8 ms·
Why Some Cultures Frown on Smiling (2016)
- fiokoden 9y agoGrim.
- amelius 9y agoI actually thought the smiling people in the images seemed less intelligent and less honest than the neutral looking people.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- yorwba 9y agoFor me there's a big difference between someone flashing their teeth in a big grin, and a photo that freezes the moment in time. The longer I look at such a motionless smile, the sillier it seems. FWIW, I'm from Germany (way to the right on the graph) and probably somewhat of an outlier, since people kept asking me whether I was sad when I just made a neutral face. I ended up training myself to always curl my lips slightly to stop those questions.
- chrisbennet 9y ago"Where would we be without humor?" "Germany"
- Mikeb85 9y agoKnew this would be about Russia. I've often heard it said that the Slavic soul is one of constant malaise. Who knows if it's true, but living up in an inhospitable climate and 1000 years of war and strife can certainly shape a culture. My Ukrainian family also never smiles, even at the happiest of times it was barely more than a smirk, and laughter was never really a thing. No smiles in photos, ever. Yet all were stoic and content, probably happier than most.
- gerdesj 9y agoThis is fascinating stuff. Ta to whomever put it here for broadening my horizons a bit. I've been aware that my general cultural norms are not transferable worldwide but I'd always considered smiling a universal human thing that worked everywhere as a sign of friendliness. Many cultures nod their head for yes and shake for no. Some do the reverse. This I get (eventually) but smiling - really? Well, yes ... why not? I think that there is a more fundamental thing to smiling/frowning/scowling as opposed to nodding and shaking the head as expressions. It's complicated.
- leguman_ac 9y agoSmiling is fundamental. Fetuses have been observed smiling in the womb. In ethology, I think it's considered what's called a fixed action pattern, it is basically hard-wired in us. But of course, the environment and culture modifies this behavior and its meaning.
- watwut 9y agoAngry face is fundamental too, babies look angry too, but we don't expect anyone to looks constantly angry.
- ganeshkrishnan 9y ago>smiling a universal human thing that worked everywhere as a sign of friendliness Smiling is always a sign of friendliness. It's just that some places you cannot expect to smile at nothing and will end up looking silly. In those places even small talk is frowned upon unless you really want to be their friends. The author missed the most important part in this: In these countries you cannot be friendly and not be friends. In western countries it's polite to smile and be friendly to strangers but we do not expect them to become our friends >Many cultures nod their head for yes and shake for no. Some do the reverse. I am not sure if you are thinking of India and it's a general stereotype that Indians do it reverse but we nod for yes and shake for no like the rest of the world with two exceptions: It's rude to say no to seniors in most asian cultures so juniors always say yes AND we have a third head shake which means I agree/ You are correct/ I will do it/Subject to interpretation
- shmerl 9y ago> It’s evidence that you’re a fool—a tricky fool. I'd say it's not as much a sign of trickery, as a sign of inner confidence, or to put it better, inner freedom. That's already standing out in 1984-like society, or society described in "Collective responsibility"[1][2]. And standing out there could bears risks. So no smiling can be perceived as an implicit defensive expression. [1]: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Скованные_одной_цепью https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Скованные_одной_цепью [2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0QuEpg4V4U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0QuEpg4V4U
- throw-away-8 9y agoSame question in a mirror: why some cultures promote phoniness and avoid true feelings? Actually I wonder why some cultures are prone to inflicting genocide.
- eeZah7Ux 9y agoPerhaps you are referring to some dictatorships, e.g. fascism in Italy, where people where expected to be cheerful and optimistic at all times and being gloomy or pessimistic was strongly discouraged by the government.
- throw-away-8 9y agoNice try but not at all: governments come and go while cultures have a much longer lifetime. Witness "grim and gloomy" russians under prescriptive eternally optimistic communist dictatorship. I think those folks that downvoted my comment had a different idea and, perhaps, felt it's too close to home for comfort.
