The hidden power of smiling - Ron Gutman
Summary
TLDRThis inspiring speech explores the power of smiling, revealing how it's a natural human expression linked to happiness and longevity. Studies show smiles can predict life span and marriage success, with babies even smiling in the womb. Smiling's contagious nature and its ability to boost mood and health are highlighted, suggesting it's a superpower we're all born with.
Takeaways
- 🌟 The speaker's childhood dream was to become a superhero to save the world and make everyone happy.
- 🔍 In adulthood, the speaker turned to real science to find truth, starting with a UC Berkeley study on student photos and their future success.
- 🤔 The study found that the width of a student's smile in a photo could predict the success and fulfillment of their future marriage and life.
- 🏆 A Wayne State University study showed that the span of a baseball player's smile could predict their lifespan.
- 👶 We are born smiling, as evidenced by 3D ultrasound images of babies smiling in the womb.
- 🌍 Smiling is a universal human expression, even among isolated tribes like the Fore in Papua New Guinea.
- 👶🏻 Children smile as many as 400 times per day, which is more than most adults.
- 😊 Smiling is contagious and can suppress our usual facial muscle control, making it hard not to smile back.
- 🧬 Charles Darwin's facial feedback response theory suggests that smiling makes us feel good, not just a result of feeling good.
- 🍫 Smiling stimulates the brain's reward mechanism more than chocolate, according to British researchers.
- 💰 Smiling is as pleasurable as receiving a significant amount of money, and it can also reduce stress and improve health.
Q & A
What did the speaker initially believe was the source of superheroes' powers?
-The speaker initially believed that superheroes' powers came from science fiction and intergalactic objects from Planet Krypton.
What did the UC Berkeley 30-year longitudinal study find about students' smiles?
-The study found that the span of a student's smile in their yearbook photo could predict the success and wellbeing throughout their life, including the fulfillment and longevity of their marriage, their scores on standardized tests of well-being, and their inspiring nature to others.
What discovery was made from the Wayne State University research on baseball cards?
-The research found that the span of a baseball player's smile in their pre-1950s card could predict the span of his life, with players who didn't smile living an average of 72.9 years and those with beaming smiles living an average of almost 80 years.
At what stage of development can babies be seen smiling?
-Babies can be seen smiling even in the womb, as evidenced by 3D ultrasound technology.
What did the study by Paul Ekman in Papua New Guinea reveal about the universality of smiles?
-The study revealed that even members of the Fore tribe, who were completely disconnected from Western culture and known for their unusual cannibalism rituals, attributed smiles to descriptions of situations the same way Westerners would.
How often do children smile on average per day?
-Children smile as many as 400 times per day.
Why is it difficult to frown when looking at someone who smiles?
-Smiling is evolutionarily contagious and it suppresses the control we usually have on our facial muscles, causing us to mimic the smile and experience it physically.
What did the mimicking study at the University of Clermont Ferrand in France show about our ability to judge smiles?
-The study showed that our ability to judge whether a smile is real or fake is impaired when we cannot mimic the smile ourselves, such as when holding a pencil in our mouths to suppress smiling muscles.
What does Charles Darwin's facial feedback response theory suggest about the act of smiling?
-Darwin's theory suggests that the act of smiling itself makes us feel better, rather than smiling being merely a result of feeling good.
How does smiling stimulate the brain according to the British researchers' study?
-Smiling stimulates the brain's reward mechanism to a degree that even chocolate cannot match, with one smile generating the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate.
What are the health benefits of smiling mentioned in the script?
-Smiling can help reduce stress by lowering cortisol levels, enhance mood by increasing endorphin levels, and reduce overall blood pressure.
How does smiling affect one's appearance and perception by others according to the Penn State University study?
-Smiling makes a person appear more likable, courteous, and competent.
Outlines
😃 The Power of Smiling
The speaker begins by sharing their childhood dream of becoming a superhero and the realization that real superpowers come from within. They delve into the science of smiling, referencing a UC Berkeley study that correlated smiles in yearbook photos with future success and happiness. The speaker also mentions a Wayne State University study that found the span of a baseball player's smile could predict their lifespan. Smiling is a universal human expression, even present in babies and disconnected tribes like the Fore tribe in Papua New Guinea. The speaker highlights that smiling is contagious and can suppress our facial muscles, making it hard not to smile when others do. They also touch on Charles Darwin's facial feedback response theory, which suggests that the act of smiling can improve our mood.
😄 The Benefits of Smiling
This paragraph discusses the neurological and psychological benefits of smiling. The speaker references a study that shows smiling can stimulate the brain as much as eating chocolate or receiving a significant amount of money. Smiling is also linked to reduced stress hormones and increased mood-enhancing hormones, which can lead to better health. A Penn State University study is mentioned, indicating that smiling makes a person appear more likable, courteous, and competent. The speaker concludes by emphasizing the superpower of smiling, suggesting it can lead to a longer, healthier, and happier life.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Superpowers
💡Longitudinal study
💡Well-being
💡3D ultrasound technology
💡Facial expression
💡Contagious
💡Mimic
💡Facial feedback response theory
💡Botox
💡Brain stimulation
💡Stress hormones
Highlights
Childhood dream of becoming a superhero and the realization that superpowers are not found in science fiction but in real science.
UC Berkeley longitudinal study that used student smiles to predict future success and well-being.
Barry Obama's smile in a yearbook was initially thought to be a 'superpower' but was later understood as a sign of happiness.
Wayne State University research found that the span of a baseball player's smile could predict their lifespan.
Babies are born smiling, as seen through 3D ultrasound technology.
