Psychol Stud (OctDec 2010) 55(4):290298 DOI 10.

1007/s12646-010-0049-7

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Dimensions of Filipino Negative Social Emotions

Madelene Sta. Maria

Received: 7 September 2010 / Accepted: 13 November 2010 / Published online: 31 December 2010 # National Academy of Psychology (NAOP) India 2010

Abstract The interpretation of emotions as cultural categories is possible by investigating emotional experience within the social situations which were expected to produce them. This is afforded by a componential framework of analysis. In this study, 15 Filipino social negative emotion words are clustered and subjected to a componential analysis in focus group discussions. The emotion components that were used to differentiate each cluster were appraisal processes, focal events, emotion regulation, action tendencies and relationships with the other. Three emotion clusters were identified varying in terms of degree of intensity. The highest intensity was associated with emotions that invoke a moral dimension to the actions of the other. The other two clusters are lesser in intensity and involve putting responsibility on the self for experiencing the emotions. The emotions in all clusters are associated with varying forms of changes in the relationships with the other. Keywords Culture . Filipino . Social emotions . Social construction Situating emotions in the world of cultural values and theories has become possible through the emphasis on self in understanding culture exemplified in the works of Michelle Rosaldo (1980) and Clifford Geertz (1973). Concepts of emotion began to be viewed as a form of language of the self, that is, as codes for statements about the persons intentions, actions and social relations (Lutz and White 1986). Emotions likewise play the role of forming the persons relations with the world, and are

therefore used as codes for defining and negotiating social relations of the self within a moral order. Emotions may now be construed as part of psychological life both produced by culture and subject to cultural influence (Lyon 1995). The view of emotions as codes was got further impetus from the rise of cognitive theories which emphasized on appraisals or judgments about social situations and cultural meaning (Goddard 1991; Leavitt 1996). These developments have paved the way for an account of emotions as socio-culturally constructed phenomena. Against this backdrop the present research seeks to explore the understandings of human nature and social interactions embedded in the Filipino cultural representations of negative social emotions, such as anger. The exploration involves determining the dimensions of these emotions through a clustering technique, as well as investigating the patterns (i.e., focal events, appraisals, action tendencies and regulation) that characterize the experience of the negative social emotions within each dimension.

The Social Constructionist Approach to the Study of Emotion Clifford Geertzs claim that emotions, like ideas, are cultural artifacts, conveying sociocultural messages, ushered in an approach that allowed the study of emotions from the cultural perspective (Goddard 1991; Leavitt 1996). Emotion concepts were seen as culture-specific constructions of how people should interpret their actions and the actions of others within a social context as these embody the understandings shared by a group about human nature and social interactions. According to Leavitt (1996), the social constructionist approach allowed for the interpretation of emotions as cultural categories, or as constituting

M. Sta. Maria (*) Department of Psychology, De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines e-mail: madestamaria@yahoo.com

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another cultural domain. Interpretation was made possible by investigating emotional experience within the social situations which were expected to produce them. Emotions were then viewed as complex phenomena that are socially and symbolically produced, expressed, and felt (Leavitt 1996, p. 532). To justify their argument about social norms as determinants of emotion, social constructionists point to the differences in emotional expression in different cultures, as well as to the existence of normative rules in situations that involve feelings and emotions. Support for the social constructionist argument was also found in research that report variations in the reports of emotional experiences in some cultures (Kemper 1981). Using the symbolic interactionist model as a starting point, social constructionists suggest that emotional experience is preceded by the actor s definition of a situation, and generally reject, with this position, the importance of the physiological bases for emotional experience and suppose that emotions are largely determined by social norms (Kemper 1981). Social constructionists also adopt the Vygotskian perspective by positing that emotions do not arise in private states but in the contexts of social interaction (Myers 1988). Emotions thus represent the forms of relationships between the person and the actions or events in his or her world. The assumptions held by social constructionists about the nature of emotions are not without their limitations. To begin with, subsuming emotions under the culturally constructed concept of person produces a kind of circularity and puts constraints in our ability to determine the bases of emotions (Lyon 1995). Further, Leavitt (1996) contends that to lose the feeling side of the phenomenon and to reduce emotion as a kind of meaning will not permit a complete understanding of emotion because the experience and expression of emotion do not always take place in explicit categories (Leavitt cites the arguments of Crapanzano in 1992 and Levy in 1984). The constructionist account has thus equated the social with the cognitive and the conceptual as opposed to the bodily and felt (Leavitt 1996). The debate is largely about whether emotions have a physiological base that will allow cross-language and cross-cultural comparisons or whether emotions are entirely socially constructed. Psychologists, who argue that emotions serve a biological function and are therefore evolutionary inherited, tend to favor the first position (Bender et al. 2007). Bender et al. (2007) also contend that those who take this position argue that there are universally identifiable emotional expressions and are interested in determining the links that appears between action and physiological changes when a person is confronted with a specific event. Also, the social constructionist approach fails to explain how actors define situations before emotions are experienced. Social constructionists maintain that social and cultural norms determine what

