A reactive person rarely initiates action or discussion, they prefer to listen first, then think in silence to react by carefully formulating their thoughts.

A great listener. Rarely interrupts someone and does not reply immediately. Values silence and is unlikely to voice any strong opinion immediately.

Introverted, distrusts many words and is attentive at non-verbal communication by subtle body language. Small-talk is not easy for them. Context matters and they think most people seize it too, this is why they use indirect speech and don’t do a lot of eye contact. Dislikes confrontation but when forced into it, do their best to make it constructive.

Countries and regions for reactive people: Finland (the only reactive country in Europe), China, Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, almost all Asian regions except India.

 

What if you want to live in Italy?

It may take you a while to feel comfortable in conversations with locals. Be proactive, use more direct speech and eye-contact. Make your way into the conversation, Italians rarely have silent pauses. Eventually, you will learn the verbal and non-verbal clues from the locals and will be just fine.

If you want to learn more about Italian culture, read my book “Understanding Italy” (free with Kindle Unlimited) to get lots of useful information about life in Italy and italians.

Beware of stereotypes!

Not every German will be precise and punctual and not every Italian will be emotional and talkative. This test is based on a general scale model developed by Richard D. Lewis.

Some countries are in the middle of the scale, for example, Canadians are generally a mix of active and reactive types: