WEBVTT - Does smiling make you happy? 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.560 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:16.479 from house Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:20.200 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:24.440 that makes this stuff you should know? Hey, man, how 0:00:24.480 --> 0:00:28.600 are you doing? You're all smiles, aren't you? I am? 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:31.600 Is this uh, this article that we're about to talk about? 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.760 Did it make you smile? Reading it? Like the contages? Yawn? Anyway, 0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:39.680 I'm pretty smiling though. You're fairly smiling unless I'm actively 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:44.800 piste off about something, and then I'll probably be smiling. Okay, 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:47.600 but you just seen me up sat too. That happens. 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:52.159 I've never seen you upset. Hey, you just smiled just now? 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.600 Maybe smile? Was that a fake smiler? Was that a 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:58.120 what's called a duchese smile? That was Duquese baby all 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:00.520 the way? So we're gonna go with Duke, but it 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:04.560 could be Duken. Uh, there's two ends, so I think 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:08.440 it may be Duken zu Ken smile. It's French. It's 0:01:08.520 --> 0:01:12.880 named after a frenchie, Giom Duken. He's a neurologist, one 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.080 of the early ones where it was basically like, oh, 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:17.880 there's a brain there and it's in control of everything, 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:21.760 so let's test all sorts of crazy stuff and we'll 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:26.600 begin the field of neuroscience right in in eighteen sixty two, 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:29.160 sort of oddly at the time, I think there was 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.520 so much more interesting things going on to study. He 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:36.600 figured out that the you know, there's a natural smile, 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:39.880 and there are facial muscles involved in that that are 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:42.160 involved with the brain, and so he said, I will 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.280 name it after myself. Well, he was kind of an 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:48.160 interesting guy and that he was, from what I understand, 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:51.560 somewhat obsessed with the idea that muscles were connected to 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:55.080 the soul. Okay, which is weird because that kind of 0:01:55.080 --> 0:01:59.200 provides the basis of later research into facial expressions and 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.440 specifically miling. But he was kind of onto something in 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.720 a weird, roundabout way. But the the way that he 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:09.840 isolated he was famous for isolating the facial expressions involved 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:13.519 in the smile. But he did it by taking emotion 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:17.320 out of the equation. I He did that by shocking 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:21.799 the facial muscles of patients in his hospital. That's how 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.320 he that's how he identified what muscles were involved in 0:02:24.320 --> 0:02:28.680 a smile and a genuine smile yeah um and uh yeah. 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:32.200 He he was known to um basically shock people's faces. 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:35.560 There's a picture of him with a patient these two um, 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:38.480 these two basically rods that you would use to shock 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:42.400 somebody and the person is going like, uh, I'm not 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:46.639 doing this on my own. Yeah wow, Well let's do 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:52.280 can okay, And that was some pretty shocking experiment station. 0:02:53.520 --> 0:02:56.880 So you can right comes up with a smile and 0:02:56.919 --> 0:02:59.600 it's a that's the genuine smile, but there's also a 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.560 fixed mile and the do ken smile. Also, if you're interested, 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:04.640 Chuck Um, I didn't send it to you, but there's 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:07.520 this thing called spot the Fake Smile on BBC. It's 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:09.720 like twenty different pictures and you pick whether it's fake 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:13.080 or genuine. Apparently people stink at it. I didn't have 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:14.560 time to really do it, so I don't know what 0:03:14.600 --> 0:03:16.480 my score was. I did like four of them, but 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:19.600 they were kind of hard. But the key is when 0:03:19.600 --> 0:03:22.800 you're looking for a genuine smile, the eyes are involved. 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:26.639 You get the crow's feet right, um, you you're you're 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:30.320 you get kind of squinty. That's a real smile. Fake 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:34.000 smiles just the mouth. Yeah. I have jokingly doctored up 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:39.040 photos of Emily and myself, um, like smudging away wrinkles 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.000 and stuff and crow's feet, just kidding around. I wouldn't 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:44.840 you know me and pictures I don't care, no you, 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:48.400 that's that's my bag. Um. But it Emily always says, 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:51.080 it looks like we're like smiling without her eyes. It 0:03:51.120 --> 0:03:54.160 looks like, you know, that fake smile, like you've been botoxed, 0:03:54.240 --> 0:03:58.320 which will come up later exactly in this discussion. So 0:03:58.480 --> 0:04:02.440 um fax smiling, real smiling. Obviously, the one you want 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:04.920 to go for is the genuine smile because you you 