emotions would be appropriate for a certain situation, and that individuals experience emotions after they have interpreted and defined a situation. Kemper (1981) contends that the social constructionist approach leaves the following questions unanswered: Can situations make emotions predictable? Are there a set of categories that characterize situations that can be associated with certain emotions? These questions are addressed with the componential theory of emotions, which makes possible the study of emotions from multiple perspectives and allows for a cultural study of emotions.

Integration of Perspectives for a Cultural Study of Emotions There is general agreement that physiological processes do indeed vary for different emotions and that this fact does not negate the possibility of explaining emotions from a cultural perspective. Kemper (1981), for example, argues that perspectives that view emotion in terms of social stimulus need not be inconsistent to the perspectives that regard emotion as physiological processes. These views may be related in a lock-and-key fashion: particular social stimulus keys fit particular physiological locks to produce particular emotions (p. 338). This integration of perspectives adopts a view to emotions that both emerge from bodily sensations and are mapped out by culture As Leavitt (1996) has observed: A model of emotions that takes their complexity as everyday concepts seriously would see them as experiences that we recognize as involving both cultural meaning and bodily feeling. While they are subjectively felt and interpreted, it is socialized human beingsthat is, thinking human bodies who are feeling them in specific social contexts. This means that they are socially and symbolically produced, expressed, and felt. (p. 531532) Bender et al. (2007), in their research comparing the emotion of anger among the peoples of Tonga and Germany, used such an approach that integrates both evolutionary and social aspects of emotion. Deriving their approach from appraisal theories, these researchers regard the cognitive processes underlying emotions as universal, while positing that the conceptual content on which these processes operate are culture-specific. An integration of the socio-cultural and the psychodynamicbiological perspectives is achieved through a functionalist approach. This approach views emotions as a cluster of processes that consist of an assortment of socially shared and collectively enacted scripts, which are made up of physiological, subjective, and behavioral compo-

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nents, but which are also embedded in and, further, importantly constituting the immediate sociocultural, semiotically constituted environment (Kitayama and Masuda 1995, p. 219). Thus the internal components are configured through sociocultural processes in the individuals development to form emotions. Also, there exists a fit between the cultural environment the person finds himself/herself in and his or her intramental organization of emotion. Intramental emotion processes may differ according to ecological conditions and prototypic models of social relationships. The functionalist view as explained by Kitayama and Masuda (1995) further demonstrates that the integration between the individual vs. the cultural, the internal vs. the external dimensions of experience is possible and can be achieved through emotion scripts. An integrated cultural view to emotion made possible through a functionalist perspective defines emotion as constructed through cultural practice, or what Kitayama & Masuda claim to be the collective habit of interpersonal coordination of communicating in emotion scripts (p. 222). What Bender and her colleagues would call central cognitive processes, and what Kitayama & Masuda have identified as an interpretative schema or script for emotional experience are incorporated in what Mesquita and Frijda (1992) call an emotion sequence which is made up of an event, its appraisal, the components of the emotional response/bodily state (e.g., physiological changes and feeling states), an action tendency, and an actual behavior. The central feature of this sequence is a universal cognitive process which links the appraisal with the persons bodily state and his or her action tendency. Both bodily states and action tendencies are regarded as spontaneous and automatic, while the appraisal or event coding, as well as the actual behavior (i.e., the emotion as expressed or regulated) may be influenced by culture (Bender et al. 2007). Mesquita and Frijda (1992) present a cognitive model of emotion, where appraisal becomes a central process. This model consists of the seven components: an antecedent event, event coding, appraisal, physiological reaction patterns, action readiness, emotional behavior, and regulation. Cross-cultural differences in terms of antecedent events for a given emotion may be dependent on what events members of a group are most exposed to and are thus more sensitive to within a given time period. Event coding refers to the process of categorization in which the person recognizes concerns inherent in a specific event. The event is thus coded through event type schemata. These schemata correspond to the culturally recognized issues of concern and contain social perspectives and moral values that now come into play in the process of appraisal. Cross-cultural variation may be a result of culture-specific beliefs about which objects and

