The phrase “fake it till you make it” may hold more truth to it than you think. According to recent research, smiling, even if only fake, can have a positive effect and, in layman terms, “trick” the brain into thinking that you are happy. This is something you might also have heard in introductory psychology courses, on mental health social media pages, and/or in general conversation.
So, where did this idea come from? This notion dates back to the seminal experiment conducted by researchers in 1988, which found participants that held a pencil between their teeth – therefore triggering the same facial muscles used in a smile – rated cartoons as funnier, as opposed to participants in the control group.
So, is there any truth to this now? To a certain extent, yes. In fact, the relationship between action and perception is so strong that even the inverse of this can be true. In a small-scale study conducted at Cardiff University, researchers found that individuals who had had Botox treatment were found to be significantly less anxious and depressed, as the cosmetic treatment paralysed frown muscles and prevented participants from expressing negative emotions.
However, faking positivity is not always effective in making you genuinely happier and sometimes may even be harmful. Although various studies have supported the notion of smiling to cope with negative feelings, even to the extent where it may be argued to help people with depression, the strategy may backfire if one is over reliant on it. Constantly coping with negative feelings by forcing a smile may point to larger problems such as inauthenticity with oneself and a pattern of not properly managing your emotionality.
It is recommended that this process is most effective when managing less intense negative emotions. It is theorized that this works because we infer our attitudes by watching our own actions, otherwise labelled the facial feedback hypothesis. However, meta-analyses of this hypothesis show that if fake smiling boosts positive emotions, it is only on a very small level. To put that into perspective, the researchers of the same study explain that if 100 people smiled, controlling for every other factor, only about 7 of them would feel happier.
So, what is the final takeaway? You can fake it but will not always make it. Although research has sometimes shown that smiling leads to more positive emotions, especially if you are faking one when in a more neutral state of mind or if you consider the smile as reflective of your good mood, it has a higher chance of not working the way you intend it to. It may even backfire tremendously, leading to feelings of frustration with oneself. Moreover, it should probably not be general advice you give out to people – telling someone to smile if they are sad might earn you more than a frown.