The Sentinel Afternoon Post: Are Your Emotions Really Yours?

Noga Arikha

What have you decided to be outraged about today? On the face of it, that might sound like an odd question because, after all, our emotions come naturally to us. They bubble up, and they flow out, undirected and without any say-so. But according to Noga Arikha in an essay for Aeon, there might be more to it. Arikha explores the notion of cultural emotions.

On the one hand, we all share an animal physiology. We have the same hormones, brains, and senses, and so we can feel a similar range of emotions. And yet, how we feel about the world is determined by our upbringing. The American anthropologist Franz Boas once argued that we are taught what to be disgusted about and what to be proud about. So, why are you proud about getting a new job? Why are you disgusted about eating insects for dinner?

But the most visible element of this is to do with outrage, because what you are outraged about is at least partially defined by your political tribe. Are you outraged by mass immigration, by AI, by poverty, by crime, by homelessness, or debates about gender, religion, ethics, or whatever? We all get angry in similar ways, but what we get angry about is a group decision.

Arikha argues that while we cannot entirely live out our own life without any cultural emotions, we can at least be more aware of them. We all have the metacognition that allows us to check on our feelings. So, while we might get angry, disgusted, and proud in similar ways, we can decide whether those feelings are actually ours or whether we are being told to feel that way.