After reading the article Emotion Perception Across Cultures, I was able to understand a common behavior of an exchange student from my high school. When I was in high school, there was this girl named Chiaki from Japan. She was always very sweet to everyone, cheerful, and always smiling. In the article, they mention how even in uncomfortable or fearful situations the Japanese participants expressed their emotions through smiling. Anytime I saw Chiaki, I wondered why she was so happy because our high school wasn’t fun and I am sure there were times when she was uncomfortable. Chiaki’s behaviors were opposite from mine because I hated my high school and I looked angry or unimpressed most of the time.
I think the main reason why each culture expresses itself differently is because of its history. History creates culture, and culture creates behaviors and forms of expression. For example, hand gestures used in the US could mean peace or good; whereas in another country it could be an insult or curse word.
I included this image because it shows common hand gestures used in the US to express emotion or nonverbal communication.