Listening audioscript

 
 
Example Listening Passage 1B, Page 332 [ mp3 150] 
(Professor):
I’m afraid that the reading exaggerates the so-called consensus that 
emotions are an evolutionary adaptation and therefore innate. Many 
affective scientists support a different perspective--- that emotions are 
socially constructed and vary in important ways across cultural 
boundaries. 
Substantial evidence exists that many basic emotions are culturally 
specific. Let’s consider two emotions represented by the Japanese words 
oime,
a feeling of indebtedness and fureai, which refers to a feeling of 
connectedness to others. These emotions of interdependency and 
connectedness felt by Japanese people do not have parallels in the west.
This makes sense, though. Since Japanese culture strongly values the 
collective, or group, individuals raised in the culture feel --and need 
words for-- the emotions oime and fureai. Since Western cultures tend to 
focus more on the individual, they do not name or experience these 
emotions in the same way.
 

Finally, let’s consider the claim that people, no matter how diverse 
their cultures may be, use the same facial expressions and vocalizations 
to express emotions. The problem was that the study described in the 
reading was too narrow. Researchers looked only at happiness and 
sadness. But…what about other emotions, such as guilt and love?
These emotions have not been studied…and for good reason: they have 
no clear outward facial expression or vocalization. Without any 
identifiable expression, these emotions cannot be studied, so the claim of 
universality cannot be proved. Finally, even emotions that are thought to 
be both universal and observable actually differ from culture to culture.
Take for example, anger. The Inuit or Eskimo people of the Arctic almost 

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LPREP IBT 3 E AudioScript 
96
never show outward signs of anger. An aggressive response would be 
too risky in this small culture living closely together in harsh conditions.