[Xmca-l] Re: Questioning universal core emotions

[Andy Blunden]

David, although I am sure that sensations cannot be taken as universal 
either, since it is unlikely that there is anything remaining after the 
interprettion of the "sensation" is abstracted. However, it is 
nonetheless a different claim to say that human sensation is not 
universal, as to say human emotion (by which is meant I think "feeling") 
is not universal. Let's suppose all are experiencing pain: they are all 
clearly feeling different about it.

Or was that your point?

Andy
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Andy Blunden*
http://home.mira.net/~andy/


David Kellogg wrote:
> Suppose I put together a set of pictures of people undergoing torture, in
> which some people appeared to be experiencing the torture stoically, others
> with resignation, still others with agony, and some with something that
> appears to be laughter.
>
> I think I could probably crop the photographs and pose questions in such a
> way that I could very convincingly demonstrate that pain is not a universal
> human sensation. Not only that, I could probably put together a sorting
> exercise that would come to the same conclusion.
>
> David Kellogg
> Hankuk University of Foreign Studies
>
>
> On 5 May 2014 01:24, Greg Thompson <greg.a.thompson@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>   
>> I have a colleague down the hall, David Crandall, that has been working
>> among the Himba for almost 30 years. I also have three students headed to
>> do research among the Himba in a month. So I've been picking up some
>> interesting details about the Himba.
>>
>> It seems like it is true that they have increasingly had contact with
>> Western culture, as evidenced by recent protests in some of the larger
>> cities that were staged by Himba opposed to the building of a dam that
>> would cause flooding of some of the burial sites of their ancestors (
>> http://www.huntingtonnews.net/84854).
>>
>> At the same time, they are non-numerate people that lack some of the key
>> Western institutions where kids learn (oddly enough) about "emotions"
>> (think of those pictures of happy and sad faces that Western schooling
>> takes into the classroom as the MEANS by which they teach literacy - these
>> means of teaching literacy always entail certain cultural ends - such as
>> "emotion" - concepts that are not emic concepts).
>>
>> Among the western institutions that the Himba lack, the Himba lack the
>> Western model of schooling (one of my students is doing research on this
>> very issue). It is only in the last 15 years or so that Himba have begun
>> sending their children to school, and now only in small numbers. The Himba
>> are very skeptical of schools since, in their opinion, the schools don't
>> teach their children anything worthwhile. Knowing how to count is
>> unimportant to them since although they are non-numerate they are able to
>> keep track of large herds of cattle because they know each of their cattle
>> individually and can recognize when one is missing. But what really matters
>> are things like knowing how to properly honor one's ancestors. If one fails
>> to do that properly, then then ancestors will cause bad things to happen to
>> oneself. That is much more important than knowing how to count.
>>
>> Carol, I also agree with your concerns with the methodology of the study,
>> it may not be reasonable to assume that this research is the same as the
>> Ekman tasks and of-course it is a Western-type task (but one might argue
>> that it is less so than the Ekman tasks since it is more open, arguable).
>>
>> So Carol, I wonder what conclusions you would draw from your critique. Are
>> emotions universal?
>> I wonder if there is a further possibility that these psychologists are
>> missing. Is it possible that "emotions" are not universal in quite a
>> different sense? Perhaps that the very category of "emotion" is not
>> universal?
>>
>> I think this research points in that direction - when viewing a picture of
>> a face, people do not necessarily assume that the person in the picture is
>> "emoting". I assume that this would be true among Westerners as well, but
>> that possibility doesn't present itself in the research methodology since
>> Westerners are asked "what emotion is this?" The task is already defined by
>> the domain called "emotion" (with which they are already very familiar).
>>
>> Anthropologists have done great work to show the problems with taking
>> Western defined domains into non-Western contexts (e.g. the domain of
>> "kinship" - David Schneider, the domain of "color" - John Lucy). The
>> argument is that even though this research turns up results that seem to
>> suggest that the domains are real even in non-Western contexts, the
>> findings are plagued by the fact that they assume these domains and force
>> these non-Western subjects into choosing within the pre-defined domain.
>>
>> But then again, perhaps "emotion" is a universal category?
>> -greg
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, May 4, 2014 at 7:55 AM, Carol Macdonald <carolmacdon@gmail.com
>>     
>>> wrote:
>>>       
>>> Well Mike
>>>
>>> I am here working in Namibia for the year, and I would like to know where
>>> these Himba people are.  I mean the ones referred to in the article: I am
>>> not sure they are *so *isolated - they are well recognised as one of the
>>> language groups.  And I think there is also an elephant in the room here.
>>> This is a western-type task, and Luria would have been quick to point
>>>       
>> that
>>     
>>> out. What makes this woman think that this task would be the equivalent
>>>       
>> to
>>     
>>> the others.
>>>
>>> Just a couple of basic principles to cast a small aspersion on this
>>> research.
>>>
>>> Carol
>>>
>>>
>>> On 4 May 2014 14:16, mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>       
>>>> Perhaps of interest
>>>> mike
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>         
>> http://www.psypost.org/2014/03/the-six-universal-facial-expressions-are-not-universal-cross-cultural-study-shows-23471
>>     
>>>
>>> --
>>> Carol A  Macdonald Ph D (Edin)
>>> Developmental psycholinguist
>>> Academic, Researcher,  and Editor
>>> Honorary Research Fellow: Department of Linguistics, Unisa
>>>
>>>       
>>
>> --
>> Gregory A. Thompson, Ph.D.
>> Assistant Professor
>> Department of Anthropology
>> 883 Spencer W. Kimball Tower
>> Brigham Young University
>> Provo, UT 84602
>> http://byu.academia.edu/GregoryThompson
>>
>>     
>
>
>