ABSTRACT
Emotions are central to human existence. Emotions colour our lives, to use a hackneyed phrase; without them life would at best be dull, but even dull experiences are arguably emotional, which makes it hard to imagine what living a truly non-emotional life would be like. The idea that emotions are socially constructed is the idea that they are embedded in and defined or even constituted by cultural practices, and thus that the study of emotions requires examination of the cultural context in which emotions are experienced, displayed and discussed. Emotions are thus culturally relative. A common strategy for social constructionists is to highlight cross-cultural differences and within-cultural similarities in emotion concepts, expressions, and behaviour. According to cognitive theories of emotion, an essential property of emotions is that they are intentional states, typically either a belief or judgement, which entails that they are about or directed at something or someone.
