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Cross-Cultural Variability of the Semantic Domain of Emotion Terms: An Examination of English Shame and Embarrass with Japanese Hazukashii

This research builds on recent work exploring the cross-cultural meaning of emotion terms. The specific hypothesis tested is that within the semantic structure of emotion terms in English and Japanese, the English term embarrass is closer to the Japanese term hazukashii than the English word shame. Similarity ratings of 15 emotion terms are compared between an American English sample (n = 33, including the term shame), another American English sample (n = 33, including the term embarrass instead of shame), and a Japanese sample (n = 32, including the term hazukashii). Correspondence analysis, t test, and quadratic assignment are used to represent the similarity among terms and assess the difference between shame, embarrass, and hazukashii. The hypothesis is supported, and in addition, the overall structure of emotion terms appears stable when one emotion term is replaced with another semantically similar label.