Why Just Smiling Could Make You Feel Happier

Being happy makes you smile, but that might just work the other way around, too.

Hosted by: Brit Garner
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[NewMessage]

Yeah, but when I smile.. everyone else feels very, very nervous...

[Master_Therion]

3:48 Having a camera pointed at you reduces the happiness effect of smiling?
So in that old TV show when they said, "Smile, you're on Candid Camera." It was just a cruel joke.

[FridgeMaan]

"Botox can relieve depression symptoms" so money CAN buy happiness?

[nvdawahyaify]

Smiling when I am not happy doesn't make me happier. It makes me angry. The only things that make me happier is getting away from the thing I'm unhappy with or experiencing something I enjoy. I was told my whole life that smiling makes you happy. It never has for me. This may be because im not neurotypical. I'm autistic.

[chloecharbonneau]

In all my jobs when I had to be happy with customers I found I was usually in a better mood after "faking" being happy compared to before I started and was not looking forward to work.

[Spicy_Riker]

Doesn’t do the trick for me...
You just look desperate.
Ok, I look crazy... and I feel crazy...

[ParallelPenguins]

Ok but I mean... in the service industry you're told to smile all the time. You have to be smiling or otherwise looking happy or at least not angry during every interaction with a customer. I've heard that this emotional labour makes people very much the opposite of happy and can lead to serious stress issues over enough time. So if smiling is supposed to make you happy, how come it doesn't work on service industry workers?

[TheMutantCreeper]

I hate it when people tell me to smile. It makes me more upset. My dad tells me to smile often when I’m just having a resting face and walking around. I honestly don’t like that crap. Just let my face do it’s thing.

[FRIEDYOGURT-sc]

I do it when I’m about to cry in public

[spiderwebnitter]

Also because the study had been done before and it was popular, the subjects might have known the effect; causing the study to get messed up (like you said, the experiment was even in 101 phych books).

[fromscratchauntybindy]

Could experimenters have hidden cameras to test this? Then do the full disclosure afterward obviously participants could withdraw consent if they chose then or keep it in the results?

[ArtFreak]

I've found that smiling when not necessarily happy can at least relieve facial tension (and relieve tension headaches that result from not realizing just how much your muscles are gripping). Just because of the whole "it takes fewer muscles to smile than to to frown" thing.

And sometimes that physical sense of relief can make the expression a bit more sincere.

(Kind of like reminders to check your posture and identifying places of tension elsewhere in body.)

[tahsintabassums]

and seeing this on my notification put a smile on my face :)

[TeresaMcD]

I’d be very curious to see tests on people with chronic pain who have to maintain a certain level of appearances or on people with depression.

[chrrmin]

I smile almost all day
I'm happy all the time lol

[RangerRuby]

This is a very interesting hypothesis! I feel like this question ( If you smile will that make you happier? ) has been asked and bought up many times! I am glad SciShow Psych made a video on this matter. It helps me maybe make a decision on my own! Thanks for the video and I will see you next time! DFTBA!

[glibaudiostories]

When I smile when I'm sad it makes me sadder

[Brainstorm]

This is a great example of solid scientific progress through experimentation, failed replication, reconsideration, and consolidation of evidence. Alright everyone let's buy some pencils!

[YoshimieYutaka]

I saw this in Vsauce's Mind Field. It's was fantastic!

[PuzzlesExplained]

Aw man, I was just about to make a video on this topic! Great video as always, I'll have to be quicker next time 😉