People feel emotionally close to others displaying this type of smile.
A ‘Duchenne smile’ is a powerful way of striking up a new relationship, a new study finds.
People are highly tuned to the Duchenne smile, which involves upturned lips and crinkly eyes.
And they can easily spot a fake smile, which tends to involve only the mouth and not the eyes.
The research tested how much people are aware of each other’s emotions, whether negative or positive.
It found that people were more aware of positive emotions in other people than negative.
It also found that a genuine smile was a strong sign of cooperation and affiliation.
People felt emotionally closer to strangers who showed positive emotions.
The positive emotion that was particularly attractive was awe.
Dr Belinda Campos, who led the research, said:
“Our findings provide new evidence of the significance of positive emotions in social settings and highlight the role that positive emotions display in the development of new social connections.
People are highly attuned to the positive emotions of others and can be more attuned to others’ positive emotions than negative emotions.”
The study was published in the journal Motivation and Emotion (Campos et al., 2015).
→ Read on: 10 Hidden Benefits of Smiling
Image credit: greekadman