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:06.960 can feel it. It's like kind of starts in your 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:10.600 gut and comes out of your heart right. Um, Like 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:12.400 when you see a guy fall down on the street 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:15.120 and you just like you feel that sense of happiness, 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:18.359 you know, Yeah, you just start whistling. Maybe as you 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:21.400 walk along your way, you're like, sorry, mr, need need 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:25.000 a hand, Yeah, And then you happen to have your 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:27.240 your prosthetic hand in there and you let him pull 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.680 it right off, and you're like, WHOA did I ever 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:31.680 tell you about the guy in college that fell off 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:34.760 his bike and his books splayed out all over the 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:37.279 street in front of like hundreds of students on campus 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.080 and he, uh, he just put his arm on his 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:42.839 chin and started throwing through one of the boats, laying down. 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:45.680 Its awesome. It was one of the better reactions I've 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.479 ever seen. That is awesome. Wow. I think that would 0:04:48.520 --> 0:04:51.360 have emotionally crippled me. I was so self conscious in college. 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:53.640 I would not have like that either. I would have 0:04:53.680 --> 0:04:56.440 been like, well, that's it for me in college, transferring 0:04:57.120 --> 0:05:01.679 to attent exactly in my dad's back, y'all. Um, So chuck, 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:04.120 we've got the fake the difference between the fake smile 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:05.440 and the real smile. And I don't know if you 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.279 noticed this. You're a little older than me, but in 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:10.280 the seventies and eighties, were you aware that there was 0:05:10.279 --> 0:05:12.680 a lot of like, this is the heyday of smile research. 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:15.120 I didn't know that. It sort of makes sense just 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:18.359 because that's from the whole happy face boom um. You 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:22.680 know once Forrest Gump invented that with the face T shirt. Yeah, 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.000 that was a big deal. Smiling was a big deal. Okay, 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:28.640 So well, people don't put funding into figuring out, what, 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:31.039 you know, just evaluating smiles. And one of the things 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:33.080 they found that was kind of surprising, is that that 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:35.080 fake smile we were talking about, the one that just 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:38.760 has to do with the mouth and it's not necessarily 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:43.680 connected to any emotion. The fake smile um actually can 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:47.359 lead to more positive feelings or a better sense of 0:05:47.360 --> 0:05:50.080 well being, at least in these studies that came out 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:52.800 of the seventies and eighties. Yeah, there's a lot of studies, 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:55.000 as it turns out. But that's kind of weird because 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:57.479 you know, the way we've always thought of smiling is 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:01.080 your smile as the result of positive feelings. You can 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:05.000 generate positive feelings from smiling. Right, But there there are 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:07.279 a bunch of studies, as you say that, and they 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:11.839 found this body of researches is surprisingly consistent, right, Yeah, 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:16.360 and the in the late eighties, Uh, this psychologist named 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:21.599 Robert jan I just took it as a johnic. I 0:06:21.600 --> 0:06:24.440 think there's no Balkan I know, but they add like 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:28.320 um invisible. It's not silent, it's an invisible vowel a Right. 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:33.200 This doctor from the Falklands where Balkans Balkans from the Falklands, 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:37.080 from the Falkland Islands published a study This smile stuff 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:41.080 is making us so silly. Uh. He had subjects repeat 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.320 vowel sounds, obviously, which would mimic either a smile or 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:45.919 a frown. So if you're going to mimic a smile, 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:50.599 you would do like an E R and uh frown, 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:53.720 you would do a long you you and even your 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:57.400 brow furrows, even though I think you're exaggerating, but that's 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:01.839 sort of what happens naturally to your face, right. But 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:04.400 what he was making them use these vowel sounds because 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:07.680 to find out whether it has an effect positive or 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:10.800 negative or none, you have to take emotions out. You 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.760 want them to be emotionally neutral to begin with, which 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:15.320 is kind of hard because I would be sitting there 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:17.640 kind of giggling anyway at the stillness of the whole thing. 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:21.480 But it's similar to like Duke Ken using the shocks. 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.120 You're trying to keep emotion out of it to generate 0:07:24.200 --> 0:07:27.040 I don't think it's something happy, just go right. Uh. 