Genuine Smiles Research Articles

Of Snakes and Succor

Integrating ideas from Mikulincer and Shaver’s (2003) process model of attachment and Nelson and Panksepp’s (1998) neurobiological theory of an integrated social emotion system, we predicted novel attachment-related learning effects. In two experiments, we tested for a unique form of conditioning based on the social regulation of emotion. Consistent with this theoretical integration, the results indicated that people develop more positive and less negative associations with faces of people who display genuine smiles if those faces have been implicitly paired with a distressing stimulus (e.g., a striking snake). These findings could have broad implications and should be of interest to researchers who study attachment, social and affective neuroscience, emotion, learning and memory, attitudes, and interpersonal relationships.

A preference for genuine smiles following social exclusion

Research indicates that rejected individuals are better than others at discriminating between genuine (Duchenne) and deceptive (non-Duchenne) smiles (i.e., true versus false signals of affiliative opportunity). We hypothesized that rejected individuals would show a greater preference to work with individuals displaying Duchenne versus non-Duchenne smiles. To test this, participants wrote essays about experiences of inclusion, exclusion, or mundane events. They then saw a series of 20 videos of smiling individuals (10 with Duchenne and 10 with non-Duchenne smiles). Participants then indicated how much they would like to work with each target. Analyses revealed that compared to included and control participants, excluded individuals showed a greater preference to work with individuals displaying “real” as opposed to “fake” smiles. This effect was partially mediated by threats to “relational needs” (Williams, 2007) and fully mediated by threats to self-esteem. These results suggest that exclusion yields adaptive responses that could facilitate reconnection with others.

A Tale of Two First-Year Teachers: One Likely to Continue, One Likely to Drop Out

On a windswept prairie in America's heartland, a young man mounts his faithful steed and begins his day's journey. Thoughts of what lies ahead consume him and make the half-hour ride to town seem like little more than a blink. What would he discuss with his mentor today? Was a parent coming to meet with the team? How could he best pitch his idea for an interdisciplinary unit to the principal? As he eases his lumbering beast into the faculty parking lot, these concerns are swiftly replaced by anxious excitement and a broad, genuine smile.

Brief report: perception of genuine and posed smiles by individuals with autism.

Individuals with autism are impaired in the recognition of fear, which may be due to their reduced tendency to look at the eyes. Here we investigated another potential perceptual and social consequence of reduced eye fixation. The eye region of the face is critical for identifying genuine, or sincere, smiles. We therefore investigated this ability in adults with autism. We used eye-tracking to measure gaze behaviour to faces displaying posed and genuine smiles. Adults with autism were impaired on the posed/genuine smile task and looked at the eyes significantly less than did controls. Also, within the autism group, task performance correlated with social interaction ability. We conclude that reduced eye contact in autism leads to reduced ability to discriminate genuine from posed smiles with downstream effects on social interaction.

It Doesn't Matter what you Wear: The Impact of Posed and Genuine Expressions of Happiness on Product Evaluation

Abstract Participants were presented with a series of images of a female model wearing a T—shirt and asked to evaluate each T—shirt on a number of dimensions. The T—shirts were identical except for color. The model was identical in all images except for her facial expression, which was either a neutral expression, a genuine smile or a posed smile. T—shirts paired with a genuine smile were evaluated more positively than those paired with either a posed smile or a neutral expression (Experiment 1). The impact of the facial expressions was not, however, seen with short exposure times (Experiment 2). The impact of facial expressions of emotion on product evaluation was seen even when participants viewed the items without an evaluation goal (Experiment 3). Results are discussed in terms of the differences between posed and genuine expressions of emotion.

THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE EGYPTIAN MUSLIM BROTHERS

Jihane al-Halafawi's small apartment above a barbershop in Alexandria is exceedingly orderly, a cool oasis on a sweltering summer afternoon. Plant leaves brush up against curtains undulating with the breeze from the nearby Mediterranean. As she walks into the living room with a tray full of cakes and tea, al-Halafawi is the picture of a kindly Egyptian mother, a genuine smile gracing her youthful face. But when this fifty-year-old mother of six and grandmother announced her candidacy for Egypt's parliamentary elections in fall 2000, the state geared up a massive security force outside polling stations; leftists shrugged her off as a “front” for her husband; and state feminists dedicated to the electoral empowerment of women were silent. When Halafawi outperformed her ruling-party rival in the first round, despite rigging, the Interior Ministry promptly stepped in and canceled the results on the pretext of respecting an earlier court ruling postponing the elections.

Do smiles have a face value? Panel evidence from Amazonian Indians

Research suggests that physical attractiveness pays off. We estimate the returns to one dimension of attractiveness: smiling. Across cultures, genuine smiles produce a halo effect that correlate with friendliness, kindness, and altruism. In experimental and observational studies in industrial economies, the frequency of smiling correlates with greater trust, cooperation, and earnings. Do results hold up in other cultures after controlling for the role of unobserved third variables? Drawing on five-quarter panel data from 329 women and 350 men over 16 years of age in a foraging and farming society of the Bolivian Amazon, we estimate the returns to smiling using body-mass index (BMI; kg/m 2) as a proxy for income. Subjects who smiled, smiled and laughed, and laughed openly during interviews had 2.4%, 3.1%, and 5.4% higher BMI than subjects who neither smiled nor laughed. The mirth premium is robust to many econometric specifications, but not to the use of a person-fixed effect model, suggesting that the positive correlation between smiling and desirable outcomes found in industrial economies and in this study picks up the role of unobserved and unmeasured fixed attributes of subjects (e.g., stable physiological and psychological attributes). Subjects who smiled had more social capital and better self-perceived health than those who did not smile; these intermediary variables might explain the positive correlation between smiling and BMI. Smiling did not correlate with wages nor access to credit.

Perception of Genuine and Masking Smiles in Children and Adults: Sensitivity to Traces of Anger

The authors examined children's and adults' sensitivity to traces of anger in masking smiles by presenting participants with short video excerpts of smiles that differed by the intensity of an anger component. Fifty-two children, aged 6 to 12 years, and 26 adults were asked to judge whether a stimulus person was really happy or pretending to be happy. Six- and 7-year-old children were found to be sensitive to traces of anger, but less so than older children and adults. Researchers found evidence of explicit knowledge of the emotion hidden in masking smiles only in adult participants.

In Search of the “Duchenne Smile”: Evidence from Eye Movements

Abstract Duchenne de Boulogne (1862/1990) observed that authentic smiles are distinguished from posed smiles by contractions of the orbicularis oculi muscle that surrounds the eye. Hager and Ekman (1985) subsequently reported that the “Duchenne smile” is discriminated specifically by contractions at the outer corners of the eyes (“crows feet” wrinkles). Little is known of the visuo-cognitive strategies that underpin perception of the Duchenne smile. We examined ocular dynamics (pattern of eye fixations) as an overt and accessible index of these strategies (Stark & Ellis, 1981). The spatio-temporal fixation indices were number and duration of foveal fixations to the crows feet area relative to the total face area. In line with predictions, subjects (n = 58) made proportionately more fixations of longer duration to the crows feet area for smiling, compared to negative (sad) and baseline (neutral) control expressions. It is suggested that a “hardwired” response may be involved in reference to this particular anatomical marker of the genuine smile. Humans may have evolved to distinguish the Duchenne smile because of its important communicative role.