Do Only Fools Smile at Strangers? Cultural Differences in Social Perception of Intelligence of Smiling Individuals

Studies on social perception reveal that on many dimensions, smiling individuals are perceived more positively in comparison with non-smiling individuals. The experiment carried out in seven countries (China, Germany, Iran, Norway, Poland, USA, and the Republic of South Africa) showed that in some cultures, smiling individuals may be perceived less favorably than non-smiling individuals. We compared ratings of intelligence made by participants viewing photos of smiling and non-smiling people. The results showed that smiling individuals were perceived as more intelligent in Germany and in China; smiling individuals were perceived as less intelligent than the (same) non-smiling individuals in Iran. We suggest that the obtained effects can be explained by the cultural diversity within the dimension of uncertainty avoidance described in the GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) project by House, Hanges, Javidan, Dorfman, and Gupta.

Metadaten
Author:	Kuba Krys, Karolina Hansen ORCiD GND, Cai Xing, Piotr Szarota GND, Miao-miao Yang
URN:	urn:nbn:de:bsz:mh39-90418
DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022113513922
ISSN:	1552-5422
Parent Title (English):	Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Publisher:	Sage
Place of publication:	Thousand Oaks, CA
Document Type:	Article
Language:	English
Year of first Publication:	2014
Date of Publication (online):	2019/07/08
Reviewstate:	Peer-Review
Tag:	culture; intelligence; smile; social perception; uncertainty avoidance
GND Keyword:	Ethnopsychologie; Kulturvergleich; Lächeln; Soziale Wahrnehmung
Volume:	45
Issue:	2
First Page:	314
Last Page:	321
Note:	Dieser Beitrag ist aus urheberrechtlichen Gründen nicht frei zugänglich. / Due to copyright reasons the full-text of the article is not freely accessible.
DDC classes:	100 Philosophie und Psychologie / 150 Psychologie
Open Access?:	nein
Licence (German):	Urheberrechtlich geschützt

Open Access