2/6/22; Week 6: Response to "Differences in Emotional Expressivity"

 

Cultural misinterpretation can also be caused by differences in emotional expressivity. For example: Public display of affection is seen as socially rude in Asian and Middle Eastern cultures, while being public affectionate is completely normal in Western cultures. Which reminded me that these differences can also be seen within people of the same country but from different regions. For example: In Peru, my home country, people from the Andean cities tend to be blunter and more passionate when sharing their opinions than people from coastal cities, who are more chill and laid back.

I feel that being aware of how people express their emotions according to their cultural background can help teachers create a better classroom environment for low affective filter as well as understand better students’ attitudes and behavior in order to adapt their assessment activities based on how they express their emotions and perceive others’ emotions. The question is how can teachers tell what is going on with a student that does not express emotions because of his or her cultural background? Because usually expressing emotions, especially in body language are key to read people and tell how messages whether visual or in audio affects them.