TED2011
Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling
Filmed:
Readability: 5.1
5,652,656 views
Ron Gutman reviews a raft of studies about smiling, and reveals some surprising results. Did you know your smile can be a predictor of how long you'll live -- and that a simple smile has a measurable effect on your overall well-being? Prepare to flex a few facial muscles as you learn more about this evolutionarily contagious behavior.
Ron Gutman - Entrepreneur
Ron Gutman is the founder and former CEO of HealthTap, free mobile and online apps for health info. He's also the organizer of TEDxSiliconValley. Full bio
Ron Gutman is the founder and former CEO of HealthTap, free mobile and online apps for health info. He's also the organizer of TEDxSiliconValley. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:15
When I was a child, I always wanted to be a superhero.
0
0
3000
00:18
I wanted to save the world and then make everyone happy.
1
3000
3000
00:21
But I knew that I'd need superpowers
2
6000
2000
00:23
to make my dreams come true.
3
8000
2000
00:25
So I used to embark on these imaginary journeys
4
10000
3000
00:28
to find intergalactic objects from planet Krypton,
5
13000
3000
00:31
which was a lot of fun,
6
16000
2000
00:33
but didn't get much result.
7
18000
2000
00:35
When I grew up and realized
8
20000
2000
00:37
that science fiction was not a good source for superpowers,
9
22000
3000
00:40
I decided instead to embark on a journey of real science,
10
25000
3000
00:43
to find a more useful truth.
11
28000
2000
00:45
I started my journey in California
12
30000
3000
00:48
with a UC Berkeley 30-year longitudinal study
13
33000
3000
00:51
that examined the photos of students
14
36000
2000
00:53
in an old yearbook
15
38000
2000
00:55
and tried to measure their success and well-being
16
40000
2000
00:57
throughout their life.
17
42000
2000
00:59
By measuring their student smiles,
18
44000
2000
01:01
researchers were able to predict
19
46000
2000
01:03
how fulfilling and long-lasting
20
48000
2000
01:05
a subject's marriage will be,
21
50000
3000
01:08
how well she would score
22
53000
2000
01:10
on standardized tests of well-being
23
55000
2000
01:12
and how inspiring she would be to others.
24
57000
3000
01:16
In another yearbook, I stumbled upon Barry Obama's picture.
25
61000
3000
01:19
When I first saw his picture,
26
64000
2000
01:21
I thought that these superpowers came from his super collar.
27
66000
3000
01:25
But now I know it was all in his smile.
28
70000
3000
01:28
Another aha! moment
29
73000
2000
01:30
came from a 2010 Wayne State University research project
30
75000
3000
01:33
that looked into pre-1950s baseball cards
31
78000
3000
01:36
of Major League players.
32
81000
2000
01:38
The researchers found
33
83000
2000
01:40
that the span of a player's smile
34
85000
2000
01:42
could actually predict the span of his life.
35
87000
3000
01:45
Players who didn't smile in their pictures
36
90000
3000
01:48
lived an average of only 72.9 years,
37
93000
3000
01:51
where players with beaming smiles
38
96000
2000
01:53
lived an average of almost 80 years.
39
98000
3000
01:56
(Laughter)
40
101000
2000
01:58
The good news is that we're actually born smiling.
41
103000
3000
02:01
Using 3D ultrasound technology,
42
106000
2000
02:03
we can now see that developing babies appear to smile,
43
108000
3000
02:06
even in the womb.
44
111000
2000
02:08
When they're born,
45
113000
2000
02:10
babies continue to smile --
46
115000
2000
02:12
initially, mostly in their sleep.
47
117000
2000
02:14
And even blind babies smile
48
119000
2000
02:16
to the sound of the human voice.
49
121000
3000
02:19
Smiling is one of the most basic, biologically-uniform
50
124000
3000
02:22
expressions of all humans.