- ajeet_dhaliwal 9y agoThe article reconciles with my experience of some older Indian relatives who considered smiling to the point of revealing your teeth showing yourself to be moronic. Even some phrases like ‘he/she has got their teeth out’. Of course there were exceptions for a particularly funny social joke but yeah in general standing around smiling comes across as daft to them.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- georgecmu 9y agoSensationalist oversimplification. For Russians, a smile serves a different function than for Americans. It's not used for communicating with others and does not serve as a social marker of openness or good mood. The social expectation is that a smile must always be prompted by something, whether it's someone's joke, or a humorous occurrence, or even own embarrassment. People don't smile in posed group photos for the same reason sitters don't smile in Renaissance portraits. Does it really follow that smiles and laughter are alien to these weird people? https://www.google.com/search?q=russian+cadets+smiling+military+parade&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7oNz_1NDWAhVQxWMKHWoZD7UQ_AUICigB&biw=1281&bih=705#imgrc=m_V_OFNM0H1m_M https://www.google.com/search?q=russian+cadets+smiling+milit...:
- shmerl 9y ago> the social expectation is that a smile must always be prompted by something Well, that's exactly the point that's interesting to analyze. I.e. why there is such social expectation.
- dotancohen 9y ago> why there is such social expectation. Do you consider laughing at people at random to be socially acceptable? Why would smiling be fine but laughing not be? Now the question becomes, _why_ do some cultures have the social expectation that an impromptu smile is acceptable?
- shmerl 9y agoSee elsewhere in this thread. Cultures where smiles aren't common usually have something social attached to it. I.e. bloody historic past, constant instability and so on. So I don't see here anything out of the ordinary. It's quite an expected effect on human emotions.
- coldtea 9y ago>Cultures where smiles aren't common usually have something social attached to it. I.e. bloody historic past, constant instability and so on. That's the premise of the article, but it's shody and hand wavy at best.
- teddyh 9y ago> Why do some societies not encourage casual smiling? Because smiling is a thing you do (as opposed to something you actively avoid doing), and doing something with no reason is silly. > Russian women do not have to worry about being instructed by random men to “smile.” That’s also a very good reason.
- watwut 9y agoIs the stranger men telling women to smile really the thing in America?
- danans 9y agoPerhaps in the older generation it may have been tolerated, but in the current generation it would considered be very offensive. It's a behavior outside of the norm and associated with men who don't respect social boundaries with women for whatever reason.
- blubb-fish 9y agoThe louder you laugh and the brighter you smile the more you seem like you really are very successful and very happy. This is what the US smile tries to communicate. It's super annoying to more humble and low key societies - but almost every culture has those handicaps - and I absolutely would call it that way. Some cultures seem to have strong urge to convey wealth with expensive and large cars or others expect you to eat everything they offer you when you are a guest etc.
- dsabanin 9y agoTo me a much simpler explanation is that people in Russia are incredibly sad and life there is very sad and hard. However almost no one there realizes it until they get out for a prolonged period of time. Me and my wife were born and spent most of our life in Russia, we were pretty well of and yet since moving to US we realized how sad it actually was. The collective consciousness of Russia is still heavily polluted with pain, fear, uncertainty and mistrust of everyone because of the terrible events that unfolded throughout it's history, but mostly in 20th century. Millions were murdered and executed during and after the revolution, more were executed before 2nd world war, 10s of millions died in the 2nd world war. Repressions, starvation, constant economic struggles nullifying people's saving and results of life's work and at the end of work life, a sight of a miserly pension that unifies everyone, regardless of previous status in life, in poverty. Most old people who live on a pension look like homeless people in US. Russian families mostly are highly codependent and dysfunctional, a lot of men drink and women resort to constant unhappy nagging and displeased demeanor. A lot of spouse relationships play out the role child/parent, where the wife is being a parent and husband is being unruly child, avoiding the responsibilities and hiding from the consequences. Public displays of affection are almost non-existant, very hard to find genuinely happy couples, especially those who've been married for a while. The country itself has terrible ecology, most cities struggle with crazy levels of pollution because of the car traffic and factories built within city limits. A lot of cars are from soviet times so they produce a lot of smoke, sometimes after a bus passes you by you can't see anything because of the clouds of black smoke. The cities are covered in soot and the roads are covered in dirt, sand and road salt. That dirt is everywhere, covering the trees, cars, houses. It's unthinkable to live in Russia and don't clean you shoes every couple of days, because they get very dirty. After every rain the dirt is everywhere. All of this combined makes cities look grey, especially during the spring, winter and fall, excluding the short summer period that lasts usually around 3 months where green of the trees and grass dilutes all of this a bit. Don't take my word for it, here's the real Russian news site of the city Krasnoyarsk, population 1 mil. It shows center of the city: http://prima-tv.ru/news/incidents/43896-sosulka_ubila_muzhchinu_v_centre_goroda/ http://prima-tv.ru/news/incidents/43896-sosulka_ubila_muzhch... To me all of that explains really well why there's not much to smile about. If you're smiling without a reason people see you as someone who have things going well and feel jealousy and want to bring you down in their own heads to justify their own misery. A lot of people in Russia leave in the denial of the true causes of their suffering and unhappiness and I'm sure they'll downvote this.
