Emotion Expressions through Gestures: Emotional Function of Gestures in the Canadian and Chinese contexts

Emotions are expressed verbally and non-verbally. For the latter, research has focused on examining facial emotion expressions. Yet, non-verbal emotion expressions are not restricted to the face and may be further manifested through gestures. Surprisingly, emotion expressions through gestures have garnered limited research attention. Indeed, gesture research has focused on examining the self (whereby gestures help the self to express what one wants to say) and social (whereby gestures increase listeners’ comprehension) functions, but not emotional function. Further, like the cultural display rules of facial emotion expressions, emotion expressions through gestures may differ across cultures. Western cultures value emotion expressions because they authenticate the individual self. Conversely, Eastern cultures discourage emotion expressions because they may disrupt social harmony. This study sought to examine the emotional function of gestures in the Canadian and Chinese contexts.

Participants were 90 Canadian and 90 Chinese college students (mean age 19.1 years; 50 males). They answered open-ended questions regarding when and why do themselves and other individuals gesture. Coding categories included social, emotional and other situations, and self, social, emotional and other functions.

Independent of culture, Canadians and Chinese gestured not only in social situations, but also in emotional situations. Further, they gestured not only to express themselves and increase listeners’ comprehension, but also to express their emotions. Between cultures, Canadians were more likely to gesture in emotional situations to express their emotions, especially negative emotions, than Chinese.

Findings extend the limited understanding of emotion expressions through gestures across cultures. Practical implications will be discussed.