Smiling

Grin and Bear It - The Science Behind a Smile

A true smile is a sensory reaction that we don't even think about. Something we hear, someone or something we see, or perhaps a special thought or memory, and the brain is given a signal to smile. It's a pure emotional reaction that we can't control.

To be more specific, the prompt excites the left anterior temporal region of the brain. Two face muscles are immediately sparked into action. A cheek muscle called the zygomatic major tugs the lips upward. At the same time, muscles around the eye sockets, called the orbicularis oculi, squeeze the outside corners of the eyes into a shape somewhat like a crow's foot. It happens quickly, and doesn't last very long - up to four seconds. This smile, which is called the "Duchenne smile," is the only true smile, one that is created by the simultaneous and spontaneous reactions of those two muscles. Psychologists, most of them anyway, consider the Duchenne smile to be the only true indication of real enjoyment. Anything else is just "saying cheese." People fake-smile when they feel guilty, are embarrassed, or telling a lie. Even Shakespeare pointed out that Hamlet noticed how "one may smile, and smile, and be a villain."

The discovery of a true smile is credited to Guillaume Duchenne. He discovered it during his studies on emotional expression. He figured out what our face muscles were doing by stimulating them with electrical currents. Ouch! Apparently he did a lot of his testing on the severed heads of executed criminals. Okay, to note, it was 1862. Anyway, Duchenne concluded that while the cheek muscle can be voluntarily used to create a lip smile, only "the sweet emotions of the soul" can cause that beautiful dance between the zygomatic maj...

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...s. They also used FACS to make their determinations. Are these same expressions found in people from other cultures? That wasn't clear in the findings.

Understanding smiling and other facial expressions helps mental care professionals understand how a patient feels, even without verbal communication. Patients with mental issues such as depression, autism and PTSD can often be diagnosed and treated thanks to a better understanding of the visual clues given by facial expression.

But understanding the look on someone's face can also give clues to anyone who might not realize something they said hurt their feelings. Talk to your students about reading faces. For a project, have them cut a photo of a face from a magazine or newspaper and write a story based on the expression on the person's face. Is it a real smile? If so, why? If not, why?

Meanwhile, keep smilin'!