Putting on ‘happy face’ brightens foul mood, study finds
Grin and wear it.
Putting on “a happy face” brightens a person’s mood because moving facial muscles can influence emotions, according to a new study.
Stanford University researchers found that people who mimicked smiling photographs or pulled their mouths towards their ears felt a “noticeable increase in happiness,” according to the study, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.
“Knowing that we can somewhat ‘fake it ’til we make it’, is definitely a reassuring proposal,” said lead author Dr. Marmolejo-Ramos of the University of South Australia, which contributed to the study.
“The concept of being able to influence our emotions by simply moving our facial muscles has long been debated by researchers, but until now, no test or theory has been globally agreed upon,” he said in a press release.
For the study, researchers asked 3,878 people in 19 countries to try out three facial movement techniques.
In the first, participants moved their faces to copy the joyful facial expressions of the actors. In the second, they lifted the corners of their mouths to their cheeks. And in the third, they used the “pen-in-mouth” technique, holding the instrument between their upper and lower teeth to simulate grinning.
When researchers asked participants to rate their overall happiness, they found the first two methods significantly boosted their moods.
The “pen” technique did not, likely “because the simulated mouth shape wasn’t as representative of a smile as we thought,” Marmolejo-Ramo said.
“[It] provides a compelling argument that human emotions are linked to muscle movements,” Marmolejo-Ramos said. “While individuals naturally respond differently to adverse situations, it’s encouraging to think that we can sway our emotions by simply putting on a happy face,” he said.
Florida State University also contributed to the study.