Forced smiles and mood: University of Florida experiment

Psychologists at the University of Florida report that a single posed smile can slightly lift mood, while repeated smiling under financial pressure does not, according to a release published by EurekAlert. The experiment was run by Nicholas Coles, Annabel Dang and Joao Francisco Goes Braga Takayanagi and published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. The team recruited 1,201 people for an online study, and 1,174 were included in the analysis. eurekalert.org

Experiment design

Participants viewed either pleasant pictures, such as kittens and flowers, or unpleasant ones, such as theft and animal mistreatment. They were asked either to pose a smile or to let their faces respond naturally, and the task was repeated once or 10 times. eurekalert.org

Half of the participants were told they could lose $2 of their $6 payment if they failed to follow instructions. In fact, everyone received the full payment. After each task, participants rated their happiness. eurekalert.org

Coles said the aim was to combine the classic laboratory approach with elements of real customer service work: a penalty for unsuccessful smiling and a controlled number of repetitions. He worked in customer service earlier in his career. eurekalert.org

Results for single and repeated smiles

With unpleasant pictures, a single posed smile gave a small lift in happiness, even among participants warned about losing money. Repetition diminished that benefit, and repetition combined with the financial threat erased it. eurekalert.org

With pleasant pictures, a single voluntary smile did little to change mood. Repeated or pressured smiles left participants less happy than simply responding naturally. An additional analysis found that forced smiles in these pleasant settings also tended to increase irritation and anger. eurekalert.org

Coles said that a single smile without financial penalties produces the improvement seen in earlier laboratory work, but that under conditions closer to real life the effect reverses. He also pointed to workplace policies that require employees to smile, citing a Target rule as an example, and said such rules reduce the emotional autonomy of workers and customers. eurekalert.org

University of Florida experiment: repeated forced smiles lowered mood in 1,174 online participants

Experiment design

Results for single and repeated smiles

Sources · 1

Read also

Kumoh Institute team makes silica nanofiber mat that captures 98.6% of 2–4 µm particles