Emotional responses to honor situations in Turkey and the northern USA

The main goal of the current research is to investigate emotional reactions to situations that implicate honor in Turkish and northern American cultural groups. In Studies 1a and 1b, participants rated the degree to which a variety of events fit their prototypes for honor-related situations. Both Turkish and American participants evaluated situations generated by their co-nationals as most central to their prototypes of honor-related situations. Study 2 examined emotional responses to Turkish or U.S.-generated situations that varied in centrality to the prototype. Highly central situations and Turkish-generated situations elicited stronger emotions than less central situations and U.S.-generated situations. Americans reported higher levels of positive emotions in response to honor-enhancing situations than did Turkish participants. These findings demonstrate that the prototypes of honor relevant situations differ for Turkish and northern American people, and that Turkish honor relevant situations are more emotion-laden than are northern American honor relevant situations.