By Soledad de Lemus, Russell Spears, & Miguel Moya wrote a
terrific post on SPSP Blog about the mystery and meaning of the
smile. Here are some excerpts: We smile when we feel happy, but
smiles are more than just the outward display of an inner
emotion. We are far more likely to smile when we are with other
people because a smile is a message: just one more way for
people to communicate information to and establish social ties
with other people. A smile, though, sometimes means more than
just “I am happy.” Just as many species bare their teeth to
signal their dominance and rank, smiles exchanged among humans
serve an interpersonal, regulatory function. In our research we
wanted to understand how smiles, which usually serve to signal
positive affiliation, also define status in the social hierarchy
when the smile is coupled with other nonverbal information
(e.g., posture). Specifically, we studied women’s nonverbal
reaction to a man’s smile: will she, in addition to smiling
back, also display signs of submissiv