Understanding Emotions Chapter 3 Summary

Melissa Dong

In Chapter 3 of Understanding Emotions, Keltner, Oatley, and Jenkins discuss the cultural approach to emotions. They mention the study by Kitayama and Markus in 1991, which concluded the self-construal dichotomy between cultures (Markus & Kitayama, p.226). East Asian cultures honor the interdependent self-construal where the self fills a role to be connected with others and changes to match the social context. Western culture takes pride in the independent self-construal, where the self makes itself a distinct individual and stays unique no matter the context. KO&J delineate the concept of the cultural self-construal as though a person can only be one or the other. I propose that it is not so discrete, that an individual can be

both, as seen in immigrants and their families. As a child of first-generation Chinese immigrants, I felt a pull toward both types of the self-construal. I questioned if there was a critical period, in which the first culture exposed to a child will be more dominant for that individual’s life despite remaining in a different culture for the remaining majority of life.
First, I needed to determine that the self-construal concept is more complex than two distinct belongings.

Singelis comments on a study by Triandis, who proposed that each person has three aspects of the self: private, public, and collective (Singelis, p. 582), similar to the self-construal concept. He conceptualized the idea that different cultural and situational contexts promote the development of certain types of self within an individual (Singelis, p. 582). Singelis also suggests a spectrum for interdependent and independent, but this understanding can only be used for cultural groups, not individuals (Singelis, p. 588). He concludes that although cultures overall must have some preference, individuals can indeed self-identify with both self-construals, and the dominant is based on the cultural and situational

context.
From that conclusion, I investigated the effects on those thoroughly involved in two cultures.

Leersnyder, Mesquita, and Kim performed a study on Korean immigrants in America measuring their level of emotional acculturation based on their emotional concordance, the similarity between an individual’s behaviors and emotions and the predominant culture of the area. They discovered that emotional concordance and the length of time immigrants have lived in a second culture correlate positively (Leersnyder et al., 454). However, this is dependent on how much they are willing to expose themselves to new experiences in the second culture (Leersnyder et al., 461). This notion shows that one individual is capable of both self-construals simultaneously, as emotional acculturation is gradual. Additionally, it is highly dependent on whether one is willing to accept the culture. Perhaps the more willing, the more likely one will relate to both self-construals. The reason KO&J presented it as though they were separate could be because humans are inclined to create the “us” versus “them” distinction, and less willing to welcome a different

culture.
Those findings also answer my question regarding critical periods. There is no “critical period” in which a person develops these cultural behaviors permanently. Younger immigrants were found to have a higher emotional concordance with the second culture compared to the older immigrants, but only because interactions and experiences that continue through life will further assist in acculturation (Leersnyder et al., 460). Additionally, Leersnyder observed that the emotional concordance of second-generation immigrants did not differ significantly from that of European Americans (Leersnyder et al., 454). This caused me to question why I feel strongly to both self-construals, although statistically speaking I should feel more inclined toward the independent self-construal.
Ultimately, I found this discussion of the independent and interdependent self-construal fascinating and personally relatable. I disagree with the book’s presentation that the two are discrete opposites, as it is understood that it not only lies on a continuum, but also can be present simultaneously in an individual (Singelis, p. 588). From this I could evaluate my personal experience, understanding that my emotional concordance with Western culture is very high today despite growing up feeling culturally and socially out of place. This is ascertained by the fact that my increasing exposure to American culture gradually increased my emotional concordance, and there is in fact no critical period of cultural behavioral development.

References

Leersnyder, J., Mesquita, B., & Kim, H. (2011). Where Do My Emotions Belong? A Study of Immigrants' Emotional Acculturation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,451-463. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
Markus, H., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation.Psychological Review, 98(2), 224-253.
Singelis, T. (1994). The Measurement of Independent and Interdependent Self-Construals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 580-591.