situations, as well as expectations members of a group have about specific situations, for example, differences in cultural conceptions and expectations about relationships and their threats. The differences in event coding may also be determined by the focality of particular issues found in a particular event or situation. In the third component of appraisal, the events that were coded are now appraised in terms of their implications to the persons well-being and capacities to cope with the event. Appraisal involves checking the event in terms of the following dimensions: valence, blameworthiness, outcome uncertainty, controllability, or malleability. Cultural differences may occur in the ways by which groups appraise situations in a particular way, i.e., in the differential availability of the appraisal dimensions (e.g., in the attribution of blame). Cultural differences in appraisal may also occur in the processes of regulation that may inhibit undesirable appraisals. The noticeable presence or absence of a given type of emotion in a group may be a result of an enhanced or diminished appraisal propensity in that given group. Solomon (1978), for example, discusses that the low incidence of anger among the Utku may be a result of the reluctance to blame another person for a negative event. Negative events are instead tolerated and not struggled against. To aggress against the other because of anger can enhance the unpleasantness of the experience. Within situations that elicit anger, the person then adopts the attitude of resignation and acceptance. Levy in 1984 made a similar observation among Tahitians. The appraisal process that is adopted by these people allows them to view negative events as modifiable, controllable and not unduly affecting personal concerns. Levy further observed that there is an observed emphasis on the substitutability of goals and desired objects, which may explain the relative absence of anger among the Tahitians. The cultural differences in appraisal can be due to a process of re-appraisal, that is events are appraised no longer in terms of the nature of those events but on the basis of reducing pain and increasing acceptability for the person. Reappraisal may also involve emphasizing an aspect of the event and neglecting others. The fourth component of the cognitive model of emotions consists of physiological reaction patterns which pertain to the persons awareness and expectation of physiological changes that are associated with the emotional experience. Action readiness, which forms the fifth component of the cognitive model to emotion, includes the action tendencies that serve to establish or disrupt ones relationship with an object. The sixth component of the model consists of emotional or overt behaviors that result from the action tendencies. Lastly, the component of regulation refers to the capacity of the person to control

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or to enhance an emotional expression which is determined by individual experiences and by socio-cultural norms about the expression of various emotions. Differences and similarities in the patterns that emerge from these seven components are said to determine differences and similarities in emotional experiences. The complex that results from the interplay of the abovementioned components of emotion is represented in the labels given by members of a culture for a particular experience. These are what Mesquita & Frijda call the cultural representation of emotional events. Mesquita (2001) presents how the components in emotional experience may differ between collectivist and individualist cultures. These key differences are again shown in Table 1 below. According to Mesquita, the issues focused on in emotional experience in collective cultures are mainly those that deal with the relationships with others. Perceived changes in these relationships, e.g., changes in social worth, are associated with emotions. Emotion situations are appraised in terms of the capacity of the self or the other to control the situation so that changes in relationships can be brought to a desired state. Mesquita emphasizes that collectivist emotions are relational phenomena and reveal the state of relationships. Emotions represent an objective reality for members of collectivist cultures rather than the inner world of an individual, as is the case among members of individualist cultures. Therefore, among members of collectivist cultures, emotions are events likely to be defined by public, contextually furnished criteria, rather than by the subjective sense of being affected by a given situation (cf., Myers 1988). We would expect a member of a collectivist culture to talk about emotions in terms of the context which formed the emotional experience, rather than the subjective feelings that are experienced and associated with the emotion.

