Lecture | Maria Gendron | Bridging Minds: The Cultural Construction of Emotion Perception

Center for Mind, Brain, and Culture

Unpacking the nature of emotions is critical to a scientific understanding of the human condition. Recent evidence reveals that emotion categories contain considerable neural, physiological and behavioral variation, challenging long-held views of emotions. Consistent with these broad patterns, I will present research highlighting diversity in perceptions of emotion across societies and individuals. This research is informed by the constructionist proposal that culturally learned knowledge may account for the discrete and functional nature of emotions. I will suggest that the functioning of the conceptual system (what we "know" about emotions) serves as a source of both variation and consistency across levels. To illustrate, I will present ongoing research examining synchrony in emotion perception across individuals and outline the future directions of this approach.