Motivation and emotion/Book/2025/Smiling and emotion expression across cultures

Smiling and emotion expression across cultures:
How does the meaning of a smile vary between cultures?

Overview

Figure 1. Most Famous smile in the world Scenario Six-year-old Angel notices that her Japanese mother is always polite and smiles at people even if they are rude to her and makes her uncomfortable. While her American father always greets everyone who passes Angel's family. Her mother does piano lessons and floristry and makes Angel follow along despite not liking it. Her father likes his personal space and sometimes doesn't like it when people come up too close to him. Her mother never raises her voice but will voice out her disappointments while her father yells if he gets upset about something. Her father gets very proud when he gets a promotion while her mother is happy when Angel aces her spelling. What ethnic group are Angel's parents from? What type are Angel's parents in the SIMS Model? What causes her parents to express themselves like this? Why do Angel's parents smile in very different situations?

• Define the importance of smiling.
• What are the cultural acceptability within a certain culture?
• What are cultural differences?
• What is the SIMS Model?
• What is Duchenne and non-Duchenne

Focus questions What cultural differences are there in smiling? What are major theories on smiling and emotional expression? What are the different values of smiling in different cultures?

The Importance of Smiling

Smiling has been associated with the expression of happiness (Tsai & Park., 2014). People who smile more are likely to be perceived as friendly and approachable as it makes people more attractive thus improving communication with others (Krys et al., 2016). But not all cultures see smiling in a positive lens as in Norway culture there is a saying that if a stranger smiles at Norwegians that means the stranger is insane (Krys et al., 2016). While both Russia and Poland have the belief that smiling without reason is foolish (Krys et al., 2016). Proven by Russia's well-known proverb ‘Eks,ra ,ep gpbxbys - gpbpyar lypaxbys’ which means smiling with no reason is a sign of stupidity (Krys et al., 2016)

Chapell (1997) counted 15,824 children, adolescents, young adults, middle aged adults and older adults smiles in public spaces like stores, restaurants, malls, stadiums, etc. It was revealed that across all of the age groups only 40.3% of the women smiled while 35.3% of the men smiled. The results also show that younger people smiled more than older people and individuals with a European background smiled more than Asians (Hess et al., 2002). In Western culture, smiling is viewed highly (Hess et al., 2002). Thornton (1943) had reported that those who smiled were rated by others to be highly kind, honest, and funny. Research also found drawings made by eight to ten-year olds, always drew nice and clever people as smiling (Sandow., 1997). LaFrance and Hecht (1995) discovered that people who had committed academic transgression that smiled caused increased leniency and were less likely to be considered guilty compared to a non-smiling transgressor.

In some cultures, expressing a certain emotion in one culture is not socially accepted in another one (Lifari., 2022). For example, crying is viewed as good at funerals in Romanian cultures but is not acceptable at British funerals (Lifari., 2022). It is considered to be impolite and embarrassing, as seen at the funeral of Princess Diana where her sons did not shed any tears. Another side of this would be how American and Englishman culture would get offended if personal space was disturbed, making them angry. But in Russian or Romanian culture, this would not cause them to get offended but would rather be taken kindly as it gives a sense of closeness (Lifari., 2022). Even the emotion of attitude is different in some cultures, cultures like the US would express anger with hitting or shouting but in Belgium anger would be expressed by ignoring the subject or person or by shaming them (Lifari., 2022).

Was it the Russia's proverb or Norway cultural belief that smiling without reason is foolish

	Norway
	Russian

Sincerity and Insincerity Smiles

Those who smile are likely to be seen higher than those who do not smile, as smiling allows people to be seen as attractive, capable, and sociable. But smiles can be faked and how a person truly feels can be hidden away. French anatomist Duchenne de Boulogne determined that there were two different types of smiles (Szarota., 2011). A sincerity and real smile and an insincerity and fake smile (Szarota., 2011).

Duchenne smiles are smiles that are considered to be true and are linked with positive emotions where non-Duchenne smiles are smiles that are considered to be false and are used in setting to communicate insincerity expressions masking their true feelings (Krys et al., 2016). Duchenne smiles include cheek muscle activation that create wrinkles around the under eye while non-Duchenne smiles include no activation of cheek muscles (Gunnery & Ruben., 2016). Gunnery & Ruben (2016) conducted a meta-analysis that tested and compared the perception of Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles. The findings showed people who had Duchenne smiles were ranked high in positivity, and were seen as trustworthy, genuine, and attractive. There was a significant difference between Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiles when the stimuli was videos instead of photos, as the smiles shown in videos were viewed as authentic (Gunnery & Ruben., 2016).

