Rositza S Dobrikova

The Display of Emotions Cross-culturally: Comparison Between Bulgaria, United States, and Japan Rositza S Dobrikova

Emotional life sparks the human imagination. A large part of what we do, and how we do it, is influenced by emotions. Recognizing that cultures differ in how they are organized, what they value and devalue, what aspects of the self they promote, one would expect that the emotional lives of people in different cultures would differ as well. This book attempts to identify cultural variation in the display of emotions, it seeks the answer to the question "In precisely what way are the displays of emotions influenced by culture?" The described research looks at the cultural differences in emotional behavior between the United States, Bulgaria and Japan - three countries that are very distinctive in their historical, geographical, and economical development. This book is for those of you who want to gain a deeper understanding of the regulation processes of emotions cross-culturally. Such understanding would help the reader not only to interpret behavior in international settings, but also to be comfortable with the ambiguity that can arise from emotional expressions which seem to be out of place, or inappropriate to a particular situation.