The Science of Smiles
And the three most important smiles EVER
I wrote this article for Kidscreen recently. It was a research project with Lesha and the team at Wantent, who are an awesome AI content testing company in the Ukraine.
“The smile is the shortest distance between two persons”.
-Victor Borge.
There were four takeaways that we focussed on in the article, that help us as humans (not just preschoolers) engage with the emotion of happiness in shows:
Cocomelon has lots of close ups of its characters smiling. If someone smiles at you, you smile back. EDIT (from social comment below): Cocomelon is becoming far more narrative driven
Gabbys Dollhouse is more social, but it still faces out to the audience. It teaches you about peer to peer smiles. It has lots of moments where multiple characters smile together whilst facing out at the viewer.
Bluey moves beyond smiles to more animated responses. with a more mature audience they can focus on humour, and Bluey is known to make its audience - parents and children laugh together
George, Peppa Pigs little brother is even smarter. He teaches us how to make others smile, without even smiling. Given his age, his dialogue is mostly limited to ‘dinosaur’. But he creates huge empathy amongst preschoolers. He does this by non-verbal kindness. For early years children language is not always the main form of communication, actions can literally speak louder than words. George teaches children that by being kind to other, like sharing, they can make others smile.
But I wanted to add three facts around the importance of smiling. And these are in order of how much I love the smile.
The social smile
This is the first time a child ever smiles. At around 6-8 weeks of age. It is the first deliberate and purposeful expression of positive emotion towards another. We may see reflexive smiles, which are often observed in newborns and are thought to be involuntary responses to internal stimuli such as gas or muscle movements,
The social smile is often elicited by external stimuli such as facial expressions, vocalizations, or physical gestures that convey warmth, affection, or playfulness.
The emergence of the social smile signifies several key developmental achievements in infants:
Social awareness: The ability to recognize and respond to social cues from others, such as eye contact, facial expressions, and vocalizations.
Emotional expression: The capacity to experience and express positive emotions, such as happiness, joy, and contentment, in response to social interactions and stimuli.
Social reciprocity: The beginning of reciprocal exchanges and interactions between infants and their caregivers, characterized by mutual responsiveness and shared emotional experiences.
Attachment formation: The establishment of secure and trusting relationships with primary caregivers, facilitated by positive emotional exchanges and responsive caregiving behaviors. I love knowing that the more smiling towards and smiling from a child, the more likely they are to have a happier life.
The social smile serves as a powerful means of communication between infants and caregivers, facilitating bonding, attachment, and emotional connection. When caregivers respond warmly and affectionately to an infant's social smile, they reinforce the infant's positive emotional experiences and contribute to the development of a secure attachment relationship.
Over time, these early interactions lay the foundation for the infant's socio-emotional development, shaping their ability to regulate emotions, form relationships, and navigate social interactions throughout life.
One of the greatest gifts we can give to a new born baby is smile at them, and its free.
The Duchenne smile
Named after the French neurologist Guillaume Duchenne, this type of smile involves not only the muscles around the mouth but also the muscles around the eyes, creating characteristic crow's feet or "twinkling eyes." Considered a genuine or heartfelt smile, the Duchenne smile is associated with feelings of genuine happiness, amusement, and positive emotional experiences. It serves as a marker of authenticity and sincerity in social interactions, fostering trust, rapport, and connection between individuals.
A Duchenne smile is produced by two facial muscles. The zygomaticus major muscle lifts the corner of your mouth. At the same time the orbicularis oculi raises your cheeks, causing the ‘laugh lines’ or ‘crows feet’ at the corners of your eyes. This muscle is not typically activated in fake or forced smiles, making it a reliable indicator of genuine happiness or joy.
And that word authenticity is so relevant to the modern world. Especially with the image above generated by AI. Whilst some smiles has some local meaning the Duchenne smile is universal. It indicates friendliness, goodwill and willing to connect. And it is contagious, by offering openness it encourages reciprocation.
People with crows feet, are in fact seen more positively; genuine, trusted, attractive. And in an era of smoothing out wrinkles, this is a wrinkle(s) you should really keep.
I’d advise practicing your Duchenne smile, but I’m not sure you can. But if it does come authentically, you should work in the service industry. It is a persuasive smile and increases you likelihood to be tipped well.
A money making smile.
But it does come with a gruesome side story. Guillaume Duchenne released his study of facial muscles in 1862. In order to illicit the movement of the muscles, which he believed linked to the human soul, he used electrical probes on live and deceased patients.
The Mona Lisa smile
Perhaps the most important, and famous, smile of all time. One thing I learnt about smiles when I was exploring them for the article, is that they may be a moment, but they last so much longer.
The ‘social’ smile is a huge part of our social and emotional development. The ‘Duchenne’ smile not only creates a physically visible imprint it influences how we build trust with others. A lifetime is a long time.
But, Mona Lisa’s smile spans much longer. A woman smiling, is (probably) the most viewed painting of all time. It has influenced many lifetimes across many times. And it means something different to each person.
Beyond showing the importance of a smile, Mona Lisa was meticulously crafted by Leonardo da Vinci’s imagination. But from what I can tell, no-one knows why she is smiling. So the audience get to decide. We look and we interpret, she could be happy, content, it looks genuine.
But we could be wrong.
Even if we are wrong.
She is smiling.
And with all the amazing art in the world, a tiny painty of a woman smiling should remind us of how truly amazing a smile is.