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:30.080 And they in fact reported the subjects reported feeling better 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:33.480 with the long sound the sound, and feeling bad with 0:07:33.560 --> 0:07:40.000 the you. So there you have it in case closed, right. Uh. Yeah, 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.320 I guess I do kind of You know, I have 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:47.520 problems with studies like that anytime it's a they base 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:52.040 everything on a measure of reported well being subjective well being. Sure, like, 0:07:52.080 --> 0:07:55.360 we've talked a lot about happiness, right, We've got an 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.800 audiobook just sitting there that we've never released on happiness 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:02.080 just gathering dust. Um, so we know a lot about this, 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:04.120 and we know that there are a lot of studies 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:07.120 out there that are just kind of like, you know, yes, 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:11.320 and if it were just this one, I would I 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:13.200 would be poop pooing it. But there's a bunch of 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:15.760 other ones that have kind of followed similar methodology have 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:20.400 come up with similar results. Well, rather than making vowel sounds, 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:23.280 there was another study that had people hold a pencil 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:29.240 and they're in their mouths to make it makes the 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:33.120 smile or sticking out, which makes a pout out makes 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:37.319 a pout always remember that there's your mnemonic device. Uh, 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:39.600 And they found the same thing that people who were 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:42.720 who had the pens sticking out of their mouths were 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:46.760 unhappier afterward, and people who are holding the pencil or 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:51.319 pen lengthwise, we're happier afterwards. That's right, again self reported, 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:53.520 But this is kind of strange that people are still 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:56.520 coming in the same conclusion yes, and yet another. Josh 0:08:56.679 --> 0:09:00.520 had um three groups of people. One was shown pictures 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:05.760 of facial expressions, another group made those facial expressions, and 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:09.400 yet another made those expressions while looking at themselves in 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:13.920 a mirror. And then they were asked questions at pinpointed 0:09:13.960 --> 0:09:18.440 their emotional state before and after, and overwhelmingly they scored 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:22.400 happier after smiling, and the mirror subjects saw an even 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:25.720 more pronounced change in mood than those who didn't see 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:27.840 the mirror. So it went. The people who just looked 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:30.680 at pictures of people smiling didn't have much of a change. 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:33.079 He didn't have any at all. Mild, they didn't have 0:09:33.080 --> 0:09:35.560 any at all. What it says people who smiled but 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:37.880 didn't look at pictures and didn't look into a mirror 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.760 had some change. But the people who smiled but they 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:43.000 looked into a mirror head like through the roof change. 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:45.160 That's the jackpot. That's when you're looking, You're like, hey, 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:47.360 look at you got like that guy he's smiling. I'm 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.280 smiling right back, and it's just the love fest. That's 0:09:50.280 --> 0:09:52.680 the finny. I'm always disappointed when I look in the mirror, 0:09:52.720 --> 0:09:56.640 even when I'm smiling. Yeah, yeah, but I shouldn't even 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.040 look in mirrors that much anymore. I think we've talked 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:01.559 about that. Yeah, we and probably in the How Mirrors 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:07.120 Work episode. I'm gonna suspect that one. Although that little 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:10.160 trick mirror. We were on that photo film shoot not 0:10:10.240 --> 0:10:11.640 too long ago and they had one of those mirrors. 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:14.120 It makes you all squatty. Fun house mirror. I think 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.200 you and I, like five year old stood in front 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:19.000 of that thing for thirty minutes laughing. Yeah. The funniest 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:20.760 part with you and I are like going up and down, 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:22.600 you know, like we're playing in the mirror. But then 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:26.239 the crew was just walking by, and they looked really deliberate, 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:30.240 you know, but they like little little person there carrying 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:32.839 that light it was but with big feet. That was 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:37.520 pretty cool. Fun house mirrors the best. Um. But this 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:39.640 is this kind of raises a big question like why 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:43.439 would looking in the mirror um increase your happiness more 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:47.920 than just smiling? Right? Um, unless you love yourself? I 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:53.240 I think you know, I mean that's an explanation. Sure, um, 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:55.280 but you're probably gonna lose your funding if that's what 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.319 you come you come up with instead, these researchers who 0:10:58.360 --> 0:11:03.080 conducted this particular it um suggested that there's a self 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:09.079 conscious aspect to um smiling right where if you so 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:12.040 in the group that just smiled there, if there are 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:15.559 people who were introspective, who thought about their feelings, who 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:18.720 were aware of their changes and emotion, those people would 0:11:18.720 --> 0:11:23.040 have had the most UM boost in happiness from just smiling. 