"How am I? I'm great!!!" - Americans and Their Unrelenting Positivity

Main Idea:? Excessive positivity, cheerfulness, and exaggeration are part of the American culture.? Though you shouldn’t feel pressure to change your personality to reflect these traits, there are benefits to understanding it and making some adaptations while staying true to your authentic self.

You see it in their writing with an excessive use of exclamation marks.? Their openness and friendliness can sometimes even catch you off guard. They offer unsolicited compliments, and tend to overuse exaggerated adjectives like “awesome” and “fantastic” as they smile and wish you, “Have a nice day!”

I’m talking about Americans, and their upbeat, positive, and cheerful attitudes.? To those new to the country, it can sometimes seem “over the top”? (Granted, the intensity can vary between regions. e.g. the average New Yorker may be less extreme than the average Midwesterner).?

Some may dismiss Americans as being “fake” or “insincere.”? But this isn’t necessarily true.? Speaking for myself, if I give someone a hyperbolic compliment, I really feel it at that moment; and why not share the positive energy?!!!

Cheerful Enthusiasm in the American Workplace

At work, your American boss may have told you that your presentation was “absolutely incredible!” when you thought it was just average.? Or they told you “Great job!”? when you knew you were just doing what was expected of you.? Then you see your colleagues pass each other in the hallway asking, “Hi, how are you?”? Not expecting a real answer, the reply always seems to be “fine,” or “great.” The most negative reply you might hear could be, “Hanging in there!”

When it is time to receive formal feedback, for example, at an end-of-the-year review, you are confident it will be wonderful, based on all those positive comments you received throughout the year. But when you get the report, you see that actually, there’s a lot of room for improvement.

This cheery, positive attitude has become a requirement for most jobs in the USA. Just go into a job search website like “Indeed.com .”? Put the word “cheerful” in the search bar.? I found 7,000 matches.?For the word “enthusiastic,” over 69,000.

These traits are valued in the American workplace, and it is often expected that employees keep a positive attitude as much as possible when tackling their objectives. Positivity and cheerfulness can increase collegiality, which in turn improves productivity (Kotchemidova, 2005), which is what companies want.

How Did Americans Get This Way?

According to clinical psychologist Dr. Edward Chang (Keller, 2015), people are wired for both optimism and pessimism.? But it’s a person’s culture that determines how optimistic they become.? Values create culture, and it’s the American values of individualism and egalitarianism that are largely responsible for this desire to appear positive, cheerful and enthusiastic.

Because of individualism, Americans believe that it is up to each human being to find their own happiness and success.? A cheerful person gives the impression that they have control over their lives, and they’re able to solve their own problems.??

Exuding cheerfulness has been promoted since the birth of the country. Being cheerful and positive showed that you successfully accessed the economic opportunities this new country had offered you. You have work, you’re making money, you’re good.

With economic opportunity came independence. If you were working and successful, then you were happy.? So you let people know how happy you were (which has led many Americans to be accused of being “braggers”).? Being pessimistic or complaining could have given others the impression that you must not have had what it takes to benefit from those economic opportunities, and you risked losing the respect of your peers.

Being positive helped you promote your personal brand (Kotchemidova, 2005). This sentiment continues today.

Regarding egalitarianism, the USA was created as a caste-less society (Ideally. Obviously our history is not innocent).? The objective was to become one big middle-class, with everyone considered as equal.? Therefore, Americans strove to be friendly to all, despite economic status.? Being cheerful, upbeat and friendly was an easy way to form new relationships.

In more recent history, popular books continued to cement this culture of positivity. Dale Carnegie’s book,? How to Win Friends and Influence People was a big hit.? It offered guidance on how a person could make themselves more likeable and influential using positivity and cheerfulness.? The book The Power of Positive Thinking? was also extremely successful, outselling all non-fiction books in the mid 1950’s, except for the bible (“Positive Thinking in America,” 2005).

Dealing with American Positivity and Enthusiasm

If you did not grow up with this unrelenting positivity all this upbeat positivity can feel inauthentic and awkward. But it can also be rewarding as making some adaptations, or at least increasing your understanding of the phenomena, can help improve your relationships with your colleagues and allow you to enhance workplace relationships and improve collaboration.

You shouldn’t feel pressure to completely change your personality.? Authenticity is also valued, so you should balance being yourself with adapting to this aspect of the American workplace. Your workplace can be enriched by sharing your cultural perspectives and your ways of expressing enthusiasm. Explaining your communication style to colleagues can also help to foster mutual understanding and respect.??

And it’s okay to set boundaries and express that you might need some quiet time to work, for example, if you just aren’t feeling it when asked to sing “Happy Birthday” and eat cake for the fifth time this week.???

When you are faced with what you feel like is excessive positivity and enthusiasm, consider trying to understand the cultural context, and recognize that this behavior stems from cultural values such as individualism and egalitarianism, developed through generations.

If you do? decide you want to develop a more cheerful, positive, and enthusiastic persona:

• Pay attention to how colleagues interact, both in formal meetings and casual conversations??
• Notice the tone, body language, and expressions used in different contexts to gauge appropriate responses
• Consider that your colleagues aren’t being fake, they may genuinely feel positive
• Realize that many Americans use compliments and positive comments as a way to bond and improve their relationships with you
• Remember that many Americans give compliments as a way to start making “small talk,” which is another way to build relationships and trust between colleagues.

If you can understand and adapt to the cheerful, enthusiastic, and sometimes exaggerated communication style of Americans while staying true to your authentic self, you can thrive in the American workplace and build strong professional relationships.

I help Italian professionals who want to communicate more effectively and confidently with American colleagues and clients. Send me a DM on LinkedIn or an email to: [email protected] to learn more. We can discuss what you need to do to raise your communication skills to the level of your technical expertise so you can reach your full potential in the USA.

“The American Ethic and the Spirit of Optimism: U-M LSA Department of Psychology.” LSA, lsa.umich.edu/psych/news-events/all-news/archived-news/2015/03/the-american-ethic-and-the-spirit-of-optimism.html . Accessed 24 July 2024.?

“Positive Thinking in America.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/tupperware-positive/ . Accessed 24 July 2024.?

Why Are Americans so Cheery? - JSTOR DAILY, daily.jstor.org/why-are-americans-so-cheery/ . Accessed 24 July 2024.?