This morning the New York Times featured an article in their Science section about smiles that was truly fascinating.
When watching celebrities walk the red carpet posing for photographers or seeing photos pop up on a Facebook newsfeed, the smiles can appear to be a bit phony. Yes, the mouth is forming a smile, but the people in the pictures don’t look happy, and sometimes look dead in the eyes.
The Times article interviewed Dr. Paula Niedenthal, a social psychologist, who studies emotions. She and her colleagues believe that the source and the way people perceive smiles, are not simply the expression of internal feelings, but “the most visible part of an intimate melding between two minds.”
For example, an embarrassed smile is often accompanied by a lowered chin, while a smile of greeting often comes with raised eyebrows. But, when someone is happy they contract their zygomaticus major muscles, which results in the edges of their mouth curling upward. The more happy the person is, the more intensely they contract those specific muscles.
Chimpanzees will sometimes smile as a sign of power, by showing its teeth. Dr. Niedenthal argues that humans flash a power grin as well, while raising their chin so as to look down at others.
“ ‘You’re an idiot, I’m better than you’—that’s what we mean by a dominant smile,” Dr. Niedenthal says.
As someone who rarely shows their teeth when smiling for pictures, a feature that sometimes makes me feel a bit self-conscious if pointed out by friends, after reading the article and looking through some old photos. The smiles that appear the most genuine and I know I was truly happy when the photo was taken, are the ones where the facial muscles change the shape of the eyes.
The article explains that a happy smile is accompanied by activity in the brain’s reward circuits, and looking at a happy smile can excite those circuits as well. But making a particular facial expression is just the first step of a smile. Dr. Niedenthal argues that how another person interprets the smile is equally important, and creating eye contact plays a large role in how a smile is perceived.
So what I’ve taken away from this article is: Don’t bother smiling unless you really mean it. Which is exactly what I intend to do.
