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People began to smile long before they could speak. But scientists are still unraveling the nature of a smile and studying why and in what situations we smile. Here are the most interesting results of their research.
Smile first, tongue later
Most scientists believe that facial expressions (including a smile) were inherited from primitive people – it served as the main means of communication when speech and language did not yet exist.
Professor Alex Martinez of Ohio University cites the following hypothesis: At first, people learned to move their facial muscles in a special way to show each other that they were happy, angry, disgusted or joyful. Gradually, a set of facial expressions, accompanied by sounds, turned into a language; it happened over 100 years ago.
Spectrum of smiles
Alex Martinez, who studies the nature of facial expressions, in his recent report at a conference in Seattle, presented the results of the study. It proved that people are able to recognize a smile extremely quickly – in just 10 milliseconds (it takes an average of 250 milliseconds to recognize an expression of fear, for example).
At the same time, people read the emotion behind a smile much worse. A smile does not always mean joy: it has been noticed that a person also smiles in a state of uncertainty, when he made a mistake, is scared, and sometimes when he is in pain or feels bad. Why it happens?
When our psyche is faced with some kind of difficulty, it tries to make us smile in order to reduce stress levels – this happens unconsciously.
Paul Ekman, a professor at the University of California at San Francisco (a psychologist whose work was based on the famous TV series Lie to Me), discovered back in the 1990s that when a person depicts a wide smile, his brain activity changes: mood improves and joy appears. .
In another study, German psychoneurologists injected subjects with Botox to paralyze the muscles responsible for smiling. It turned out that not being able to smile, we feel happiness is not as strong as usual.
Smiling can boost the production of mood-enhancing hormones. Therefore, in a difficult situation, the brain sometimes tries to “compensate” for stress with an unconscious smile – in order to calm the body and protect itself from negative emotions.
What’s on the face is what’s in the soul
From a smile it can really become brighter – if not for everyone around, then at least for yourself. In 2019, a group of American scientists published an article in the Psychological Bulletin magazine analyzing 138 studies on the relationship of facial expressions with brain activity.
The findings are unequivocal: people who intentionally smile during the day are less prone to stress and depression, less prone to aggression and more satisfied with life.
And entrepreneur and writer Ron Gutman, in The Secret Power of Smiling, claims that a single smile produces as many “happy hormones” in the human body as a person who wins $25 in the lottery.
It is curious that a smile spreads its positive effect not only on its owner, but also on his loved ones. In particular, it can even strengthen the marriage. Researchers at Depot University in Indiana looked at graduation photo albums of college students and learned how their family life turned out.
A simple pattern was discovered: the wider the smile of a student in a photograph, the lower the likelihood that he or she will face a divorce in his life.
The smile that everyone loves
Everyone has a different way of smiling: some please others with a generous smile with “rays” around their eyes, others smile with restraint and economically, without showing their teeth and gums. Meanwhile, there is a certain formula for the “correct” smile – the one that is most positively perceived by others.
It is necessary to smile widely enough, at least half the width of the face, and slightly expose the upper row of teeth. Such a smile, unlike the “American” one of 32 teeth, looks great both in real life and in photographs.
Another secret of an attractive smile is the color of the enamel of the teeth: it should be natural and uniform, without stains and plaque. In order not to be embarrassed by your teeth, do not forget about thorough oral hygiene. Brush your teeth regularly, use sugar-free gum after meals – it helps prevent plaque and makes teeth optically brighter and lighter.