learning influences the expression of emotions more than what is experienced, for example, some cultures encourage free emotional expression, whereas other cultures teach people, through modeling and reinforcement, to reveal little of their emotions in public. Second, learning has a great deal to do with the stimuli that produce emotional reactions. It has been shown that individuals with excessive fears (phobia) of elevators, automobiles, and the like learnt these fears through modeling, classical conditioning or avoidance conditioning. E XPRESSION OF E MOTIONS Do you get to know that your friend is happy or sad or indifferent?
Does s/he understand your feelings? Emotion is an internal experience not directly observable by others. Emotions are inferred from verbal and non- verbal expressions. These verbal and non- verbal expressions act as the channels of communication and enable an individual to express one’s emotions and to understand the feelings of others.
Fig. . : Schachter-Singer Theory of Emotion Culture and Emotional Expression The verbal channel of communication is composed of spoken words as well as other vocal features of speech like pitch and loudness of the voice. These non-verbal aspects of the voice and temporal characteristics of speech are called ‘paralanguage’.
Other non-verbal channels include facial expression, kinetic (gesture, posture, movement of the body) and proximal (physical distance during face-to-face interaction) behaviours. Facial expression is the most common channel of emotional communication. The amount and kind of information conveyed by the face is easy to comprehend as the face is exposed to the full view of others (see Fig. .
). Facial expressions can convey the intensity as well as the pleasantness or unpleasantness of the individual’s emotional state. Facial expressions play an important role in our everyday lives. There has been some research evidence supporting Darwin’s view that facial expressions for basic emotions (joy, fear, anger, disgust, sadness, and surprise) are inborn and universal.
Bodily movements further facilitate the communication of emotions. Can you feel the difference between your body movements when you feel angry and movements when you feel shy? Theatre and drama provide an excellent opportunity to understand the impact of body movements