Did you know that smiling doesn’t necessarily mean you are happy?

A recent study has revealed that when a person is smiling, whether alone or in a group,it need not necessarily mean that he/she is happy. Moreover, it also stated that social engagement didn't make everybody equally happy.

By: Editorial Team | | Updated: September 8, 2018 8:51 pm

Do what makes you happy. © Shutterstock

Smiling faces aren’t always the happiest ones, says a new study. It is usually believed that a person is happy when they are engaging with another person or group of people. However, a new research done by Brighton and Sussex Medical School (BSMS), which was led by body language expert Dr Harry Witchel, Discipline Leader in Physiology at BSMS, shows this is not always the case. The study was published in the journal ACM. Also Read - International Day of Happiness: This is what happens to your body when you’re elated

Witchel claims that the way people often behave during one-to-one Human-Computer-Interaction (HCI) is as if they were socially engaged. His research involved asking 44 participants aged 18-35 to play a geography quiz game consisting of nine difficult questions so that they often got the answer wrong. Seated participants interacted with a computer alone in a room while their faces were video recorded. After the quiz, the participants were asked to rate their subjective experience using a range of 12 emotions including ‘bored’, ‘interested’ and ‘frustrated’. Also Read - Looking for happiness? Seek refuge in nature

Meanwhile, their spontaneous facial expressions were then computer analysed frame by frame in order to judge how much they were smiling based on a scale of between 0 to 1. Witchel said, “According to some researchers, a genuine smile reflects the inner state of cheerfulness or amusement.” Also Read - Braces cannot bring happiness, self-confidence: Study

“Our study showed that in these Human-Computer Interaction experiments, smiling is not driven by happiness; it is associated with subjective engagement, which acts like a social fuel for smiling, even when socialising with a computer on your own.” The frame by frame smile analysis broke down each of the nine questions into a question and answer period. Participants did not tend to smile during the period when they were trying to figure out the answers. However, they did smile right after the computer game informed them if their answer was correct or wrong, and surprisingly, participants smiled more often when they got the answer wrong.

This could probably answer why you need not always be among a group of people to be happy. There are easier ways to be happy, even when you are on your own. Here are a few things you could do:

Reading: Reading perhaps, is the best ways to refresh yourself. What better than sitting by the window while reading your favourite novel and sipping that hot coffee?
Sleeping: Believe it or not, sleeping is one thing that could help you to forget almost all your pains.
Walk: Walking is one thing that you should do when you are alone. Explore new ways and go to new places, every once in a while and trust us, you will love it.
Hobby: Everybody must have a hobby or two, in order to de-stress.
Music: Music therapy is a legit form of refreshment. When you are feeling low, just listen to songs- songs of any kind, you will love it and will surely feel better.

(inputs by ANI)

Published : September 8, 2018 8:49 pm | Updated:September 8, 2018 8:51 pm

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