“I never will understand all the good that a simple smile can accomplish.” In the words a woman who devoted her life to selflessness and altruism, Mother Teresa remarks on the importance of a smile. Smiling is one of the most basic human facial expressions, but its purpose is often taken for granted and its benefits are overlooked. Numerous psychological and behavioral studies have been performed to evaluate the effects of smiling on an individual’s success. The results provide quantifiable evidence that an act as simple and transparent as smiling can yield long-term benefits to society. Throughout this paper, I will examine the influence of a smile and how it can improve one’s health, relationships, and professional life.
The act of smiling can has() many unknown benefits to an individual’s personal health and well-being. A 30-year study at UC Berkeley examined student’s yearbook photos and the nature of each person’s smile. Based on one’s smile, the researchers were able to determine the success of their marriage, score on an aptitude test, and how inspiring they would be to others. The sincerity and span of a person’s smile can also be used to predict their longevity. While the correlation between a smile and these variables may seem hard to believe, there is scientific evidence to prove why a smile can provide countless positive benefits. First, smiling suppresses the control we have on our facial muscles by releasing stress and tension and lowering one’s heart rate. It also provides a natural form of happiness by reducing stress-inducing hormones such as cortisol, dopamine, and adrenaline and increasing mood-enhancing hormones such as endorphins. Smiling also stimulates reward mechanisms by allowing us to fee...
... middle of paper ...
...ext of a full time employee in a stable job, smiling begets happiness which leads to greater performance and productivity, faster promotion, higher income, and better feedback. In a study by iOpener that surveyed 3000 employees, results showed that happier employees were 50% more motivated at work and took 66% less sick leave those who were unhappy.
Smiling is often overlooked in society because although we see it often, we have been trained to mimic the classic, insincere smile we constantly see in the media. The benefits described above can only be attained from a genuine smile that engages the muscles below your eyes. In the quest to improve the state of health in the United States, I would strongly encourage everyone to start by smiling: it is a free, healthy, and attractive way to achieve happiness and build personal and professional relationships.
Begley introduces sources such as Ed Diener, a University of Illinois psychology professor, who has studied happiness for twenty-five years, to further the point of her claim. In the article, she accounts an interaction Diener had with Scotland's Parliament and business leaders on the value of using traditional measures to compare what policies makes the country happiest. The Scottish were all in favor of increasing policies that increased wellbeing, but not because they make people happier. "They said too much happiness might not be a good thing, they like being dour, and didn't appreciate being told they should be happier" (555). Diener later concludes that levels of happiness coincide with longer, healthier, relationships. He contrasts this conclusion with an article he cowrote with, stating “once a moderate level of happiness is achieved, further increases can sometimes be detrimental to income, career success, education, and political participation” (556). Diener believes that negative emotions make you “more analytical, more critical, and more innovative” to help direct your thinking. Diener gives much evidence and experience towards Begley’s claim of happiness not being the best for you. Another source Begley uses to back up her claim that
MLA: Wallis, Claudia, et al. “The New Science of Happiness.” Time. 17 Jan. 2005. Academic Search Premier. Yale University Library. 11 Jan. 2006.
Through a series of assessment tools, she reveals the types of activities that we can commit to doing on a daily basis which will improve our level of happiness. She reinforces the numerous benefits of being happier. Happier people are more sociable and energetic, more charitable and cooperative, and better liked by others. Being happy boosts their immune systems, improves productivity, and can lead to a longer life. It allows them to be more creative and...
Why women smile”, I consider this as a very interesting essay. However, the statement of “how deep and how much a woman smile can hide” is totally make me feeling uncomfortable, because I do not think we/woman use our “smile” to hide our feelings or anything at this point. Honestly, “hide” is a strong word to me. In fact, smile is generally recognized as a courtesy in our society. What seduction or evil works has to do with woman’s smile? Are all woman‘s smiles coming with “bad” intention? What about a man’s smile? I understand that there could be many reasons behind a smile, but it is definitely a better way to escalate our feeling, sometimes it could be something that we do not want to share (privacy) or we simply cannot share
The greatest gift that a person could ever receive is a smile. “Everybody in the world is seeking happiness… Happiness doesn’t depend on outward conditions. It depends on inner conditions.” Some say that a smile is a window to your soul, and the reality is a smile can change your mood even if you fake one. Like the psychologist and philosopher William James says, “Action seems to follow feeling, but really action and feeling go together.” Even when there are struggles a smile can change your mood and reduce the pain. Like Carnegie implies, “You must have a good time meeting people if you expect them to have a good time meeting you.” This is very important because you can not expect people to happy around you when you sit with a frown in your face. A smile is a wonderful gift because it cost nothing and brightens anybodies day.