Culture and Anger As a focal emotion, anger has been frequently studied due to the possibility of discovering the plurality of meanings across cultural groups. Bender and her associates (2007) contend that studies on anger from a cultural perspective basically agree that the emotion of anger is a response to an event that is appraised to have a negative or unpleasant outcome. Cultural variation in the notion of anger, as the studies describe below demonstrate, would be based on the differing notions of personal identity within the system of social relations. Myers (1988), in his ethnographic study on anger among the Pintupi Aborigines in the Australian Western desert, showed that the Pintupi anger signified a negative evaluation of a persons social state. For the Pintupi, being angry was not bad in itself, but the emotion carried with it a realization of social rejection. The Pintupi understanding of emotions is based on the significance held in their culture for shared identity. Consequently, they tend to evaluate actions in terms of this notion of shared identity. People get angry when they interpret the rejection by another to signify a denial of shared identity, or sympathy or compassion. A person will get angry when s/he is refused a request or is not supported in times of need. This rejection signifies an unwillingness on the part of the other to recognize their relationship. This led Myers to contend that the Pintupi concepts of emotion are internally structured in terms of relationships with others, rather than simply referring to an internal state. Their notion of anger is embedded in a concern of having to complete themselves through identity with others. According to Myers, the Pintupi anger is an expression of a frustration of ones need and right to shared identity. In contrast to the Pintupi, Myers (1988) cites the work of Lutz on the concept of justifiable anger or song

Table 1 Key differences between individualist and collectivist emotions Components of emotions Concerns Appraisal Source of appraisal Action readiness Nature of shared emotions Emotions as meanings Collectivist emotions Ones own social worth and the worth of the in-group Attention to the impact of other peoples behavior on relative social positions (intentionality) The meaning of situations appears as given (obvious) Focus on relationships and therefore more action readiness Social sharing involves ensuring that others share in the concern and believe accordingly Emotions signal changes of reality: changes of beliefs about self, others, and the relationship between self and others. Individualist emotions Focus on personal concerns only Less focus on the impact on relative social position Awareness of the subjectivity of emotional appraisals Focus on bounded self and therefore less action readiness Social sharing involves the sharing of information. Emotions signal internal, subjective feelings: few implications for beliefs.

Source: Mesquita 2001, p. 69

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among the Ifaluk. To become justifiably angry is to react to instances that threaten a moral order. Anger that is associated with an overarching order is morally justified. Otherwise, to be angry because of personal slights would be untenable. The study by Bender et al. (2007) comparing the German and Tongan notions of anger demonstrated that variations in notions are fundamentally based on the impact the expression of the emotion has on the relations with others. German participants in the study reported that the showing of anger may be necessary in certain situations to achieve ones goal. Expressing anger is a form of giving feedback to another who has behaved annoyingly and this serves as an efficient strategy to change the other persons behavior. Displaying anger is acceptable and is not seen as shameful. This is a contrast to the Tongan evaluation of anger expressions. Among the Tongans, anger is a socially disruptive emotion. It is evaluated as negative and is socially disapproved. These differing notions of anger can therefore stem from variations in the nature of threat that is appraised in specific events. Members of some cultures, like the Ifaluk, can become angry when the nature of threat is the danger to the moral order that keeps the group together. Whereas for the Pintupi, anger emerges when social relations are threatened. Variations in understanding anger may also be shaped by the norms associated with its expression or regulation. The regulation of anger is related to how norms of social interaction and personal identity in these interactions influence the acceptability of expression. In cultures where forms of expression are regarded as acceptable or justifiable in so far as they conform to the values and norms of social relations, the enhancement of the emotional experience and expression may be discerned. Members of different cultures may view events that elicit anger in terms of a variation of issues (e.g., violations of moral order, rejection of social relatedness, disruptions of ones state of equilibrium, or hindrances to ones personal goals). Events may also be appraised differently in terms of responsibility and causation. These issues and processes of appraisal, which form the representations for emotional events in various cultures, will influence the regulation and form of emotional expression.

