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"The American smile does not mean anything really. Many Russians take the American smile as strange and artificial. " On the other hand, by defining the defaul

"The American smile does not mean anything really. Many Russians take the American smile as strange and artificial. " On the other hand, by defining the default behavior as "smile", if somebody looks unhappy, you can actually tell that something is wrong. When the default expression is "gloom", it's impossible to separate "default gloom" from "actually unhappy."

Qz 16y ago
Except when the unhappy people are so used to smiling that they just force a smile because that's what's socially acceptable. Default expressions are two-faced.
- weaksauce 16y ago
  It's harder to fake a genuine smile though and a perceptive person will be able to pick up on it usually.
  - socksy 16y ago
    How many social smiles are actually genuine?
    - forensic 16y ago
      Lots. It's only chronically negative people who believe that most smiles are false. Some people just enjoy being alive and so they smile. Even polite smiles are still polite and show concern for the emotions of the other. When Russians glower at me and talk in their cynical, biting tone I feel as if they don't care about me or my feelings and aren't interested in a positive emotional exchange. Russians suck all the life out of rooms with their frowns and sarcasm.
      - socksy 16y ago
        I don't see why you have to be chronically negative to believe that a smile that isn't genuine is necessarily "false". When referring to a genuine smile, we usually refer to a Duchenne smile[1] — one in which the muscles around the eyes also crease. Just because a smile isn't on the spot genuine doesn't mean it's false, as the thought behind it can still be there. But it's also important to note that this is an expectation of your culture — it's not as obvious to me that smiling all the time is necessarily a "happiness" thing. Surely you must be aware of the stereotypes that are held by other cultures of Americans? The fact that you see Russians as people who suck the life out of the room, just suggests to me that you are projecting your expectations of societal norms on other societies — where they don't necessarily fit. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smile#Duchenne_smile http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smile#Duchenne_smile
      - Klinky 16y ago
        I am sure many have experienced people in a social situation acting extremely happy to see each other, however, once alone some of these people(not necessarily Russians) start trying to draw a wedge between themselves and the others via backstabbing/two faced behavior. You will see it on school playgrounds, you will see it with friendships & you will see it in the professional world. This leads you to be distrusting of the smile. I smile, you smile, but it doesn't really break the ice because I don't know who you really are or what your motives are. I may see you smiling & shaking hands with the person you were just bitching about ten minutes ago. Again more distrust. Reading & listening beyond the obvious expression may be more valuable than just taking it at "face value". That said, the smile is probably more useful as a default than a glower or frown. At least it does seem to present a willingness to open dialog. People are more likely to approach someone who is smiling at them, than someone who is sending them an icy look.
      - powertower 16y ago
        "Enjoy being alive" is not something most people in the modern world are capable of doing... Being in the now and being without false desires takes quite a bit of awareness, self-reflection and meditation. Most people live very shallow, materialistic, egotistical, narcissistic lives. They also smile to seem happy, friendly, and desirable. It does not represent the real person inside. Take what you have written: it's judgmental, borderline racist, and narcissistic. There is little chance that you are truly enjoying life, except in the typical / selfish ways (I'm not that much different). No one can "suck all the life out of a room." If their behavior affects you in such a way, it is only so because you require / desire perceived positivity from the rest of the world. It's like a drug / an opiate that keeps you from screaming inside.
        Helianthus16 16y ago
        You just 'sucked the life' out of this thread and proved forensic's point about 'chronically negative people.' :( Also, in a topic like this where we're examining differences between cultures, it's pretty implicit that we're speaking generally. If that's racist, any cultural examination is racist.
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
    - grishick 16y ago
      IMHO, it is very easy to distinguish between a "social" smile and a genuine smile. When the smile is just on the lower part of the face - it's fake or protective, when the eyes are smiling - it's genuine.
katovatzschyn 16y ago
And when the default behavior is "happy" you cannot tell when one is actually so.
kenjackson 16y ago
There's some research that indicates that smiling/frowning may actually change your mood. But also "hiding" your emotions may cause them to "leak" into other activities. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=smile-it-could-make-you-happier http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=smile-it-co...
- Lost_BiomedE 16y ago
  Try laugh yoga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXgdSOxaCGI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXgdSOxaCGI Your body sends out the same endorphins when fake laughing or laughing for real. You are right that there is a decent amount of research showing this.
rdtsc 16y ago
> When the default expression is "gloom", it's impossible to separate "default gloom" from "actually unhappy." What happened to neutral? Isn't it a false dichotomy to presuppose that you can only have one or the other.
- wladimir 16y ago
  I guess we're in the middle here in Europe. We have both stereotypes: Americans with their fake artificial smiles, and the Russians with their unnecessarily gloomy attitude.
bluekeybox 16y ago
The article contradicts itself, and thereby exposes its Russian-centrism. Read the last sentence: ... Gorbachev's success in the West is based on the fact that he became the first Soviet leader who smiled to people in public. Many [Americans] perceived [Gorbachev] as a person who was open to communication and therefore not dangerous. So how exactly does a smile in America "not mean anything really" when it allows Americans to distinguish people in their society who are open to communication from those who aren't? That's a very clear social function, full of meaning if you ask me. TL;DR: in American society, smile serves two functions: (1) to express emotion of happiness/satisfaction, (2) to signify that one is "open to communication, while in Russian society the role of smile is exclusively tied to (1). Failure to perceive the dual-purpose role of smile can lead a Russian to conclude that smile has no function at all in American society (not "meaningful"). Similarly, failure to perceive the singular role of smile in Russian society, can lead an American to incorrectly conclude that all Russians are "closed to communication."
- anateus 16y ago
  I think you're getting to the point of it: the smile vs. no smile decision is about the default "communicate with me" or "don't communicate with me" posture. This is much like how midwestern and southern visitors perceive northeastern cities in the US. Although I've found strangers in Boston perfectly accommodating, they tend to be rather less ebullient about it than elsewhere in the US. Well, this is all anecdotal, so these are my observations as a Soviet-born, Israeli-raised, now-American.
- moggie 16y ago
  I imagine that the writer is saying a smile loses meaning when it is given so readily.
Vitaly 16y ago
On the other hand "smile by default" doesn't tell you if the person is really happy or just wearing the default smile. As the article says "Indeed, when the Russians smile, they show a sincere and an open smile. The American smile does not mean anything really." If you see a russian smiling, you can know for almost sure that there is something either great or funny happend to him. When you see a smiling american, you just see an american that is not too upset.

