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. 2023 Apr;32(2):167-175.
doi: 10.1177/09637214221151154. Epub 2023 Mar 1.

Ancestral Diversity: A Socioecological Account of Emotion Culture

Paula M Niedenthal  1 , Ryan S Hampton  1 , Michelle Marji  1
Affiliations

Ancestral Diversity: A Socioecological Account of Emotion Culture

Paula M Niedenthal et al. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2023 Apr.

Abstract

Cultural differences in emotion expression, experience, and regulation can cause misunderstandings with lasting effects on interpersonal, intergroup, and international relations. A full account of the factors responsible for the emergence of different cultures of emotion is therefore urgent. Here we propose that the ancestral diversity of regions of the world, determined by colonization and sometimes forced migration of humans over centuries, explains significant variation in cultures of emotion. We review findings that relate the ancestral diversity of the world's countries to present-day differences in display rules for emotional expression, the clarity of expressions, and the use of specific facial expressions such as the smile. Results replicate at the level of the states of the United States, which also vary in ancestral diversity. Further, we suggest that historically diverse contexts provide opportunities for individuals to exercise physiological processes that support emotion regulation, resulting in average regional differences in cardiac vagal tone. We conclude that conditions created by the long-term commingling of the world's people have predictable effects on the evolution of emotion cultures and provide a roadmap for future research to analyze causation and isolate mechanisms linking ancestral diversity to emotion.

Keywords: ancestral diversity; emotion culture; socioecological approach.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Immigrant photos taken at Ellis Island in the early 20th century from Top (left to right): Algeria, Greece, and Russia and Bottom (left to right): Guadeloupe, Albania, and the Netherlands (Mesenhöller & Sherman, 2005). The thousands of immigrants that came through this port every day were as foreign in all regards to each other as they were to the Americans who welcomed them.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Country- and US State-Level Ancestral Diversity.
(A) depicts the ancestral diversity of the countries of the world (from Putterman & Weil, 2010) and (B) depicts the ancestral diversity of the states of the United States (Niedenthal et al., 2018), both in the year 2010. Higher ancestral diversity is represented by darker colors.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Smiling, laughter, and ancestral diversity of countries of the world.
Ancestral diversity scores in log-transformed units. Regression lines control for GDP and ethnic fractionalization (Niedenthal et al., 2018).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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