What countries in Europe are mostly the opposite of "emotional" and "impulsive" ?

D

Dabeho

Regular Member
Messages
36
Reaction score
1
Points
0
What countries in Europe are mostly the opposite of "emotional" and "impulsive" ?

.....................
 
Last edited:
Dabeho said:
Countries of Southern Europe are generally labeled like this, as well as "loud" and "touchy". Colombia, Mexico and Brazil are even more so, for that matter.

Now, what countries are rather the opposite?
Click to expand...

I agree with Loud but not with touchy (unless I am not understanding what touchy really means in this case) from my experience I find Northerners very touchy in their own way. Just have different ways to express it.
 
I think he meant touchy as touching you when speaking :)
I think there is North/South but also Protestant/Catholic divide.
 
arvistro said:
I think he meant touchy as touching you when speaking :)
I think there is North/South but also Protestant/Catholic divide.
Click to expand...

Ah ok thats different. 'Touchy' normally means as sensitive and fussy :), but I agree that southern Europeans have a shorter distance between people as a comfort zone compared to northerners. I think world wide North East Asians have the biggest distance as comfort zone.
 
Dabeho said:
I had thought about that as well as an explanation, but then you come across very Catholic places like Austria, Belgium and Southern Germany and some others and notice there is something deeper down.
Click to expand...

I dont think religion makes the difference. I am more inclined to believe that the weather has some kind of impact on the general behavior.



That might be only the Japanese. Koreans and Chinese are rather loud and smily, at least according to my experience.
Click to expand...

Maybe but even say Chinese do not kiss hug and tap on shoulders hold hands and walk close to each other (with arms round shoulders and so on). (is that what you mean by touchy?). They seem to have a wider personal space. Again its just my opinion.
 
Lutheran West/Central Latvians are cool, whereas Catholic East Latvians are hot.
Nobody is most Northern geographically, both speak Latvian dialects. Latvia itself is really small.
 
arvistro said:
Lutheran West/Central Latvians are cool, whereas Catholic East Latvians are hot.
Nobody is most Northern geographically, both speak Latvian dialects. Latvia itself is really small.
Click to expand...

Thats interesting. However if that is the case what is it that makes it such? I presume there is some distinction also between Irish and say English or Brits in general
 
Maleth said:
Thats interesting. However if that is the case what is it that makes it such? I presume there is some distinction also between Irish and say English or Brits in general
Click to expand...
I think that is the difference. Generally poorer, many children, Catholic Latgalians/Irish vs relatively richer, less children, Protestant West/Central Latvians/Brits.

Latgalians although stereotypically hot for Latvians in Spain might go for rather calm people anyway :)
 
Dabeho said:
Many children, yes, but poorer? Where in the world is Ireland poor?

There has to be an explanation even deeper down as for the differences.
Click to expand...
Read Gone with the Winds :)
Now they are rich enough West Euro country with probably also not so much kids (I have not checked on their demographics, could be they still outdo other Euros) and probably not so Catholic.
 
Maleth said:
I dont think religion makes the difference. I am more inclined to believe that the weather has some kind of impact on the general behavior.


Maybe but even say Chinese do not kiss hug and tap on shoulders hold hands and walk close to each other (with arms round shoulders and so on). (is that what you mean by touchy?). They seem to have a wider personal space. Again its just my opinion.
Click to expand...

Maleth said:
I dont think religion makes the difference. I am more inclined to believe that the weather has some kind of impact on the general behavior.



Maybe but even say Chinese do not kiss hug and tap on shoulders hold hands and walk close to each other (with arms round shoulders and so on). (is that what you mean by touchy?). They seem to have a wider personal space. Again its just my opinion.
Click to expand...


Surprisingly, given the amount of research that's been done on the benefits of human touch for everything from infant development, to marital bonding, to psychological health, to physical healing, there are few papers that I can remember that look at it from the perspective of geographic and therefore ethnic differences.

Here is a link to excerpts online from a book called Handbook of International and Intercultural Communication", by ML Hecht. Within it there's a chapter called "Non-Verbal Communication Across Cultures". If you work for large corporations or government entities supposed experts are sometimes hired to prepare you for working with people from other cultures so that you don't give offense, and also so that you don't misread certain social cues. For example, coming too close might cause anxiety in people from certain cultures, while in another setting maintaining what is considered too much distance might inspire distrust.

The authors briefly go into the question of whether it is genetically or culturally driven, but it's mostly just generalizations, although they're generalizations with which I tend to agree..:)

This is their comment about the impact of culture: "Cultural differences are not random events; they occur because cultures developed with different geographies, climates, economies, religions, and histories, each exerting unique influence."
AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC


I personally agree with you that there's something to be said for the fact that the warmer (and drier) the climate, the more time that is spent outdoors, and the more likely it is that it will be what they call a "high contact" culture.

I can also see, for example, how, if you live in mountainous terrain with very small areas suitable for growing crops, people would tend to congregate more so than in situations where there is abundant flat land where people can farm individual homesteads. Another cause of this kind of "clustering" in many areas of Italy, for example, is the fact that villages and towns were situated on high hills for defense against repeated raids by sea (and invasions by land). Farmers would go out to their fields by day, sometimes having to travel very long distances, but returned to the walls each night for protection.

I'm not sure how to explain the effect, if any, of Protestantism versus Catholicism. Everyone in Europe used to be Catholic, after all.

I also do think, however, that there's a genetic component, despite the fact that so little research has been done into it.
 
When I look at working class crowds in many northern protestant countries I think it must also have to do with class and education. Actually I find in these countries the working class people to be more impulsive, talkative and approaching than working class people in southern countries. But it is reverted for middle and upper classes who are cooler and distanced in northern countries.
 
Dabeho said:
I must agree with most of what you said. Except for the genetic component. I think it has rather to do with the culture associated with each ethnicity and country, and therefore different ways of dealing with things and applications of values, and that's where Protestantism and Catholicism appear. Both present values (like Protestant work ethic), which some cultures have accepted and applied more efficiently. Such culture is, as you said, formed by "geographies, climates, economies, religions, and histories, each exerting unique influence".

I used to think genetics could have its share as well, but then when you stumble upon countries of similar genetic background like Uruguay and Argentina/Italy/Spain, and China and Singapore, and notice the differences in each, you start doubting genetics have such a huge effect.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, but I'm not following your logic here. How did following Martin Luther suddenly make Germans less emotional and less demonstrative?

I also don't think that Latin American countries are very good as proxies for southern European countries. Even the ones with large percentages of recent immigrants from southern European countries have substantial Native American input, and they also have substantial numbers of immigrants from northern Europe too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

This thread has been viewed 39367 times.

Back
Top