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:26.319 But looking in the mirror. You take all those people 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:30.280 who aren't necessarily introspective and force them to confront their 0:11:30.400 --> 0:11:34.880 change and emotion by by making them watch themselves smile, 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:38.120 and so that that it's that almost UM is a 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:41.280 supplement to self consciousness. If you're not self conscious. This 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:47.600 simulates that that phenomenon. You see what I'm saying, Like you, 0:11:47.600 --> 0:11:49.040 you don't have to just sit there and think, oh, 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:51.160 I'm smiling right now, you can see it. You're taking 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.480 it in. So they think that there's a there's a 0:11:54.679 --> 0:12:00.160 psychological aspect to it. But this guy, Roberts Johnic, that's 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.160 what we concluded his name is. He suggests that there's 0:12:03.200 --> 0:12:07.800 a physiological basis for it, right, So there's maybe both. 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:12.160 So the only thing we're missing now is what Duken thought, 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:15.400 which is that they're all facial muscles are connected to 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:17.680 the soul. That's right, and then everybody will just be 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:21.280 happy and covered. That's right. And interestingly, Josh, this goes 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:25.200 back to one Chucky Darwin. Yeah, he actually thought of 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:29.199 the stuff back in the nineteenth century that facial expressions 0:12:29.320 --> 0:12:33.839 don't only reflect emotions, but could be the cause of them. 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:36.320 And then he got busy with you, now, the whole 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:38.920 other stuff that he did. That's that little matter if 0:12:39.280 --> 0:12:42.120 the galappa goes and uh, it kind of sat on 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:45.360 the backburner until the eighties when these new dudes started 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:49.760 studying it, and uh, doctors aghn I looked at the 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.840 research a little further and basically says, you know what, 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:56.880 I've got a physiological reason. I've got a hypothesis here 0:12:56.920 --> 0:13:00.560 why a smile might trigger happiness. And it has to 0:13:00.600 --> 0:13:05.559 do with the temperature of your body parts change when 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:09.000 there's activity there in the muscles, and there's chemical activities 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:11.000 that happen in that area as well because of that 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:15.400 temperature change, just like in smiling. Right. Well, he was saying, 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:17.600 there was other research, I don't think anything to do 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:21.480 with smiling that that found that changes in temperature in 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:25.560 the brain led to biochemical changes, right, So like maybe 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:29.880 more of an endorphin was released when it's cooler. Or basically, 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:34.359 what they found was when you can connect emotions to temperature, 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:38.080 A warmer brain is an anxious brain. Yes, maybe it 0:13:38.120 --> 0:13:41.160 has to do with fight or flight. Sure, Um, a 0:13:41.360 --> 0:13:47.559 cooler brain comparatively is a happier brain. And Zgohnic said, Okay, well, 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:50.600 how does this relate to smiling and what did he find? 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:54.080 The answer is in the carotid artery, that's right, not 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:58.520 the cartoid artery is some people mistaken, they say, uh, 0:13:58.520 --> 0:14:00.680 and that is the pipe that livers. Most of the 0:14:00.679 --> 0:14:03.160 blood of the brain flows through an opening called the 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.640 cavernous sinus, and that's got a lot of facial veins there. 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.680 So when you smile, Uh, those muscles tighten, those veins 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:13.360 are constricted. It's gonna cut down the blood flow going 0:14:13.600 --> 0:14:18.280 through the car Toyd carotid artery, and uh, you're gonna 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.080 get a cooler brain. So it's gonna gonna make you happier. 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:25.080 But he said, also conversely, when you frown, it actually 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:29.080 relieves even more pressure on that corodid artery, so more 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:33.240 blood flows. More blood flow equals more higher temperature in 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:36.000 the brain and I mean, we're talking about such a 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:40.440 minute change. But it certainly makes sense that if if 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:44.040 our brains are sensitive, if the chemical processes in our 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.320 brains are sensitive to very minute changes, which I imagine 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:52.640 they would be, then this explanation is perfectly rational reasonable. Uh, 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:56.040 it's not supported in any way. There's like, none of 0:14:56.080 --> 0:15:02.080 these studies show definitively that yes, um, smiling makes you happier, 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.880 but they suggest that the results suggest that there's a 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:11.160 pretty good chance that people become happier just from smiling, 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:14.280 even even faking it. Yes, but you found a study 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:18.440 that refuted that. Josh, Well, let's talk about the botox first. Yes, 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:21.560 two more studies with both very interesting. So the botox one, 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:23.480 remember when it supports this, we were saying, like with 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:27.800 the uh, with the shocks, do Ken's shocks are using 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:30.800 the pen all right, You're you're trying to take emotion 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:33.720 out of the equation to see if facial expressions can 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:37.360 create emotions. With botox is doing the opposite. You're taking 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:41.280 the facial expressions out to see how that affects emotions. 