Display Rules

Chapter 11 is about emotions and motivations people have and feel. It tells us about how we feel emotions what motivates us to do what we do. The information that struck me most was the James-Lange theory of emotion. According to this theory, "emotion result from our interpretations of our bodily reactions to stimuli." I found most interesting in the cultural differences in emotional expression. The book says that emotional expressions can be different in different cultures because cultures differ in display rules, social guidelines for how and when to express emotions. The study of display rule was really interesting. A group of American students and a group of Japanese students watched same video. When there was no authority figure in the room, both groups reacted similarly. However, when experimenter came into the room, American students stayed same and Japanese students started to smile. It was because of the Japanese culture of how to behave in front of authorities. The emotion both groups had was similar but the expression was different. I thought it was really cool.