Emotions are linked to wide sets of action tendencies, and it can be difficult to predict which specific action tendency will be motivated or indulged in response to individual experiences of emotion. Building on a functional perspective of emotion, we investigate whether anger and shame connect to different behavioral intentions in dignity, face, and honor cultures. Using simple animations that showed perpetrators taking resources from victims, we conducted two studies across eleven countries investigating the extent to which participants expected victims to feel anger and shame, how they thought victims should respond to such violations, and how expectations of emotions were affected by enacted behavior. Across cultures, anger was associated with desires to reclaim resources or alert others to the violation. In face and honor cultures, but not dignity cultures, shame was associated with the desire for aggressive retaliation. However, we found that when victims indulged motivationally-relevant behavior, expected anger and shame were reduced, and satisfaction increased, in similar ways across cultures. Results suggest similarities and differences in expectations of how emotions functionally elicit behavioral responses across cultures.
AslaniS.Ramirez-MarinJ.BrettJ.YaoJ.Semnani-AzadZ.ZhangZ.-X.TinsleyC.WeingartL.AdairW. (2016). Dignity, face, and honor cultures: A study of negotiation strategy and outcomes in three cultures. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 37(8), 1178–1201. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2095
3.
AverillJ. R. (1983). Studies on anger and aggression: Implications for theories of emotion. American Psychologist, 38(11), 1145–1160. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066x.38.11.1145
4.
BergeronN.SchneiderB. H. (2005). Explaining cross-national differences in peer-directed aggression: A quantitative synthesis. Aggressive Behavior, 31(2), 116–137. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.20049
5.
BoigerM.GüngörD.KarasawaM.MesquitaB. (2014). Defending honour, keeping face: Interpersonal affordances of anger and shame in Turkey and Japan. Cognition & Emotion, 28(7), 1255–1269. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2014.881324
6.
BoigerM.MesquitaB.UchidaY.Feldman BarrettL. (2013). Condoned or condemned: The situational affordance of anger and shame in the United States and Japan. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(4), 540–553. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213478201
ChiuC.-Y.GelfandM. J.YamagishiT.ShteynbergG.WanC. (2010). Intersubjective culture: The role of intersubjective perceptions in cross-cultural research. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(4), 482–493. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610375562
9.
CohenD. (1998). Culture, social organization, and patterns of violence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(2), 408–419. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.75.2.408
10.
CohenD.NisbettR. E. (1994). Self-protection and the culture of honor: Explaining southern violence. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20(5), 551–567. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167294205012
11.
CohenD.NisbettR. E. (1997). Field experiments examining the culture of honor: The role of institutions in perpetuating norms about violence. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(11), 1188–1199. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672972311006
12.
CohenD.NisbettR. E.BowdleB. F.SchwarzN. (1996). Insult, aggression, and the southern culture of honor: An “experimental ethnography”. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(5), 945–960. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.5.945
13.
CohenJ. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
14.
CrossS. E.UskulA. K.Gerçek-SwingB.AlözkanC.AtacaB. (2013). Confrontation versus withdrawal: Cultural differences in responses to threats to honor. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 16(3), 345–362. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430212461962
15.
CrossS. E.UskulA. K.Gerçek-SwingB.SunbayZ.AlözkanC.GünsoyC.AtacaB.Karakitapoğlu-AygünZ. (2014). Cultural prototypes and dimensions of honor. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40(2), 232–249. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213510323
16.
ElisonJ.GarofaloC.VelottiP. (2014). Shame and aggression: Theoretical considerations. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 19(4), 447–453. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2014.05.002
17.
ErikssonK.StrimlingP.AnderssonP. A.AveyardM.BrauerM.GritskovV.KiyonariT.KuhlmanD. M.MaitnerA. T.ManesiZ.MolhoC.PeperkoornL. S.RizwanM.StiversA. W.TianQ.Van LangeP. A. M.VartanovaI.WuJ.YamagishiT. (2017). Cultural universals and cultural differences in meta-norms about peer punishment. Management and Organization Review, 13(4), 851–870. https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2017.42
18.
