which they had experienced the emotions of joy, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, shame, and guilt. The results indicate that emotional expression patterns do seem to be universal, while characteristics of the subjectively experienced emotion, in particular its duration and intensity, show a high variance across country samples. An attempt is made to link these differences to economic data for the different countries, specifically to the gross national product. The rather striking differences found between ‘rich’ and boor' countries are discussed in terms of the frequency of confrontation with emotion eliciting situations and the importance of such situations.