U.S. researchers found evidence that supports a stereotype held by many Americans that Mexicans are more outgoing, talkative, sociable and extroverted.
The study, published in the Journal of Research in Personality, said that finding also contradicts the way many Mexicans view themselves, as being less extroverted than Americans.
A team of social psychologists had students from Mexico and the United States wear small digital audio recorders the size of a cell phone for two days and then analyzed the interactions.
Mexicans and Americans differed in the way they behaved socially,
Nairan Ramirez-Esparza, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Washington, said in a statement.
The Electronically Activated Recorder worn by 54 U.S. students from the University of Texas and 46 Mexican students at the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey recorded sounds for 30 seconds every 12.5 minutes. The students could not tell when the device was operating.
Researchers later listened to and coded the recordings to determine what was going on — such as whether a conversation was occurring indoors or outdoors, in a class or hallway, how many people were involved, or whether a person was talking on the phone, using a computer or watching television.
Mexicans spent more time talking in person, in groups and outdoors in public while Americans were more likely to be alone and have remote interactions with people such as talking over the phone.
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