Why Barack Obama has such a big grin yet some leaders never smile: Researchers say expressions reveal their country's stance on self expression
- Researcher conducted study to find link between smiles and cultural value
- Studies revealed that politicians' smiles reflect culturally valued emotions
- US places emphasis on excitement, and leaders share enthusiastic grins
- East Asian countries value calmness, and leaders have reserved smile
If eyes are the windows to the soul, a smile just might be the window to an entire country.
A new study from Stanford University analysed the smiles of political leaders around the world, from reserved to beaming, revealing that politicians’ grins largely reflect a country’s cultural values on self-expression.
In a nation that places an overall emphasis on excitement, its leader is more likely to pose enthusiastically, while a modest expression may represent a culture of calmness.
A new study from Stanford University analyses the smiles of political leaders around the world, from reserved to beaming, revealing that politicians’ grins largely reflect a country’s cultural values on self-expression. On the left, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Right, U.S. President Barack Obama
Stanford associate professor of psychology Jeanne Tsai explains how the ‘smiling effect’ could potentially create misunderstandings between leaders.
The researcher says this comes down to the ‘ideal affect’ of a particular nation – culturally valued emotions, and how people want to feel.
These culturally valued emotions vary around the world, and the study points to the diverging ideals of the United States and East Asian countries, including China and Taiwan.
While politicians in the United States show a tendency to smile widely, leaders from some East Asian countries are much more modest, the study found.
‘Often people think that when they are viewing a candidate’s official photo, they are learning about the candidate’s unique traits,’ Tsai said.
‘But our findings suggest that they are also learning about the candidate’s culture and the emotions it values.’
‘It is significant that although democratic and developed nations were more likely to have leaders who smiled in their photos, it was the nation’s idea affect that uniquely determined whether leaders’ smiles were more excited or calm,’ said Tsai.
The team conducted three studies, comparing the smiles of political leaders from America and China, across a variety of ranks.
Researchers controlled for national differences in democratic levels, GDP per capita, and human development.
In the first study, the team looked at the official photos of top-ranked American and Chinese officials, including chief executive officers and university presidents.
All of the American leaders were found to have more ‘excited’ smiles.
THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES BARE THEIR TEETH
A study from Stanford University analyses the smiles of political leaders around the world, from reserved to beaming, revealing that politicians’ grins largely reflect a country’s cultural values on self-expression.
Researchers found that politicians from the United States tend to show a wide, enthusiastic smile, representing a culture that places value on excitement.
The 2016 presidential candidates have mostly embraced an enthusiastic expression during the campaign.
The Democrats: Bernie Sanders, pictured left, and Hillary Clinton, right
The Republicans: Donald Trump, pictured left, and Ted Cruz, right
Republicans, continued: Ben Carson, left, John Kasich, centre, and Marco Rubio, right
The next study compared the smiles of winning vs losing candidates, and higher vs lower ranked officials in the US, Taiwan, and China.
Again, American officials were observed to have more excited smiles in their photos, ‘regardless of election outcome or ranking,’ the authors wrote.
In the third study, the team examined the ‘ideal affect’ of 10 different nations, using reports by college students.
When the researchers ‘coded’ the smiles of these same nations eight years later, the team found that enthusiastic expressions were tied to cultures that emphasized excitement.
‘Similarly, the more nations valued calm and other low-arousal positive states, the more their leaders showed calm smiles,’ the authors wrote.
In a nation that places an overall emphasis on excitement, its leader is more likely to pose enthusiastically, while a modest expression may represent a culture of calmness. Researchers found that politicians from the United States tend to show a wide, enthusiastic smile, representing a culture that places value on excitement
The relationship between smile types and cultural values carried across the varying levels of rank, with expressions shared for a particular culture, the researcher says.
‘I thought they might be more pronounced in occupations that are more visible to the public, like government,’ Tsai said.
‘I think the fact that the cultural differences emerged regardless of occupation or rank speaks to how pervasive values regarding emotion are.’
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