When You're Smiling does the Whole World Smile for You?

Abstract

Objective: To summarise and review findings from a longitudinal study examining the predictive significance of authentic smiling. Conclusions: A smile captured at one point in time (i.e. in a college photograph) was modestly but significantly associated with less self-reported negative emotionality and more perceived self-competence in a sample of women followed up over several years. Smiling also had a favourable influence upon observer judgements, with subjects who smiled being judged as more likeable and approachable than non-smilers and non-authentic smilers. Authentic smiling in adults is probably a behavioural marker of various helpful or protective psychological qualities fuelled at least moderately by temperament. Variation exists in smiling behaviour like it does in any other individual difference, but the very act of smiling might even serve as a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy - so smile more, but don't fake it!