Dancing at Airports: Indians Among "Least Socially Mindful," Finds Global Study
India ranks among the bottom 3 countries that are least likely to show any thoughtfulness for others in a public setting.
Countries with low social mindfulness also pay an economic cost.
INSIGHTS:
The Psychology of Airport Garba
a. In 2021, the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) conducted a global study on “Social Mindfulness” involving 65 researchers, 8,534 participants from 31 modern/industrialized countries.
b. Social Mindfulness involves little acts of concern, such as stepping aside for someone on a sidewalk or being attentive while parking a vehicle in the neighborhood.
c. The study included 12 simple tests, such as: Participants were presented with 3 green apples and 1 red apple.
If the first participant takes a green apple, he or she is making a socially mindful choice (leaving others with a better opportunity to choose).
On the other hand, if he grabs the red apple, it reflects a low-level social mindfulness.
d. The researchers chose fairly modern, industrialized, and digitally aware countries for the sake of fairness of comparison.
In the final rankings, the top 3 countries were: Japan, Austria, and Mexico. The bottom 3 were: India, Turkey, and Indonesia.
India ranked at 29 out of 31 countries.
Higher Mindfulness → Higher GDP
The researchers found a strong correlation between social mindfulness scores and GDP Per Capita.
a. Honking, littering, queue-jumping, fighting in crowded trains, and disregard for cleanliness and hygiene – all of these lead to greater stress, conflict, ill-health, and lost productivity.
b. It gets difficult to conduct business in a low-trust, high-friction, high-corruption society with low levels of social mindfulness.
c. Self-interest and low social mindfulness also get reflected at the top levels in the government and industry. Governments get more focused on electoral wins, and industry is more focused on promoter wealth accumulation instead of innovation.
ENDQUOTE
“Still waters run deep. The shallow stream makes the most noise.” – African Proverb
@arabicatrader