textbook has gotten it wrong , a bit like if “ Anger ” had been pink instead or red in the movie Inside Out ?
Barrett explains that prototypes like my thumbs-up are the way that we conceptualize our emotions , dependent on context . This means , if you are a Japanese kid and have been told that “ I ’ m fine ” translates to “ Genki desu !” you might be a tad confused by my thumbs-up . But this is okay , because , as Barrett explains in the podcast , there is going to be variation between our prototypical views of which physiological changes best represent an emotion . For example , a thumbs-up in America is generally interpreted as feeling fine , whereas in South America a thumbsup is anything but indicating you are feeling fine . One possible reason for not including a thumbs-up in the Hi , Friends ! 1 textbook could be the confusion with another , albeit uncommon , interpretation of a thumbs-up as a sign for having a boyfriend . If so , an argument could be made that the textbook content was localized to suit the Japanese cultural context in which students will use English . In Hollywood , localization , or changing content to suit the intended audience , is an important aspect of ensuring global appeal and selling movies .
The feeling I get is that the classical view of emotion might not sit very well with the realities we all experience in our lives . This is where Barrett ’ s research helped me reframe my view of emotion in a new way . Specifically , based on the variability of brain imaging results she proposes a different view of emotion that suggests that beyond the feelings that motivate us to move toward or away from something , emotions are socially constructed concepts that have a high degree of variability within them . Variability is perhaps more easily understood when we consider that not every person who is feeling fine is going to be walking around giving the thumbsup gesture . In short , emotions and how they result in changes in our body language are not universal , so as teachers we should pay closer attention to how we teach feelings and emotions to students using stereotypical gestures ; more so when we are using materials that are written to target their home culture rather than a foreign culture . This makes me think that perhaps they should have redesigned “ Anger ” for the Japanese audience to have his tummy stick out ( hara ga tatsu ), but then again a quick image search on Japan Google has pictures of heads exuding steam , so I guess no change was needed .
Materials often feature stilted video conversations and bland , almost lifeless voice acting CDs that drone like a Buddhist mantra … y
How emotion in the context of culture is introduced has even wider implications for textbook materials like those approved by the Japanese Ministry of Education , Culture , Sports , Science , and Technology ( MEXT ) that feature stilted video conversations and bland , almost lifeless voice acting CDs that drone like a Buddhist mantra , inevitably helping students fall