While researching about facial expressions, Dr. Niedenthal started to get interested in the most common facial expression; smiling. Even though many scientist and philosophers have done studies on this common facial expression they have still not found a way to exactly explain it. However there have been many thoughts and theories on smiling. Smiling is not only an expression of an internal feeling but it is also a physical impression that can be visualized by perception between two minds. Culture is not a single aspect that effects smiling, the way the brain works and science play an important role. Researchers tried to understand the state of mind that produce smile. Dr. Niedenthal argues that a smile is not just a contract of the zygomaticus muscle since same muscles are used when people feel sadness. This question leads many researchers including Dr. Niedenthal to ask the question why does smiling or any emotion would cause the mouth to open and curl up. Throughout history many researchers of many different fields have tried to answer this question. One of the most important scientists Darwin believed that the clue was in the faces of apes where their mouth changed as they smiled. When chimpanzees are creating a social bond or when they feel pleasure they smile. Dr. Niedenthal also argues that similar to chimpanzees people show different smiling gestures to different emotions. When they are embarrassed their lower chins are more affected by the smile. Similarly when chimpanzees smile to show power they grin in order to show dominancy. Dr. Niedenthal also says that people grin also to show power.
The person in front of you perceives smile and distinguish from another expression it in the brain. Person who perceives the facial expression may distinguish the smile by looking at the geometry of a person’s face, by examining the situation and by mimicking the expression. Each expression affects different regions of the brain. So when a person mimics a smile that is friendly the expression goes to region that differentiates the people who we are in a close relationship with. This region also gets active when a mother smiles to their own baby compared to some other baby. By the regions people can distinguish different smiles that can be negative and positive. Dr. Niedenthal saw her students distinguish friendly and cold smiles when she gave them pictures of people smiling to look at. In the second experiment Dr. Neidenthal made students put a pencil to their lips and students had a hard time to understand the smile since they were not able to mimic it. I believe that mimicking a certain expression will affect our judgment to others. If we were not able to mimic similar to the second experiment as a person we may have a different judgment to certain actions and expressions which would lead to confusion and to problems in relationships.
I also believe that culture and society plays an important role on certain expressions. When two strangers in New York who walk towards each other and have a eye contact usually looks at different directions without having a facial expression. However in Turkey where I live when two people have an eye contact by accident they have a friendly smile on their faces since I believe that they have the thought of sharing the same place and for sharing a common background with each other.
So, in my opinion not only science effects the facial expressions and how people perceive it but it is also the culture and the social aspects that affect the smile.
Zeynep Ercan
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