Qz 16y ago

Except when the unhappy people are so used to smiling that they just force a smile because that's what's socially acceptable. Default expressions are two-faced.

weaksauce 16y ago
It's harder to fake a genuine smile though and a perceptive person will be able to pick up on it usually.
- socksy 16y ago
  How many social smiles are actually genuine?
  - forensic 16y ago
    Lots. It's only chronically negative people who believe that most smiles are false. Some people just enjoy being alive and so they smile. Even polite smiles are still polite and show concern for the emotions of the other. When Russians glower at me and talk in their cynical, biting tone I feel as if they don't care about me or my feelings and aren't interested in a positive emotional exchange. Russians suck all the life out of rooms with their frowns and sarcasm.
    - socksy 16y ago
      I don't see why you have to be chronically negative to believe that a smile that isn't genuine is necessarily "false". When referring to a genuine smile, we usually refer to a Duchenne smile[1] — one in which the muscles around the eyes also crease. Just because a smile isn't on the spot genuine doesn't mean it's false, as the thought behind it can still be there. But it's also important to note that this is an expectation of your culture — it's not as obvious to me that smiling all the time is necessarily a "happiness" thing. Surely you must be aware of the stereotypes that are held by other cultures of Americans? The fact that you see Russians as people who suck the life out of the room, just suggests to me that you are projecting your expectations of societal norms on other societies — where they don't necessarily fit. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smile#Duchenne_smile http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smile#Duchenne_smile
    - Klinky 16y ago
      I am sure many have experienced people in a social situation acting extremely happy to see each other, however, once alone some of these people(not necessarily Russians) start trying to draw a wedge between themselves and the others via backstabbing/two faced behavior. You will see it on school playgrounds, you will see it with friendships & you will see it in the professional world. This leads you to be distrusting of the smile. I smile, you smile, but it doesn't really break the ice because I don't know who you really are or what your motives are. I may see you smiling & shaking hands with the person you were just bitching about ten minutes ago. Again more distrust. Reading & listening beyond the obvious expression may be more valuable than just taking it at "face value". That said, the smile is probably more useful as a default than a glower or frown. At least it does seem to present a willingness to open dialog. People are more likely to approach someone who is smiling at them, than someone who is sending them an icy look.
    - powertower 16y ago
      "Enjoy being alive" is not something most people in the modern world are capable of doing... Being in the now and being without false desires takes quite a bit of awareness, self-reflection and meditation. Most people live very shallow, materialistic, egotistical, narcissistic lives. They also smile to seem happy, friendly, and desirable. It does not represent the real person inside. Take what you have written: it's judgmental, borderline racist, and narcissistic. There is little chance that you are truly enjoying life, except in the typical / selfish ways (I'm not that much different). No one can "suck all the life out of a room." If their behavior affects you in such a way, it is only so because you require / desire perceived positivity from the rest of the world. It's like a drug / an opiate that keeps you from screaming inside.
      - Helianthus16 16y ago
        You just 'sucked the life' out of this thread and proved forensic's point about 'chronically negative people.' :( Also, in a topic like this where we're examining differences between cultures, it's pretty implicit that we're speaking generally. If that's racist, any cultural examination is racist.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - grishick 16y ago
    IMHO, it is very easy to distinguish between a "social" smile and a genuine smile. When the smile is just on the lower part of the face - it's fake or protective, when the eyes are smiling - it's genuine.