Duchenne smiles are associated with true feelings being masked by a false expression

	True
	False

Cultural Difference in the Value of smiling

Psychologist Paul Ekman (1972) not only embraced Duchenne's work of two types of smiles but also further explored it by studying the universal recognition of basic emotion. He showed that smiling was linked with the emotion of happiness by more than a dozen of Western and non-Western cultures (Szarota., 2011). After Ekman and Friesen (1969) had found out the difference in smiling within cultures, they had defined the term "display rules". Allows when and how individuals are able to express their emotions though their cultural norms. Refers to how different cultures and people are, seen in how in certain settings it is not appropriate to react in a certain way (Szarota., 2011). Anna Wierzbicka (1995) stated there are a wide range of verbal and nonverbal ways to communicate, she believes that smiling is one of those nonverbal ways to communicate.

A study conducted by Friesen (1973) and Ekman (1972) had American and Japanese participants watch a stressful film twice. Once by themselves and second with the experimenter. The results showed that when watched alone, both culture groups reveal a wide range of emotion like anger, sadness, disgust, and fear. But in the presence of the experimenter the Japanese participants only smiled even when watching a scene that had previously caused them anger. Japanese view the act of smiling as a mask for social interaction used to maintain social appropriation rather than the American view of the act of smiling as a sign of expression that shows emotion (Matsumoto & Kudoh., 1993).

Smiling in Japan

Figure 2. Cherry Blossom bloom at Mountain Fuji

Wa translated means "social harmony” or “concord”, it can not be a metaphor or an abstract but it is about the quality relationship filled with trust, hard work, and purpose (Szarota., 2011). The Japanese aim to be active wa, so this one has to regulate their emotions, behaviours, and tone all while also avoiding confrontations (Wierzbicka., 1999). In Japan, everyone is concerned about the other people as such not regulating one's emotional state might cause them to explode which may hurt a person's feelings (Szarota., 2011). Which is why in Japan masking their emotions is common (Szarota., 2011). Showing a reaction will also hurt a person's reputation and be scorned by others (Szarota., 2011). Due to this the more in control of the emotion a person is, regardless if the emotion is associated as negative emotions such as anger. Or positive emotions such as joy, the more they are respected by the community (Szarota., 2011; Matsumoto., 1996).

Smiling in United States

Figure 3. Statue of Liberty in New York

The United States is most individualistic because of this their valued rule of the self and not of social unity like those in Japan (Szarota., 2011). Cheerfulness is considered to be the most valuable emotion as it helps to boost individualism (Kotchemidova., 2005). Friendliness is a value connected to American culture for smiling, the etiquette makes everyone be polite and nice. As friendliness increases, smiling to strangers creates a good attitude (Wierzbicka., 2004). Patterson et al (2007) studied the behaviours between the Japanese and the Americans, on their reaction to strangers who nodded or smiled at them. The results show that 2% of the Japanese smiled back while 25% of Americans responded back. When students from Poland were asked to rank their mood and compare it to their normal mood for 65 days. The American students ranked their mood higher with positive bias.

Smiling in Poland

Figure 4. University of Wrocław, and the University Church on the left side

Poland has values and norms that can be seen as negative (Szarota., 2011). Dolinski (1996) stated when asked how you are, if answered as s(he) is doing good. The Poles would see the person as conceited or overbearing as such it is considered to be polite by replying with a negative tone like financial issues or bad health (Dolinski., 1996). While the Poland students ranked their mood for 100 days, the findings showed that the students had rated their emotion worse than usual. The survey was retested in a national representative sample but the results were the same (Wojciszke., 2004). Stated by Wierzbicka (1994) one of the most important values of Polish culture is szczeroϾ which means roughly or sincerity. It means to speak the truth and show what individuals really feel. They value what someone really thinks and emotional impulsiveness is better than making someone feel good about themselves (Wierzbicka., 1994).

Stimulation of Smiles Model

This model explores how people read the meaning of smiles and the sincerity of it (Niedenthal et al., 2010). There are smile types enjoyable, affiliative, and dominant (Niedenthal et al., 2010). Enjoyment smiles are used to express happiness, used when people smile spontaneously as they are experiencing success or pleasure and are usually rewarded (Krys et al., 2016). An example of this is when mothers smile at their children and motivate them to produce socially acceptable behaviour (Niedenthal et al., 2010). Affiliative smiles are used to express positive social intentions, important for creating and maintaining social relationships (Krys et al., 2016). An example of these are smiles used for first impressions (Niedenthal et al., 2010). Dominant smiles are used to express social status and control, used in social settings to manage relationships (Krys et al., 2016). An example of this “scheming smiles” by politicians, most commonly used to show signs of dominance and leadership over people (Niedenthal et al., 2010).

