(no subject)
Jan. 28th, 2007 02:52 pmInstead, across cultures one finds no common list of basic emotions. Some cultures appear to have no words for emotions that many Westerners consider basic; thus, the people who live on the western Pacific Island of Ifaluk lack a word for surprise, and the Tahitians lack a word for sadness. Other cultures have words that describe common emotions for which we have no special terms. Thus, the Ifaluk often feel an emotion they call fago which involves a complex mixture of compassion, love, and sadness experienced in relationships in which one person is dependent on the other (Lutz, 1986,1988). And the Japanese report a common emotion called amae, which is a desire to be dependent and cared for (Doi, 1973;Morsbach and Tyler, 1986). The German language reserves the word Schadenfreude for the special pleasure derived from another's misfortune.
p. 484 Gleitman, H. 5th ed.