According to a New Study...

Many spend their lives concealing emotions and doing their best to put on a brave face for the world. But does a smile set everything right?

In a recent study Dr. George Bonanno, associate professor of psychology and education at Teachers College, examined expressions of positive emotion and people’s reactions to them.

Bonanno traced the psychological adjustment over a two-year period of Columbia first-years who arrived in New York City just prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The study, entitled “Smiling in the Face of Adversity: The interpersonal and intrapersonal functions of smiling,” validated the established beliefs that expressions of positive emotions are signs of resilience and emotional stability, and benefit people both physiologically and mentally. Yet positive emotion was shown to be beneficial only when genuine, which can be determined using facial expressions.

“Genuine smiling involves the muscles around the eyes and can be reliably distinguished from polite or purposeful smiling, which does not involve contraction of the muscles around the eyes,” Bonanno said in a Teachers College press release. “The point of the study is that it is not always good to feel good or to show that you do.”