The Facial-Parody: The Perception Of Happiness

Have you ever become happy just because of smiling? Or have you ever became sad by frowning? This can be explained by the facial-feedback hypothesis. “According to the facial-feedback hypothesis, mimicking the facial movements associated with an emotion will induce the corresponding emotional state.” (Nevid, 2015, p. 306) Therefore, by genuinely smiling, some may feel the emotion of happiness. Likewise, by frowning, some may feel the emotion of sadness. “Researchers find that practicing smiling can induce more positive feelings, and smiling or frowning can intensify the corresponding emotions even when the person is not aware of it.” (J. I. Davis, Senghas, & Ochsner, 2009; Soussignan, 2002) However, there are some limitations to the facial-feedback hypothesis. To produce positive …show more content…
A fake smile would be less effective to produce positive feelings because “it is not accompanied by the feeling of enjoyment that produces a genuine smile.” (Nevid, 2015, p. 306) Thinking of positive thoughts helps produce a genuine smile which produces positive feelings.
For the experiment, I had five friends and family members hold a pencil in their mouth and show their teeth, producing a “smile.” Next, I asked them to rate how happy they were on a scale of 1-7 (7 being extremely happy). Then I had five other friends hold a pencil in their mouth, but keep their mouths closed and not produce a smile. Again, I asked them to rate how happy they were on a scale of 1-7. Before the experiment, I expected that the ones who show their teeth and producing somewhat of a smile will produce happier feelings than the ones who did not show their teeth and not smiling. My findings were correct. The ones showing their teeth rated their happiness at a higher level on the scale. Their average was about 5.6 and when rounded to six, their happiness was high