Summary: Smiles during face-to-face conversations strongly impact connection, with the intensity of one person’s smile often influencing the other. Researchers found that speakers smiled more when listeners smiled, especially in same-sex interactions, indicating that mutual smiles foster warmth and comfort. Surprisingly, this effect was less evident in mixed-sex pairs, where speakers still smiled to build rapport, even when listeners smiled less.
Smile synchronization was consistent across all pair types, suggesting that smiling is a reciprocal, unifying behavior. The study’s insights underscore the power of facial expressions in nonverbal communication and may be instrumental in assessing social engagement in conditions like dementia. These findings highlight the significant role of smiling in enhancing positive social interactions.
Key Facts:
- Smile intensity by one person can increase the other’s smile during conversation.
- Same-sex pairs tend to mirror smiles more than mixed-sex pairs.
- Smile synchronization creates warmth, helping build positive connections.
Source: Fujita Health University
Smiling during conversations creates warmth, making people feel more comfortable and connected. For example, a friendly smile when meeting someone new can ease nervousness.
A smile can soften tension in a debate, showing respect among the participants despite disagreement. In fact, extensive studies have been conducted in the past in an attempt to understand smiling interactions in a natural conversation.
Despite these studies, however, little is known about the extent to which one’s smile influences or gets affected by the other person’s smile during a conversation.
A new study sought to investigate this by quantifying the influence of smiling in face-to-face conversations.
The study, led by Professor Yohei Otaka from the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Japan, found that the amount of smiling by the speaker increased as the listener’s smile intensity increased, particularly in same-sex pairs. The study also involved lead researchers Dr. Yota Obayashi, Dr. Shintaro Uehara, and Dr. Akiko Yuasa from the same university.
Their findings were published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience on 09 August 2024.
When asked about the motivation behind pursuing this study, Prof. Otaka exclaims, “The main purpose of this study was to develop a methodology for assessing dementia symptoms, given the affected individuals tend to lose their facial expressions. We also intend to evaluate the rehabilitation treatment efficacy in these individuals.”
Adding further, he says, “This study is, in fact, the first step towards the larger, above-mentioned goal by evaluating the reaction of people to the smile of others in young healthy participants.”
The study involved 40 participants (20 men and 20 women) in three-minute, face-to-face conversations. During these interactions, listeners were asked to smile at different levels—lesser, moderate, and greater—and the speakers’ smiles were observed in response. A specialized software was used to measure the intensity and frequency of the smiles during the conversations.
Results revealed that speakers smiled more when listeners smiled more, especially in conversations between two individuals of the same-sex—men smiled more when talking to other men who smiled, and women smiled more when talking to other women who smiled.
Interestingly, this effect was less pronounced in mixed-sex conversations, suggesting that individuals did not show the same level of mutual smiling as they did when conversing with same-sex partners.
However, the researchers speculate that in mixed-sex pairs, the speakers smiled more often than the listeners in order to build interpersonal relationship.
Another key finding was that the more the listener smiled, the more positive the speaker felt about the interaction. Speakers reported feeling friendlier and enjoying the conversation more when their partner smiled frequently.
This finding highlights the emotional importance of smiling in conversations, as it enhances feelings of connection and rapport between individuals.
Explaining these findings further, Prof. Otaka says, “If one smiles more during a conversation, the other person will also smile more, which can lead to a better interpersonal relationship with each other.”
Additionally, the study found that smile synchronization occurred consistently across all types of pairs—both same-sex and mixed-sex. This implies that, regardless of who was talking to whom, people smiled simultaneously, reinforcing that smiling is a reciprocal behavior.
In summary, the study reveals that smiling is a powerful, dynamic part of face-to-face conversations. Speakers’ smiles are influenced by how much and how intensely the listener smiles, particularly in conversations between individuals of the same-sex. Also, smile synchronization is essential in creating social bonds and fostering positive feelings during interactions.
These findings emphasize the importance of nonverbal communication, especially facial expressions, in everyday conversations. Furthermore, this study suggests that the interaction between two individuals can be helpful in assessing dementia and psychological dysfunctions.
Funding information
The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, KAKENHI (https://www.jsps.go.jp/j-grantsinaid/) Grant Number JP20K23145 and JP22K17598. The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
About this social neuroscience research news
Author: Hisatsugu Koshimizu
Source: Fujita Health University
Contact: Hisatsugu Koshimizu – Fujita Health University
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“The other person’s smiling amount affects one’s smiling response during face-to-face conversations” by Shintaro Uehara et al. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
Abstract
The other person’s smiling amount affects one’s smiling response during face-to-face conversations
Introduction: Smiling during conversation occurs interactively between people and is known to build good interpersonal relationships. However, whether and how much the amount that an individual smiles is influenced by the other person’s smile has remained unclear. This study aimed to quantify the amount of two individuals’ smiles during conversations and investigate the dependency of one’s smile amount (i.e., intensity and frequency) on that of the other.
Method: Forty participants (20 females) engaged in three-minute face-to-face conversations as speakers with a listener (male or female), under three conditions, where the amount of smiling response by listeners was controlled as “less,” “moderate,” and “greater.” The amount of the smiles was quantified based on their facial movements through automated facial expression analysis.
Results: The results showed that the amount of smiling by the speaker changed significantly depending on the listener’s smile amount; when the listeners smiled to a greater extent, the speakers tended to smile more, especially when they were of the same gender (i.e., male–male and female–female pairs). Further analysis revealed that the smiling intensities of the two individuals changed in a temporally synchronized manner.
Discussion: These results provide quantitative evidence for the dependence of one’s smile on the other’s smile, and the differential effect between gender pairs.