ErikssonK.StrimlingP.GelfandM.WuJ.AbernathyJ.AkotiaC. S.AldashevA.AnderssonP. A.AndrighettoG.AnumA.ArikanG.AycanZ.BagherianF.BarreraD.Basnight-BrownD.BatkeyevB.BelausA.BerezinaE.BjörnstjernaM. . . .Van LangeP. A. M. (2021). Perceptions of the appropriate response to norm violation in 57 societies. Nature Communications, 12(1), 1481. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21602-9
19.
FeinbergM.FangR.LiuS.PengK. (2019). A world of blame to go around: Cross-cultural determinants of responsibility and punishment judgments. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 45(4), 634–651. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167218794631
20.
FischerA. H.Rodriguez MosqueraP. M.van VianenA. E. M.MansteadA. S. R. (2004). Gender and culture differences in emotion. Emotion, 4(1), 87–94. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.4.1.87
21.
FischerA. H.RosemanI. J. (2007). Beat them or ban them: The characteristics and social functions of anger and contempt. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(1), 103–115. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.1.103
22.
FrijdaN. H. (1986). The emotions. Cambridge University Press.
23.
FrijdaN. H.KuipersP.Ter SchureE. (1989). Relations among emotion, appraisal, and emotional action readiness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(2), 212–228. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.57.2.212
24.
FrijdaN. H.MesquitaB. (1994). The social roles and functions of emotions. InKitayamaS.MarkusH. R. (Eds.), Emotion and culture: Empirical studies of mutual influence (pp. 51–87). American Psychological Association.
25.
GelfandM. J.NishiiL. H.HolcombeK. M.DyerN.OhbuchiK. I.FukunoM. (2001). Cultural influences on cognitive representations of conflict: Interpretations of conflict episodes in the United States and Japan. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(6), 1059–1074. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.6.1059
26.
GuerraV. M.Giner-SorollaR.VasiljevicM. (2013). The importance of honor concerns across eight countries. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 16(3), 298–318. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430212463451
27.
GünsoyC.CrossS. E.UskulA. K.AdamsG.Gercek-SwingB. (2015). Avoid or fight back? Cultural differences in responses to conflict and the role of collectivism, honor, and enemy perception. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 46(8), 1081–1102. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022115594252
HanelP. H. P.MaioG. R.MansteadA. S. R. (2019). A new way to look at the data: Similarities between groups of people are large and important. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 116(4), 541–562. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000154
30.
HarinckF.ShafaS.EllemersN.BeersmaB. (2013). The good news about honor culture: The preference for cooperative conflict management in the absence of insults. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 6(2), 67–78. https://doi.org/10.1111/ncmr.12007
31.
Harmon-JonesE.SigelmanJ.BohligA.Harmon-JonesC. (2003). Anger, coping, and frontal cortical activity: The effect of coping potential on anger-induced left frontal activity. Cognition & Emotion, 17(1), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930302278
32.
HeiderF.SimmelM. (1944). An experimental study of apparent behavior. The American Journal of Psychology, 57(2), 243. https://doi.org/10.2307/1416950
33.
HenryP. J. (2009). Low-status compensation: A theory for understanding the role of status in cultures of honor. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(3), 451–466. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015476
34.
IjzermanH.CohenD. (2011). Grounding cultural syndromes: Body comportment and values in honor and dignity cultures. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41(4), 456–467. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.806
35.
IjzermanH.van DijkW. W.GallucciM. (2007). A bumpy train ride: A field experiment on insult, honor, and emotional reactions. Emotion, 7(4), 869–875. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.4.869
36.
KeltnerD.HaidtJ. (1999). Social functions of emotions at four levels of analysis. Cognition & Emotion, 13(5), 505–521.
37.
KimY.-H.CohenD.AuW.-T. (2010). The jury and abjury of my peers: The self in face and dignity cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98(6), 904–916. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017936
38.
KitayamaS.MarkusH. R.MatsumotoH.NorasakkunkitV. (1997). Individual and collective processes in the construction of the self: self-enhancement in the United States and self-criticism in Japan. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(6), 1245–1267. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.72.6.1245
39.