katovatzschyn 16y ago

And when the default behavior is "happy" you cannot tell when one is actually so.

kenjackson 16y ago

There's some research that indicates that smiling/frowning may actually change your mood. But also "hiding" your emotions may cause them to "leak" into other activities. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=smile-it-could-make-you-happier http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=smile-it-co...

Lost_BiomedE 16y ago
Try laugh yoga: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXgdSOxaCGI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXgdSOxaCGI Your body sends out the same endorphins when fake laughing or laughing for real. You are right that there is a decent amount of research showing this.

rdtsc 16y ago

> When the default expression is "gloom", it's impossible to separate "default gloom" from "actually unhappy." What happened to neutral? Isn't it a false dichotomy to presuppose that you can only have one or the other.

wladimir 16y ago
I guess we're in the middle here in Europe. We have both stereotypes: Americans with their fake artificial smiles, and the Russians with their unnecessarily gloomy attitude.

bluekeybox 16y ago

The article contradicts itself, and thereby exposes its Russian-centrism. Read the last sentence: ... Gorbachev's success in the West is based on the fact that he became the first Soviet leader who smiled to people in public. Many [Americans] perceived [Gorbachev] as a person who was open to communication and therefore not dangerous. So how exactly does a smile in America "not mean anything really" when it allows Americans to distinguish people in their society who are open to communication from those who aren't? That's a very clear social function, full of meaning if you ask me. TL;DR: in American society, smile serves two functions: (1) to express emotion of happiness/satisfaction, (2) to signify that one is "open to communication, while in Russian society the role of smile is exclusively tied to (1). Failure to perceive the dual-purpose role of smile can lead a Russian to conclude that smile has no function at all in American society (not "meaningful"). Similarly, failure to perceive the singular role of smile in Russian society, can lead an American to incorrectly conclude that all Russians are "closed to communication."

anateus 16y ago
I think you're getting to the point of it: the smile vs. no smile decision is about the default "communicate with me" or "don't communicate with me" posture. This is much like how midwestern and southern visitors perceive northeastern cities in the US. Although I've found strangers in Boston perfectly accommodating, they tend to be rather less ebullient about it than elsewhere in the US. Well, this is all anecdotal, so these are my observations as a Soviet-born, Israeli-raised, now-American.
moggie 16y ago
I imagine that the writer is saying a smile loses meaning when it is given so readily.

Vitaly 16y ago

On the other hand "smile by default" doesn't tell you if the person is really happy or just wearing the default smile. As the article says "Indeed, when the Russians smile, they show a sincere and an open smile. The American smile does not mean anything really." If you see a russian smiling, you can know for almost sure that there is something either great or funny happend to him. When you see a smiling american, you just see an american that is not too upset.