‘Weather’ To Smile Or Not – Contagion Of A Smile Linked To Weather Conditions
Christopher Philip
Researchers have long known that emotions have a certain element of contagion. That is, the sadness or happiness of others can transfer from one person to another. However, little research has examined the effect that current weather patterns have on our facial emotions.
French researcher Nicolas Gueguen, Universite´ de Bretagne-Sud looked at people’s reactions to smiles on both sunny and cloudy days to see if the relative weather conditions played any role at all in the imitation of smiles.
The study was simple in that male and female confederates displayed a smile to passersby during sunny and cloudy days. Gueguen was careful not to run his experiment on cold or rainy days.
The contagion effect of smiling was measured.
As expected, the weather played a main role in whether or not a smile was returned. When men and women smiled when it was sunny, it was much more likely to be reciprocated (47.7%). When women smiled at women during sunny conditions, they also faired well in reciprocity (32.4%).
Also, overall, the study found that passersby reciprocated the smile of the female confederate (35.6%) than the male confederate (22.6%).
When male confederates smiled at other men, they faired the worst, especially when it was cloudy (14.2%). When it was sunny, however, men smiling at women did far better (30.9%) than when men smiled at men (20.9%).
The results suggest that good weather, including sunshine, fosters positive social relationships. According to Gueguen, the sun likely lifts the mood of the passerby, which, in turn, leads them to smile back.
While the positive effects of the sun, as shown, can be harnessed, I think there lies another important piece of information that was overlooked. Women, it seems, from that data are more likely to use smiling to communicate between each other and also toward men.
When a woman smiled, she had a greater ability to solicit a smile in return. This was especially the case when she smiled at a male passerby.
Smiles have been noted as being more than an indication of happiness – they have been shown to be linked to submissiveness. When a woman smiles to men, it may be that she is being taken as coy by the male passerby. Smiling, therefore, may be a prelude to courtship.
Regardless, the data, as far as this study is concerned, shows that a sunny day is a strong predictor of overall mood and if one is particularly keen, can be used strategically to create more desirable results.
Image Credit: Kenny Louie
Resources
Gueguen, Nicolas. Weather and Smiling Contagion: A Quasi Experiment With the Smiling Sunshine. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2019. 37:51–55. DOI 10.1007/s10919-012-0140-y