magazine issue 1 2012 / Issue 13

Honor and Emotion

• written by Patricia M. Rodriguez Mosquera & Katie DiBona
• edited by Hans IJzerman

The participants were asked to report a recent insult. There were no cultural differences in the types of insults reported by the participants. For example, all participants reported insults to their competence (e.g., a derogatory joke about the participant’s intelligence) or insults to their place in relationships (e.g., a friend not wanting to spend time with the participant). Participants felt both anger and shame in response to the insult. This finding emphasizes the notion that emotional responses to insults are mixed and that both anger and shame are relevant to situations in which others devalue us. Interestingly, there were no cultural differences in what the participants did when they felt anger about the insult. All participants criticized, or insulted, the person who insulted them. However, the Moroccan/Turkish-Dutch expressed their shame over the insult differently than did the Dutch participants. In fact, they engaged in opposite behaviors.

The Dutch withdrew from the situation, whereas the Moroccan/Turkish-Dutch expressed verbal disapproval toward the person who insulted them. Moreover, the Moroccan/Turkish-Dutch expressed disapproval of the insulter’s behavior in attempts to protect their reputations. Because social image is very important for those who value honor, shame in response to an insult leads them to do more to challenge the insulter, thereby seeking to improve their honor.

Conclusions

Honor is a complex system of values, norms, and practices. From this complexity, four types of honor emerge: morality-based, family-based, feminine, and masculine honor. We presented research on the nature of these four types of honor in Mediterranean, Northern European, North American, and Middle-Eastern cultures. These studies reveal that each type of honor has profound influences on both negative (anger and shame) and positive (pride and happiness) emotions.

We showed that morality-based honor is centered on honesty and trust, and is the most universal type of honor. Across cultures, individuals feel bad about themselves if they are dishonest and untrustworthy. Family-based honor is based on the reputation of the family as a collective. It is the type of honor that varies most across cultures. For example, those who highly value family honor feel greater happiness about their family’s good reputation. Masculine and feminine honor are gender-specific honor codes. As such, they are most influenced by one’s biological sex (male or female), rather than by one’s cultural background (e.g., Dutch or Spanish). For this reason, male and females from different cultures respond with equally intense anger, or shame, to violations of the masculine (i.e., lack of toughness) or the feminine (i.e., lack of sexual shame) honor codes. The extent of honor’s influences on our emotions testifies to its centrality in our lives and our relationships. We need no reminder of what Publilius Syrus wrote in 100 BC: What is left when honor is lost?

References

Abu-Lughod, L. (1999). Veiled sentiments. Honor and poetry in a Bedouin society. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Brandes, S. (1980). Metaphors of masculinity: Sex and status in Andalusian folklore. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Cohen, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1994). Self-protection and the culture of honor: Explaining southern violence. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 551-567.