0:15:41.840 --> 0:15:44.360 And what they found. There's a study from two thousand 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:48.320 ten from Barnard College in New York UM that found 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:52.840 that people who have botox botalks we should unsure most 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:57.160 people know. But it's a it's a toxic proteins, yeah, 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:01.720 that they inject into your uh skin and too basically 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:05.160 paralyze it so like you don't have that troublesome space 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:08.280 between your eyes when you frown, or your your forehead 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:11.160 doesn't crinkle up, or your crow's feet don't don't crinkle 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:14.120 up when you smile, and paralyzes the nerves. Yes, and 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:18.240 it's sort of creepy looking sometimes especially it's not too 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.480 too bad, right, but it's it's super popular these days. 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:26.640 It is. To have injected into your face is very popular. 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:30.320 It is pretty we have finally arrived at the dystopian 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:34.160 future that's been predicted forever. UM. But what they found 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:40.080 was that people UM who had botox injected reported UM, 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.400 they showed him basically like tear jerk or clips from 0:16:43.440 --> 0:16:45.680 movies or or something like that, like a net Banning 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.400 is on a couch and she's like crippled or something 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:51.560 like that. Yeah, like Sweet Home, Alabama or something. Yeah, 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:54.080 exactly like at the end when things turn out right 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:59.200 for everybody, it's UM. And the people who had received 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:03.080 botox and actions reported less of an emotional response than 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:06.159 people who've been given restling, which is another injection, but 0:17:06.200 --> 0:17:09.360 it's a filler, it doesn't paralyze anything. So basically the 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:13.760 idea it matched their face and the results were that 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:20.280 they if you can't produce a facial expression, then your 0:17:20.560 --> 0:17:25.800 emotional experience is slightly lessened. Yeah, it's muted. So this 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:30.120 shows both ways facial expressions are somehow connected to emotion, 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:35.040 to producing emotion. The other study, which I like, talks 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:39.640 about fake smiling, like, uh, you know, turn that frown 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:42.439 upside down and you won't be so gloomy. Not true. 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:47.400 Fake smiling can actually make things worse. So Walmart greeters, 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:51.159 when you're being told the smile on your job, that 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:54.679 can actually bum you out more. And that's that's the reason. 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.080 Can't you just one intuitively, didn't you intuitively know this 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:01.199 already that that Porsche mom whose job it is a 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:03.960 smile at everybody is probably the one who like wants 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:06.320 to punch in the stomach most by the end of 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:09.320 the day. Sure, yeah, but it's just interesting because all 0:18:09.320 --> 0:18:11.639 these other things say like a smile can actually increase 0:18:11.640 --> 0:18:14.359 your emotion, but it's got to be a real smile. 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:19.119 A fake smile has the reverse effect. And they actually 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.000 did some research on this, Yeah, Michigan State two thousand 0:18:22.040 --> 0:18:25.879 eleven study Spartans. It was in the Academy of Management Journal, 0:18:26.040 --> 0:18:29.760 And basically this professor Um, he's a professor management. He 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:33.000 studied a group of bus drivers over two weeks and 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:36.320 found that the ones who fake smile the most had 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:41.280 more withdrawal and emotional exhaustion and had less hemorrhoids probably 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:46.120 um and but so basically that's surface acting fake smiling. 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:49.639 But he did find also that deep acting, which is 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:54.400 where you're like trying to cultivate a more positive outlook 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.000 inside yourself, like thinking of a really pleasant memory that 0:18:57.200 --> 0:19:00.320 genuinely makes you happy, right you, you're doing that can 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:04.400 lead to actual more positive feelings, better performance at work. 