Cultural Color
Which country is more emotional?
Figuring out the answer to that question is no doubt a daunting task, but Gallup polling took that challenge and has released the results of their world-wide survey that began in 2009.
One might hypothesis that the most prevalent differences in culture can probably best be seen between Eastern and Western cultures, which often times causes huge culture shocks. If you take a close look at the color coded results mapped out (by Max Fisher from the Washington Post) you will notice that this does in fact seem to be the case.
The Contra Costa Times has outlined the results of that study. The survey was a bit brief as it only asked 5 questions But it asked people from 150 differing countries. The questions focused on the participant’s feelings (negative and positive) on the previous day.
The question everyone wants to know is which countries have the greatest “emotional deficit” and which don’t.
Singapore was deemed the least emotional country in the world. One reason for this, as Bloomberg Businessweek writes, could be that – Staying emotionally neutral could be a way of coping with the stress of urban life in a place where 82 percent of the population lives in government-built housing.
Believe it or no, Americans are not the most emotional people in the world and many of us would never guess that, by far, the Philippines is the most emotional country in the world with El Salvador coming in second.
An interesting note is that least emotional countries in the world are the greatest consumers of cigarettes and alcohol and also happen to be former members of the Soviet Union.
Dr. Matsumoto, continues to delve into the complex world of cultural relations with his ongoing research. He states, “Cultural psychology has implications to all areas of human functioning…“
Read the entire article for more detailed and interesting tid-bits from the survey.
I am a Licenciado on cultural anthropologiy , Doctor.on social communication, and a published author on nonverbal communication. As Argentinian I would say that we rank among the highest, with the idiosincrasy that we are prone to have outbursts of emotion, which are very normal between partners, both commercial and intimate. Another observation is that professional politicians and actors share the highest levels on emotional intensity, as a personality trait. They make the highest efforts to control themselves compared with people that have other occupations.
Dr. Sergio Rulicki
Dr. Rulicki,
Thank you for sharing your insights and information with the Humintell Community. Those are interesting observations.