JoLIE 4/2011
EMOTIONS AS DYNAMIC CULTURAL PHENOMENA
Cornelia Maria Leu
David Prodan High School of Cugir, Romania
Abstract
Emotions are expressed in everyday language in order for people to value the events and phenomena surrounding them. Emotion words bear various meanings depending on the context. Happiness, sadness, shame or love, all of them define us and shape our social interaction with the others. Our feelings are considered a link between the social and the cultural. They express the manner in which people act, think and behave when engaged in cultural activities. The well-being of a person is determined by many factors which are crucial at the crossroads between cultural and social aspects. Members of the cultural community fully participate in social relationships. Positive feelings connect the self with the others whereas negative emotions block one’s goals and desires. People generally tend to feel good when they are legitimate members of a cultural community, which leads to a state of well-being. Emotions such as pride or anger tend to distance individuals from their social fellows whereas feelings such as friendliness or guilt promote harmony. Emotions cannot be separated from the socio-cultural contexts in which we find ourselves. They adjust our reactions to the life experiences we have to cope with.
Keywords: Emotions; Culture; Well-Being.
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How to cite this article: Leu, C. (2011). Emotions as dynamic cultural phenomena. Journal of Linguistic and Intercultural Education – JoLIE, 4, 65–76. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29302/jolie.2011.4.5
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