Your face reflects the emotions you feel, and research shows how facial expressions affect mood in powerful ways. When we are sad, we frown; when we are angry, our eyes narrow and our faces tense. When we are happy, our eyes light up and we smile. Most of us can instantly tell a real smile from a fake one—but have you ever wondered what actually makes a smile genuine?
In a real smile, tiny muscles around the bottom eyelid lift in a crescent. Before I learned this, I could only sense it intuitively. This ability to read facial expressions is part of our empathy and connection to others—key aspects of human social life.
But it’s not just that our faces reflect our emotions—they can also influence how we feel. Since the 1980s, studies have shown that smiling can actually make us happier. Sales trainers have long recommended smiling before picking up the phone to sound more likable—and the effect isn’t just on others; it changes our own mood, too.
More recently, researchers at the University of Tokyo (Mori & Mori, 2009) used rubber bands and latex bandages to force participants’ cheeks into a smile or frown. Those in the smile group reported feeling happier, while those in the frown group felt sadder. A follow-up study in 2013 also found that participants who smiled tended to have a more positive opinion of others. In other words, even a “fake” smile can lift your mood and make social interactions feel better.
Amy Cuddy, a social psychologist, explores similar ideas about body language and facial expressions. Her popular TED Talk highlights how posture and facial expression shape our feelings. One of her fun suggestions? Place a pencil between your teeth to mimic a smile—it can make you feel happier instantly.
I loved sharing these experiments with my students at the local community college. Sometimes we’d put pencils or pens between our teeth just to see who would start laughing—and, inevitably, we did. Beyond the laughs, it’s a powerful reminder: our facial expressions can be used as tools to shift our emotions.
Whenever I feel my mood dip, I consciously plaster a smile on my face. It almost always brings me back to a sense of calm and happiness. You can try this, too—test it out for yourself and notice the difference.
If you give it a try, I’d love to hear how it goes—leave a comment below!