Why do we smile? What is the purpose of it? At a first glance, these would appear to be very simple questions. Questions that you could answer almost immediately. Some would say, “Because we can.” or “To make other people happy.” In the essay Why Women Smile, Amy Cunningham defies the status-quo on this topic by bringing up the following points: women not only smile because we are happy or excited but also out of social obligation, we smile out of fear, nervousness, or being uncomfortable, and lastly that there are true genuine smiles. What truly “lies” behind the smile is something that is more nuanced than people expect. Something so simple as a smile is much more complex than what meets the eye. In America’s culture we view smiling as a positive friendly feeling, but in many other cultures it’s actually the opposite. We view smiling as a form of respect and use it as a tool to help us either build or to repair relationships. One example of a “non-smiling” culture is Japan. Japanese culture values humility and so they tend to suppress their emotions in order to help build relationships with people. Another “non-smiling” country is Russia. In Russia, smiling is reserved for close friends and so smiling at strangers is viewed as being insincere. Therefore, the question at hand is why is smiling something that is so important in our culture? According to Mrs. Cunningham (par. 12) “Women are expected to smile no matter where they line up on the social, cultural, or economic
Results of the experiment overwhelmingly supported the hypothesis. Particularly in the measurements of smiling. Male-female dyads showed extraordinarily higher frequencies of smiling during conversation than the other dyads. Both same gender dyads showed relatively marginal to moderate frequencies for smiling. Eye contact frequencies were also higher for male-female dyads, though not as overwhelmingly as smiling. In contrast, both same gender dyads showed relatively low frequencies for eye contact.
The first character who is described as possessing this smile is Gotama, the Buddha. When Siddhartha first sees him, he recognizes him immediately, largely on account of this mysterious smile. Gotama is imperturbable and he retains his smile - and his equanimity - even when Siddhartha
The Facial Feedback Hypothesis is the theory that if you portray an emotion on your face, such as a smile, that the following emotion is likely to occur internally (Nevid, 2015). For example If I were to have a grumpy or sad looking face my emotional state will be reflected by becoming angry, sad, or another emotion associated with the facial expression. Although, studies have shown that practicing smiling several times a day may help lift your spirits, this theory is not guaranteed to work every time (Nevid, 2015).
Facial Expression: The facial expression such as happiness, sadness, anger and fear helps a lot in conveying a message. These facial expressions are similar all over the world but non- verbal communication and behaviour varies hugely between the cultures in the world.Since the look on a person’s face is noticed , before we hear ,facial expression contributes a lot in a successfully non-verbal communication .
This idea is portrayed very often in the scene from ‘Up’. One specific example is seen when the male character, Carl, is watching his wife, Ellie, paint their mailbox. He is staring at her intently with a grin on his face, his eyes appearing to be soft. One could interpret this as an expression of interest and affection – Ellie clearly does, as she looks up at him in return and smiles. Another example occurs when Ellie visits Carl in the hospital after he has broken his leg. She glances at him out of the corner of her eye, with a slight smirk on her face. This is one example where there exists an issue of intentionality, as often is present when it comes to nonverbal communication (Hall, Carter, & Horgan, 2000). An observer who is unaware of the couple’s relationship and the circumstances surrounding the situation may mistake Ellie’s glance as a sign of annoyance, however those with more knowledge on the setting can realize that the smirk expresses the thought “Well, we both know what this means...”. Therefore, this particular scene does an excellent job of demonstrating the ambiguity and complexity of countenance in nonverbal communication.
Through Women’s Eyes by Ellen Carol DuBois and Lynn Dumenil addresses American History from 1865 until present day. The third edition of this textbook includes visual and primary sources over several centuries. I used this textbook in a history course, “Women in the United States, 1890 – Present;” I found the textbook to be engaging, helpful, and useful throughout the course. The way in which in the information was presented allowed me to learn, assess, and analyze the difficulties women faced.
To smile means to show how much happiness a person has through a motion from their mouths. When a person smiles they usually experiencing something very pleasurable and are showing a more intense feeling of joy. When a person grins they are showing a smaller level of joy. Also when a person grins they tend to be unnoticeable, since the motions of a grin are not very visible.
Amongst the statistically significant data, male researchers received more smiles from the opposite gender when making a neutral and a smile compared to its own gender at p<.01 for female researchers is receiving more smiles from the opposite gender when making a neutral face. In perspective of the difference between female and male researchers, females received more smiles from the same gender while male researchers received more smiles from the opposite gender. These data sets confirm the part in the hypothesis about men being less likely to offer a smile.
