Intercultural communication, emoticons
Interesting article in Science Daily explaining why culture is key to interpreting facial emotions.
The study reveals that in cultures where emotional control is the standard, such as Japan, focus is placed on the eyes to interpret emotions. Whereas in cultures where emotion is openly expressed, such as the United States, the focus is on the mouth to interpret emotion….Consistent with the research findings, the Japanese emoticons for happiness and sadness vary in terms of how the eyes are depicted, while American emoticons vary with the direction of the mouth. In the United States the emoticons : ) and : - ) denote a happy face, whereas the emoticonsor : - ( denote a sad face. However, Japanese tend to use the symbol (^_^) to indicate a happy face, and (;_;) to indicate a sad face.
Readers from Japan: what do you think about this?
Via Andrew Sullivan.
This is fascinating, Cleve. Are you familiar with Paul Eckman and his work? His book Emotions Revealed is hugely interesting on a theoretical level but it fails as a practical tool for helping the average reader learn to interpret facial expressions. His training CD does a better job. I wonder what the implications of this might be for teaching.
Comment by Taos Turner — April 27, 2007 @ 12:35 pm
Hey Taos - You’re getting old and forgetful, dear friend and esteemed ex- and future colleague: we had this conversation two years ago when I was in Caracas. I had ordered Eckman’s CD and it never made it through the Venezuelan postal system…and I was complaining about this to you. I guess this proves that, while I treasure our conversations, you forget them…some friend.
PS: j/k! ^_^
(translation:
Comment by Cleve — April 27, 2007 @ 2:14 pm