A Mystery Hidden in a Smile
A Mystery Hidden in a Smile
By: Arlene Gentallan
A smile can reveal pretty shocking things.
Look on your old photographs...look closer.
Not that! What I mean is look at how intense your smile is.
Are you sporting your usual somber expression, a flat affect, or perhaps a a half-hearten smile?
Here's the flash. Research by Butts and Hile confirmed previous research that individuals who have less intense smile on their photographs are more likely to have divorce later in their lives. You read it right, "The less intensely participants smiled, the more likely they would be divorced later in life." So it's not enough that you smile. If you're not wearing that high wattage smile in any of your photos, congratulations! The future may be dire.
Now, this isn't an old wives tale. This is solid research. They've analyzed several hundred photographs taken from college yearbooks and participant's old pictures, interviewed them, tabulated data, analyzed everything. You may want to ponder on that.
The captivating warmth endeared by a smile is a universal language we all came to feel instinctively. The curling of a lip that lights up the entire canvas. But there's more to this welcoming expression that meets the eye...something dark and sinister?
But if in any case you're not wearing that wide grin on your photos but you haven't divorced up to this point, don't bother, I won't ask if you're in a relationship. Why are you taking everything too seriously?
Resources:
Butts, A. & Hile, S. (2009). Smile intensity in photographs predicts divorce later in life. Motivation and Emotion. doi: 10.1007/s11031-009-9124-6.
By: Arlene Gentallan
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| A Mystery Hidden in a Smile |
A smile can reveal pretty shocking things.
Look on your old photographs...look closer.
Not that! What I mean is look at how intense your smile is.
Are you sporting your usual somber expression, a flat affect, or perhaps a a half-hearten smile?
Here's the flash. Research by Butts and Hile confirmed previous research that individuals who have less intense smile on their photographs are more likely to have divorce later in their lives. You read it right, "The less intensely participants smiled, the more likely they would be divorced later in life." So it's not enough that you smile. If you're not wearing that high wattage smile in any of your photos, congratulations! The future may be dire.
Now, this isn't an old wives tale. This is solid research. They've analyzed several hundred photographs taken from college yearbooks and participant's old pictures, interviewed them, tabulated data, analyzed everything. You may want to ponder on that.
The captivating warmth endeared by a smile is a universal language we all came to feel instinctively. The curling of a lip that lights up the entire canvas. But there's more to this welcoming expression that meets the eye...something dark and sinister?
But if in any case you're not wearing that wide grin on your photos but you haven't divorced up to this point, don't bother, I won't ask if you're in a relationship. Why are you taking everything too seriously?
Resources:
Butts, A. & Hile, S. (2009). Smile intensity in photographs predicts divorce later in life. Motivation and Emotion. doi: 10.1007/s11031-009-9124-6.
