The power of a smile

When it’s somebody’s birthday, my wishes in most cases combine both, health wishes and a suggestion to smile every single day. It became kind of my “thing” to wish a smile for each and every day.

When i am shopping, i try to always have a smile on my face, even if i do not feel like smiling. Why? When eye contact comes up,  i want to be prepared. The first eye contact should trigger a smile on the other person’s face. I want my eyes to be smiling. I want to be “saved” as a smiling person, in best case combined with a positive feeling.

When i am calling a support hotline, i even try to have a smile-sounding voice. Why? Because people seem to be more open to help me in a non-standard way, when they think i’m smile-sounding.

At some points in my life, i even smiled to myself looking into the mirror in the morning. Why? I believe, that a smile comes together with positive emotionality. And even if it does not directly increase my positive affect. When i see my own morning smile in the mirror, i start laughing and out of the box, there is some good feeling generated.

Children recognize smiling. Strangers recognize smiling. Friends recognize smiling. I assume, that even dogs recognize simling or at least a smile-sounding voice.

My experiences does not reflect the whole power of a smile nor is it representative, but it suggests, that there are benefits of frequent, proactive smiling on well-being.

Well, there a specifics to a real smile. There are differences to non-real smiles, too. A real smile is called “Duchenne Smile” and one can recognize it pretty easily by raised eye wrinkles and mouth angles. Humans in general just know, when somebody is really smiling and feeling true enjoyment.

But, there are other smiles. There are smiles, people show, when they win and display superiority. People smile differently, when they want to award somebody for something good he or she has done. There is smile people show, when they want to suggest empathy to somebody else. Each smile sends out another message and its interpretation varies based on context, in which it happened.

Of course, you don’t want to walk around like a clown, smiling without a reason. Nobody will believe your smile is true, when it will not fit the context and be congruent with your body language. The question is, when a smile is a beneficial behavioral strategy. Or: Which benefits might smiling generate. Smiling to yourself? Smiling to others, while talking, while approaching?

Smiling is one of many facial expressions. It is common knowledge, that body expressions are expressions of inner emotions. There is less agreement, when it comes to connection of specific emotions to specific facial expressions, like the real smile.

In general, we smile when muscles in our face get active.

Basically smiling, as many other facial expressions is at some point connected to emotions. Emotions are or better emotionality is on the other hand connected to well-being. Main theories which underline this assumption, are:

* The theory of needs: The basic assumption is to fulfill my own needs, which will lead to well-being.

* The theory of goals: The basic assumption is to pursue goals, aiming at an ideal state, which will lead to well-being.

* The Theory of activity: The basic assumption is, that task processing itself is the goal, which will lead to well-being.

How are motivation and emotion theories connected to a smile?

Emotionality and positive emotionality in particular can be understood as the future probability of participation in specified actions.

Emotionality in general is stable over time, might change in short-term, will get to an average, person-specific level in long-term. This means, that positive affectivity has an average, person-specific long term average level, too. Though context can impact emotionality on short-term, it will not have a major impact on emotionality on long-term.

So positive emotionality will impact the probability of fulfilling my needs, to pursue long-term goals and to conduct tasks in itself. Positive emotionality will therefore probably be a trigger for long-term well-being. Positive emotionality is understood to uncrease the repertoire of cognitive and behavioral ressources.

If a smile and other facial expressions are outer signs of inner emotions, then being a “smiler” might be an outer sign of being a positive person. Being a person with a high average of positive emotionality, will lead to increased well-being.

Many studies have been conducted on the topic of smiling and the impact smiling has on inter- & intrapersonal level.

On an interpersonal level (when interacting with others), people who smile are perceived as more friendly and attractive. more approachable, desireable, more authentic, more sincere and reliable, more generous. A smile can even compensate relative bad looking. Relative bad looking people are perseived as more attractive when smiling, compared to relative attractive people, who are not smiling.

Smiling increases the probability of cooperation. It increases the probability of the smiling person as well as the perceiving person to cooperate. Smiling even increases the probability to match the height of input whithin a cooperation scenario.

Basically families are a good place for observing smiling behaviors and the impact. Young children react to facial gestures and to gestures of body warmth and reflect it to the parents. Smiles are a sign of warmth within families.

On an intrapersonal level, people who smile more often, judge themselves as more social, more competent and less negative. Smiling not only helps in increasing positive emotionality, but helps in reduction of negative emotionality, too. Therefore smiling increases the effectiveness of psychological regulation.

People, who smile more often are rated as extraverted.

When it comes to life outcomes, smiling on schoolbook photographs predicted lower divorce rates, higher subjective happiness in marragies and life overall, higher longevity. Smiling predicts better results at work, when having to solve complex high quality tasks. It predicts higher ratings of own work. Smiling predicts higher tips in service jobs or higher product ratings in client-centered jobs.

There is sometimes a limitation to smiling, when it comes to being in situations of confrontative aggression, eg. fighting. Fighters, who smile before fights, are predicted to have worse results (loose in fights) afterwards. This is, as smiling in a aggression context might be understood as an indicator of inferiority.

Smiling is even a signal of social mood. Analysis of facial pictures on web portals like Twitter led to the conclusion, that an increased number of smiling faces on photographs on twitter might be a mirror of a positive affective state of the whole population. With positive social events, more positive pictures online were registered. Positive pictures were registered, when faces showed Duchenne Smiles.

Smile, Smile, Smile! (when approaching others and the situation is right)

If you don’t want to be the clown, who is smiling in situations, which are contradictions of positive mood, then adapt to situations. When you want to cooperate or when you expect something from the person you are approaching, smile within the first seconds. When context matters more, adjust to the situation and do not smile (eg. when something bad happens).

If you want your co-worker to take over some responsibilities, approach them with a smile. If you want your boss to grant you a raise, approach your boss with a smile. Use your smile as a tool for lowering barriers in social interactions, especially at work. If you want to cooperate, smile and do not seek conlficts.

Use your smile in calling contexts, too. Your voice reflects your inner emotionality, too. Stand up, walk around, smile, then start speaking into the phone.

So smiling has a intrapersonal regulation function, too. This means, that smiling in itself to yourself might generate benefits for yourself. Even if it seems unnatural, stand up straight, look into the mirror and smile. Even if the smile in itself might not lead to positive emotionality directly, with time you will start laughing about yourself, which will then foster positive emotionality.

Just start each interaction, if the context allows it, with a smile. Just try.

SOURCES: academical papers on topics like: Duchenne Smile, Positive emotionality, Affectivity, Facial Expressions, Emotions