Tag Archive for Flashing

Perpetuating The Smile: On Mirroring And Smiling

Smiling is contagious and often just by holding a smile others feel compelled to smile as well. Try an experiment for yourself and see just how hard it is to frown when viewing smiles or smile when viewing frowning. You will see that mirroring is a much more natural response whereas holding opposite expressions requires conscious thought. Flashing a smile at random strangers can flood their bodies with positive hormones and brighten their day. Even just holding a smile despite feeling down can help elevate your mood and make you feel better.

We see this exact same contagion with attitudes of those surrounding us. A famous skit on Saturday Night Live involves a character called “Debbie Downer.” The scene is set in a social gathering where the character, at each opportunity, offers a contrarian’s view to what is an otherwise a positive or neutral statement. The effect it has is potent and brings those around her down, hence her name. Persistent negative attitudes in others around us tend to drag down our moods, while optimistic attitudes tend to make us feel better. Although overly optimistic attitudes, just like overly pessimistic attitudes can lead to negative feelings about others as well.

Research has shown that our facial muscles tend to mirror what we see in others and that this reaction is subconscious. While it is possible to control our facial muscles by consciously over-ridding this tendency, most others will simply, by nature, imitate what they see in us. This is why it is so important to, both imitate smiles when seen, and to also avoid holding sour faces especially on initial meetings.

Let’s take the stereotypical example of a married couple; a wife and husband. After a long days work taking care of the children, the husband comes home from his long day with a scowl on his face and plops himself on the couch. He’s had a bad day, and so too has she. Their expressions feed of one another and their attitudes remains negative. What if the husband came home with good news and a big smile? Naturally, his wife would follow and they’d share a nice welcome, both parties willing. If one or the other fails to follow the lead, the entire mood would be soured by the frowning party. Both parties are therefore responsible for deciding the mood.

We often get caught up in daily rituals, especially at home, that we forget to put on a fake smile which is otherwise required at work. We know that we can’t get away with such crass behaviour while away from home and around strangers, so we put on a fake smile despite our mood, but once home we give our faces a break. We know instinctively that we can’t get away with a sour face in public because others will think poorly of us and won’t want to be around us. The freedom to express moods naturally in our own homes can be a blessing, but can also be a drag. Sometimes taking the extra effort can be rewarded so it’s worth a try, especially if the mood has been sour perpetually. So the advice follows that when people around you are in a bad mood, even at home, initiate the smile, hold it persistently and see what happens!

Eye Flashes, Eye Widening And Flashbulb Eyes

Flashbulb eyes - it's how the eyes show excitement.

Flashbulb eyes – it’s how the eyes show excitement.

The eye flash is similar to the eyebrow flash in that they both occur very quickly. In the case of the eye flash it lasts on average for only 0.75 seconds but is easily perceived and is quite obvious. The eye flash is a momentary widening of the eyelids during a conversation to reveal the sclera, or whites of the eyes, with no involvement of the eyelids. Humans are the only primates that have whites around their eyes whereas other ape’s eyes are completely dark. It has been theorized that the whites of the eyes evolved as a means of communication helping indicate eye direction.

The eyeflash when given by a speaker, emphasizes specific words being spoken. The eyeflash can serve to change the meaning of a given word or phrase by putting emphasis on one word over another. It normally accompanies adjectives rather than any other parts of speech, and women use it more often them men. I did however notice Brad Pitt perform the eyeflash repeatedly while in a speaking scene in a movie. I’m not sure exactly sure what his intent of the flash entailed, as it accompanied no talking and it occurred once every few seconds while listening, and to me, it seemed odd. Never-the- less he must have thought it added emphasized to his part in the scene. Of note is when eyebrows start and stop flashing as they indicate attachment and excitement with whatever content is being presented. If eyes suddenly stop flashing then it’s likely that a person is lacking in enthusiasms and commitment for the topic at hand. The eyeflash is also association with raised eyebrows to signal submission. Lowering the eyebrows of course, signals the opposite, that is dominance.

On the other hand, a loving mother will widen her eyes when viewing her newborn baby indicating that she cares for them and within seventy-two hours of birth her child will do the same when she enters the room. Eye widening is a positive nonverbal cue indicating that someone is observing positive stimuli that bring them joy and happiness. Eye widening is another form of gravity defying behaviour that is ubiquitous in showing positive emotions and joy. When true contentment is present the eyes will lack any tension at all and will appear relaxed. The size of the eyes directly indicates how positive someone is about a topic. While making eyes bigger and flashing them means that good thoughts are held, squinting where the eyes are compressed means negative thought are held. The same goes for lowered eyebrows!

The final eye cue is flashbulb eyes, which is done by dramatically opening the eyes as big and wide as possible. The eyebrows usually arch in unison as well to make the eyes appear even larger. The cue is usually done to indicate surprise and positive emotions such as being excited to see someone, or have been given a promotion.

[help! – Brad Pitt’s filmology shows over sixty movies and I can’t figure out which movie he was in when he did the eye flash. I do recall it was an older movie and don’t think he was actively speaking at the time, more listening, and in an alley/dark area of some sort. If you know the movie send it my way!]