Hypercognized Emotion of Anger and Filipino Social Interaction Differences between universal models and culture-specific understandings of emotion suggest that some emotions may be muted or amplified in a persons awareness (Lutz and White 1986). Levy came up with the terms hypocognized and hypercognized emotions to refer to the tendencies in

some cultures to mute or elaborate conscious recognition of particular emotions (in Lutz and White 1986). Lutz and White (1986) claim that if emotions signify statements about a persons relationship with the world and if particular problems are often encountered in this relationship, the most common emotions can be seen as markers of the tension most often experienced by the person in relationships. Wierzbicka (2003), for example, illustrates this by pointing out the differences in Latin and Greek for the emotion of love. Latin has one single word for love, but the Greek has several terms. Wierzbicka contends that the plurality of terms in Greek for love does not signify that in the Greek culture there are subtypes corresponding to the emotional category of love. She argues that these terms refer to distinct types of experience. A cursory examination of a Filipino-Filipino dictionary shows that there are a total of 34 negative emotions compared to 15 positive emotions that can be experienced with and for another. This may suggest that negative social emotions are hypercognized emotions in the Filipino culture, suggesting further that tensions that are felt by the Filipino in his or her social world are more elaborated and enhanced than are other types of emotions. The study of emotion words that denote these tensions may pave the way to a greater understanding of the ethnotheories Filipinos have about the nature of self and the nature of social relations. The nature of the modes of the Filipino social interaction has been the focus of the late Dr. Virgilio Enriquez in many of his writings on the Filipino indigenous psychology (cf. Enriquez 1978; Enriquez 1994). Enriquez identified conceptual distinctions among several modes of Filipino interaction. According to him, these modes range from uninvolved civility (pakikitungo) to a total sense of identification with the other (pakiki-isa). Behaviorally, these levels can be further categorized in terms of relating as an outsider (ibang-tao) and of relating with an insider (hindi ibang-tao). The concept that unites both insider and outsider categories is that of kapwa, which Enriquez defines to be a recognition of shared identities(Enriquez, 1978, p. 103). Enriquez further points out that the concept of kapwa contains both the ideas of interaction (pagtutunguhan) and value or conviction (paninidigan). Enriquez maintains that value or conviction is attached to ones feelings to the other so that hypocrisy is avoided in a relationship. The relationship is thus characterized by kapwa, or being-onewith-the-other. An absence of kapwa is viewed by the Filipino as a most negative state a person can have: Pakikipagkapwa is much deeper and profound in its implications. It also means accepting and dealing with the other person as an equal. The company president and the clerk in an office may not have an equivalent

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role, status, or income but the Filipino way demands and implements the idea that they treat one another as fellow human beings (kapwa-tao). This earns a regard for the dignity and being of others. Aside from the socio-psychological dimension, pakikipagkapwa has a moral and normative aspect as a value and paninidigan (conviction). Situations change and relations vary according to environment. For example, pakikpagkapwa is definitely inconsistent with exploitative human transactions. Giving the Filipino a bad deal is a challenge to kapwa (-tao). (Enriquez, 1977 in Enriquez 1978, pp. 106107) Covar (1998) and Salazar (1991, 1999) extended Enriquezs theory on Filipino social relations with their concepts of kapatiran/pamayanan (community) and sambayanan/bayan (nation). Covar stressed the importance of studying the prevailing structures of Filipino society that shape Filipino social relations. These structures found in Filipino households ( sambahayan) and communities (pamayanan), according to Covar, should frame subsequent analyses of Filipino society. Salazar, on his part, directed our attention to the great cultural divide existing in Filipino society and culture. He pointed out the existence of two cultures existing in Filipino society, the culture of the elite, who predominantly speak in the colonial language, and the culture of the masses, whose discourse is in Pilipino. The elite, according to Salazar, form 510% of the Filipino population, while the masses form the greater portion of the population. The culture of those who make up the greater portion of the population constitutes the nation (bayan). The split in these cultures within Filipino society has contributed, according to Salazar, to the split that exists in consciousness and action of the Filipino. A direction towards a unified nation can be initiated by dissolving this split, that is, by focusing on bayan as representing Filipino consciousness. Aquino (1999) attempted an integration of these three perspectives from these leading scholars in Filipino society and culture. According to Aquino, the relations that characterize kapwa are rooted in the self and is first expressed or manifested within familial relationships (i.e., Covar s sambahayan). After relational activities are strengthened within the family, these extend to communal relations and activities (i.e., Covar s pamayanan) until these reach the level of nationhood (i.e., Covar s sambyanan and Salazar s bayan). At this level of nationhood, the various forms of social relations (i.e., kapwa, pamayanan, bayan) co-exist to actualize the dissolution of the great divide between cultures that Salazar claims to be existing in Filipino society and culture. The dissolution of the split will bring us to a deeper understanding of Filipino consciousness as expressed in Filipino social relationships.

