A team of researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT) has found that the simple act of smiling can make people feel happier. They analyzed nearly 50 years of data on how facial expressions affect our emotions.
The researchers used a statistical technique called ‘meta-analysis’ – which allow researchers to combine data from multiple studies – to examine the results of 138 studies involving more than 11,000 participants from around the world. The study revealed that facial expressions have a small, yet significant, impact on feelings. Just as smiling makes people feel happier, scowling makes them feel angrier or frowning them feel sadder.
“We don’t think that people can smile their way to happiness. But these findings are exciting because they provide a clue about how the mind and the body interact to shape our conscious experience of emotion,” said the study author.
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