Emotions in Cultural Contexts: An Indian Perspective

Emotions constitute some of the most important aspects of our lives; they give meaning to life, stimulate behavior, and shape the thoughts and patterns of social interactions. Understanding how culture shapes people’s emotional lives and the impact of emotions on the health and well-being of people in different cultures is becoming an important issue in this contemporary era of globalization. With this in view, this chapter presents an overview of the major approaches to research on emotions in a cultural context. After providing an overview of the culture–psychology relationship, the major approaches to the study of emotions in cultural contexts are critically reviewed. Finally, the Indian perspective of rasa and bhāva is presented to illustrate a cultural psychological perspective. It is concluded that a cultural psychological approach to emotions with a focus on how the different components of an emotion are performed is vital to the understanding and application of emotional phenomena.