Metaphysics & Psychology

Humans share dozens of universal emotions

By T.K. Randall
June 27, 2014 ·  12 comments

Happiness is a universal emotion. Image Credit: sxc.hu While we tend to take it for granted that we can determine if someone is happy, sad or excited no matter what part of the world they are from, not all emotions can be universally understood.

If you encountered a remote Amazon tribe for example you may have no problem understanding expressions of excitement or happiness, but emotions such as sympathy, desire and coyness tend not to translate very well across cultures.In a recent study psychologist Daniel Cordaro and his colleagues attempted to determine just how many human emotions truly are universal by recording a number of emotional reactions from volunteers in different continents and then showing them to people from different countries to see which they could recognize.

The results indicated at least 30 emotions that could be understood anywhere in the world.

"Each emotion boils down to a story," said Cordaro. "Culture teaches us the stories under which we use these emotions, but look underneath them, there will be some theme."

Source: Live Science | Comments (12)

Tags: Emotions, Expressions