Author Question: Display rules communicate a culture's ideas about what emotions are appropriate to express in ... (Read 48 times)

craiczarry · **on:** Jun 22, 2018

Display rules communicate a culture's ideas about what emotions are appropriate to express in public. There are gender differences in which emotions women and men should display.

In addition, evolutionally, there are sex differences in the ease of decoding certain emotions. Describe what emotions are appropriate to display for men and women, and compare how that relates to which emotions are most easily decoded because of our evolutionary heritage.
What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

You're in Hong Kong reading the morning newspaper, and you notice a headline about a double murder that took place overnight. A suspect is in custody. Which of the following headlines is most likely to accompany the story?

a. Dispute Over Gambling Debt Ends in Murder
b. Crazed Murderer Slays Two
c. Homicidal Maniac Stalks Innocents
d. Bloodthirsty Mobster Takes Revenge

coyin · **Reply #1 on:** Jun 22, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Answer: In our culture, and likely others, it is considered inappropriate for men to display sadness and grief. In some cultures, particularly Japanese culture, it is considered inappropriate for women to display extreme happiness. Those are the display rules of the culture. However, research has also demonstrated that happiness is more easily decoded in the faces of women, and that anger is more easily decoded in the faces of men. Therefore, the cultural display rules of Japan for the display of happiness for women somewhat interferes with the evolutionary pattern for women. That is, it is easier for happiness to be decoded in women's faces than men's, but in Japanese culture, women aren't likely to display extreme happiness very frequently. For men, it is easier to spot anger in their faces, so that is the evolutionary pattern. In our culture, a display of anger is acceptable. Therefore, for men, there are no contradictions between the evolutionary pattern and the cultural display rules. In our culture, men have learned not to express sadness. If there were an evolutionary benefit to displaying sadness for men, then we would see a contradiction between the cultural display rules and the evolutionary pattern.

Answer to Question 2

Answer: A