Why Smile: The Science Behind Facial Expressions by LaFrance Marianne

Author:LaFrance, Marianne [LaFrance, Marianne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2011-08-08T05:00:00+00:00

People are supposed to act their age, and even more strongly to act their gender. Most everyone is happier when others follow gender scripts, even if it is all an act. We expect to see smiling women and non-smiling men unless there are good reasons to the contrary. Each person’s task is to learn how to show gender-based expressions and demeanor well enough that it all seems spontaneous and natural. Failure to perform elicits serious consequences—exclusion, derision, or punishment. This is theater of the people, by the people, with each of us as audience and performer.

If it all goes according to plan, then each person becomes their own self-socialization agent. We watch and perform and monitor. Oscar Wilde once declared while a man’s face is his autobiography, a woman’s face is her work of fiction. He was partly right—the facial expressions of both men and women are works of fiction, but no less true for that. Even if females come prepared to smile more than men, it’s impossible to overestimate how much culture, temperament, family upbringing, social roles, and occupational demands affect the frequency with which anyone smiles. Most females and males have the capacity to smile or not, and both sexes have the psychological and physical elasticity to smile however much is called for.

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