I like smiling more when there is science involved

This TED Talk, The happy secret to better work, was just loaded with facts and studies. One caught my attention a little more than the others. That when someone smiles at you, you mimic the smile and use that to determine if the smile is genuine.

Ok, when someone smiles at you, you smile back. Makes sense. But mimicking their smile? I had no idea. But how to test that is what actually happens? They made people hold a pencil in their mouth which inhibited their ability to mimic the smile. Those subjects were less accurate in determining if a smile was genuine.

Much more on smiling in this NY Times story.

Seems like there are a lot of possibilities here. Are some people’s smiles more easily mimicked? Does this lead to success being famous or holding higher political office. Is there smile compatibility? Do people have a smile-type they look for in a mate? Could dating sites use this to find a match where each person is the others smile-type?

Who knew there was so much research in smiling?