Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals

Smiling individuals are usually perceived more favorably than non-smiling ones—they are judged as happier, more attractive, competent, and friendly. These seemingly clear and obvious consequences of smiling are assumed to be culturally universal, however most of the psychological research is carried...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Krys, K., Vauclair, C.-M., Capaldi, C., Lun, V., Bond, M., Domínguez-Espinosa, A., Torres, C., Lipp, Ottmar, Manickam, L., Xing, C., Antalíková, R., Pavlopoulos, V., Teyssier, J., Hur, T., Hansen, K., Szarota, P., Ahmed, R., Burtceva, E., Chkhaidze, A., Cenko, E., Denoux, P., Fülöp, M., Hassan, A., Igbokwe, D., Isik, I., Javangwe, G., Malbran, M., Maricchiolo, F., Mikarsa, H., Miles, L., Nader, M., Park, J., Rizwan, M., Salem, R., Schwarz, B., Shah, I., Sun, C., van Tilburg, W., Wagner, W., Wise, R., Yu, A.
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2015
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/18813
_version_ 1848749854011949056
author Krys, K.
Vauclair, C.-M.
Capaldi, C.
Lun, V.
Bond, M.
Domínguez-Espinosa, A.
Torres, C.
Lipp, Ottmar
Manickam, L.
Xing, C.
Antalíková, R.
Pavlopoulos, V.
Teyssier, J.
Hur, T.
Hansen, K.
Szarota, P.
Ahmed, R.
Burtceva, E.
Chkhaidze, A.
Cenko, E.
Denoux, P.
Fülöp, M.
Hassan, A.
Igbokwe, D.
Isik, I.
Javangwe, G.
Malbran, M.
Maricchiolo, F.
Mikarsa, H.
Miles, L.
Nader, M.
Park, J.
Rizwan, M.
Salem, R.
Schwarz, B.
Shah, I.
Sun, C.
van Tilburg, W.
Wagner, W.
Wise, R.
Yu, A.
author_facet Krys, K.
Vauclair, C.-M.
Capaldi, C.
Lun, V.
Bond, M.
Domínguez-Espinosa, A.
Torres, C.
Lipp, Ottmar
Manickam, L.
Xing, C.
Antalíková, R.
Pavlopoulos, V.
Teyssier, J.
Hur, T.
Hansen, K.
Szarota, P.
Ahmed, R.
Burtceva, E.
Chkhaidze, A.
Cenko, E.
Denoux, P.
Fülöp, M.
Hassan, A.
Igbokwe, D.
Isik, I.
Javangwe, G.
Malbran, M.
Maricchiolo, F.
Mikarsa, H.
Miles, L.
Nader, M.
Park, J.
Rizwan, M.
Salem, R.
Schwarz, B.
Shah, I.
Sun, C.
van Tilburg, W.
Wagner, W.
Wise, R.
Yu, A.
author_sort Krys, K.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Smiling individuals are usually perceived more favorably than non-smiling ones—they are judged as happier, more attractive, competent, and friendly. These seemingly clear and obvious consequences of smiling are assumed to be culturally universal, however most of the psychological research is carried out in WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) and the influence of culture on social perception of nonverbal behavior is still understudied. Here we show that a smiling individual may be judged as less intelligent than the same non-smiling individual in cultures low on the GLOBE’s uncertainty avoidance dimension. Furthermore, we show that corruption at the societal level may undermine the prosocial perception of smiling—in societies with high corruption indicators, trust toward smiling individuals is reduced. This research fosters understanding of the cultural framework surrounding nonverbal communication processes and reveals that in some cultures smiling may lead to negative attributions.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T07:27:33Z
format Journal Article
id curtin-20.500.11937-18813
institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T07:27:33Z
publishDate 2015
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling curtin-20.500.11937-188132017-09-13T13:44:34Z Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals Krys, K. Vauclair, C.-M. Capaldi, C. Lun, V. Bond, M. Domínguez-Espinosa, A. Torres, C. Lipp, Ottmar Manickam, L. Xing, C. Antalíková, R. Pavlopoulos, V. Teyssier, J. Hur, T. Hansen, K. Szarota, P. Ahmed, R. Burtceva, E. Chkhaidze, A. Cenko, E. Denoux, P. Fülöp, M. Hassan, A. Igbokwe, D. Isik, I. Javangwe, G. Malbran, M. Maricchiolo, F. Mikarsa, H. Miles, L. Nader, M. Park, J. Rizwan, M. Salem, R. Schwarz, B. Shah, I. Sun, C. van Tilburg, W. Wagner, W. Wise, R. Yu, A. Smiling individuals are usually perceived more favorably than non-smiling ones—they are judged as happier, more attractive, competent, and friendly. These seemingly clear and obvious consequences of smiling are assumed to be culturally universal, however most of the psychological research is carried out in WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) and the influence of culture on social perception of nonverbal behavior is still understudied. Here we show that a smiling individual may be judged as less intelligent than the same non-smiling individual in cultures low on the GLOBE’s uncertainty avoidance dimension. Furthermore, we show that corruption at the societal level may undermine the prosocial perception of smiling—in societies with high corruption indicators, trust toward smiling individuals is reduced. This research fosters understanding of the cultural framework surrounding nonverbal communication processes and reveals that in some cultures smiling may lead to negative attributions. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/18813 10.1007/s10919-015-0226-4 fulltext
spellingShingle Krys, K.
Vauclair, C.-M.
Capaldi, C.
Lun, V.
Bond, M.
Domínguez-Espinosa, A.
Torres, C.
Lipp, Ottmar
Manickam, L.
Xing, C.
Antalíková, R.
Pavlopoulos, V.
Teyssier, J.
Hur, T.
Hansen, K.
Szarota, P.
Ahmed, R.
Burtceva, E.
Chkhaidze, A.
Cenko, E.
Denoux, P.
Fülöp, M.
Hassan, A.
Igbokwe, D.
Isik, I.
Javangwe, G.
Malbran, M.
Maricchiolo, F.
Mikarsa, H.
Miles, L.
Nader, M.
Park, J.
Rizwan, M.
Salem, R.
Schwarz, B.
Shah, I.
Sun, C.
van Tilburg, W.
Wagner, W.
Wise, R.
Yu, A.
Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals
title Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals
title_full Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals
title_fullStr Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals
title_full_unstemmed Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals
title_short Be Careful Where You Smile: Culture Shapes Judgments of Intelligence and Honesty of Smiling Individuals
title_sort be careful where you smile: culture shapes judgments of intelligence and honesty of smiling individuals
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/18813