KitayamaS.MesquitaB.KarasawaM. (2006). Cultural affordances and emotional experience: Socially engaging and disengaging emotions in Japan and the United States. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(5), 890–903. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.91.5.890
40.
KrysK.XingC.ZelenskiJ. M.CapaldiC. A.LinZ.WojciszkeB. (2017). Punches or punchlines? Honor, face, and dignity cultures encourage different reactions to provocation. Humor, 30(3), 303–322. https://doi.org/10.1515/humor-2016-0087
41.
KuppensP.Van MechelenI.SmitsD. J.De BoeckP. (2003). The appraisal basis of anger: Specificity, necessity and sufficiency of components. Emotion, 3(3), 254–269. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.3.3.254
42.
KurmanJ.SriramN. (2002). Interrelationships among vertical and horizontal collectivism, modesty, and self-enhancement. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 33(1), 71–86. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022102033001005
43.
LeachC. W.CidamA. (2015). When is shame linked to constructive approach orientation? A meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109(6), 983–1002. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000037
44.
LeungA. K.CohenD. (2011). Within- and between-culture variation: Individual differences and the cultural logics of honor, face, and dignity cultures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(3), 507–526. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022151
MaitnerA. T.DeCosterJ.AnderssonP. A.ErikssonK.SherbajiS.Giner-SorollaR.WuJ. (2021). Cross-cultural differences in the experience and function of emotion. https://osf.io/hnd4a
48.
MaitnerA. T.MackieD. M.PauketatJ. V. T.SmithE. R. (2017). The impact of culture and identity on emotional reactions to insults. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48(6), 892–913. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022117701194
49.
MaitnerA. T.MackieD. M.SmithE. R. (2006). Evidence for the regulatory function of intergroup emotion: Implementing and impeding intergroup behavioral intentions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42(6), 720–728. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2005.08.001
50.
MaitnerA. T.MackieD. M.SmithE. R. (2007). Antecedents and consequences of satisfaction and guilt following ingroup aggression. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 10(2), 223–237. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430207075154
51.
MaV.SchoenemanT. J. (1997). Individualism versus collectivism: A comparison of Kenyan and American self-concepts. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 19(2), 261–273. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15324834basp1902_7
52.
MesquitaB.BoigerM.De LeersnyderJ. (2017). Doing emotions: The role of culture in everyday emotions. European Review of Social Psychology, 28(1), 95–133. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463283.2017.1329107
53.
MillerW. I. (1993). Humiliation and other essays on honour, social discomfort, and violence. Cornell University Press.
54.
MolhoC.TyburJ. M.Van LangeP. A. M.BallietD. (2020). Direct and indirect punishment of norm violations in daily life. Nature Communications, 11, 3432. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17286-2
NisbettR. E.CohenD. (1996). New direction in social psychology: Culture of honor: The psychology of violence in the south. Westview Press.
58.
NowakA.GelfandM. J.BorkowskiW.CohenD.HernandezI. (2016). The evolutionary basis of honor cultures. Psychological Science, 27(1), 12–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797615602860
59.
OhbuchiK.-I.TakahashiY. (1994). Cultural styles of conflict management in Japanese and Americans: Passivity, covertness, and effectiveness of strategies1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24(15), 1345–1366. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1994.tb01553.x
60.
OrtonyA.CloreG. L.CollinsA. (1988). The cognitive structure of emotions. Cambridge University Press.
61.
Pitt-RiversJ. (1965). Honor and social status. In PeristianyJ. G. (Ed.), Honor and shame: The values of Mediterranean society (pp. 19–78). Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
62.
Rodriguez MosqueraP. M. R.MansteadA. S. R.FischerA. H. (2002). The role of honour concerns in emotional reactions to offences. Cognition & Emotion, 16(1), 143–163. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930143000167
63.
Rodriguez MosqueraP. M.FischerA. H.MansteadA. S. R.ZaalbergR. (2008). Attack, disapproval, or withdrawal? The role of honour in anger and shame responses to being insulted. Cognition & Emotion, 22(8), 1471–1498. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930701822272
64.