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:06.479 Because again it's a management study, so that's what they 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:11.000 care about. But do you you actually do um experience 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:14.760 more better feelings. There's a positive effect rather than an 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:19.600 emotional withdrawal or waste that comes from fake smiling, Which 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:21.600 makes sense to me because I mean think about it, 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:27.520 like facial expressions are we've always assumed designed for another person. 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:30.720 This is how I'm feeling right now, respond accordingly, If 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:34.560 you are misleading everybody, you're you're going to at the 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:37.720 very least feel like you're not connected anyone because there's 0:19:37.720 --> 0:19:40.800 no one who's understanding you. Yeah, they said it causes 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:44.520 feelings of in in authenticity, which makes sense. And they 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:48.480 also found that women, who are typically viewed as more 0:19:48.520 --> 0:19:51.760 emotional than men, got in worse moods with the fake 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:56.360 smiling and reacted even more positively when they were deep 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:58.960 acting and really able to able to conjure up those 0:19:59.320 --> 0:20:04.600 pleasant feelings puppies. Yeah, so men are just apes. Well. 0:20:04.880 --> 0:20:10.159 Another study two thousand five minut University study found that 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:14.280 UM women are likelier to smile, what whether they feel 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:17.639 like smiling or not, in almost all social situations, compared 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:22.280 to man. So there that explains why women are often 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:26.040 emotionally exhausted. Yeah, my mom was much more inclined to 0:20:26.040 --> 0:20:28.199 put on a happy face around other people than my 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:31.720 dad was. My dad would literally just like go off 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:34.239 by himself and sulk in front of everybody and just 0:20:34.280 --> 0:20:38.040 be like here's me. But still in two thousand and eleven, 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:40.879 the point that we're at is um putting pens in 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:44.399 people's mouths and telling him to make e sounds in 0:20:44.440 --> 0:20:46.880 our smile research. This is where we are. But at 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:51.800 the very least the findings are they're interesting and man, 0:20:52.119 --> 0:20:56.359 it has been forever since we've done like a study fest. Yeah, 0:20:56.680 --> 0:21:00.400 this feels like two thousand and eight, two thousand nine, crazy. Yeah, 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:01.879 you know we've been doing this for more than three 0:21:01.960 --> 0:21:07.160 years now. Really that means uh Sarah our fan that 0:21:07.520 --> 0:21:11.040 is she's like ninety, she wrote recently. I think she's fourteen? Now? 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:17.159 Is she fourteen? Now? Yes, she's she's on the Facebook 0:21:17.200 --> 0:21:21.080 page now. No, I haven't keeps the darn button. Well 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:23.800 that's great. Well that's it for smiling. I'm done smiling 0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:26.560 for the day. Yeah, I'm not. I don't feel like 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:30.480 being emotionally withdrawn and exhausted. Although our next podcast that 0:21:30.520 --> 0:21:34.200 we're recording is pretty fun, it is, but that'll be 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:37.080 a genuine smile. Yes, okay, So Chuck, you got anything? 0:21:38.359 --> 0:21:42.040 Uh no, Just to plug the fact that we're on 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:44.520 the radio now, you can listen to us on Friday 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:46.240 nights from seven eight if you're in the New York 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:49.880 area New Jersey area on WFMU ninety one point one. 0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:52.000 As a matter of fact, we cover the whole Hudson 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:55.760 Valley like a wet blanket that's been left out in 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:59.159 the street for a couple of days. Hudson Valley. You 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:01.600 can find us it in dy point one Friday's from 0:22:01.600 --> 0:22:06.000 seven eight and big thanks to Ken Friedman. Yeah, huge thanks. 0:22:06.080 --> 0:22:08.480 Ken Friedman is like he should wear a cape. Yeah 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:11.399 he might, he probably does. But I Ken is a 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:14.560 w FM you and he's like everyone we've talked to 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:17.640 in public radio, because we've talked to other folks, has said, boy, 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:21.240 Ken is like one of these stand up guys. So 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:24.360 so thanks Ken, And if you're listening to this right 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:29.280 now on WFMU, we'll bet you appreciate Ken yourself. Yeah 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:33.399 they um, okay, So what do you want to do? Listener? 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:36.000 Mail now? Oh, if you want to know more about 0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:39.240 smiling and happiness, type happy in to the search bar 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:43.399 at our beloved venerable website How Stuff Works dot com, 0:22:43.440 --> 0:22:46.000 and it's gonna bring up a ton of stuff. There 0:22:46.040 --> 0:22:48.880 was so much happiness stuff that we wrote like last year, 0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:53.280 what people love studying emotion? Yeah, yes they do. That's 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:56.919 psychologists that that's just that's their thing. It certainly is 0:22:57.040 --> 0:22:59.159 let's make people cry and then ask him about it. 0:23:00.560 --> 0:23:02.680 Let's make people to shock people in the face. We 0:23:02.800 --> 0:23:06.760 got to get that happiness audiobook released. Is it still relevant? 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:10.920 Sure it is, okay, it was ever greenest timeless classic. Anyway, 0:23:10.920 --> 0:23:13.439 I said how stuff works in handy search bar. So 0:23:13.880 --> 0:23:19.919 listener mail, should we go with the underground railroad or 0:23:20.240 --> 0:23:27.440