In the 1970's Paul Eckman (pictured above) suggested, based on his work with the preliterate Fore people of Papau New Guinea, that there are 6 basic, universally recognizable human emotions: fear, anger, disgust, sadness, surprise and happiness. Recently, Eckman's theory has been questioned by scientists who argue that there are actually only 4 basic emotions. Here's a video abstract explaining the basis of the critique...
Now, according to a new study, which is like a cross between the work of William James and Eckman, certain emotions are embodied and they are culturally universal. An emotion, such as shame, is experienced throughout the entire body, not just in the brain, in the same way--a feeling of warmth in the cheeks, say--in different cultures. In this study, approximately 700 participants from Finland, Sweden and Japan, pointed out where in the body they experienced increased and decreased 'activity' during the experience of specific emotions. Behold, the emBODY tool...
All of the groups surveyed generated remarkably similar responses. The image below shows the regions where people reported feeling increased or decreased activity when feeling each emotion.
How should we interpret this data?
It should be noted that West Europeans and East Asians are different, but they also resemble each other in a bunch of different ways. We wear shoes. We cook food. We drive cars. Part of the reason: We face the same challenges and our cultures come up with similar solutions. Assuming that these self reports are accurate and that they describe something, questions remain. Do these consistent cross-cultural somatic-affective correlations reflect an innate feature of human beings, something about the biological bedrock of Homo sapiens generally, or does some of this data reflect behavior which has been learned? Just how much of this is the result of conditioning and culture?
I find the idea this type of stuff is innate intriguing and attractive. I'm just not sure this study convinces me. In other words: I want to know what a Himba subject (such as the one pictured above), would say.
Let's set aside our doubts about the experiments and take a look at the glowing image of the happy person. Beautiful, isn't it? If you follow this blog, you know happiness is an extremely important mental state because it feels good and, it seems, it is generally good for you too. This is a bit puzzling. How does all of this work? Why are its effects felt throughout the body?
This research might eventually make it easier to pick out particular third person physiological indicators of specific emotions, as well as locate and describe the physiological systems which generate the emotions themselves. More importantly, it might also help us identify the symptoms and treat the underlying causes of emotional disorders. We might finally figure out why it seems that happiness is so important to our well-being, overall. Perhaps well-being is merely happiness embodied...
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