Smiling : what’s it for?

What are the functions of smiling, specifically, the functions of smiling in relation to laughter? Dr. Markku Haakana [pictured here, not smiling], from the Department of Finnish, Finno-Ugrian and Scandinavian Studies, at the University of Helsinki, Finland, explains: “(i) Smiling can be used as a pre-laughing device: laughing together can be entered step-wise, and smiling […]

The Mystery of the European Smile

“Despite the fact that 20 years have passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Internet users from a former Soviet bloc appear to smile less often than those from Western Europe.” This is the new finding from Assistant Professor Piotr Szarota from the Szkoła Wyższa Psychologii Społecznej, in Warsaw, Poland. In his experiment, two […]