- roarktoohey 9y agoThe ease with which you smile might have a genetic component. :Confirmation Bias Engaged: People with bigger mouths tend to smile more than those with smaller mouths. :Confirmation Bias Disengaged:
- adambmedia 9y ago"It’s just that grinning without cause is not a skill Russians possess or feel compelled to cultivate." Unlike depression, and mathematics.
- adambmedia 9y agoReminds me of when my wife conveyed enthusiasm about her tech job to some family and friends of family back in France, how interesting the work was, creative, etc, only to have them snicker and declare, "look at you, so American now, you can't stop smiling." And yes, the connotation was something like vanity and superficiality.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- aeriklawson 9y agoThere's a point to be made by (sometimes snarky) non-Americans about the stereotypical "dumb, always smiling" American - there are times when it is insincere or a bit unnecessary and I think that this is unique to America. I also find this stereotype to vary by location - it's more apparent when venturing down South, for example, but less so in a place like NYC. That being said, and this is anecdotal, but I've had experiences from all over the country - I've lived in the Northeast, spent extensive time and have family in the South, etc; a lot of the time people are smiling genuinely or being cheerful with purpose. Most of the time it's not a facade, naivety, or sign of stupidity, as some would like to think. Is it really hard to consider the possibility that Americans just have a more positive attitude? And why is that a bad thing?
- programmarchy 9y agoI saw a lot of this with tourists posing for pictures at the 9/11 memorial in NYC. Cringe. There are times when it is absolutely inappropriate to smile.
- aeriklawson 9y agoSure, I totally agree. I was referring to more "day to day" attitudes than situational though.
- blubb-fish 9y agoThose "smiles" also don't seem to come from heart or being based on a philosophy of attempting to see the good in the world or empathizing socially. The stereotypical American smile is the smile of a salesman. It conveys this "I am a winner" attitude - no humbleness or sincerity.
- snambi 9y agoAtleast in India, cheaters do smile too much. it would look like too much fake smile.
- fulafel 9y agoThe extremes in the graph are interesting - Japanese think smilers are the stupidest, Germans think they're the smartest but not that honest. The Swiss think smilers are very smart and very honest, Iranians think they are studpid and dishonest.
- solotronics 9y agowhy are there so many photos of Putin smiling?
- coldtea 9y ago>Krys focused on a cultural phenomenon called “uncertainty avoidance.” Cultures that are low on this scale tend to have social systems—courts, health-care systems, safety nets, and so forth—that are unstable. Therefore, people there view the future as unpredictable and uncontrollable. Smiling is a sign of certainty and confidence, so when people in those countries smile, they might seem odd. Why would you smile when fate is an invisible wolf waiting to shred you? You might, in those “low-UA” countries, even be considered stupid for smiling. Krys also hypothesized that smiling in corrupt countries would be, um, frowned upon. When everyone’s trying to pull one over on each other, you don’t know if someone’s smiling with good intentions, or because they’re trying to trick you. Sounds a little sketchy to me. For one, tons of e.g. African, Latin American, etc countries are way more unstable and/or corrupt than the Eastern Europe/Russia countries the author mentions and yet they smile all the time without an issue. Heck, he has Japan, France and South Korea high in the "unsmiling" countries and Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Philippines, China etc high in the "smiling" ones -- I guess no corruption on the latter group. All the data table shows it "fuck if we know the actual reason" and not "it's corruption and lack of trust".
- tpeo 9y agoI think people forget that, if by a "smile" we mean any showing of teeth, not all of them are created equal. And the impression they convey can radically change depending on facial expression. Some do look stupid, or dishonest.
- ionised 9y agoI'm with the Russians on this one. I hate smiling for photographs (hate getting my photograph taken in general), as it just feels totally forced and false.
- lookACamel 9y agoWhat about on social media? Do the profile pictures on Russian social media include smiling?