In my new book
SNAP I talk about the benefits of smiling. This article suggests the reasons
you might want to fake a smile.
3 Times When It's OK
to Fake a Smile
Don't worry, we
won't tell.
It's easy to smile
when your husband cooks you dinner for the first time in a year, or your puppy
wakes you up from a siesta looking especially fetching. But what about those
moments when you least want to put on a happy face?
Decades of research,
including one brand-new study, show that smiling does a body all kinds of good,
but even more interesting: You don't actually have to mean it. Check out the 3
best times to fake a smile.
Stress
1. When You're
Stressed
Even when your
heart's not in it, smiling lowers your heart rate and mitigates stress, found a
new University of Kansas study to be published in Psychological Science.
Researchers taught
volunteers how to arrange their faces in a variety of ways: With genuine
smiles, fake smiles, neutral expressions, and with chopsticks propping their
mouths open into forced grins. Then, the participants performed a series of
stressful tasks—like plunging a hand into a bucket of ice water—all while
maintaining their assigned facial expression. Those who smiled in any
manner, even when it was fake or forced by chopsticks, had lower heart rates
than those with neutral expressions.
In other words,
smiling during stress helps lower the body's stress response, regardless of how
happy you actually feel.
2. When You're
Bummed
Smiling isn't just
good stress relief; it can actually make you happier—especially if you have
Botox. A 2009 experiment at the University of Cardiff in Wales gave two groups
of women—one with Botox injections, one without—a questionnaire about their
depression and anxiety. Those with Botox (who physically couldn't frown) were
significantly happier with lower anxiety and depression than the other group,
who did not have Botox and could frown. Importantly, the Botox group didn't
report feeling any more attractive, so an increase in attractiveness couldn't
account for the happiness gap.
Though Botox does
seem to lift more than your lines, we're not necessarily advocating a massive
Botox spree. Giving a good, old-fashioned fake grin has the same effect, smile
lines and all.
3. When You've Been
Naughty
Uh. Oh. Your husband
caught you red-handed buying another pair of shoes from your already-stretched
joint bank account, without discussing it first. What's the first thing you
should do when you're busted? Crack a smile.
In a 1995 study, Boston College
researchers found that when transgressors smile, their punishers tend to be
more lenient. Subjects were shown photos of people who were potentially guilty
of an academic violation. Smiling targets were punished less leniently, even
though they weren't seen as less guilty. It didn't matter whether the smile was
genuine or fake: Targets who smiled were perceived as more trustworthy.
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at
www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at
www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at
http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.
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