Batja Mesquita

Mesquita was born in Amsterdam in 1960 to Jewish Dutch parents who survived the World War II in hiding.[3] Her father, Albert Gomes de Mesquita was a class mate of Anne Frank.[4] Her mother, Lien de Jong, was orphaned in the war.[5] Both parents were educated, and the family lived a comfortable middle-class life. Mesquita has two younger brothers. Mesquita’s first marriage to Michael Zajonc (1994) gave her two children, Oliver and Zoë. She has been married to Benny Carlé since 2012.

Mesquita obtained a Bachelors in Psychology and a Bachelors in Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. She obtained a Masters (summa cum laude) in experimental psychology from the same university, focusing her master thesis on gender differences in emotions. During her Ph.D. in psychology (summa cum laude) she developed her initial insights in the role of culture for emotions. Mesquita spent her postdoc years at the University of Michigan,[6] where she was part of the ‘Culture and Cognition group’.[7] This group combined psychological perspectives with those of neighboring disciplines as anthropology and sociology to learn how individual psychological processes are shaped through socio-cultural participation.

Interested by the contrast between the ethnographic findings of marked cultural differences in emotions[8] and psychological research that yielded universality,[9] Mesquita set out to understand the role of culture in emotions. In an extensive literature review that appeared in Psychological Bulletin,[10] she and Nico H. Frijda arrived at a synthesis of the research findings from different disciplines, which challenged the notion of universal basic emotions. They concluded that, while some aspects of emotions may be universal, other aspects are cross-culturally different.[10] In later work, Mesquita found that cultural differences in emotions are systematic and meaningful, and can be understood from cultural differences in self and relationship models (e.g., Mesquita, 2003[11]). The finding of systematic and meaningful cultural differences led Mesquita to formulate a socio-cultural theory of emotions. According to this theory, emotions emerge from interpersonal interactions that are bound and guided by cultural meanings and practices.[12] Her current research focuses on unveiling the interpersonal processes that give rise to cross-culturally different emotions.[13] In another line of research, Mesquita and her colleagues study the consequences of cultural differences in emotions for the multicultural society. They have yielded evidence for emotional acculturation: Emotions change as a result of contact with another culture. The work on acculturation shows the role of culture in producing and reproducing emotions, even beyond their initial socialization.[14] It has also led to a cultural psychological theory of acculturation, in which ‘deep’ psychological processes, such as emotions, change upon contact with another culture.[15] Mesquita’s research interests include the consequences of emotional misfit of immigrant minorities for their belonging to and inclusion in majority culture.

• Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, 2016-2017[16]
• Member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium, 2015[17]
• Fellow of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology (SESP), 2009
• Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA), 2008[18]
• Fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP), 2008[19]
• Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS), 2007[20]
• Robert P. and Debra Lee Fellowship for outstanding faculty, WFU, 2005-2007
• Fellowship from the Royal Dutch Academy of Science, 1994-1997[6]

• All publications by Batja Mesquita