It is quite ironic that an outer facial expression can actually heals the sorrow of inside. But the study conducted by the University of Tennessee advocates for this theory.
Data collected by a team of psychologists, from 138 studies testing more than 11,000 participants and found that facial expressions have a small impact on our feelings.
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Nicholas Coles, UT PhD student in social psychology and lead researcher on the paper said, “Conventional wisdom tells us that we can feel a little happier if we simply smile. Or that we can get ourselves in a more serious mood if we scowl.”
Quoting the findings to be ‘interesting’ Nicholas added, “Psychologists have actually disagreed about this idea for over 100 years.”
However, a team of 17 psychologists in 2016 failed in their research quoting physical act of smiling can make people feel happier.
The psychologists since 1970s have been trying to find out conclusion regarding physical smile affecting inner sorrow.
Clearing the air over the past failure by the psychologists, Nicholas said, “We don't think that people can smile their way to happiness but these findings are exciting because they provide a clue about how the mind and the body interact to shape our conscious experience of emotion.”
According to the WHO, more than 300 million people from all ages suffer from depression. Women are greater victim than the men.