Study Suggests Smiling Makes a Person Look Older
Contrary to popular belief, smiling may not be a good idea if the goal is to look younger. This was the finding of a new study which suggests that carrying a happy face makes people look two years older. On the other hand, the surprised look can drop a few years from one's facial features.
Volunteers for a study conducted by Western University in Canada were made to look at photos of people wearing three different expressions: smiling, neutral and surprised. During the experiment, all the participants thought that the smiling faces looked the oldest while the surprised faces were the youngest.
The study's conclusion is contrary to what media have long projected to be the face of youth — models wearing a grin on their faces that stretch to both ears. The result of the research debunked the smile's association with youth and positive values. The explanation can be summed up in one word: perception.
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According to Melvyn Goodale, director of the university's Brain and Mind Institute and co-author of the study, when they asked the participants again afterward, they had it the other way around. They erroneously recalled identifying smiling faces as the youngest and the surprised faces as the oldest.
"They were completely blind to the fact they had 'aged' the happy-looking faces. Their perceptions and their beliefs were polar opposites," he said. "It may seem counter-intuitive, but the study shows that people can sincerely believe one thing and then behave in a completely different way," he added.
However, why were smiling faces perceived to be the oldest? The answer lies in the formation of wrinkles. When people smile, wrinkles form around the eyes that make them look older. On the other hand, a surprised look stretches the skin, making the wrinkles disappear. Since it's impossible to look surprised all the time, the best expression one can wear is the poker face.