While communicating with another human being, one only has to examine the other’s face in order to comprehend what is being said on a much deeper level. It is said that up to 55 percent of a message’s meaning can be derived from facial expression (Subramani, 2010). These facial manipulations allow thoughts to be expressed in ways that are often difficult to articulate verbally, with the face demonstrating “the thoughts of the mind, and the feelings of the heart” (Singla). Many expressions are said to universal, particularly those showing happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and...
Understanding smiling and other facial expressions helps mental care professionals understand how a patient feels, even without verbal communication. Patients with mental issues such as depression, autism and PTSD can often be diagnosed and treated thanks to a better understanding of the visual clues given by facial expression.
Ronald E Riggio is a Professor of Leadership and Organizational Psychology. He talks about the psychological affects our smiles can have on our lives. He stated three main points. How smilings affects your brain, how smiling affects your body, and how smiling can affect those around
A study was done by scientists in Sweden on why people smile when someone smiles at them. They think it’s a person’s “unconscious mind taking control.” Smiling can change our brain. Your brain keeps track of your smiles, and it knows how often you’ve smiled and which overall emotional state you are in. Smiling has different effects on our health, success, and feeling of happiness. Children smile more often; this explains why we often feel happier and smile more around children. On average, children smile 400 times a day. Happy people smile 40-50 times per day, while the average people smile 20 times a day.
When using Positive Psychology, organizations need to take in mind that there are multiple measures to the methodology such as happiness, optimism, gratitude, positive affect, etc. When creating interventions, there are different measures that can be used for implementing Positive Psychology at work. Pryce-Jones and Lindsay (2014) looked at how the science of happiness in the workplace delivers strategic outcomes in change management, organizational, team and leadership development within a company. They provide an understanding of the theory and application of the science of happiness at work and show how strategic issues can be addressed within a small time frame and also highlight the benefit
People feel comfortable when those around them smile, and the reason why this happens is simple; a smiling face can be trusted. It is the reason why others smile with you either consciously or unconsciously without the “why” of the action. Maybe, it is the stimulating effect of a smile on the central nervous system or its communication of the assurance that everything would be okay. Maybe it is not because there is no reason to smile back at someone we do not like but we still do it regardless. So a smile is the same as a communicable infection that s transmitted from one person to another, weakens the defense system of the recipient, and make it do whatever it wants without restrictions. While this comparison might sound outrageous, it shows the strength of the irresistible power of a smile. A smile is contagious because it is one of the forms of facial expressions that are used to create the emotional response that reassures others that everything is going to be okay when the situation appears otherwise. Also, it is the
Some believe that reading only strengthens one’s comprehension of the story however, the ability to understand people and interpret their social cues can be derived by this as well. When I was little a smile was just a smile. As I grew older, I grew wiser I realized that there are many types of smiles sarcastic, heartbroken, feigned and many
I do not want to be all blue and gloom. “ Laughter is the best medicine.” It is very important that we always look on the bright side, to think half full, instead of half empty. Positive instead of negative. Optimistic rather than pessimistic. Furthermore, studies show that smiling releases endorphins, which are natural painkillers and that it takes 43 muscles to frown but only 16 muscles to smile! So, why frown? Smile a mile wide and share a cheery, bright personality with everyone.
Humans are the most intelligent and innovated creatures on Earth. This can be proved by the way we live, dress, and significantly is our human emotions. We laugh when we are happy; we cry when we are sad. We can fall in love, we can feel the pain, we can get angry or scared. But no matter how our life is meaningless without the smile. The smile is an indispensable spiritual food in life, making life more meaningful, a smile makes us happier. Almost everyone likes to laugh and see the smiles from others, whether that laughter appears at the corners of the lips or with relaxed brows, whether that could be a joyful laughter or the smile choked back the tears, laughter has the power to bring everyone closer.
It can make a person look friendlier and happier, and it can also make them look much more generous. An experiment was conducted to see what kind of smile made a person look friendlier and nicer, a Duchenne smile or a normal smile. In the study, Duchenne smiles attributed to kinder people and those who were more generous. The amount of time spent smiling and laughing correlated to the personality type as well. These people were considered more extroverted and had a more stable emotional state than those who do not smile or laugh as much. The researchers rated the likelihood of a person being agreeable, neurotic, trustworthy, generous, and many more personality traits based on this experiment of how much, or how little, they smiled and laughed in normal conversation. The results of the test were almost completely based on gender. Participants who were female were rated as more friendly, generous, and kind than those who were male. The females were definitely over judged because of their gender, and the males were assumed to be less friendly because of their gender. Their attractiveness was also taken into account, which I think was