Dr. Paul Ekman along with Dr. Wallace Friesen pioneered research on the universality of emotions across cultures. (To read more about Ekman's work, look for his articles in the UMUC library. He also has a website with a lot of links to journal articles). Their research found that there are some universal emotions but that people are more accurate when identifying emotions from members of their own cultural groups.

Next, visit the public social media sites of several (at least 3) people from a culture other than yours.These should be strangers, not friends or acquaintances. That means if you are a native-born American from the US, you need to look for people from different countries. You do not have to join any particular social media platform. You do not have to ask to be friended or like anyone. You should simply visit what is publicly available. Tell us -without actual names - what culture you visited. Describe what you see. Analyze the sorts of emotions you observed (you are doing a naturalistic observation), what provoked those emotions, and how those emotions were expressed. Analyze how this might differ from what you find on your own social media sites. (Again, no names should be used. Use initials or create a pseudonym). This analysis must include the readings.