Ever heard that smiles can be highly infectious? Well, they might actually be so.
And a newly published book, Lip Service: Smiles in Life, Death, Trust, Lies, Work, Memory, Sex, and Politics, explores the nuances and effects of the expression we frequently use but seldom think about. The book's author, Professor Marianne LaFrance, shares her thoughts:
In case you are wondering if it is possible for anyone to catch someone faking a smile, it is only occasionally possible. “When experimental studies are done in which fake and apparently spontaneous smiles are shown in pictures or brief videos, to both adults and kids, and the only thing they have to do is mark a smile as genuine or not, people are pretty good at telling the difference”, said LaFrance. “On the other hand, in more complicated real-world settings most people are not very good.”
So why is it that there are such differences between the two settings? Apparently, this may be due to our level of attention paid towards live interactions. We tend to miss these details when we are not looking carefully.
Some may think they are able to tell by looking at what the overall face looks like, but in fact there is one specific muscle that shows sincerity. This muscle, called the obicularis occuli, encircles the eye socket.
According to LaFrance, “Most people don’t pay very close attention to and it’s very hard to deliberately adopt. So when people genuinely smile, in a true burst of positive emotion, not only to the corners of the mouth, controlled by the zygomaticus major, but this muscle around the eye also contracts. This causes the crows feet wrinkles that fan out from the outer corners of the eyes and it’s also responsible for folds in the upper eyelid. Most people can’t do that deliberately.”
What about actors and con men? “The muscle doesn’t seem to be under voluntary control normally, but with training and practice, people can learn to use it, some better than others. "A characteristic of con men is that they somehow manage to exude a positive, good feeling to get themselves into your good books, only to exploit it”, said LaFrance.
While the two muscles, obicularis occuli and zygomaticus major, are the primary muscles involved in a genuine smile, the so-called mouth smile occurs differently and involves other muscles on the face at the same time.
“So the mouth may be smiling but the brows could be showing anger, the eyes could be showing surprise or fear, the upper lip could be showing contempt, the nose could be showing some disgust. So the smile is interesting to those of us who study it because it’s not just one thing”, said LaFrance. “It’s multiple and complicated. Even the temporal pattern is important. Genuine smiles tend to come on the face relatively languidly and go off the face in the same kind of way. Fake smiles often seem to snap on the face and snap off.”
In most cases, smiling is not just a show of emotions, but social as well. Kids learn early on, and girls learn it much faster than boys. A fake smile is good in certain circumstances. For instance, if you have received a disappointing gift, it is mature behavior to smile and thank the person, because that is the socially appropriate thing to do.
Some might think we smile whenever coming across something funny, but this is quite rare if we are alone and not being observed. If the same were to occur while we are in a group, we are more likely to smile.
People tend to smile or not smile for different reasons. Those who tend to smile more may be perceived to have an upbeat personality but this is not a perfect correlation. Some who smile less are actually quite content. And others may simply smile all the time or out of anxiety.
On average, girls and women tend to smile more. This may be due to the notion that expressiveness is perceived by some as a sign of femininity, and idea that young boys do not like to be associated with.
“Now women, even when they are not feeling much, are strongly encouraged to look and sound as though they are. Spend some time around young teenage girls and you hear a lot of, “Ooh! Oh, that’s wonderful! Love it! That’s fabulous! Fabulous!” Women who are not very expressive are regarded with some suspicion. They seem cold, withholding, depressed. Acquiring the rules of how expressive one should be with their face is a very socialized process,” said LaFrance.
On the other hand, unsmiling people can be unnerving to some. Being smiled at, conveys the message that we are being acknowledged, that we are alive, that we matter, and not just objects to be dispensed with.
So people, remember to smile, especially to your family and friends. Guys, stop with the self imposed restrictions. And ladies, kindly forgive the guys for smiling way too little. So what are you waiting for? Go out and start a smile epidemic.
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