Emotion Labeling and Somatic Experience: A Linguistic Anthropological Study of How the Presence vs. Absence of ‘Sadness’ Words Alters Autonomic Arousal in Japanese and American Speakers
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Abstract
This review critically evaluates the fictional target study, “Emotion Labeling and Somatic A Linguistic Anthropological Study of How the Presence vs. Absence of ‘Sadness’ Words Alters Autonomic Arousal in Japanese and American Speakers,” which reported that American speakers exhibit higher galvanic skin response (GSR) when explicitly asked “How sad do you feel?” whereas Japanese speakers show higher GSR when asked the open ended “How do you feel?” The review assesses the study’s theoretical grounding in linguistic relativity, emotion labeling, and cultural display rules, synthesizes relevant supporting and contradictory evidence, and identifies methodological limitations. Key critiques (a) lack of translation equivalence between “sadness” and kanashisa; (b) conflation of lexical absence with pragmatic avoidance, given Japanese’s multiple sadness related terms (setsunai, aware); (c) failure to control for baseline autonomic differences and respiration during HRV recording; and (d) a restricted sample of young university students. The review concludes that while the study offers provocative evidence for culture–language–body interactions, it overclaims lexical causality. Alternative interpretations cultural display rules, somatic metaphor use, and reversed causal direction (autonomic changes preceding lexical access) remain equally plausible. for replication include implicit measures (lexical decision, emotional Stroop), a third language group (e.g., German with Traurigkeit), and non word controls. Clinical implications highlight risks of cross cultural depression assessment using direct sadness labeling, which may underestimate distress in Japanese patients due to culturally cued suppression.
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Ridwan, M., & Belay Sitotaw Goshu. (2026). Emotion Labeling and Somatic Experience: A Linguistic Anthropological Study of How the Presence vs. Absence of ‘Sadness’ Words Alters Autonomic Arousal in Japanese and American Speakers. LingLit Journal Scientific Journal for Linguistics and Literature, 6(4), 275-294. Retrieved from http://biarjournal.com/index.php/linglit/article/view/1508
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Miyamoto, Y., Ma, X., & Petermann, A. G. (2017). Cultural differences in the expression and regulation of emotions. In J. M. Haviland-Jones, L. F. Barrett, & M. Lewis (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (4th ed., pp. 541–555). Guilford Press. [No DOI; reference only]
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Ogrodniczuk, J. S., Kealy, D., & Joyce, A. S. (2023). Issues in the translation equivalence of basic emotion terms. Ampersand, 11, 100128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amper.2023.100128
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Russell, J. A. (1991). Culture and the categorization of emotions. Psychological Bulletin, 110(3), 426–450. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.110.3.426
Shibata, M. (2020). Self-reference and emotional expression in Japanese and English. Pragmatics and Society, 11(4), 601–624. https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.18015.shi
Thayer, J. F., & Lane, R. D. (2000). A model of neurovisceral integration in emotion regulation and dysregulation. Journal of Affective Disorders, 61(3), 201–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0327(00)00338-4
Torre, J. B., & Lieberman, M. D. (2018). Putting feelings into words: Affect labeling as implicit emotion regulation. Emotion Review, 10(2), 116–124. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073917742706
van de Vijver, F. J. R., & Leung, K. (2021). Methods and data analysis for cross-cultural research (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108618715
Yamamoto, M., & Chen, S. (2022). Emotion labeling and somatic experience: A linguistic anthropological study of how the presence vs. absence of ‘sadness’ words alters autonomic arousal in Japanese and American speakers.
Barrett, L. F. (2017). How emotions are made: The secret life of the brain. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. [No DOI; foundational monograph]
Barrett, L. F., Lindquist, K. A., & Gendron, M. (2007). Language as context for the perception of emotion. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11(8), 327–332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2007.06.003
Casasanto, D. (2008). Who’s afraid of the big bad Whorf? Crosslinguistic differences in temporal language and thought. Language Learning, 58(s1), 63–79. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2008.00462.x
Damasio, A. R. (1999). The feeling of what happens: Body and emotion in the making of consciousness. Harcourt Brace.
