8 Read the text. Are the sentences true (T) or false (F)? 6/ On our basic emotions
It is said that some nationalities feel emotions in different parts of their bodies. The question is, do we as humans show our emotions in the same way?
According to Dr Paul Ekman, humans have a set of basic emotions. In the 1970s, these included: happiness, anger, fear, sadness and surprise. Ekman studied people and emotions and believed that everyone usually feels emotions in the same way and that culture made no difference to how people experienced or showed basic emotion.
Studies have shown that newborn babies can smile and cry, and that by the age of eighteen months all humans may be able to show anger. They have also shown that children can express all the basic emotions before they are of school age. Charles Darwin also found that people of all ages and from a wide range of different countries used the same facial expressions to show the basic emotions. He believed that the expression of these emotions was a natural human function and not related to culture.
However, some people think differently, and feel that emotions change as a result of culture. For example, although it is generally believed in the western world that anger is felt and shown by all humans, Dr Jean Briggs, who has spent a lot of time living and studying Canadian Inuits in the Arctic, found that they very rarely experienced or showed any signs of anger or aggression. Although many believe that expressing anger is the best way to reduce it, research has shown this is not true and often, expressing anger increases the anger felt.
It is hard to know what emotions to express or not sometimes. Milton Spett says we should express negative emotions like anger, sadness or fear as this is good for us. But, on reading studies by Eileen Kennedy-Moore and Jeanne Watson, they feel it can be understood that if we are not comfortable or good at expressing our emotions, it may be bad for us to express strong negative emotions.

1 Dr Paul Ekman doesn’t believe culture affects how humans express emotions .
2 Newborn babies can show anger and sadness .
3 Dr Jean Briggs found that the Canadian Inuits often showed aggression .
4 Milton Spett says it is unhealthy to hide negative emotions, such as anger or sadness .

5 Jeanne Watson found that the expressing of emotions was something humans did naturally .
6 The text suggests that maybe people should decide how to express their emotions .

MrHleb    1   15.12.2020 15:03    2