BRIEF REPORT Cross-Cultural Patterns in Emotion Recognition: Highlighting Design and Analytical Techniques Hillary Anger Elfenbein Harvard University Manas K. Mandal Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur Nalini Ambady Harvard University Susumu Harizuka Kyushu University Surender Kumar Chikushi Women University This article highlights a range of design and analytical tools for studying the cross-cultural communication of emotion using forced-choice experimental de- signs. American, Indian, and Japanese participants judged facial expressions from all 3 cultures. A factorial experimental design is used, balanced n × n across cultures, to separate “absolute” cultural differences from “relational” effects char- acterizing the relationship between the emotion expressor and perceiver. Use of a response bias correction is illustrated for the tendency to endorse particular mul- tiple-choice categories more often than others. Treating response bias also as an opportunity to gain insight into attributional style, the authors examined similarities and differences in response patterns across cultural groups. Finally, the authors examined patterns in the errors or confusions that participants make during emotion recognition and documented strong similarity across cultures. The long-standing debate between psychologists who argue whether emotions are universal versus cul- turally specific is ceding to attempts to integrate evi- dence for both perspectives (e.g., Fiske, Kitayama, Markus, & Nisbett, 1998; Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Mesquita & Frijda, 1992; Mesquita, Frijda, & Scher- er, 1997; Scherer & Wallbott, 1994). Researchers studying emotion recognition have extensively docu- mented both cultural similarities and differences. Cross-cultural studies of emotion recognition have been one of several central sources of evidence in favor of emotional universality. Classic studies (e.g., Ekman, 1972; Ekman, Sorenson, & Friesen, 1969; Izard, 1971) demonstrated that facial photographs of Americans expressing basic emotions could be recog- nized at above-chance accuracy in literate and prelit- erate cultures. Despite this evidence for universality, the same studies also provide evidence for cultural differences, given that American samples generally outperformed others when viewing these American stimuli. For example, in Izard’s (1971) large-scale study, American and European groups correctly iden- tified 75%–83% of the facial photographs, whereas the Japanese group scored 65% and the African group correctly identified only 50%. Hillary Anger Elfenbein, Program in Organizational Be- havior, Harvard University; Manas K. Mandal, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Tech- nology, Kharagpur, Kharagpur, India; Nalini Ambady, De- partment of Psychology, Harvard University; Susumu Hari- zuka, Faculty of Education, Center for Clinical Psychology and Human Development, Kyushu University, Fukuoka City, Japan; Surender Kumar, Department of Preschool Education, Chikushi Women University, Fukuoka City, Japan. Preparation of this article was supported by a National Science Foundation Graduate Student Fellowship, a Rand research grant, Presidential Early Career Award for Scien- tists and Engineers Grant BCS-9733706, and Indian Insti- tute of Technology Scheme for Innovative Research and Development Grant IIT-Accts. 05-19-05. We thank Susan Choi, Heather Gray, Abby Marsh, and Kevyn Yong for their helpful comments, and Sanaz Ghazal, Maiga Miranda, and Julie Weintraub for research assistance. Correspondence concerning this article should be ad- dressed to Hillary Anger Elfenbein, Harvard Business School, Baker Library 477, Soldiers Field, Boston, Massa- chusetts 02163. E-mail: hillary@post.harvard.edu Emotion Copyright 2002 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 2002, Vol. 2, No. 1, 75–84 1528-3542/02/$5.00 DOI: 10.1037//1528-3542.2.1.75 75