Smiling, body position, and interpersonal attraction

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted. In Experiment 1, regardless of her body position, a woman who smiled the majority of the time (70%) was seen as more interpersonally attractive than a woman who seldom smiled (20%). When the woman seldom smiled, she was rated as more interpersonally attractive when she displayed open body positions than when she displayed closed body positions. In Experiment 2, the closed body position/smiling and nonsmiling effect was replicated. Subjects’ eye gazes were monitored while they viewed the slides of the woman. Regardless of the smiling condition, subjects looked at the woman’s face about 55% of their total looking time.