Smiling has been found to increase feelings of happiness. Psychologists believe this is because the brain interprets the flexing of certain muscles to be indicative of a particular mood. For example, the zygomatic major is the facial muscle responsible for controlling the corners of the mouth. When this muscle is flexed, it is thought that it triggers the neurological response that controls emotion. Another possibility is that smiling while around other people leads them to smile back, and the brain reads this as a social cue to feel happy.
More about emotions:
- A facial muscle called the orbicularis oculi, which is located in the corner of the eye, is considered to be an indicator of a true smile and can’t easily be flexed on its own except when the person is laughing or smiling widely.
- Not expressing negative emotions can help prevent a person from being in a bad mood. If this is done too often, however, the negative feelings can manifest in other ways. For example, the person might tend to jump to negative conclusions.
- The first hypothesis that facial expressions can influence mood was put forth in 1872 by Charles Darwin, who believed that the inability to express pain could reduce feeling it.
