University of Florida: repeated forced smiling under pay pressure lowered mood in a 1,174-person study

Psychologist Nicholas Coles and colleagues at the University of Florida tested whether smiling improves mood when it is repeated and tied to financial pressure, reports cnn.iprima.cz. In an experiment with 1,174 participants, a single deliberate smile slightly improved mood. Repeated smiling under threat of losing part of the pay removed the effect or reversed it cnn.iprima.czcnn.iprima.czcnn.iprima.czOpen source ↗. The results were published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

Coles said the study grew out of his own experience. He used to work in customer service and once received a written reprimand at an unnamed amusement park in Florida for failing to smile constantly. He was struck by the gap between that experience and laboratory findings that smiling raises a person's inner sense of happiness.

How the experiment was designed

Participants viewed either pleasant images, such as kittens or flowers, or disturbing footage of violence or animal cruelty. Some were instructed to smile deliberately; the others kept a natural expression. To imitate a work shift, part of the group repeated the task ten times.

Half of the participants were told that if they did not smile convincingly enough, they would lose two dollars of a promised six-dollar reward. In fact everyone received the full amount, but the threat of loss was enough to create psychological pressure cnn.iprima.czcnn.iprima.czcnn.iprima.czOpen source ↗.

What the results showed

With unpleasant images, one deliberate smile mildly improved mood, even in people warned about the deduction. When the smile was repeated ten times and pay pressure was added, the positive effect disappeared completely.

With pleasant images, a single smile gave almost no extra joy compared with a natural reaction. Once participants had to repeat it or felt financial pressure, their happiness fell below the level of the control group, and the data showed increased irritation and anger.

"If you force a smile only once and without any financial penalty, mood does improve. When you bring it closer to the real world, where you must do it constantly and risk a penalty if you do it badly, the effect reverses completely," Coles said cnn.iprima.czcnn.iprima.czcnn.iprima.czOpen source ↗.

He also pointed to the recent discussion about the US retail chain Target, where employees must smile whenever a customer comes within a certain distance. In his view, such rules limit the emotional freedom of workers and also of customers, who feel obliged to respond to feigned warmth.