Fake Smiles: Do They Really Improve Your Mood?

Can a change in facial expression intensify or transform your mood? The “facial feedback hypothesis” says so.

The “facial feedback hypothesis” is the idea that smiling or frowning can make you happier or sadder. The idea first came from Charles Darwin in the 1800s, and scientists developed it further.

However, recent data suggests that the boost to happiness provided by smiling is very tiny, and the effect may even be negative:

Part of the reason for the disparate findings may be that there are lots of different kinds of smiles, Niedenthal says. "Not all smiles are genuine smiles of joy."

Some smiles are sarcastic — more like smirks. Some smiles beam. Others simper. There are subtle differences in the dynamics of each expression, and they're hard to re-create in a lab — with or without the aid of a pen.

Moreover, though most lab studies have found that there's no harm in smiling, recent research has found that, over time, habitually forcing your expression into the shape of a smile can have a negative effect.

Does smiling boost your happiness?

Image Credit: Paige Vickers for NPR