Reflection of emotional experience in the culture of the Finno-Ugric peoples

Abstract

Introduction. The article presents the characteristic of emotional culture, reflecting the emotional experience accumulated by society. It is seen as an integral part of the overall culture. Its content includes psychological knowledge, practical skills in managing emotions and feelings, and attitudes toward people. The purpose of the study is to identify the emotional content of the culture of the Finno-Ugric peoples. Materials and Methods. To achieve this goal, the author used the methodology of psychological analysis of the language as the most important carrier of emotional culture. As an object of analysis the dictionaries of four Finno-Ugric peoples: Komi, Udmurts, Mari and Erzia were also used. The subject of psychological analysis were the words reflecting emotional phenomena, for example, sad, angry, joyful, embarrassed, etc. The following analysis parameters were used: sign and form of emotional phenomena. Results and Discussion. The analysis showed that emotional experience takes an important place in the language and culture of the relevant Finno-Ugric peoples. In their language, there are, on average, 315 emotional categories that reflect emotional phenomena that are diverse in content and form. This indicates the breadth of the emotional experience of these peoples. This indicator is characterized by slight deviations from the average value, which indicates the proximity of the emotional experience of these peoples. All the basic forms of emotional phenomena are reflected in their emotional experience: emotional processes, emotional phenomena, emotional properties and conditions, emotional properties of actions. Ethnic features were found in the quantitative ratio of these indicators. It was established that the dominant place in the structure of emotional experience is occupied by negative emotions with a minimal difference between these ethnic groups. Conclusion. Emotional reality is included in the sphere of people’s interests and, in one way or another, is mastered by them. That is why it is reflected in the culture of any people, including the Finno-Ugric ones. However, the ethnic characteristics of their emotional experience and emotional culture remain unexplored. A promising task is to create a holistic concept of the emotional culture of every Finno-Ugric people, including knowledge about emotions and feelings, methods of managing them and attitude to people.