In fact, we do tend to be very negative in the way we speak. I started paying attention at the way people talk and most things are insults or taunts - and then we say stuff like "nah, I'm kidding!" or something like that.
This, I think, starts creating a sort of 'fear' towards expressing happiness since we have been taught it will crash against a very hard wall.
What I find even more interesting is that, as a teacher and a psychologist, I have been trained to give positive feedback and encouragement in order to promote motivation; however, I realised that in my everyday life my bringing-up still shows quite easily!
There is a video on YouTube called "Validation" (a MUST!) and whenever I show it to my Mexican students they all smile and laugh as they see it, but when asked to 'validate' someone else it becomes one of the most difficult tasks ever.
Again... Part of our 'macho' culture... Or is it? I wonder if this is a general thing in other places? What do you think?
Note: This is just my opinion, I am not saying that ALL Mexicans are like this.
This is very true! It can be highlighted in a work environment. I started working (I mean a real work) in Canada. So I learned the Canadian way to behave at work. When I came back to Mexico, it was really hard for me to get use to the Mexican way of working. It is because, in general, Mexicans workers feel like “worthless slaves”. To prove themselves and others they are not, they are mean with the people they “think” are under them. This and other behaviors are explained as a historical trauma; the Spanish conquistadors with the native people, the workers at the haciendas in Porfirio Diaz time, etc… It is better explained in the book “La Psciología del Mexicano en el Trabajo” (The psychology of Mexicans at work) by Mauro Rodríguez Estrada. There are things I am ashamed of, and I would like them to change. But there are also really good things that I am proud and make me stand and say “I am Mexican”.
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