PARIS — It’s something that we tend to forget. So it’s nice of anthropologist David Le Breton to remind us that “Deep inside us, we all have a gallery of smiles that have touched us.” Smiles that we keep like little treasures.
It’s amazing to think that this slight movement of the lips and facial muscles, which sometimes lights up an entire face, can resonate so deeply within us and awaken a whole range of emotions — even if it comes from a complete stranger.
In Le Breton’s pantheon of smiles, there are many examples which are taken from cinema. Like that of the Italian actress Giulietta Masina at the end of the film La Strada, directed by her husband, Federico Fellini.
“After being swept away by life, betrayed by the man she loves, she turns to the camera and gives us a deeply moving smile that shows us her determination in the face of adversity,” says Le Breton, a professor at the University of Strasbourg, “We are touched by a moment that is a universal feeling.”
So all we have to do is dig deep into our memories to find little bursts of happiness and empathy that do us so much good.
A sober and subtle language
A keen traveler and editor of the blog “Nomadic Smiles,” Charly Guérin has a whole collection of smiles in his personal stash. But the one that moved him the most was Souleymane, a child from Mali who he made friends with during a trip to Dogon country, in the central region of Mali. “He only spoke the local dialect,” he says. “We therefore had to find other ways of communicating.”
Think of all the adjectives that can be attached to a smile: innocent, mysterious, knowing,, ironic, mocking…
In an article on his blog, he says: “His smile told me that he appreciated my interest in him despite his silence. His smile told me he was happy to be able to help his family by working in the fields. But he liked the new village school and would definitely go back. His smile told me that he wanted me to stay longer. But he knew that the ‘toubabs’ were only passing through.” This is a real human story. A wonderful illustration of all that can be expressed by a simple smile.
This expression can translate many emotions other than joy and benevolence. Just think of all the adjectives that can be attached to a smile: innocent, mysterious, knowing, pinched, ironic, mocking, toothy, murderous, seductive, smug and the list goes on!
“It’s a real language. At the same time sober and subtle,” Le Breton says. Far from being less important than laughter, smiling deserves, even more than laughter does, to be considered a human attribute.
Apollo vs. Dionysus
“It can indeed be controlled.“In social representations, it always expresses a form of elevation. We can say that it is Apollonian. Laughter, on the other hand, is an outpouring. Dionysian, it is often represented as a belittlement. Don’t we say ‘weeping with laughter’ or ‘laugh out loud’?” Le Breton says.
I’ve always been intrigued by the enigma of the smile.
It’s strange that with such potential, the smile has never really interested social science researchers, at least until Le Breton devoted his book “Smile, the Anthropology of the Enigmatic” (Sourire, anthropologie de l’énigmatique) to it. In the scientific work published two years ago, he analyzes the motives behind the smile in human communication throughout the ages. A landmark book.
“He gives legitimacy to a subject that had previously been considered somewhat insignificant,” says Alexia Guggémos, art critic and founder of the small Museum of Smiles in Paris.
Le Breton has been working on the subject for a long time. “I’ve always been intrigued by the enigma of the smile,” the 70-year-old explains. “When I was a teenager, I didn’t feel very good about myself. I sometimes smiled when teachers told me off. This was interpreted as a challenge. But it was just a protective screen. In fact, I was the only one to smile in the class photos. Which was completely incongruous at the time.”
Truth of a false smile
If we accept that a smile is polysemous, we can also understand that it can be equivocal. Can we learn to decipher its meaning? The hard sciences, which took an interest in the subject long before the social sciences, claim that it is.
A pioneer in the therapeutic use of electricity, the French neurologist Guillaume-Benjamin Duchenne even drew up a catalog of 19 smiles in the 19th century. According to him, only six of these conveyed a feeling of pleasure or happiness. He obtained this result by mechanically stimulating the facial muscles of people suffering from facial paralysis.
There can be no objectivity in smiling based on a hypothetical mathematical reading of facial expressions.
More recently, the American psychologist Paul Ekman counted 18. An expert in non-verbal behavior who has even worked for the FBI, Ekman argues there is an infallible way of recognising a real smile from a fake one. The first involves the orbicularis muscles (of the eyelids), which are beyond our control. When they are activated, the smile is genuine.
This typology and this type of interpretation make Le Breton laugh: “There can be no objectivity in smiling based on a hypothetical mathematical reading of facial expressions. As if a moral truth could be found in the activation of certain muscles! Even politicians who manipulate crowds can be sincere in their desire to get them to support their ideas,” he insists.
In his view, it is not the physiognomy of the face that gives a smile its meaning, but the specific relational context in which it is expressed. Not to mention the fact that smiling is an eminently cultural practice. In Japan, for example, we might smile to tell someone we know of the death of a close relative. It’s a way of making them feel comfortable by not forcing them to feel affected.
Microsimulation
So how can we make sense of it all? Once again, neuroscience has come up with some answers, which this time are more widely shared. Since the discovery of “mirror neurons” at the end of the 19th century, we have known that certain cells in our brain activate in the same way when we perform an action and when we watch someone else do it. So when someone smiles at us, we unconsciously replay a miniature version of the expression via invisible micro contractions of the facial muscles.
Like many other expressions, smiles can be deceptively authentic.
