ABSTRACT
Sadness (i.e. feeling sorrowful or down) occurs when a loss or failure is experienced with no possibility of resolution. The way we feel about, express and respond to sadness is shaped by social and cultural norms, even when the loss or failure causing the sadness is personal. These social and cultural norms can lead people to restrain their sadness in some settings (e.g. workplace) and display their sadness in others (e.g. funeral, at home). By honouring the norms for the feeling and display of sadness, people facilitate smooth social interactions and sustain social relationships. Self and interpersonal emotion management strategies can help people control and shape their own and others’ sadness, respectively. Self-emotion management strategies for sadness include downplaying the sadness, pretending to feel fine, venting, denial and using status or organisational shields to avoid sad people (and feel sad oneself). Interpersonal emotion management strategies for sadness include offering sympathy to acknowledge and ease another’s pain and controlling the amount and timing of information delivered to others to shape how they feel about or respond to an issue. These strategies allow people to honour the feeling and display rules for sadness, but they may also maintain the emotional status quo, limiting opportunities to expand or reform emotion norms in society. This chapter reviews the literature on the feeling, display and management of sadness in everyday life, providing evidence and examples.
