Do you know what you're saying when you smile? 'Smiling Cultures' vary from country to country

Why you smile reflects your nationality.

When people smile, they are expressing more than just what we see on the outside. Researchers examined emotional responses to various situations of 5,000 people from 32 countries and grouped people into three different smiling habits. People belong to either of the three "cultures of smiling" depending on how immigration has affected their society throughout history. The idea that smiling because of happiness may only be true with one group.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - "We think an absence of shared language and shared culture would push people toward greater nonverbal expression of emotion. Otherwise you wouldn't know what the other person was feeling or thinking or liking or disliking," said the lead researcher Prof. Paula Niedenthal, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

She added that there is a need for a common communication in order to establish systems and pursue prosperity as a society.

In their study, they say that the immigration history of the country has a very important implication in the development of communication cues.

Countries with different races and cultures due to immigration like the United States and Canada tend to interpret smiling as being happy or friendly, as to mitigate communication gaps among people.

However, for countries which are generally with monoethnic societies, there may be a different and more complex meaning to the smile.

The psychologists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Cardiff University found that while Australia, Canada, the U.S. and Zimbabwe have the most expressive show of emotions, Hong Kong tops as the least expressive, followed by Bangladesh, Indonesia, Russia and Switzerland.

Smiles are classified into three categories: to convey pleasure, for social cohesion and signaling dominance. The published research states that those with less immigration history tends to smile emphasizing social hierarchy while its counterpart signals happiness.

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