Although smiles are generally taken as signs of contentment, humans actually smile for many different reasons.
Sometimes we do smile simply because we are happy, but we also smile for social reasons and to put people at ease, as well as to show more complex emotions, such as resignation.
One smile type that people tend to perceive as a genuine mark of happiness is the Duchenne smile, wherein different sets of facial muscles are activated at the same time.
In the Duchenne smile, the person smiles with their mouth as well as their eyes. In popular culture, this action is sometimes referred to as “smizing.”
Are these kinds of smile always what they appear to be? What really does make us smile? These are questions that researchers from the Brighton and Sussex Medical School in the United Kingdom have recently strived to answer.
