[originaltext] Facial expressions carry meaning that is determined by situat

Facial expressions carry meaning that is determined by situations and relationships. For instance, a woman’s smile at a police officer does not carry the same meaning as the smile she gives to a young child. A smile may show affection, convey politeness, or disguise true feelings. For example, many people in Russia consider smiling at strangers in public to be unusual and even suspicious behavior. Yet many Americans smile freely at strangers in public places. In Southeast Asian cultures, a smile is frequently used to cover emotional pain or embarrassment.
    Our faces reveal emotions and attitudes, but we should not attempt to "read" people from another culture as we would "read" someone from our own culture. The degree of facial expressiveness one exhibits varies among individuals and cultures. The fact that members of one culture do not express their emotions as openly as members of another does not mean that they do not experience emotions. Rather, there are cultural restraints on the amount of nonverbal expressiveness permitted. For example, in public and formal situations many Japanese do not show their emotions as freely as Americans do. More privately and with friends, Japanese and Americans seem to show their emotions similarly.
    It is difficult to generalize about Americans and facial expressiveness because of individual and ethnic differences in the United States. People from certain ethnic backgrounds in the United States tend to be more facially expressive than others. The key is to try not to judge people whose ways of showing emotions are different. If we judge according to our own cultural norms, we may make the mistake of "reading" the other person incorrectly.
16. What determines the meaning of facial expressions?
17. What do we learn about the degree of facial expressiveness?
18. What is said about people from certain ethnic backgrounds in the United States?