51
127000
2000
02:24
In studies conducted in Papua New Guinea,
52
129000
2000
02:26
Paul Ekman,
53
131000
2000
02:28
the world's most renowned researcher on facial expressions,
54
133000
3000
02:31
found that even members of the Fore tribe,
55
136000
3000
02:34
who were completely disconnected from Western culture,
56
139000
3000
02:37
and also known for their unusual cannibalism rituals,
57
142000
4000
02:41
attributed smiles to descriptions of situations
58
146000
3000
02:44
the same way you and I would.
59
149000
2000
02:46
So from Papua New Guinea
60
151000
3000
02:49
to Hollywood
61
154000
2000
02:51
all the way to modern art in Beijing,
62
156000
3000
02:54
we smile often,
63
159000
2000
02:56
and you smile to express joy
64
161000
2000
02:58
and satisfaction.
65
163000
2000
03:00
How many people here in this room
66
165000
2000
03:02
smile more than 20 times per day?
67
167000
2000
03:04
Raise your hand if you do. Oh, wow.
68
169000
3000
03:07
Outside of this room,
69
172000
2000
03:09
more than a third of us smile more than 20 times per day,
70
174000
3000
03:12
whereas less than 14 percent of us
71
177000
3000
03:15
smile less than five.
72
180000
2000
03:17
In fact, those with the most amazing superpowers
73
182000
3000
03:20
are actually children,
74
185000
3000
03:23
who smile as many as 400 times per day.
75
188000
3000
03:26
Have you ever wondered why being around children
76
191000
2000
03:28
who smile so frequently
77
193000
2000
03:30
makes you smile very often?
78
195000
3000
03:34
A recent study at Uppsala University in Sweden
79
199000
2000
03:36
found that it's very difficult to frown
80
201000
3000
03:39
when looking at someone who smiles.
81
204000
2000
03:41
You ask, why?
82
206000
2000
03:43
Because smiling is evolutionarily contagious,
83
208000
2000
03:45
and it suppresses the control
84
210000
2000
03:47
we usually have on our facial muscles.
85
212000
3000
03:50
Mimicking a smile
86
215000
2000
03:52
and experiencing it physically
87
217000
2000
03:54
help us understand whether our smile is fake or real,
88
219000
4000
03:58
so we can understand the emotional state
89
223000
2000
04:00
of the smiler.
90
225000
2000
04:02
In a recent mimicking study
91
227000
2000
04:04
at the University of Clermont-Ferrand in France,
92
229000
3000
04:07
subjects were asked to determine
93
232000
2000
04:09
whether a smile was real or fake
94
234000
2000
04:11
while holding a pencil in their mouth
95
236000
2000
04:13
to repress smiling muscles.
96
238000
2000
04:15
Without the pencil, subjects were excellent judges,
97
240000
3000
04:18
but with the pencil in their mouth --
98
243000
2000
04:20
when they could not mimic the smile they saw --
99
245000
3000
04:23
their judgment was impaired.
100
248000
2000
04:25
(Laughter)
101
250000
2000
04:27
In addition to theorizing on evolution in "The Origin of Species,"
102
252000
3000
04:30
Charles Darwin also wrote
103
255000
2000
04:32
the facial feedback response theory.
104
257000
2000
04:34
His theory states
105
259000
2000
04:36
that the act of smiling itself
106
261000
2000
04:38
actually makes us feel better --
107
263000
2000
04:40
rather than smiling being merely a result
108
265000
2000
04:42
of feeling good.
109
267000
2000
04:44
In his study,
110
269000
2000
04:46
Darwin actually cited a French neurologist, Guillaume Duchenne,
111
271000
3000
04:49
who used electric jolts to facial muscles
112
274000
3000
04:52
to induce and stimulate smiles.
113
277000
2000
04:54
Please, don't try this at home.
114
279000
2000
04:56
(Laughter)
115
281000
2000
04:58
In a related German study,
116
283000
2000
05:00
researchers used fMRI imaging
117
285000
2000
05:02
to measure brain activity
118
287000
2000
05:04
before and after injecting Botox
119
289000
3000
05:07
to suppress smiling muscles.
