The Science Behind Smiling

You're reading The Science Behind Smiling, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you're enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles. Charles Darwin, best known for his theory of evolution which he presented in one of the most important books of all time, On the Origin of Species, explained how populations adapt to their environments over time. In doing so, he laid down the foundation for evolutionary biology as we know it. On The Origin of Species is Darwin's most famous work, but he also wrote a much lesser known book titled The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, where he claimed that all humans show emotion through similar behaviors. This view is one that psychologists today generally agree with, affirming that certain expressions of emotion are common to all of us, regardless of race, culture, or age. One of these universal facial expressions is a smile. Smiling and Happiness The natural response to happiness is smiling. And according to science, the reverse is also true: smiling can actually create happiness. Recently psychological scientists Tara Kraft and Sarah Pressman conducted experiments to find the link between stress and smiling. They found that when people smiled while completing mundane tasks, they had lower heart rates and stress levels than those who wore a neutral expression throughout their tasks. This effect was especially pronounced for participants who produced a big ear-to-ear sm...
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