Ethnic Variations in the Phenomenology of Emotions: I. Shame

As part of a larger series of investigations on ethnic variations in the connotative meaning of emotions, Americans of Japanese, Chinese and European ancestry were administered a twenty-scale semantic differential for various emotions including shame. Results were factor analyzed and yielded the following dimensions: evaluative, dynamism, synesthesia, awareness, arousal, and intensity. Ethnic group differences were found in the endorsement pattern of the different scales and in the factorial structures. The concept of "shame" was discussed and related to the cultural traditions of the various ethnic groups studied. The importance of understanding ethnic variations in the phenomenology of emotions such as shame was pointed out, especially with respect to its implications for ethnopsychiatry.