I found this chapter to be very interesting because it dealt with happiness and values across different cultures. I especially found it noteworthy that origins, and not environment generally determine happiness. This could be problematic for someone moving from an "unhappy" nation to one that is considered happy, because it is likely that their happiness would not change in their new environment. I was also surprised that happiness was not necessarily correlated with satisfaction, and that many of the people in the poorest countries described themselves as being the happiest.
A few issues really stood out to me concerning indulgence versus restraint--I figured that wealth would correspond to indulgence and restraint to poverty, but some of the other issues noted did surprise me. I found it interesting that wealthier countries are more likely to remember positive than negative emotions because I feel like many people in wealthier countries are actually pessimistic, even though they have things that many people take for granted. I definitely agree with the statement that more indulgent countries are more likely to have lower moral discipline and freedom of speech than restrained countries. I was however, surprised to learn that more restrained countries prefer a "poker face" to a friendly smile for strangers.
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