Why Americans are smiling all the time
A Life / / December 19, 2019
In some countries it is accepted to smile on any occasion, while in the other excessive cheerfulness causes misunderstanding and mistrust. According to scientists, this is to some extent dependent on the level of stability in the country. Laughter and other manifestations of joy without a reason considered a sign durachiny basically where people's lives reasons for concern more than joy.
But there is another side to the coin, causing no less interesting - the legendary American smile in 32 teeth.
Smiles and immigration
Residents of countries attractive for immigration, to communicate has always had to actively use non-verbal means of communication. As a result, people in these countries are accustomed to smile more often.
During the study,World Migration Matrix, 1500-2000. It was considered donor countries, from which immigrants settled around the world and mingled with other peoples, since the 16th century AD. For example, in Canada and the United States are living people from 63 and 83 donor countries, respectively, while in China and Zimbabwe, the ethnic composition of the population is practically homogeneous and represented by only several nationalities.
The researchers asked people from 32 countries to answer the question, what kind of emotions, in their view, could and should be opened. It was found that emotional expression is directly linked to the country's ethnic diversity. Where a lot of immigrants, and not everyone speaks the state language, a smile sometimes serves as the main means of interaction.
People living in multi-ethnic countries, and those who live in countries with a homogeneous composition of the population, smiling, for various reasons.
The traditional immigrant countries through smiles fastened acquaintances and establish social connections. In a nationally homogeneous countries smile often demonstrates superiority over someone.
For us smile our policies
As for the classic general American smile, the whole thing is that Americans appreciate the bright positive feelings more than the citizens of other countries.
In one recent study,Leaders' Smiles Reflect Cultural Differences in Ideal Affect. Scientists compared the official photo of the largest American and Chinese businessmen and politicians. It turned out that American leaders are smiling more often and encouraged by their Chinese counterparts.
Then, these same researchers surveyed students from 10 countries for the number of times per week they would like to experience a variety of emotions, from happiness to hostility. After that, the researchers compared the answers with students photos leading political figures of the same 10 countries.
The higher the value the students gave a strong positive emotions, such as excitement and enthusiasm, the busiest looked at the photo of the countries policies. Curiously, the actual degree of happiness in these countries had no effect on the results of the study.
Encouraged by policy reflects the desired, rather than the current emotional state of the electorate.
Why American smile does not work in other countries
These cultural differences in values and purpose smile - the reason why the largest American companies it is sometimes hard to expand the business outside the US.
When in the 90s the company "McDonald's" has come to Russia, she had to teach staff to smile to customers. Immediately there was a misunderstanding: in America at the meeting decided to look directly into his interlocutor's eyes. In Russia, however, this behavior is often regarded as a manifestation of aggression. For Americans, the same characteristic smile with eye contact that completely baffled as the Russian workers, "McDonald's", as well as their clients.
About the same difficulties arose from the Walmart network, when she decided to open their representative offices in Germany. Companies had to temper his trademark cheerfulness, to better match the German restraint. From sellers no longer require mandatory smiles that some customers have taken for flirtation.
Soon Walmart Network was forced to close its stores in Germany with multi-million dollar losses. Of course, this did not happen because of the smiles. Influenced by other, more serious cultural differences. For example, Walmart management did not manage to persuade the German employees to move and find a common language with the local trade unions.
American smile - is a product of American culture, which is not always suitable for export.