33% of respondents from Russia think that westerners and Russians practically have no similar personality traits, a recent survey discovered. Less than half of respondents in a recent WCIOM survey said there are some common character traits that both westerners and Russians possess.

Russian character vs. western character

Results of the recent WCIOM survey may be called shocking: 33% of respondents, or 1 in 3, think that there are practically no similar character traits typical for both Russians and westerners.

At the same time, 70% of poll participants stated there is such a thing as “Russian character” and 59% of the audience believe it’s mostly positive.

• Only 2% of participants think there are more negative traits than positive in the so called “Russian character”.
• 37% of survey takers feel that positive and negative attributes sit in about 50/50 proportion.

Older participants feel much more positive about the “Russian character” than youngsters: 67% approval rate among the group aged 60+ and only 31% among the group 18-24.

Only 47% of respondents feel that there are commonalities between westerners and people from Russia, while 33% of survey takers stated there are “many differences and practically no common features” between westerners and people of Russia. 20% of respondents picked the option “difficult to answer” to this question (1 in 5).

Only 15% of respondents think that there are more positive features in the typical personality of westerners (compared to 59% of people who think the same about residents of Russia).

What is typical of Russians?

Among the positive qualities typical for people of Russia, respondents named:

1. Kindness, soulfulness, empathy: 32%
2. Persistence, resilience, purposefulness: 23%
3. Patience, adaptability, inability to say “No”: 18%
4. Camaraderie, desire to help others: 14%
5. Patriotism, pride: 13%
6. Honesty, sincerity: 11%
7. Optimism: 9%
8. Trust, friendliness: 7%
9. Work ethics: 7%
10. Hospitality: 6%

Negative features, typical to the national character, according to the survey results:

1. Addiction to alcohol, drugs: 21%
2. Abdicating responsibility, lack of initiative: 17%
3. Tolerance, obedience: 8%
4. Egoism, lack of unity: 6%
5. Cruelty, anger, jealousy, aggressiveness: 6%
6. Too trusting: 5%
7. Hot temper, explosiveness, lack of common sense: 4%
8. Indifference, lack of concern: 4%
9. Lack of discipline: 3%
10. Rudeness, vulgarity: 3%

The recent poll by WCIOM unveiled surprising representations about perceived differences between personalities of westerners and locals.

What is typical of westerners?

These positive traits were named most often in the survey (however, 57% of survey takers said it was difficult to answer):

1. Responsibility: 7%
2. Respecting others and themselves: 7%
3. Pragmatism, rationality: 7%
4. Liveliness: 6%
5. Confidence in one’s abilities and opportunities, ability to achieve goals: 5%
6. Democracy, love of freedom: 5%
7. Entrepreneurship: 4%
8. Work ethics: 3%
9. Tolerance: 3%
10. Dynamics, energy, drive: 3%

Among the negative features typical of western character, participants in the survey named:

1. Love of money, pragmatism: 11%
2. Arrogance, egotism: 8%
3. Dislike of Russians: 6%
4. Indifference, lack of empathy: 5%
5. Aggressiveness, anger: 4%
6. Stupidity: 3%
7. Insincerity, unfriendliness: 3%
8. Deviousness: 3%
9. Liberalism, tolerance, love of freedoms: 3%
10. Debauchery, depravity: 2%

55% of respondents (over one half) said it was difficult to answer to this question.

Obviously, the majority of residents of Russia who live away from capitals hadn’t travelled to western countries and had no contacts with foreigners in daily lives. They don’t see visitors or immigrants from western countries, so it’s hard for them to form a deeply personal opinion.

What is more interesting is how respondents perceived their own people. Obviously, this is how Russian women that you are talking to online would like you to see the people of her country.

Read also:

• Russians vs. Ukrainians
• 10 differences between dating mature Russian ladies vs. young girls
• What do you think about Ukrainian girls?
• Is it true that Russian girls are most beautiful in the world?