SchererK. (1997). Profiles of emotion-antecedent appraisal: Testing theoretical predictions across cultures. Cognition & Emotion, 11(2), 113–150. https://doi.org/10.1080/026999397379962
65.
SchererK. R.BroschT. (2009). Culture-specific appraisal biases contribute to emotion dispositions. European Journal of Personality, 23(3), 265–288. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.714
SeveranceL.Bui-WrzosinskaL.GelfandM. J.LyonsS.NowakA.BorkowskiW.SoomroN.SoomroN.RafaeliA.Efrat TreisterD.LinC. C.YamaguchiS. (2013). The psychological structure of aggression across cultures. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34(6), 835–865. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1873
68.
SheikhS. (2014). Cultural variations in shame’s responses: A dynamic perspective. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 18(4), 387–403. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868314540810
69.
SmithC. A.LazarusR. S. (1993). Appraisal components, core relational themes, and the emotions. Cognition & Emotion, 7(3–4), 233–269. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699939308409189
70.
SmithP. B.EasterbrookM. J.BlountJ.KocY.HarbC.TorresC.AhmadA. H.PingH.CelikkolG. C.Diaz LovingR.RizwanM. (2017). Culture as perceived context: An exploration of the distinction between dignity, face and honor cultures. Acta de Investigación Psicológica, 7(1), 2568–2576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aipprr.2017.03.001
71.
SmithP. B.EasterbrookM. J.CelikkolG. C.ChenS. X.PingH.RizwanM. (2016). Cultural variations in the relationship between anger coping styles, depression, and life satisfaction. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 47(3), 441–456. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022115620488
72.
ŚwidrakJ.KrysK.KwiatkowskaA.Kosakowska-BerezeckaN.GjerstadB. (2019). Polish honor and Norwegian dignity: Life satisfaction, acculturation, and self-worth. Acta de Investigación Psicológica, 9(3), 5–13. https://doi.org/10.22201/fpsi.20074719e.2019.3.316
73.
SzmajkeA. (2008). Culture and aggression: Poland as an enclave of “culture of honor”. In PlopaM.BłażekM. (Eds.), Współczesny człowiek w świetle dylematów i wyzwań: perspektywa psychologiczna [Contemporary man in the perspective of dilemmas and challenges: Psychological perspective] (pp. 105–113). Impuls.
74.
SznycerD.TakemuraK.DeltonA. W.SatoK.RobertsonT.CosmidesL.ToobyJ. (2012). Cross-cultural differences and similarities in proneness to shame: An adaptationist and ecological approach. Evolutionary Psychology, 10(2), 352–370. https://doi.org/10.1177/147470491201000213
75.
SznycerD.XygalatasD.AgeyE.AlamiS.AnX. F.AnanyevaK. I.AtkinsonQ. D.BroitmanB. R.ConteT. J.FloresC.FukushimaS.HitokotoH.KharitonovA. N.OnyishiC. N.OnyishiI. E.RomeroP. P.SchrockJ. M.SnodgrassJ. J.SugiyamaL. S. . . .ToobyJ. (2018). Cross-cultural invariances in the architecture of shame. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(39), 9702–9707. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1805016115
76.
TangneyJ. P. (1992). Situational detenninants of shame and guilt in young adulthood. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18(2), 199–206. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167292182011
77.
UskulA. K.CrossS. E.GünsoyC.Gerçek-SwingB.AlözkanC.AtacaB. (2015). A price to pay: Turkish and northern American retaliation for threats to personal and family honor. Aggressive Behavior, 41(6), 594–607. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21598
78.
VandelloJ. A.CohenD. (2003). Male honor and female fidelity: Implicit cultural scripts that perpetuate domestic violence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(5), 997–1010. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.5.997
79.
YaoJ.Ramirez-MarinJ.BrettJ.AslaniS.Semnani-AzadZ. (2017). A measurement model for dignity, face, and honor cultural norms. Management and Organization Review, 13(4), 713–738. https://doi.org/10.1017/mor.2017.49
80.
ZdybekP. M.WalczakR. B. (2019). Does the culture of honor do well in Poland? A replication study on the culture of honor while accounting for gender role differences. Family Forum, 9, 113–130.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