120
292000
3000
05:10
The finding supported Darwin's theory
121
295000
2000
05:12
by showing that facial feedback
122
297000
2000
05:14
modifies the neural processing
123
299000
2000
05:16
of emotional content in the brain
124
301000
2000
05:18
in a way that helps us feel better when we smile.
125
303000
3000
05:22
Smiling stimulates our brain reward mechanism
126
307000
2000
05:24
in a way that even chocolate --
127
309000
2000
05:26
a well-regarded pleasure inducer --
128
311000
3000
05:29
cannot match.
129
314000
2000
05:31
British researchers found that one smile
130
316000
3000
05:34
can generate the same level of brain stimulation
131
319000
3000
05:37
as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate.
132
322000
3000
05:40
(Laughter)
133
325000
2000
05:42
Wait. The same study found
134
327000
3000
05:45
that smiling is as stimulating
135
330000
2000
05:47
as receiving up to 16,000 pounds Sterling in cash.
136
332000
5000
05:52
That's like 25 grand a smile.
137
337000
2000
05:54
It's not bad.
138
339000
2000
05:56
And think about it this way:
139
341000
2000
05:58
25,000 times 400 --
140
343000
2000
06:00
quite a few kids out there
141
345000
2000
06:02
feel like Mark Zuckerberg every day.
142
347000
3000
06:05
And, unlike lots of chocolate,
143
350000
2000
06:07
lots of smiling can actually make you healthier.
144
352000
3000
06:10
Smiling can help reduce the level
145
355000
2000
06:12
of stress-enhancing hormones
146
357000
2000
06:14
like cortisol, adrenaline and dopamine,
147
359000
3000
06:17
increase the level of mood-enhancing hormones
148
362000
2000
06:19
like endorphin
149
364000
2000
06:21
and reduce overall blood pressure.
150
366000
2000
06:23
And if that's not enough,
151
368000
2000
06:25
smiling can actually make you look good
152
370000
2000
06:27
in the eyes of others.
153
372000
2000
06:29
A recent study at Penn State University
154
374000
2000
06:31
found that when you smile,
155
376000
2000
06:33
you don't only appear to be more likable and courteous,
156
378000
3000
06:36
but you actually appear to be more competent.
157
381000
4000
06:40
So whenever you want to look great and competent,
158
385000
2000
06:42
reduce your stress
159
387000
2000
06:44
or improve your marriage,
160
389000
2000
06:46
or feel as if you just had a whole stack of high-quality chocolate --
161
391000
3000
06:49
without incurring the caloric cost --
162
394000
3000
06:52
or as if you found 25 grand in a pocket
163
397000
2000
06:54
of an old jacket you hadn't worn for ages,
164
399000
3000
06:57
or whenever you want to tap into a superpower
165
402000
4000
07:01
that will help you and everyone around you
166
406000
3000
07:04
live a longer, healthier, happier life,
167
409000
3000
07:07
smile.
168
412000
2000
07:09
(Applause)
169
414000
11000
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ron Gutman - EntrepreneurRon Gutman is the founder and former CEO of HealthTap, free mobile and online apps for health info. He's also the organizer of TEDxSiliconValley.
Why you should listen
Ron Gutman is the founder of HealthTap, free mobile and online apps for immediate access to relevant, reliable and trusted health answers and tips from a network of doctors. Before this, he founded and led an online consumer health company that developed the world's largest community of independent health writers; it was acquired in early 2009.
As a graduate student at Stanford, Gutman organized and led a multidisciplinary group of faculty and graduate students from the schools of Engineering, Medicine, Business, Psychology and Law to conduct research in personalized health and to design ways to help people live healthier, happier lives. He is an angel investor and advisor to health and technology companies such as Rock Health (the first Interactive Health Incubator) and Harvard Medical School's SMArt Initiative ("Substitutable Medical Apps, reusable technologies"). He's the organizer of TEDxSiliconValley.
Find links to all the studies that Gutman references in his talk right here >>
Ron Gutman | Speaker | TED.com