A child laughs up to 400 times a day, however, the happiest adult does not exceed 100 times and the average is between 20 and 30 times, as we age, laughter and smile disappear from our lives, despite the benefits they bring we learn to pretend rather than show our sadness.
We often hide our feelings under a smile saying that nothing happened, when we are actually sad. We dare not explain why and believe it is easier to smile than to explain our sadness to others.
“I think what we call beauty lies only in the smile. “
-Leon Tolstoy-
Even before birth, babies smile, according to a team of Japanese scientists who in 2012 registered 31 fetuses for 62 minutes using an ultrasound technique, they smiled 51 times, with an average duration of 3. 21 seconds, in this way it has been shown that we smile even before we are born.
Over time, several studies have been conducted on this subject. In 1862, the French neurologist Duchenne de Boulogne conducted a study that concluded that a false smile only moves the muscles of the mouth and lips, while a sincere smile also activates the muscles around the mouth and lips. Eyes
In 1973, psychologist Paul Ekman conducted an experiment that showed 30 photographs of the faces of 14 people from different cultures expressing six primary emotions (joy, fear, surprise, sadness, anger and disgust) and concluded that emotions, especially joy, were associated. the same goes for most participants.
In 2012, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) developed a system to distinguish a false smile from a real one, so they asked a group of volunteers to fake frustration and then fill out an online form, specifically causing frustration (after completing the necessary fields and clicking “OK”, all information was deleted). In the end, a video of a beautiful baby was shown.
In the first case, when they simulated frustration, 90% of the participants did not smile, in the second case, despite their disappointment, many smiled and, finally, with the baby video, most smiled, the difference is that the smile of frustration is more instantaneous than joy.
In addition, the muscles involved are different. In fact, in real smiles, the muscles that lift the cheeks and wrinkles around the eyes move.
“Laughter is extremely relaxing, it’s a great meditation. If you can laugh at everything, you enter a space without spirit, without time. The spirit lives off expectations, laughter is not of this world, is it divine?
-Osho-
Behind a false smile we hide different motivations, one of the most common is the fear of showing our feelings when we are sad or feel bad, in these situations we feel vulnerable and showing our feelings is more complicated than just smiling.
Sometimes our smile hides our sadness so as not to hurt the other person, we do not realize that this false smile betrays us and can harm ourselves and the other person.
From a young age we learned that smiling has power and has a positive effect on people, a baby interprets the smile of his or her father or mother as a sign of trust, that he has done everything correctly or that there is no danger. In this sense, in 1957 an experiment was conducted in the United States where several babies were placed on the edge of a transparent surface, raised to a certain height, called “Visual Rock”.
“Life is full of loneliness, misery, suffering, sadness and yet it ends very quickly. “
-Woody Allen-
The children felt that if they walked on the transparent surface they would fall into the void. At the other end were their mothers; some smiled and some didn’t. Those who smiled managed to get their children to overcome fear and cross the transparent surface. Children whose mothers did not smile chose not to cross this area.
In addition, in adult men and women, smile has great power. In 2001, a study was conducted that found that people are 10% more likely to trust those who smile. Finally, in 1985, smiling women were shown to increase their power of attraction over men by 40%.