Smiling is a natural, universal expression of pleasure, joy, happiness- mainly positive, uplifting emotions. At an early age most of us have been taught by our elders to smile warmly and be friendly. After all, body language and nonverbal expressions play a big role in communication. Smiling can also reverse mood, as proven by decades of research.
Meanwhile, a new study has found that body language not only changes the way other people perceive you; it also alters how you view yourself. This is what psychologists call as the "embodied cognition" phenomenon.
Social psychologist Dr. Amy Cuddy shed light unto this phenomenon in 2012 during a TED Talk. Dr. Cuddy, who is an associate professor at Harvard Business School, opened up about groundbreaking research on "power posing", also known as the idea that your posture can influence your confidence.
This was resonated by Dr. Tanya Vacharkulksemsuk, research fellow at the University of California. According to her, this power posing phenomenon highlights how specific body movements or postures help trigger changes in our physiology. She further cites an example: "people process sentences to be more angrily toned when they are asked to read the sentenced with their eyebrows furrowed."
Another example is the classic study on smiling, wherein the researchers asked participants to place pencils between their lips to mimic a smile, and then let them watch a comedy show. A control group also existed (the participants who were not asked to place a pencil between their lips but simply watched the show normally). The researchers found something interesting with the results- the participants from the pencil group significantly found the show funnier, compared with those from the control group.
Indeed, our body movements and posture influence how we think and feel about ourselves and about everything in general. Numerous research endeavors have found that one's arms, smile, and even hand gestures can influence your mind, mood, and behavior.