A study of Filipino emotion, especially those emotions that signal tensions in social relationships, should enable us to examine the values and norms that shape interactions and personhood at each level of social relations. Specifically, the present study seeks to determine how negative social emotion words in the Filipino language are clustered and to determine the substantive nature of these clusters through an investigation of the patterns of emotional experience that characterize each cluster.

Method A list of 15 negative social emotion words (asar, buwisit, galit, inggit, inis, muhi, ngitngit, pikon, poot, sama ng loob, selos, suklam, suya, tampo, and yamot) were used in the study. The list of these emotion words was drawn from a dictionary and then judgments from three faculty members of the Filipino Department were taken to determine which emotion words in Filipino were most common and most indicative of the existence of a negative affect towards another person. The present study aimed to explore the patterns of emotional experience in each emotion dimension through the use of the componential frame of analysis. Specifically, the researcher sought to obtain answers to the following questions: 1) what issues of concern are raised in situations when emotions in each dimension are experienced, 2) what appraisals in terms of blameworthiness and controllability are undertaken by an actor in emotions within each dimension, and 3) what action tendencies are exhibited by the individual when experiencing the emotions in each dimension. To determine answers to these questions, three focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with 18 participants. In the first discussion, there were three participants, in the second, seven participants, and in the third, there were eight participants. College and graduate students were recruited to participate in the discussions. Each discussion session lasted for at least an hour. The FGDs were conducted to determine how the negative emotions can be clustered, the similarities in situations leading to the experience of the negative emotions in each cluster, and the possible ways to control the negative emotions within each cluster. The following issues were raised for discussion during each focus group: 1. Do the emotions in the clusters presented have similar characteristics? What common characteristics were possessed by emotions in each cluster? 2. Describe an instance or a situation when the emotions (in each cluster) were experienced. 3. Can these situations be avoided? If these can be avoided, how? If these cannot be avoided, why not?

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4. How are the emotions expressed? 5. Who or what would be responsible for the experience of such emotions? 6. What changes in relationships resulted from these emotions? The discussions in the focus group were recorded and the pertinent answers to the questions were extracted and content analyzed. The analysis was conducted to determine how the responses from the FGDs answered the following questions: 1) What types of focal events emerged from the descriptions of emotion situations for each cluster, 2) What appraisal processes were involved in the emotion situations for each cluster, i.e., blameworthiness and controllability, 3) what were the behaviors towards the other resulting from the felt emotion, and 4) what was the nature of regulation when emotions were experienced in each cluster. Meaning units from the discussion transcripts and from notes from the FGD co-facilitator and facilitator that provided answers to each of the questions for analysis were identified. The meaning units and notes were then initially clustered. This helped in identifying the categories of responses to each of the question posed for analysis.