This allows our brain to get an internal emotional feel for it and then contextualize it. But this simulation is no guarantee of infallibility because, like many other expressions, smiles can be deceptively authentic. Just think of training courses such as those at the Actor’s Studio, where actors are taught to draw on their own emotional memory to interpret a role.
A fetus’ first laugh
On the other hand, neuroscience has now established that smiling feels good, and it starts very early. Fetal ultrasound scans have shown that, from the 26th week, babies smile to express a form of satisfaction, particularly after their mother has eaten a certain type of food. It’s probably also a sign of well-being in an stress-free environment.
It’s as if the simple act of mobilizing one of the fifteen muscles involved in smiling sends a positive signal to the brain.
We now know that smiling stimulates the areas of the brain associated with reward circuits. And that it lowers levels of cortisol, the stress hormone. It slows the heart rate and lowers blood pressure. Two recent studies have even shown that this beneficial effect holds true even when we smile mechanically, though more modestly — it’s as if the simple act of mobilizing one of the 15 muscles involved in smiling sends a positive signal to the brain.
Another older study from Wayne State University suggests that smiling increases life expectancy. It was based on photographs of 230 American baseball league players taken in 1952. The sportsmen who did not smile in the photographs died at an average age of 72.9. Those who had big smiles lived to 79.9.
The smile that makes you feel good is the one that expresses a calm and benevolent inner state. To cultivate it, we need to work on our life balance and self-esteem. This is the approach adopted by Lydia Bouziane, a coach who works in particular with teenagers who are failing at school.
“Most of them have completely lost their smiles, or when they do smile, it’s to tease their friends,” Bouziane explains. “I encourage them to talk about their talents, to see the little light at the end of the tunnel. When they realize that someone is interested in them and listening to them, sometimes a genuine smile appears on their face. I never fail to point this out to them, because it triggers a positive memory.”
This support professional, who during the pandemic put on a little show called “Itinerary of a Smile” (Itinéraire d’un sourire) with the aim of revitalizing people’s flagging vitality, also works with company directors. “Many of them are exhausted by the pressure they’re under,” she says. “They often forget themselves and protect themselves by adopting a closed posture. I help them to redefine their values and to try to enjoy themselves again by transmitting something positive, in particular by smiling, which is essential for motivating teams. And it’s never more natural than when you feel like you belong.”
Smiling in the street
If you don’t have a coach to point you in the right direction, you can also practice on your own. The easiest way is to start by realizing that you don’t smile very much at all. It’s a revelation that can really make a difference. As psychiatrist Christophe André recounts on his blog, after he himself realized that he was walking down the street with his shoulders hunched and his face sullen.
“Since then, something has changed in my head,” André writes. “Before I leave the house, I always make a small effort of elegance or mental hygiene: rather than checking in the mirror whether my cap is straight or crooked, I ask myself if I can smile and straighten up. Even on gray days, life is a little more beautiful when the people we meet in the streets stand tall and smile.”
Especially in the current climate of tension and widespread mistrust, “a smile opens the way to others,” Le Breton says. “When it’s sincere, it disarms them by breaking down their defenses.”
A smile is also a great way to soften a blow.
During his travels, Guérin has had many opportunities to verify this. He met a Bolivian grandmother in Sucre on her front doorstep who, simply on the strength of an impromptu smile, invited him into her home, where he ended up spending the afternoon chatting.
“If you take the time to meet someone, a smile is a real open sesame,” the globetrotter says. On his blog, he also tells the story of Sarah, a French woman who set off around the world on a shoestring budget and who, when she wanted to attend a concert or sporting event, didn’t hesitate to stand in front of the entrance to the venue with a sign: “Exchange a free ticket for a smile.” And incredible as it may seem, it worked on many occasions.
In professional life, a smile is also a great way to soften a blow. Muriel Durand, who runs an incubation programme at an engineering school, has often experienced this first-hand. “If a project isn’t viable, you need to be able to stop it in time. Candidates hear your arguments much better if you share them with a smile that shows your empathy.”
Le Breton goes even further. “In an increasingly tough society, where it’s trendy to flaunt strength and determination, a smile may not seem that valuable.”
A philosophy of life
For some, it can even become a path to personal development. “Smiling is a way of being open to life. It’s a way of welcoming the unexpected with kindness,” says Guggémos, who has set up a small literary prize for smiling, in parallel with the exhibitions organized in her museum.
It’s a philosophy that is shared by comedian and director Lola Heude, who often plays clown characters. “A smile produces a sort of vibration that takes the spectator to an intimate place. It awakens their emotions,” she says.
Smiling mobilizes 15 muscles, but frowning needs 40.
With a sunny disposition, Lola says she has an easy smile in life. But she admits that she sometimes has to make an effort to keep smiling in difficult situations. “I try to then refocus on the present moment, to stop the mental turmoil which can plague our lives. And find my way back to the path of inner peace. A bit like what emanates from Buddha’s calm smile.”
This is a practice that echoes André’s. On his blog, the psychiatrist explains that from now on, he smiles even at night. “I smile at what’s there, at insomnia and at life. I smile at my existence, at this mix of great and beautiful things and the little things that annoy me, stress me, bother me, irritate me, worry me. And sometimes despair.”
It’s an inspiring stance. And for the more skeptical, André puts forward an unstoppable argument: “Smiling mobilizes 15 muscles, but frowning needs 40. Take it easy: smile!”