Smiling is a universal human expression, even among isolated tribes like the Fore in Papua New Guinea.
Smiling is a common expression of joy and satisfaction across cultures.
More than a third of people smile more than 20 times a day, while less than 14% smile less than five times.
Children possess the 'superpower' of smiling up to 400 times a day.
Smiling is evolutionarily contagious and can suppress our facial muscles' control.
A study showed that mimicking a smile helps us understand whether it is genuine or fake.
Charles Darwin's facial feedback response theory suggests that smiling makes us feel better.
A study using fMRI imaging supports Darwin's theory by showing that smiling affects neural processing of emotions.
Smiling stimulates the brain's reward mechanism more than chocolate.
Smiling can be as stimulating as receiving a significant amount of money.
Smiling can reduce stress hormones and increase mood-enhancing hormones, leading to better health.
Smiling makes you appear more likable, courteous, and competent.
Encouragement to tap into the superpower of smiling for a longer, healthier, and happier life.
Transcripts
[Music]
[Applause]
when I was a child I always wanted to be
a superhero I wanted to save the world
and make everyone happy but I knew that
i' need superpowers to make my dreams
come true so I used to embark on these
imaginary Journeys to find Intergalactic
object from Planet Krypton which was a
lot of fun but didn't need much result
when I grew up and realized that science
fiction was not a good source for
superpowers I decided instead to embark
on a journey of real science to find a
more useful truth I started my journey
in California with a UC Berkeley 30-year
longitudinal study that examined the
photos of student in an old yearbook and
tried to measure their success and
wellbeing throughout their life but by
measuring the student Smiles researcher
were able to predict how fulfilling and
longlasting a subject marriage will
be how well she would score in
standardized tests of well-being and how
inspiring she would be to
others in another yearbook I stumbled
upon Barry Obama's picture when I first
saw his picture I thought that his
superpowers came from his super
color but now I know it was all in a
smile another aha moment came from a
2010 Wayne State University uh research
project that looked into pre-1950s
baseball cards of major league players
the researchers found that the span of a
player's smile could actually predict
the span of his life players who didn't
smile in their pictures lived an average
of only 72.9 years where players with
beaming Smiles lived an average of
almost 80
years the good news is that we're
actually born smiling using 3D
ultrasound technology we can now see
that developing babies appear to smile
even in the womb when they're born
babies continue to smile initially
mostly in their sleep and even blind
babies smile to the sound of the human
voice smiling is one of the most basic
biologically uniform expressions of all
humans in studies he conducted in Papa
new guini Paul emman the world most
renowned researcher on facial expression
found that even members of the fory
tribe who were completely disconnected
from Western culture and also known for
their unusual cannibalism
rituals attributed smile to descriptions
of situation the same way you and I
would so from Papa nug
guini to Hollywood all the way to Modern
Art in Beijing we smile often and use
smile to express joy and satis action
how many people here in this room smile
more than 20 times per day raise your
hand if you do oh wow outside of this
room more than a third of us smile more
than 20 times per day whereas less than
14% of us smile less than five in fact
those with the most amazing superpowers
are actually children who Smile as many
as 400 times per day have you ever
wondered why being around children who
smile SM so frequently make you smile
very
often a research study at oopsa
University in Sweden found that it's
very difficult to fra when looking at
someone who Smiles you ask why because
smiling is evolutionary contagious and
it suppresses the control we usually
have on our facial muscles mimicking a
smile and experiencing it physically
help us understand whether a smile is
fake or real so we can understand the
emotional state of The Smiler in a
recent mimicking study at the University
of claron Fon in France subject were
asked to determine whether a smile was
real or fake while holding a pencil in
their mouth to repress smiling muscles
without the pencil subjects were
excellent judges but with the pencil in
their mouth when they could not mimic
the smile they saw their judgment was
impaired in addition to theorizing on
evolution in the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin also wrote the facial
feedback response Theory his theory
states that the act of smiling itself
actually makes us feel better rather
than smiling being merely a result of
feeling good uh in his study Darwin
actually cited the French neurologist
Julian duam who used electric jolts to
facial muscles to induce and stimulate
Smiles please don't try this at
home in a related jour study researchers
used fmri Imaging to measure brain
activity before and after injecting
Botox to suppress smiling muscles the
finding supported Darwin's theory but by
showing that facial feedback modifies
the neural processing of emotional
content in the brain in a way that helps
us feel better when we
smile smiling stimulates our brain
reward mechanism in a way that even
Chocolat a well regarded pleasure
inducer cannot match British researchers
found that one smile can generate the
same level of brain stimulation as up to
2,000 bars of
chocolate wait the same study found the
smiling is as stimulating as receiving
up to 16,000 Sterling in
cash that's like 25 Grand of smile it's
not
bad and think about it this way 25,000 *
4 400 quite a few kids out there feel
like Mark Zuckerberg every
day and unlike lots of chocolate lots of
smiling can actually make you healthier
smiling can help reduce the level of
stress enhancing hormones like cortisol
adrenaline and dopamine increase the
level of mood enhancing hormones like
endorphin and reduce overall blood
pressure and if that's not enough
smiling can actually make you look good
in the eyes of others a research study
at Penn State University found that when
you smile you don't only appear to be
more likable and courteous but you're
actually appear to be more
competent so whenever you want to look
great and competent reduce your stress
or improve your marriage or feel as if
you just had a whole stack of high
quality chocolate without incurring the
caloric cost or as if you found 25 Grand
in a pocket of an old jacket you hadn't
worn for ages or whenever you want to
tap into a superpower that will help you
and everyone around you live a longer
healthier happier life
[Applause]
[Music]
smile
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