poot. [One does not control poot]. At times, one can just simply ignore the emotion: Huwag mong dibdibin, Pasok mo dito, labas dito. [Do not take it seriously. Let is pass into one ear and out the other.] When one cannot control the emotion, one expresses ones distress through crying, by being quiet, or by being violent to the other. When one chooses to ignore, one just makes fun of it. However, one cannot avoid feeling these emotions. These emotions may disappear as time passes, but the relationship with someone one felt any of these emotions for will definitely change. The closeness one feels for the other will no longer be there. It will not be easy to revive old ways of relating with the other. The feelings associated with the emotion may be gone, but the relationships have changed. Cluster 2: Sama ng Loob, Galit, Tampo These emotions are temporary, not as intense as those emotions in Cluster 1, and are usually directed as persons one knows, or is acquainted with. The focal event types found in the experience of these emotions are those that have to do with other s violation of the actor s expectations, or the inability of the other to fulfill obligations in a relationship: & & Kapag hindi ka sinipot ng kausap mo. [When one does not make it for an appointment], Sabi ng boyfriend ko, magki-quit na siya sa drinking, pero pagna-invite na siya, hindi naman siya mak-no. [My boyfriend said that he would quit drinking, but when someone invites him, he does not say no.] Mga pamangkin ko pasaway. Sabi ko tama na, ayaw nilang mapapigil. [My nephews are disobedient. I asked them to stop, they refused to stop.] Malaman mong may ibang girlfriend ang boyfriend mo. Tapos ite-text ka pa ng girlfriend. [You find out that your boyfriend has another girlfriend. And that girlfriend still texts you.]

Results The clustering process brought about three clusters. These clusters and the respondents judgments about how these are different from each other are presented below: Cluster 1: Suklam, Muhi, Poot These are deep, strong, heavy emotions, directed at persons. Examples of situations mentioned by the participants that cause one to feel these emotions are: & & & & When one watches a TV news item about a father raping his own child When one becomes pregnant and the father of the child does not take responsibility for the child, one would feel poot for the boyfriend If your very expensive cellphone is stolen from you, you would feel these emotions for the thief. When something really bad happens to you, you would feel poot.

& &

These and other situations narrated by the participants are situations were someone, who is not necessarily an acquaintance or is related to the actor, commits an immoral act or an unethical behavior. The other person, the actor of the immoral act, is to blame for the emotion. The person usually has no control of these emotions. At times, one cannot avoid feeling these emotions: Hindi pinipigil ang

These emotions cannot be avoided because others cannot control their behaviors when they violate expectations or are not able to fulfill obligations. Who is to blame for such emotions? The one who feels these emotions is to blame. S/ he is responsible for having to feel negative about the other. There is always the possibility that the other did not act maliciously. One has to consider the intentions of the other before judging his/her actions. Blame can be attributed to the person experiencing the emotion because he or she can control these emotions if he or she wants to, largely by reframing judgments about the other s intention. When the emotion is expressed with another who already is close to the actor, then relationships are restored or enhanced. If the emotion is expressed to another who is not close to the actor, there is a created an avoidance from the other. The

Psychol Stud (OctDec 2010) 55(4):290298 Table 2 Patterns of emotional experience Emotion components Focal events Cluster 1 The other s violations of a moral order and exhibition of unethical behaviors Cluster 2 The other s nonfulfillment of expectations and obligations Cluster 3

297

Appraisal

The other is to blame

The actor is to blame for feeling the emotion. The actor can control the emotion by reframing and suspending judgment for the other. Relations do not change if the relationship is close. Relations change from warm to cold if relationship is not close. The actor controls the expression of emotion. Hindi Ibang Tao (Ingroup) relations are invoked.

The actor can control the emotion by choosing to ignore the incident Action tendencies When a relationship exists with the other, relations change to mere civility. The actor controls the emotion. If the emotion is too intense, distress is commonly expressed through crying. Kapwa relations are invoked

An event or the other posing as a hindrance to the actors immediate goals Actor cannot get into the flow the pressure situation. The actor is to blame for his or her inability to get into the flow, to be tolerant. The actor can control the emotion by ignoring the irritation. There is a temporary change in relationship to the other from warm to cold. The actor controls the expression of emotion, but may display emotions nonverbally. Ibang Tao (Outgroup) relations are invoked.

