The perception of a person by a person, which psychologists call social perception, is determined by many factors, and not the least among them are various stereotypes, including national ones.
A person's belonging to one nation or another forces one to ascribe certain traits to it. For example, the inhabitants of the Scandinavian countries are usually portrayed as exaggeratedly calm, and the southerners - passionate and hot-tempered. There is no shortage of stereotypes about Russians. Some of them are even reflected in the proverbs: "Russian harnesses for a long time, but travels fast."
It cannot be said that these stereotypes are 100% correct, but there is a rational grain in them. A native of Russia, for example, may mistake an ordinary friendly conversation between two Spaniards or Arabs for a quarrel. The habit of many Russian students to sit back for a semester and then study all the material in the last days before the exam is also well known to teachers.
The emergence of national character traits is natural. Each nation has lived for centuries in certain natural conditions that have shaped its way of life, traditions and character.
North and South
The further north this or that area is located, the more severe the conditions in which a person has to live, the more difficult it is to survive alone. A passionate, quick-tempered person with an unrestrained temperament has more chances to quarrel with relatives and be expelled from the tribal community than a calm and reasonable person.
In the harsh conditions of the northern lands (for example, on the Scandinavian Peninsula), such exiles were doomed to death, people who survived were calmer, who did not break their ancestral ties. In a southern climate, where there was no such "selection", temperamental people could occupy a dominant position due to their increased activity. This explains the temperament of the southerners and the calmness of the northerners.
Mountains and plains
In almost all civilizations, capitals were located on the plains, not in the mountains. It is easier to travel on the plain, to transport goods, therefore it was on the plains that trade developed. The development of the economy "pulled with it" changes in social organization, led to the emergence of state structures. Mountainous areas were less affected by these processes. That is why the tribal traditions were preserved longer among the peoples living in the highlands (the Caucasus in Russia, the north of Scotland in the UK).
Features of farming
Agricultural peoples, to which the ancient Slavs belonged, built their lives in accordance with field work. Russia is in the zone of risky farming. A short farming season forced people to give their best in a tight time frame, followed by a long period of relative inactivity.
Of course, in the winter, too, it was necessary to work - to look after the cattle, chop wood, spin - but all this could not be compared with the colossal exertion of forces that the agricultural season demanded from the peasant, during which a lot had to be done. This is how the habit, characteristic of Russians, of alternating prolonged inactivity with relatively short periods of strenuous work was formed, which is manifested even among modern city-dwellers who have never been involved in agriculture.
