The roles of culture and language in designing emotion lists: Comparing the same language in different English and Spanish speaking countries

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of culture and language on reported emotions. Cross cultural studies of language need to look both between different languages and within the same language as spoken in different countries. Starting with a list of emotions in English, translation resulted in different lists for Spain and Mexico due to differences in the use of Spanish. Spanish lists were somewhat longer than the English list, as one English word could result in two Spanish words with similar meanings. A qualitative study was conducted in multiple locations in the UK, US, Mexico and Spain to identify which emotions were relevant to beverages.An on-line questionnaire combining the emotions selected by the focus groups was then completed by 600 respondents in four English speaking countries (US, UK, Australia, New Zealand) and two Spanish speaking countries (Spain, Mexico) where people were asked which emotions applied to their favourite beverage, beer and their least liked alcoholic beverage. There were more similarities among the four English speaking countries than between Spain and Mexico and more similarities between Mexican respondents and English speaking respondents than between Mexican and Spanish respondents. Spanish respondents did not consider certain emotions to be very relevant to their favourite beverage. Respondents from all countries found beverages without alcohol to be different from beverages with alcohol regarding the emotions they evoke. In addition, in English speaking countries positive emotion terms were more discriminating for both favourite and least liked beverages, while in Spanish speaking countries, both positive and negative emotions were more equally discriminating. These results demonstrate that cross cultural differences exist within the same language as well as across languages. Individuals and entire cultures do not all verbally express their emotions in the same manner. Recommendations are presented for producing emotion lists which will work in multiple countries and for conducting cross cultural emotion research.