14 DAY TRIAL // Smiling is just one of those little things that are extremely beneficial for us and that, oftentimes, we seem to forget to do. Not the British, though, as they are officially the happiest nation in all of Europe, with the Polish coming in last, as a new study cited by the Daily Mail reveals. Whether they have good reason to smile or not is, of course, an entirely different matter.
According to the recent study, the Brits are nearly matched by the Spanish and the Italians, both nations famous for their goodwill and positive outlook on life. At the opposite pole are, somewhat predictable, says the Mail, the Germans, the French and the Polish, who are the people most unwilling to crack a smile. In fact, most Eastern European nations seem to be much against smiling, Dr. Piotr Szarota concludes in the study published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior.
“Here’s a reason to rejoice despite the nation’s woes: Britons are the happiest people in Europe. Research shows that we smile more than our continental cousins, with only the Spanish, known for their sunny outlook, and the Italians, with their love of life, coming close. The French and Germans, some might say perhaps not surprisingly, fare poorly in the smile stakes. Bottom of the pile are the Poles, who it seems are twice as reluctant to crack a smile as Britons. Piotr Szarota, a psychologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences, analyzed 2,000 photos accompanying internet messages sent by men and women from nine European countries,” the Mail writes.
“Dr. Szarota, whose findings are published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, said this might be due to a ‘post-Communist mentality.’ He added: ‘East Europeans, generally regarded as less assertive, less friendly, and more distrustful, would be less likely to smile.’ However, differences in quality of life cannot fully explain the results, with France and Germany both sitting towards the bottom of the league table. With fewer than half the French and Germans pictured smiling, they were more morose than the Slovenians and the Czechs,” the publication further says.
However, they may be one more explanation why the Germans, the French and the Polish ranked last in the top, the Dr. hints. These are people that put a lot of emphasis on honesty and being straightforward, which means they’d rather express their true feelings towards someone or something, than mask them with a smile and thus think of themselves as hypocrites.
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