In this episode I have a conversation with Batja Mesquita who discusses her book Between Us: How Cultures Create Emotions. We unpack the ideas in her book and make application to religious and political conflict. From her book description:

A pioneer of cultural psychology argues that emotions are not innate, but made as we live our lives together.

“How are you feeling today?” We may think of emotions as universal responses, felt inside, but in Between Us, acclaimed psychologist Batja Mesquita asks us to reconsider them through the lens of what they do in our relationships, both one-on-one and within larger social networks. From an outside-in perspective, readers will understand why pride in a Dutch context does not translate well to the same emotion in North Carolina, or why one’s anger at a boss does not mean the same as your anger at a partner in a close relationship. By looking outward at relationships at work, school, and home, we can better judge how our emotions will be understood, how they might change a situation, and how they change us.

Brilliantly synthesizing original psychological studies and stories from peoples across time and geography, Between Us skillfully argues that acknowledging differences in emotions allows us to find common ground, humanizing and humbling us all for the better.

Batja Mesquita is a Dutch social psychologist, a cultural psychologist and an affective scientist. She is a professor of psychology at the University of Leuven, Belgium, where she studies the role of culture in emotions, and of emotions in culture and society. She is director of the Center for Social and Cultural Psychology in Leuven.

Official Website of Batja Mesquita: https://www.batjamesquita.com/ 

Between Us at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Between-Us-Cultures-Create-Emotions/dp/1324002441 

You can listen to Multifaith Matters on your favorite podcast platform, including Podbean, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and iHeart Radio.

Learn more about our work at https://www.multifaithmatters.org.

Support this work:

One-time donation: https://multifaithmatters.org/donate

Become my patron: https://patron.podbean.com/johnwmorehead

#emotions #culture #BatjaMesquita #affect

Episode ID: 1000713984992

GUID: johnwmorehead.podbean.com/cf4ae6c0-6c38-3ab9-880b-0756ff0064e0

Release Date: 21/06/2025, 21:17:56