1 Cultural Display Rules
Cultural display rules are socially learned guidelines that influence how individuals express emotions in different situations. The concept of cultural display rules was introduced by Ekman and Friesen (1969) to explain why people from different cultures may express emotions in different ways. These rules are learned early in childhood through socialization and help individuals regulate emotional expressions based on social expectations. Although humans experience universal emotions, cultures differ in how emotions should be displayed, interpreted, and responded to. Cultural display rules help explain the differences between shared emotional experiences and culturally specific emotional behaviors. For example, in the United States we are taught that “big boys don’t cry” or we laugh at our boss’s jokes even though we don’t think they are funny.
A more recent study simultaneously studied physiological responses and facial expressions and found that regardless of culture, people tend to respond similarly in terms of physiological (or bodily) expression. European American and Hmong (pronounced “muhng”) American participants were asked to relive various emotional episodes in their lives (e.g., when they lost something or someone they loved; when something good happened) (Tsai, Chentsova-Dutton, Freire-Bebeau, & Przymus, 2002). At the level of physiological arousal (e.g., heart rate), there were no differences in how the participants responded but their facial expressive behavior told a different story.
When reliving events that elicited happiness, pride, and love, European Americans smiled more frequently and more intensely than did their Hmong counterparts—though all participants reported feeling happy, proud, and in love at similar levels of intensity. And similar patterns have emerged in studies comparing European Americans with Chinese Americans during different emotion-eliciting tasks (Tsai et al., 2002; Tsai, Levenson, & McCoy, 2006; Tsai, Levenson, & Carstensen, 2000). While the physiological aspects of emotional responses appear to be similar across cultures, their accompanying facial expressions are more culturally distinctive.
By affecting how individuals express their emotions, culture also influences how people experience them as well. In the United States it is acceptable to express negative emotions like fear, anger, and disgust both alone and in the presence of others, while Japanese individuals only do so while alone (Matsumoto, 1990). Matsumoto, Yoo and Nakagawa (2008) found that individuals from collectivist cultures were more likely to engage in suppression of emotional reaction so they can evaluate which response is most appropriate in a given context (Matsumoto, Yoo, & Nakagawa, 2008).
Subsequent research expanded the understanding of cultural display rules. Matsumoto (1990) examined how Americans and Japanese judged the appropriateness of emotional expressions across various social situations. His findings revealed that Americans viewed negative emotions as more acceptable in close relationships, whereas Japanese participants found negative emotions more appropriate in interactions with outgroup members or individuals of lower social status. Matsumoto (1993) later demonstrated that display rules also vary among ethnic groups within the United States, indicating that cultural differences in emotional expression exist both across and within societies.
Increasing research has demonstrated cultural differences not only in display rules, but also the degree to which people focus on the face rather than other aspects of the social context (Masuda, Ellsworth, Mesquita, Leu, Tanida, & Van de Veerdonk, 2008), and on different features of the face (Yuki, Maddux, & Matsuda, 2007) when perceiving others’ emotions.
For example, people from the United States tend to focus on the mouth when interpreting others’ emotions, whereas people from Japan tend to focus on the eyes. Cultural differences exist when evaluating and interpreting emotional experiences that underlie facial expressions of emotion but there is a distinct in-group advantage. Individuals from the same culture to will recognize the emotions of others of the same culture somewhat better than those from a different culture.
Display rules influence not only whether emotions are shown, but also how they are managed. Ekman and Friesen (1969, 1975) identified several ways individuals regulate emotional expression, including amplification, deamplification, masking, neutralization, simulation, and qualification. For example, sadness may be exaggerated at a funeral but minimized at a wedding. People may also mask emotions by expressing something different from what they feel, such as service workers who are expected to remain pleasant despite negative emotions. Simulation refers to going through the motions of facial expressions or “faking” the emotion that is expected. These strategies have been observed consistently in studies of spontaneous emotional behavior (Cole, 1986; Ekman & Rosenberg, 1998).
Our culturally moderated emotions can help us engage in socially appropriate behaviors, as defined by our cultures, and avoid cultural miscommunication. Matsumoto argues (2018) that without display rules it would be very difficult for groups and societies to function effectively, and even for humans to survive as a species, if emotions were not regulated in culturally defined ways for the common, social good.
In addition to display rules, cultures develop decoding rules that guide how emotions are interpreted. Research shows that individuals from different cultures focus on different facial cues when interpreting emotions; for example, people in the United States tend to focus on the mouth, while people in Japan focus more on the eyes (Matsumoto, 2006). These differences contribute to the ingroup advantage, meaning individuals are generally more accurate at interpreting emotions expressed by members of their own culture. Together, display rules and decoding rules demonstrate how culture shapes both emotional expression and emotional understanding.