In the article, Cunningham brings up many compelling points that help drive her argument on the reasons as to why women smile. One of the main points she touches on is the biological aspect of it. She relates it to monkeys and how they use a smile in their environment to show that they are not going to cause harm to anyone around them and that they are passive. This helps
In Emily Yoffe’s essay entitled “Seeking”, she explores how the World Wide Web has provoked human’s brains to constantly seek information and knowledge. Yoffe opens the essay by stating her thesis, “Sometimes it feels as if the basic drives for food, sex, and sleep have been overridden by a new need for endless nuggets of electronic information, we are so insatiably curious we gather data that could get us in trouble, or we do not need to know” (“Seeking” 572). In the beginning, of the essay she highlights the research of Psychologist James Olds, who is believed to have found the brain’s pleasure center through various studies. She then moves on to explain the findings of neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp, who tries to account the reason for humans incessant need to seek information. Yoffe draws from Panksepp’s findings, “For humans, this desire to search is not just about fulfilling our physical needs, but our abstract ones as well, and in doing so we find a drug like satisfaction” (“Seeking” 573). Yoffe then explains how Psychology professor Kent Berridge tries to understand how the brain experiences pleasure. She speaks of how in Berridge’s work he has been able to distinguish how wanting is equivalent to Panksepp’s seeking system, and the liking system is believed to be linked to the brain’s reward center (Yoffe “Seeking” 574). Yoffe also explains how in Berridge’s work he has come to find that our minds are stimulated rather than satisfied, which
There was a seven year old child named Kiki who was found and dug out of rubble in Haiti after being stuck buried in there for 7 days. At first he was scared to leave the hole but when he got out he wasn't scared anymore, he didn't cry, he did quite the opposite in fact he stretched out his arms like a star and had a huge smile on his face. All the people around couldn't help but smile aswell because Kiki’s smile was infectious! Now a show of hands how many times a day you think that you smile? 4000? 20? 150? 60? On average a child smiles approximately 400 times per day but adults only smile 20 times per day teens like us are anywhere within the middle because of the fluctuating hormones. Out of the thousands of smiles we have shared by this
Cunningham believes that a smile does not only contains a positive emotion. She was being informative when she states that people from different cultures also smiles when they are frighten, miserable, or embarrassed. Emphasizing her point further, she provided an example from Japan. Correspondingly, Cunningham used research and facts as she addressed “Psychologist Paul Ekman, the head of the University of California’s Human Interaction Lab in San Francisco, has identified 18 distinct types of smiles, including those that shows misery, compliance, fear and contempt.” (263). Aside from using logos to enhance her argument, Cunningham also uses ethos in considered to make the audience feels more certain when reading her article. Notwithstanding, her point of view, she after then states a sentence that is considered to be a fallacy. Introduction to her next paragraph, she wrote “Evidently, a woman’s happy, willing deference, is something the world wants visibly.”, and example of hasty generalization. Though it was said evidently, there was no follow up reasons to support that the worlds wants it clearly. A woman’s happiness is something that not everyone to embrace. Therefore, it is yet another stereotyped that the authors support but did not established through
While reading this chapter I was very intrigued and engaged in the reading due to the interesting studies and tips shared. I thought it was really cool that there were some studies done that proved being happy can actually alter relationships, our mind, and so much more. Authentic happiness stated, “ Lisa Aspinwall gathered compelling evidence that in making important real-life decisions, happier people may be smarter than unhappy people.” This fact, along with many other like it, really got me thinking about the type of person I am. I was really interested on how I can be a happier and more positive person, which is why this chapter was really easy to read. My main goal in life is to be genuinely happy and I think that the studies in this
In “There’s More to Life Than Being Happy,” Emily Esfahani Smith writes about the conflict between Viktor Frankl’s book, “Man’s Search for Happiness” and the culture today, which focuses on happiness in life rather than meaning. She introduces Viktor Frankl as a star medical and psychology student who survived the Holocaust in 1942. While Frankl was kept hostage in his camp, he was forced to find the good in life in order to survive. After being liberated, Frankl recorded his experience and what he learned in nine days, creating a best-seller in the United States. Smith explains that even though it has been concluded that Americans’ happiness is at an all-time high, the Center for Disease Control says that almost fifty percent of Americans have not found a purpose in life. Smith tells that bad mental health, self-esteem, and depression are less likely to be found in those who have found a pleasurable meaning in life. Happiness is associated with being a “taker”, while having a meaning life is associated with being a “giver” according to Smith. The downside to having a purpose for one’s life is the fact that he or she is usually more unhappy due to stress and worry than those who only strive for happiness, Smith explains. A study in 2011 proved that if someone has a negative circumstance occur in his or her lifetime, that event will give him or her more of a drive to find meaning in life rather than happiness. Smith concluded by linking these other sources with Frankl’s
During a shift at the San Diego Food Bank I was told by a patron that he appreciated my smile, and that a smile could make all the difference in these situations. Although the feedback was positive, I began to think about other areas of my life I could apply this way of thinking to. In the past I had received negative feedback for yawning or appearing tired during meetings at work. At the time I never gave it much thought since I usually was tired or uninterested. My experience at the San Diego Food bank made me realize that a person’s outward expression or body language can really make an impact on the way that person and the situation are viewed. After that point I decided I wanted to work on maintaining a positive outward appearance even