Different Perspectives On Emotions

Out of all the perspectives of emotions, the one that caught my attention and really made sense to me would be the Social Influences on Emotions. We determine our emotions by the way we were taught and by the people around us. We all have different ways of showing or not showing emotions. In the text, the example they use are how many Irish Americans holds wakes when someone passes away while being joyous and festive, but at the same time Jewish people practices sitting Shiva, where no one talks because it means to them of disrespect and inappropriateness. This one stands out to me and I understand it the most because I feel that in my culture, we're not suppose to act/ show emotions in the open. We're suppose to be modest, kind, thoughtful, and be respectful. If we're bad, our parents would punish and yell at us in order to set us straight. The book states that how Western cultures places emphasis on feeling pride in their personal accomplishments reinforces the values, while in non- Western cultures teaches people to regard accomplishments as communal, not individual. I've always felt that the emotions and the way I act wasn't exactly the same as everyone else. I didn't really know exactly what it was til I read that section and it made sense to me a lot more. It made me think of how much it really affects us to have the kind of people you're always around influence you on not just your emotions, but the way you act, the way you think, and the way you're going to influence everyone else around you.