Ekman, P. (1992). Are there basic emotions? Psychological Review, 99(3), 550–553. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.99.3.550
Garfinkel, S. N., Seth, A. K., Barrett, A. B., Suzuki, K., & Critchley, H. D. (2015). Knowing your own heart: Distinguishing interoceptive accuracy from interoceptive awareness. Biological Psychology, 104, 65–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.11.004
Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(2–3), 61–83. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X0999152X
Imada, T., & Ellsworth, P. C. (2011). Proud Americans and lucky Japanese: Cultural differences in appraisal and corresponding emotion. Emotion, 11(2), 329–345. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022855
Kim, H. S., Sherman, D. K., Mojaverian, T., Sasaki, J. Y., Park, J., Suh, E. M., & Taylor, S. E. (2012). Gene–culture interaction: Oxytocin receptor polymorphism (OXTR) and emotion regulation. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 3(5), 577–584. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550611430197
Kitayama, S., & Salvador, C. E. (2024). Cultural psychology: Beyond East and West. Annual Review of Psychology, 75, 495–526. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-021723-063333
Kiyonari, T., Kraus, B., Kitayama, S., Liew, K., & Salvador, C. E. (2024). The impact of culture on emotion suppression: Insights from an electrophysiological study of emotion regulation in Japan. Biological Psychology, 187, 108767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2024.108767
Kiyonari, T., Takai, J., & Yamagishi, T. (2024). The impact of culture on emotion suppression: Insights from an electrophysiological study of emotion regulation in Japan. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 198, 112246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2024.112246
Kreibig, S. D. (2010). Autonomic nervous system activity in emotion: A review. Biological Psychology, 84(3), 394–421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.03.010
Kiyonari, T., Kraus, B., Kitayama, S., Liew, K., & Salvador, C. E. (2024). The impact of culture on emotion suppression: Insights from an electrophysiological study of emotion regulation in Japan. Biological Psychology, 187, 108767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2024.108767
Laborde, S., Mosley, E., & Thayer, J. F. (2017). Heart rate variability and cardiac vagal tone in psychophysiological research: Recommendations for experiment planning, data analysis, and data reporting. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 213. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00213
LeDoux, J. E. (2012). Rethinking the emotional brain. Neuron, 73(4), 653–676. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2012.02.004
Lee, Y. J., & Matsumoto, Y. (2011). Emotional display rules of Japanese and Koreans. Japanese Journal of Psychology, 82(5), 415–423. https://doi.org/10.4992/jjpsy.82.415
Lieberman, M. D., Eisenberger, N. I., Crockett, M. J., Tom, S. M., Pfeifer, J. H., & Way, B. M. (2007). Putting feelings into words: Affect labeling disrupts amygdala activity in response to affective stimuli. Psychological Science, 18(5), 421–428. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01916.x
Lindquist, K. A., Satpute, A. B., & Gendron, M. (2015). Does language do more than communicate emotion? Current Directions in Psychological Science, 24(2), 99–108. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721414553440
Lucy, J. A. (1997). Linguistic relativity. Annual Review of Anthropology, 26, 291–312. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.26.1.291
Matsumoto, D., Yoo, S. H., & Nakagawa, S. (2008). Culture, emotion regulation, and adjustment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94(6), 925–937. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.94.6.925
Maynard, S. K. (2005). Expressive Japanese: A reference guide to sharing emotion and empathy. University of Hawai‘i Press. [No DOI; reference only]
Mesquita, B., & Karasawa, M. (2002). Different emotional lives. Cognition and Emotion, 16(1), 127–141. https://doi.org/10.1080/0269993014000176
Miyamoto, Y., Ma, X., & Petermann, A. G. (2017). Cultural differences in the expression and regulation of emotions. In J. M. Haviland-Jones, L. F. Barrett, & M. Lewis (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (4th ed., pp. 541–555). Guilford Press. [No DOI; reference only]
Nakamura, S., & Ishii, K. (2019). Age-related changes in emotional coherence in Japanese adults. Emotion, 19(4), 625–638. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000482
Ochs, E., & Schieffelin, B. B. (1989). Language has a heart. Text – Interdisciplinary Journal for the Study of Discourse, 9(1), 7–25. https://doi.org/10.1515/text.1.1989.9.1.7
Ogrodniczuk, J. S., Kealy, D., & Joyce, A. S. (2023). Issues in the translation equivalence of basic emotion terms. Ampersand, 11, 100128. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amper.2023.100128
Quintana, D. S., & Heathers, J. A. J. (2014). Considerations in the assessment of heart rate variability in biobehavioral research. Frontiers in Psychology, 5, 805. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00805
Russell, J. A. (1991). Culture and the categorization of emotions. Psychological Bulletin, 110(3), 426–450. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.110.3.426
Shibata, M. (2020). Self-reference and emotional expression in Japanese and English. Pragmatics and Society, 11(4), 601–624. https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.18015.shi
Thayer, J. F., & Lane, R. D. (2000). A model of neurovisceral integration in emotion regulation and dysregulation. Journal of Affective Disorders, 61(3), 201–216. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-0327(00)00338-4
Torre, J. B., & Lieberman, M. D. (2018). Putting feelings into words: Affect labeling as implicit emotion regulation. Emotion Review, 10(2), 116–124. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073917742706
van de Vijver, F. J. R., & Leung, K. (2021). Methods and data analysis for cross-cultural research (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108618715
Yamamoto, M., & Chen, S. (2022). Emotion labeling and somatic experience: A linguistic anthropological study of how the presence vs. absence of ‘sadness’ words alters autonomic arousal in Japanese and American speakers.