Tuesday 28 February 2012

The Phycology of a Smile


Endorphins send a message to your brain that makes you feel good… confident… satisfied.
Your natural reaction when someone is smiling at you is to smile back (remember, you learnt this as a baby). But there is much more to it…
When you smile at someone, they tends to smile back at you – partially unconsciously… and endorphins get released in their body.
So, thanks to the endorphins, what their unconscious mind memorizes about you is “this person makes me feel good” – a great way to break her skepticism and make them trust you.
Now, you see why smiling first is essential and how it can help you greatly when trying to influence someone, or trying to seduce a man or a woman!
- Closed lip smile
–> a fake smile to be polite, or the person is embarrassed by their teeth (this applies to many more people than you may think)
- Whole face smile
–> a genuine smile, indicating honesty and openness to communication
- Covering the mouth (or parts of the face)

The happiest people spend the least time alone. They pursue personal growth and intimacy; they judge themselves by their own yardsticks, never against what others do or have.

"Materialism is toxic for happiness," says University of Illinois psychologist Ed Diener. Even rich materialists aren't as happy as those who care less about getting and spending.

Because the December holidays are friend- and family-oriented, they painfully reveal the intimacy missing in some lives, Diener says. Add in the commercial emphasis — keeping up with the Joneses and the Christmas enjoyed by the Joneses' kids — "and it's a setup for disappointment," he says.

And yet some people manage to look on the bright side, even if they lose their jobs in December. Others live in darkness all year for no apparent reason. A person's cheer level is about half genetic, scientists say.

Everyone has a "set point" for happiness, just as they do for weight, Seligman says. People can improve or hinder their well-being, but they aren't likely to take long leaps in either direction from their set point.

Even physical health, assumed by many to be key to happiness, only has an impact if people are very ill. Objective health measures don't relate to life satisfaction, but subjective feelings do. 

Plenty of healthy people take their health for granted and are none the happier for it, Diener points out. Meanwhile, the sickly often bear up well, and hypochondriacs cling to misery despite their robust health.

Good feelings aren't "all in the head," though. Actions matter, just not in the way often believed.



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