Basal Ganglia

Research shows that when people recognise smiles, it activates the reward system in the basal ganglia which gives the experience of receiving a reward (Tronick., 1978; Trevarthen., 2018). Research done in primates and rats show that reward processing is in the ventral tegmental area which is similar to the reward processing found in humans (Niedenthal et al., 2010). Studies have found the reward processes found in basal ganglia are responsible for identifying smiles (Niedenthal et al., 2010).

Amygdala

Studies had found that the amygdala was responsible for responding to neutral and smiling expressions (Breiter et al.,1996; Fusar-Poli et al., 2009). Further explored by other studies that showed there was a clear activation of response from the amygdala after seeing an emotional reaction (Niedenthal et al., 2010). A study conducted by Winston et al (2003) by using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), they used emotion insight tasks that are explicit (deciding whether the expression was high or low emotional) or implicit (ratings of maleness). It was revealed that both tasks caused the brain activation of the cortical and subcortical regions that express happiness, sadness, disgust, and fear were emotional levels of high or less (Winston et al., 2003). Results from Winston et al (2003) were further explored and supported by the findings from Fitzgerald et al (2006) and Surguladze et al (2003).

Facial Mimicry

Facial mimicry is when a person observes another and matches their own facial expression to the other, the copying person does change their emotional position as there are no significant consequences to their well-being (Niedenthal et al., 2010). Research was conducted to explore the link between facial mimicry and implicit emotion. Botox (Botulinum toxin) was used to prevent facial expression to be made clear, participants asked to mimic the angry or sad expression shown in photos (Hennenlotter et al., 2009). Results show participants who had botox injection on their eyebrows were not able to mimic angry expressions (did not include sad expression) as they had less ability to activate their limbic system compared to the control participants who did get injection on eyebrows (Hennenlotter et al., 2009). The study explores how emotions and expression come hand to hand, as the lack of facial movement lowered the emotional response and activity (Hennenlotter et al., 2009). The intensity of anger was low due to the blockage of movement for said emotion (Hennenlotter et al., 2009).

Somatosensory Cortex

Responsible for linking facial and body cues from smiling expression to create an emotional response shown though the body (Niedenthal et al., 2010). As individuals recognise smiles the somatosensory system activates the sensation of how the shown smile is felt to further understand the emotion (Niedenthal et al., 2010). This could be one reason as to how people are able to mimic emotional expression through the use of stimuli (Barsalou.,1999). That is how the somatosensory cortex is able to activate the feeling associated with the shown smile while simultaneously analysing the emotion (Adolphs., 2002; Gallese & Goldman., 1999). A study conducted by Adolphs et al (2000) had 108 participants with focal brain lesions and found the right somatosensory cortex was the primary region for realising the facial expressions related with the six basic emotions.

1

Which are the correct smiles types in SIMS Models?

	enjoyable, affiliative, and dominant
	dominant, pleasure, sadness
	angry, enjoy, pleasure

Conclusion

There are many different cultures, and smiling is used all the time. But the way they express their smiles are different from one another. In the United States is an independent culture, thoughts, feelings, and behaviour come from within themselves. While Japan is a dependent culture, thoughts, feelings, and behaviours come from between people. Research had also found that people who smiled were viewed to be not just happy but also polite, relaxed, and carefree (Deutsch, LeBaron, and Fryer., 1987). The SIMS model is used in an example where the smile given to the person needs to be interrupted as they do not know the emotion behind it (Niedenthal et al., 2010). Starts with uncertainty causing the amygdala to respond allowing eye contact. After making eye contact, the reward process in the basal ganglia is activated. Causing the movement of motor mimicry, the activation of the two allows the body to begin the somatosensory system (Niedenthal et al., 2010). With the visual and analysis complete, the interruption of the smile is concluded to be "happy" (Niedenthal et al., 2010).

See also

• Emotional expression (Book chapter, 2010)
• Culture (Wikipedia)
• Facial Expression (Book chapter, 2011)
• Emotional Regulation and Culture (Book chapter, 2020)
• Facial expressions and culture (Book chapter, 2013)

References

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External links

• 10 Big Benefits of Smiling (Verywellmind)
• Psychology and culture (Annual Review)