Can you make yourself happier by drawing a smile? – Woe

It’s already the third Monday of the year, so the “Blue Monday blues” are lurking hard. Every little extra happiness is included. It is sometimes said that you can make yourself happier by smiling. Is this correct? Scientists put it to the test.

The ‘facial feedback hypothesis’ states that we influence our mood with our facial expressions. Smiling will make you happier and frowning will make you angry or sad, even if it is a fake facial expression. It’s time to test this assumption scientifically on 4,000 test subjects from 19 countries, a group of scientists from Stanford University believes. Their findings have been published in the journal nature.

Lie until you do it
Participants were divided into three groups and given tasks that included smiling consciously (imitating a smiling image), smiling unconsciously (making various movements and finally getting a smile on their face), or holding a pen between their teeth (resembling a smile). ..

In the first group (conscious laughter) there was a clear positive effect. With subconscious laughter too, but with less force. The stylus balance group didn’t feel any joy at all from the test. So it seems that facial expressions not only amplify emotions, but also arouse them.

Smiling more often costs nothing and is worth a try. Especially when it’s the fifth day in a row that it’s been raining cats and dogs and it seems to be getting dark at 2:30 in the afternoon. The research team notes that the effect is probably not significant enough to act as a treatment.