I am not really at my best this week and I think that I am on the verge of breaking down. Aside from our family problems that we are battling against, I also have my fair share of anxieties & boxed up frustrations that I am also having difficulties with. Oftentimes I thought that 2018 is not our year and a lot of misfortunes have come our way. Talk about being unlucky! Can life just all be cupcakes and rainbows so all of us could be happy and gay? Well of course the answer to my question is a big NO. It just hit me that I'm not a kid anymore and I know that candies and chocolates couldn't change everything.

How do I still smile despite of all these problems you say? Well I don't and darling I always thought that I won't. Because I always believed that it wouldn't change anything. It wouldn't shift the painful reality I'm in and it wouldn't take away these painful experiences that I'm currently going through. It's just me against this messed up world. How could I even afford to smile while my world is slowly crumbling before my eyes? How could I fake an expression that naturally just coincides with the current situation?

The usual facial expression I wear for these past few days is either I'm grumpy, irritated or sad. I'm such an honest person that it clearly shows up in my face that I hated everything that's happening to me. As I was preparing to go to work on a gloomy monday morning I am also exhibiting the same feels as of the weather. Melancholic, sad and terribly exhausted even if it's just the start of the day. When I walked into the door and is about to go out from our house my 5 year old niece came running towards me and handed me a slightly crumpled paper on her hand and that piece of paper got me big time. What does it say?

It had a big drawing of a smiley face that says on the bottom part "Smile Auntie".

And with that simple message my friends I then realized that why not? It might change everything, my mood my emotion and the depressing atmosphere around us. I then gave it a shot.

Facial Expressions As Regulators of Emotional Experience

Remember that time when your mom forced you to smile while you greet her friends in an all adult party? Or when you were about to punch a customer in the face for being so difficult while getting their order? You can never forget those moments when you tried smiling on your mirror to ease all the emotional baggage you've been carrying all along ? Sucks right?

Can changes on your facial expression influence your emotions?

Oh I bet they do...According to a study made by Strack, Martin and Stepper (1988) entitled "Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: A non-obtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis" examined their participants facial expressions and recorded any changes on their emotions. Their research have highlighted these important notions: One, smiling can make us feel good about ourselves and produces a positive emotional experience while frowning creates a negative emotional feeling.

So, FFH or the Facial Feedback Hypothesis argues on the idea that our facial expressions can greatly influence our emotional experiences. Whereas smiling, the expression I am now wearing despite of tons of adversities is a response to be positive & one of the feel good variety of expressions. Research studies on the Facial Feedback Hypothesis also propose that forcing yourself to smile can eventually lift up your moods.

The Facial Feedback Hypothesis | A Brief Analysis

Charles Darwin, best known for his theory of evolution and natural selection is the first to propose that our facial movements can affect our emotional states. Showing an expression that you are afraid can definitely produce an emotional state of fear or forcing yourself to smile could make you happier. Another pair of psychologists that affirms to the FFH is William James and Carl Lange, the James-LangeTheory of Emotion posits that our physical reactions controls our emotional experiences. In other words, we don't cry because we are sad instead we are sad because we cry. Our physiological reaction towards the environment comes first before the realization of our emotions.

The James-Lange Theory supports the Facial
Feedback Hypothesis since both share the same idea, our facial expressions contribute to our emotional responses. Now going back to FFH,different research studies in psychology has given a lot of amazing findings on this particular theory. Say for example in Robert Soussignan's (2002) research he instructed people to smile and rate cartoons as funny and surprisingly the participants really felt they are happier. But when they are induced to not smile it leads them to report a more gloomy emotional experience.

The Link Between Your Facial Reactions To Your Emotions

The possible links between FFH and emotional experiences lies first on physiological arousal. Physiological arousal occurs when there is heart racing, or expressive behaviors like quickening your pace when you think someone is chasing after you in a dark alley. Or showing a forced smile where there is a contraction of muscles in your face and would lower your heart rate and blood pressure.

In recent studies, it was found out that the use of Botox or Botulinom Toxin affirms to the Facial Feedback Theory. According to researchers, it could make you feel cheerful. Aside from smoothing wrinkles it could help ease out depression by improving our moods. Well I guess it would be very difficult to feel sad when your frowny muscles are paralyzed right?

Our facial expressions aside from using it to communicate to others can also help in regulating emotions as what FFH is trying to prove. Though our facial reactions reflects our moods and correctly identifying other people's facial responses could enable us to socialize with others correctly, we must also try to consider the possibilities of controlling our facial muscles to lighten our moods.

Wrapping It Up

I know that life is cruel and stressful and we cannot just forcefully smile when everything is messed up. Our facial expressions are visuals, they are there to show to the world what we are feeling inside. So even if you are experiencing a very tiring day today, SMILE! Smiling is a very powerful tool,it can aid in achieving genuine happiness and blocks negativities. Smiles are also contagious, when you smile the whole world also will smile right back at you. Acquiring a positive social feedback is also very important in improving your mood and to others too.

Easier said than done right? Smile and give it a try. Who knows that this advice could eventually save lives,even yours.

References:
1. Nonverbal behavior and the theory of emotion: the facial feedback hypothesis.
2. How Does Facial Feedback Modulate Emotional Experience?
3. Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: A nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis
4.What Is the James-Lange Theory of Emotion?
5. Theories of Emotion
6. Can Botox Treat Depression? Facial Expression Can Cure You

Further Reading:

1. Strack F, Martin L, Stepper S. Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: A non-obtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1988;54(5):768–777. [PubMed]
2. Soussignan R. Regulatory function of facial actions in emotion processes. In: Shohov SP, editor. Advances in Psychology Research. Vol. 31. Hauppauge, NY, US: Nova Science Publishers, Inc; 2004. pp. 173–198.
3. Soussignan R. Duchenne smile, emotional experience, and autonomic reactivity: A test of the facial feedback hypothesis. Emotion. 2002;2(1):52–74.[PubMed]
4. Rathus, S. A. (2014) Psychology Third Edition, "The Facial Feedback Hypothesis" (pp. 208),Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd,Quezon City:Philippines

Images: From Pixabay & Unsplash
1., 2.,3.,4.,5.

Love,
@sakura1012

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