10 hidden benefits of smiling
They always say it takes more muscles to frown than to smile. Besides being less work than frowning, though, what are the scientific benefits of smiling? PsyBlog explains some of the other plus sides of smiling, and offers scientific studies that back them up. For example,
Recover from social slip-ups
Did you forget to buy your partner an anniversary present? Has an important client’s name slipped your mind? Have you accidentally kicked a small child? If you’ve tripped on a social banana, embarrassment is your go-to emotion.
The function of embarrassment is to get us out of tight social spots (Keltner & Buswell, 1997). The embarrassed smiles we display involve looking down and sometimes we emit a silly little laugh. This is designed to elicit fellow-feeling from other people so they think less of the slip and forgive us more quickly.
So the embarrassed smile helps us get out of jail free(ish). Once again, the power of a smile.
Full story at PsyBlog.
Photo credit: Fotolia
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