Cosmetic Surgery & Beauty #72

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SMILING AND
HAPPINESS
Whatever the reason for smiling, a number of psychologists
have gone some way to demonstrate that not only does
smiling communicate happiness but it can actually lead
to feelings of happiness. It was Charles Darwin who, in the
19th Century, first proposed that facial expressions not only
reflected emotions but caused them as well. However, until the
1980s, this hypothesis remained untested.
In 1989, a psychologist called Robert Zajonc studied the
emotional effect of producing a smile. By asking his subjects
to repeat vowel sounds, thereby forcing their faces into various
expressions, he discovered that making the long ‘e’ sound,
which stretches the corners of the mouth outward, patients
felt good. Similarly, they felt bad when repeating the letter ‘u’,
which forces the mouth out, into a pouting expression. Whilst
this was perhaps the first study to firmly suggest a strong link
between expression and emotion, a wealth of more recent
evidence supports Zajonc’s findings.
According to Zajonc, changes to the facial muscles involved
in smiling have a direct effect on brain activities associated
with happiness. His theory – which remains unproven and
often contested – is based on the relationship between brain
temperature and activity. As a smile causes certain facial muscles
to stretch and tighten, the amount of blood flowing through the
carotid artery to the brain is restricted. As the blood volume
drops, so too does the temperature of the brain, causing
positive emotions.
Smiling has been found to boost levels of the neurotransmitter
serotonin, which is a vital part of regulating our moods. Smiling
can also trigger the production of endorphins, the body’s
natural painkillers. Endorphins are released when laughing,
exercising, eating chocolate and doing various other activities
that can leave a smile on our face.
There are also health benefits for not just the person smiling
but also for the viewer. Researchers at the British Dental
Health Foundation conducted a study to measure how a
smile can make us feel. After being shown pictures of smiling
people, the brain and heart activity of participants was equal
to the stimulation they would experience from eating 2,000
chocolate bars.
SMILING AND
SUCCESS
We’ve all heard the expression ‘fake it ‘til you make it’,
but it seems smiling can portray intelligence, interest,
success and wealth, even where it is lacking.
In a study by the American Academy of Cosmetic
Dentistry, participants were shown pictures of eight
individuals and asked to quickly judge the people
as to how attractive, intelligent, happy, successful
in their career, friendly, interesting, kind, wealthy,
popular with the opposite sex and sensitive to other
people they were.
Two sets of photos were created, with each set
showing four individuals before undergoing cosmetic
dentistry and four after treatment. Two had mild
improvements through cosmetic dentistry, two
had moderate improvements and four had major
improvements to their smiles. Respondents were
not told that they were looking at dentistry, but were
asked to rate each person for the 10 characteristics.
The results indicated that an attractive smile does
have a broad range of benefits. After comparing
their rating ‘after’ cosmetic dentistry to the ratings
of the ‘before’ photos, it was evident that the
change was most dramatic in the categories of
attractive, popular with the opposite sex, wealthy
and successful in their career. However, the change
was also significant in all other areas. This means
that those with an improved smile after cosmetic
dentistry were also perceived to be more interesting,
intelligent, sensitive, kind and friendly.
This evidence supports a theory known as the ‘halo
effect’ or the ‘what is beautiful is good’ stereotype:
When someone is attractive, they are assigned many
other positive attributes that have nothing to do with
looks. Therefore, someone with an attractive smile is
often perceived to hold other positive traits.
It is a common belief that straight teeth and an
appealing smile help us succeed in many avenues
of life – whether it be in business or attracting the
opposite sex. As more people recognise the benefits
of an attractive smile, the demand for cosmetic
dentistry has risen. Teeth whitening procedures, for
example, have increased by more than 300 percent
over the past 10 years.
A smile is one of the most important facial
expressions. It can improve quality of life, both
professionally and personally, and a correlation
between a smile and success, confidence and
good health has been identified. So always
remember to smile – it may get you further than you
think! csbm
www.cosbeauty.com.au 63