Abstract
Two field studies investigated the role of smiling in awkward or unpleasant social situations. In the first study, a confederate stood by the counter of a campus sundries shop, and waited on all control subjects who approached. He told approaching experimental subjects, however, that he did not work there, attempting to lead those subjects to think they had made a social mistake. In the second study, experimental subjects were led to believe that they had interrupted a conversation between two other individuals. Control subjects simply walked through a doorway on each side of which people were standing. In both studies more experimental than control subjects apologized and smiled, demonstrating that smiling does occur in at least some socially uncomfortable situations. The data also suggest that in some situations smiling may signal a desire to appease another, and that in this sense it can be behaviorally homologous to the silent bared teeth display of nonhuman primates.
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