Smile Power - Your Secret to Success
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Issued 11 May 2010
Smiles have a powerful effect on all of us. The human brain prefers happy
faces, recognizing them more quickly than those with negative expressions.
Smiles are such an important part of communication that we spot a smile at 300
feet -- the length of a football field.
Smiles can also be your secret to success. Here are five reasons to activate
your smile power:
1. You’ll feel better – even if you fake it
We all use the fake smile in business settings when we don’t really feel an
emotional closeness to those around us; the real smile is reserved for those we
truly care about. And we’ve had a lot of practice doing this. We’ve been
displaying both real and fake smiles all of our lives. A fake smile is easy to
produce. It takes only one set of muscles to stretch the lip corners sideways
and create a grin.
There’s no doubt that the “best” smiles are genuine. They light up your face,
crinkle the corners of your eyes and produces positive physiological changes in
your body temperature and heart rate. But consider research findings that even
if the smile is mechanically produced, positive feelings still emerge. This
study matched samples of people looking at cartoons. The first group ranked
every cartoon as funnier than the second group. The only difference is that
members of the first group were asked to hold a pencil crosswise between their
back teeth. The simulated smile caused by the pencil between their teeth
effected their emotion - and their perception of the cartoons as funnier.
2. You’ll be unforgettable
Why do some people make a lasting impression while others are quite
forgettable? The answer may be in their smile.
Research from Duke University proves that we like and remember those who smile
at us – and shows why we find them more memorable. Using functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI), the Duke researchers found that the orbitofrontal
cortices (a “reward center” in the brain) were more active when subjects were
learning and recalling the names of smiling individuals
3. You’ll encourage collaboration
No one, regardless of how intelligent he or she may be, can succeed alone. We
all need the knowledge and ideas of others. You know that. But did your know
that by merely smiling or frowning you can influence how a speaker reports
information and how it is subsequently remembered, and possibly passed on?
According to research conducted reported by the British Psychological Society,
positive and negative emotional responses systematically alter the use of
language. Speak to a positive listener and people will likely use more
abstractions and subjective impressions. But if people talk to a negative
listener, they’ll probably stick to the relative security of objective facts and
concrete details.
Researchers speculate that this is because the smiles and nods of a positive
listener are interpreted as a sign of agreement and understanding, encouraging
the speaker to provide more of their own opinions and speculations. By contrast,
negative listeners provoke speakers to adopt a more hesitant and cautious
thinking style.
4. You’ll improve your productivity
Charles Garfield, the author of Peak Performance, once coached the Russian
Olympic weight-lifting team. Garfield noticed that when team members lifted to
exhaustion, they would invariably grimace at the painful effort. In an
experiment, he encouraged the athletes to smile when they got to that point of
exhaustion. This seemingly minor difference enabled them to add 2-3 more reps to
their performance.
No matter the task, when you grimace or frown while doing it, you are sending
your brain the message, “This is really difficult. I should stop.” The brain
then responds by sending stress chemicals into your bloodstream. And this
creates a vicious circle: the more stressed you are, the more difficult the task
becomes.
When you smile, your brain gets the message, “It’s not so bad. I can do this!”
5.You’ll positively contaminate others
Some nonverbal behaviors can bring out the best in people. Smiling is one of
them, as it directly influences how other people respond. When you smile at
someone, they almost always smile in return. And, because facial expressions
trigger corresponding feelings, the smile you get back actually changes that
person’s emotional state in a positive way.
Maybe that’s why a DePauw University study found that people whose smiles were
weakest in snapshots from childhood through young adulthood were most likely to
be divorced in middle or old age. (1 in 4 compared to 1 in 20 for the widest
smilers.)
And if you ever go to trial, keep this in mind: Although courtroom judges are
equally likely to find smilers and non-smilers guilty, they tend to give smilers
lighter penalties, a phenomenon called the “smile-leniency effect.”
Want to brighten your mood, make a lasting impression, encourage
collaboration, lighten your work load, and positively influence others? Then
smile – really smile. Think of someone who genuinely amuses or delights you. But
if you can’t do that, then fake it . . . or hold a pencil in your mouth.
About the Author
Carol
Kinsey Goman, Ph.D.is an international
Keynote speaker on collaborative leadership and the impact of
body
language in the workplace.
Communications
coach to executives to improve their leadership presence and
effectiveness.
Leadership blogger for Forbes and author of "The Silent Language of
Leaders: How Body Language Can Help - or Hurt - How You Lead.”
Carol@CarolKinseyGoman.com
Office: 510-526-1727
Berkeley, California
www.CarolKinseyGoman.com
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Article Published/Sorted/Amended on Scopulus 2010-07-13 23:28:17 in Personal Articles