Regulation

Level of relationship

behaviors in the relationship may also not change as a result of these emotions when the actor first controls the expression of these emotions and waits for other indications from the other party about how he or she values the relationship. In a sense, the actor gives the other the benefit of the doubt. However, one can indirectly express ones disappointment by being quiet, and not relating with the other in the usual warm way. One carries the emotion within oneself (Dala-dala mo sa loob mo. [You carry it within yourself.]) without hurting the relationship. Cluster 3: Buwisit, Asar, Ngitngit, Yamot, Pikon The emotions in this cluster are temporary, shallow, and are directed at persons, objects, or situations. As one respondent stated, Kung malalim na, hindi na pikon, galit ka na. [If it gets deeper, it is no longer pikon, you are already experiencing galit.]. The focal event types are characterized by situations when the other persistently acts in an undesirable way, e.g., going on with what was perceived to be a wrong task, joking the actor in a persistent and inappropriate way, insulting the actor in a mild but irritating way, teasing the actor when the actor is not in the mood, creating a lot of noise when the actor wishes to sleep or to study. The situations that evoke these emotions may also be events that block or hinder the actor from achieving his/her short-term goals: when the heavy traffic causes one to be late for class, when the line to the photo-copy machine becomes too long and causes one to waste ones time, when the driver behind the actor s car honks incessantly. The actor cannot avoid these emotions when such situations

arise. As one participant remarked: Hindi na tao yun kung walang ganoong nararamdaman. [The person is no longer human if he cannot experience these (emotions)]. However, the person may switch off from these situations to stop him/ her from feeling these irritations. One is responsible for the experience of these emotions as one is more prone to feel these emotions when one is too sensitive or not in the mood. Therefore, one can choose to go with the flow and not be affected. Because these emotions are short-lived, they do not result in changes in ones relating with the other: Hindi muna kausapin, palapasan mo muna. [Do not talk with the person yet. Let (the irritation) pass.], Huwag mong intindihin. [Do not let it bother you.]. An

Diagram 1 Levels of interpersonal relations

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immediate reaction when one feels these emotions is silence and the nonverbal expressions of irritation are usually displayed.

Discussion The present study was undertaken to determine the patterns of Filipino negative emotions through a componential frame analysis. The components used in the analysis are the characteristics of situations that usually elicit the emotions in a given cluster (i.e., the focal events), the appraisal process used by a person who experiences the emotions in a given cluster (i.e., the appraisal of blame and controllability of emotion), the action tendencies, the nature of emotion regulation that may be achieved and the nature of relationships that is emphasized in the experience of emotions in a given cluster. Table 2 below presents these patterns. The three clusters represent degrees of emotional intensity. As the negative emotion is intensified in emotions such as suklam, muhi and poot, blame for the emotion is placed on the other, relationships change, and the unethical or amoral behavior the other becomes a focus. The intensity is also dependent on what level of interpersonal relationships is invoked in the experience of the emotion. If what is invoked is a relationship with others that is based on moral principles, as it is in a kapwa relationship, the emotion is strongly felt. However, if the relationship is superficial, then the negative emotions evoked by the situation are less intense. These emotions are then blamed on the self because the other is seen as not contributing to what the self feels, and therefore, relationships need not have to change. Diagram 1 below present how the emotion clusters are related to levels of interpersonal relations. The findings of the study also reveal that there is a process of re-appraisal in situations when the person is in the hindi ibang tao category. The re-appraisal of emotion felt for another within ones in-group allows the person to re-assess the motives and intentions of the other. There emerges two dimensions of emotions: the sociopsychological and the moral-psychological. The sociopsychological dimension implies that emotions are formed due to some event, or due to the actions of another. The moral-psychological dimension is found in negative emotions that are attached to events that affect the dignity and rights of others. This is true for cluster 1 emotions. From the situations identified by the respondents, it is evident that feeling these emotions may occur even when the self is not directly interacting with the actor, or has had no direct relationship with the actor. However, a relationship is established when the moral dimension becomes a significant component in the appraisal. The relationship between

the self and the other is thus formed through the kapwa principle. This principle for organizing relationships need not be present only in intense negative emotions, but may also be experienced in instances when another persons actions touches the core of ones humanity, for example, when one feels pity for an abandoned child one has had no previous relationship with.

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