A Color-coded Glimpse into the Globe’s Emotionality

By Georgianna Reilly, LMSW
SJS Staff Writer

Infographics, graphs, pie charts; we all love a good graphic representation of information. It helps many process details in these times of information overload. The Washington Post, thanks to the Gallup polling firm, has posted a color-coded map of the emotionality of the world’s countries. Since 2009 Gallup has been asking individuals across the globe the following questions:

1.  Did you feel well rested yesterday?

2.  Were you treated with respect all day yesterday?

3.  Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?

4. Did you learn or do something interesting yesterday?

5.  Did you experience the following feelings during a lot of the day yesterday? (How about enjoyment, physical pain,worry, sadness, stress, anger?)

The results have named Singapore the worlds least emotional country, with the Philippines ranking without a doubt as number one. Although in my eyes not particularly strong evidence because the research is based on a set of simple questions alone, it is an interesting concept which brings about some visible patterns. Some patterns which come about suggest that English and Spanish speaking countries, particularly in North and South America, are some of the most emotional in the world. In addition, post-soviet countries are some of the most stoic and lease emotional while the Middle East is simply unhappy (for the most part).

It is interesting to see that Singapore recognizes it’s limited emotionality, and this has been describes as an “emotional deficit,” by the Bloomberg Business week which cites “a culture in which schools “discourage students from thinking of themselves as individuals.” They also point to low work satisfaction, competitiveness, and the urban experience: “Staying emotionally neutral could be a way of coping with the stress of urban life in a place where 82 percent of the population lives in government-built housing.””. Further, it is interesting to see the connections the author tries to make to alcohol and cigarette use, as well as war and poverty as it related to emotionality levels and whether a nation is more negative or positively oriented.

To me these results seem inconsistent, and in need of further clarification. However, they do paint an interesting picture about culture and society. These results could simply be showing cultural representations of emotions, or understanding of question concepts. Who they asked could have also been a factor. Were they middle class? upper? lower? Were they men? Women? Elderly? All have different standards of response and emotions, all gauge their lives differently. In addition, in some cultures it is considered a weakness to discuss your emotions or to acknowledge having felt one particular emotion. The lingering ties to socialism and communism could be pushing people in those nations to not acknowledge their emotions as they are not ‘a part of the bigger picture’. While Americans may be emotional, we often will not acknowledge our negativity and try to emphasize our positive feelings. I mean, how often does someone ask how you are doing and you say “good” even on a terrible day? We as a global society aren’t fully connected to our emotions and a lot more on a societal level comes into play than we might think when answering a question.

With more research, data such as this could easily be used by governments and social services a like to address the needs and cater to particular populations. This is something some nations are already moving in the direction of. If we know a nation is more inclined to be less emotional, or more negative or positive, we can gear our policies and practices to work off of these needs and start ‘where the client is’. The overall well being of a nation sets the tone of everything that occurs with in it, so with more concrete evidence an emotionality level could be a great resources.

You can read more about the methodology and more details about the outcomes here.