1 Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison.
2 School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast.
Perspect Psychol Sci. 2019 Jul;14(4):560-573. doi: 10.1177/1745691619849591. Epub 2019 Jun 7.
Human emotional behavior varies across cultures. Smiling at a passing stranger on the street may seem perfectly normal in one culture and profoundly strange or even suspicious in another. What are the origins of cultural differences in emotional expression, communication, and regulation? We review new evidence in favor of one answer to this question. A socioecological factor, historical heterogeneity-defined as the ancestral diversity of the world's regions based on human migration patterns over centuries-accounts for important cultural variations in emotional experience and expression. We summarize findings from studies of large global samples that link the migratory history of a country's population with present-day cultural differences in how overtly and clearly emotions are expressed to others, in the frequency and meaning of smiles, and in associated character traits. New research also extends the analysis to the historical heterogeneity of the United States, and country-level findings are replicated at the level of the states. We suggest that enduring emotional behaviors and traits evolve from the opportunities and challenges posed by the commingling of people of diverse ancestries. We conclude by highlighting the questions and challenges for future research stemming from this approach.
人类的情感行为在不同文化中存在差异。在街上对路过的陌生人微笑，在一种文化中可能看起来再正常不过，但在另一种文化中却可能显得非常奇怪，甚至可疑。情感表达、沟通和调节方面的文化差异的起源是什么？我们回顾了支持这一问题答案的新证据。社会生态学因素，即历史异质性——根据几个世纪以来人类迁徙模式定义的世界各地区的祖先多样性——解释了情感体验和表达方面的重要文化差异。我们总结了来自大型全球样本的研究结果，这些研究将一个国家的人口迁移历史与现在在向他人表达情感的明显程度、微笑的频率和含义以及相关性格特征方面的文化差异联系起来。新的研究还将分析扩展到了美国的历史异质性，并且在州一级复制了国家层面的发现。我们认为，持久的情感行为和特征是由不同血统的人混合带来的机遇和挑战所形成的。最后，我们强调了这种方法所引发的未来研究的问题和挑战。
