The Influence of Facial Expression on Emotional State
How can facial expressions affect our emotional experiences?
A professor conducts an experiment in which she asks her students to either hold a pen between their teeth or hold a pen between their lips. Holding the pen between one's teeth mimicked the facial expression of smiling. After 5 minutes, she finds that the students who held the pen beneath their teeth reported being happier than those who held it between their lips. How do facial expressions play a role in influencing our emotional state?
The Influence of Facial Expression on Emotional State
The professor's experiment where students held a pen between their teeth or lips likely supports the facial feedback hypothesis, which suggests facial expressions can influence emotional experiences.
The experiment you are asking about most likely supports the facial feedback hypothesis, which suggests that our facial expressions can influence our emotional experiences. This notion is backed by research indicating that facial expressions not only reflect our emotions but can also affect the intensity of those emotions. For example, forcing a smile by holding a pen between the teeth can cause individuals to report feeling happier, as if their facial expression were enhancing their emotional state. Conversely, a suppressed facial expression, such as not smiling, can decrease the intensity of experienced positive emotions.