As a group, we drew inspiration from social psychologist Kurt Lewin to work as a group to take a deeper look into the social influence and effects of a simple smile on unknowing individuals. Our experiment was very thought provoking to the unsuspecting participants and was an interesting way to analyze the social behavior of the human species through the context of a smile. For the experimental method portion of our project, we took notes as studied the effects of a warm smile before following up with a series of questions about how the friendliness affected their thoughts or actions. The results of our experiment were no surprise. They were tried and true, showing that nearly 90 percent of the participants had a positive influence from our …show more content…
Social influence is defined as “changes in behavior induced by the actions of others” (Coon & Mitterer, 2015). In our case, the change in behavior is exemplified by the participants either reciprocating a smile or not as well as through measuring a change in the attitudes of those participating. We researched Silvan Tomkins’ facial feedback theory from 1962 in which he stated that "the face expresses affect, both to others and the self, via feedback, which is more rapid and more complex than any stimulation” (Adelman, 1989). This finding served as an influence on our project for us to measuring the correlation of the change in attitude that a smile has on …show more content…
Question: Does a smile have a positive influence on a person’s attitude? Hypothesis: We hypothesized that a smile will have a positive social influence. Method: To prove our hypothesis, we chose at random a total of twenty strangers on Northeast Alabama Community College’s campus and smiled at them as they walked by. We were sure to notice their responding expression, if there were any verbal replies in acknowledgement of the test smile, then we answered our four follow-up questions to measure our results. The questions asked were as as follows: “Were there changes in the participant’s behavior?” (measured by if they reciprocated a smile or not), “Did they have a change in attitude?” (measured from if they felt more happy as a result of our experiment), “Was the test smile perceived as being genuine by the participant?”, and “Was the participant’s smile -if reciprocated- genuine or out of
as unknowing and uncaring. Also, a real smile is fine; however, a fake smile can escalate the situation further. Let the individual know the conversation is unquestionably about them. We accomplish this by listening, making eye contact, the occasional head nod, and not allowing for distractions whenever possible.
The presence of nonverbal messages in our communication is very important. Following the text, researchers have estimated it is up to “65 percent of social meaning we convey in face-to-face interactions is a result of nonverbal behavior” (131). The movie “Mrs. Doubtfire” is a typical example about the interactions among characters, also with audience. Several scenes in this movie show us the effects of nonverbal messages in communication, especially through the character Daniel, who disguises himself as a middle-aged British nanny in order to be near his children.
McAdams, D. P., Jackson, R. J., & Kirshnit, C. (1984). Looking, laughing, and smiling in dyads as a function of intimacy motivation and reciprocity. Journal of Personality, 52(3), 261-273.
“Hey, thanks for telling me,” with a soft voice and light smile. Does it sound familiar to you? Perhaps the response seems good and polite on the surface, but people might be very frustrating deep inside. Truly, the burden of societal expectation forbids people to share their true feeling and opinion, therefore a genuine interaction among people becomes very rare. Although the U.S. government encourages gender equality, but the society remains the same; in reality, society has a higher expectation on women over men. In the article “Why Women Smile”, Cunningham evaluates on how societal expectation and personal goal evolves women’s daily behavior; particularly she focuses on the women’s smile. It’s for the better, women weaponize their smile
To the opposite gender, when I smiled, was neutral, and frowned, they had a small smile, was neutral and had a small frown at me respectively. To the same gender, when I smiled and frowned to them, they had a small smile and small frown at me respectively. However, when I was neutral to the same gender, the person smiled at me, which was different from my hypothesis. The reason might be the difference in cultural background, which his culture makes him be optimistic and carries a smile on his face all the time. Moreover, the reason might also be he had a very good day that leaded him to a good mood, so he just simply smiled at
The face is the reserve of emotion. A smile implies happiness, a frown signifies anger or sadness, and a quick rolling of the eyes indicates someone is annoyed. What one is thinking or feeling can be clearly displayed in one’s facial expressions. Paul Ekman decided to study people’s facial expressions, down to the micro expressions that flash across the face and those are what give one away. He developed the facial action coding system (FACS) after many years of researching how people’s facial expressions reveal their inner emotions (Blink 204). He has even worked with Gottman and his “Love Lab” and the FACS has helped him to predict the longevity of certain relationships. While some people believe that their true feelings are not reflected by their facial expressions, they are unaware that a simple change in emotions is displayed on their face, revealing their true feelings. Emotions simply cannot be hidden, because they are clearly displayed on the face.
Have you ever looked and someone and you thought to yourself, “That person must be having a bad day.” or “Hey, you look really happy!” This happens on an everyday basis. So, what caused you to think this way? What is happening is you are reading their facial expression. These facial expressions are the muscles in our faces that are working together. Human faces are a main component to conveying a person’s emotional state. Facial expressions are a form of nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is the process of communication through sending and receiving wordless cues between people. There are always key points of the facial expression that would give away which emotion the human is feeling. For example, if someone is caught off guard, they may scream and their eyes may ...
Broaden-and-build theory is an alternative model, which was developed by Fredrickson, to catch positive emotion effects. The reason why it is called broaden-and-build is that positive emotions appear to broaden people’s momentary thought-action repertories and build their enduring personal resources. To support the idea, the general question of whether specific positive emotions differentially motivate particular behaviors was tested by CAVANAUGH, L. A., BETTMAN, J. R., and LUCE, M. F.. By testing the novel hypothesis that specific positive emotions may have different effects on prosocial behavior directed toward close versus distant others. The result finally shows that positive emotion will affect people’s behavior and
Emotional contagion is having one person's emotions and related behaviors directly trigger similar emotions and behaviors in another person or group of people. This can be done through a two-step process of emotional mimicry and synchronization of one's expressions and by vocalizations and posture feedback and movements. When people unconsciously mirror a partner’s expressions, they come to feel these reflections of emotions as well. Emotional mimicry is one of the most highly adaptive behaviors. One can have muscle movements that mirror the expressions they see, including looking at an angry face that activates the corrugator muscle which activates frowning. Then there is also a happy face that contracts the zygomatic major which helps with
Any communication interaction involves two major components in terms of how people are perceived: verbal, or what words are spoken and nonverbal, the cues such as facial expressions, posture, verbal intonations, and other body gestures. Many people believe it is their words that convey the primary messages but it is really their nonverbal cues. The hypothesis for this research paper was: facial expressions directly impact how a person is perceived. A brief literature search confirmed this hypothesis.
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...
Laughter is an essential human phenomenon. Smiling in response to pleasant physical conditions occurs in early development, usually in the first month of life. As a motor reflex, laughter is usually present by the time a child is 4 months old. By the age of eighteen months, a child smiles once every six minutes, and by four years of age, the rate increases to one smile every one and one-third minutes. The ratio of laughs to smiles increases from one laugh to every ten smiles as eighteen months to one every three smile at four years. The individual differences in the rate of both laughing and smiling become greater as the children grow older. (Stearns, 1972) The instinctual development of smiling and laughing occurs very early in life, suggesting a high level of importance.
In the real world, this experiment has a lot of examples that should be taken note of. For example, communication as a whole has much more of an affect on us than we are willing to admit. From this article alone, we can see that it can help to alleviate pain and help to soothe patients. Just simply from having better nonverbal communication skills, the impact on others is
Goldman, M. (1980). EFFECT OF EYE CONTACT AND DISTANCE ON THE VERBAL REINFORCEMENT OF ATTITUDE. Journal Of Social Psychology, 111(1), 73.
Richmond, V & McCroskey, J 2011. Nonverbal Behavior in Interpersonal Relations. 7th ed. Allyn & Bacon.