Healthy Outlook Blog

Do Facial Expressions Affect Moods?

By Britta Barrett | Posted April 7 2010

Cognitive Behavior, Facial Expressions, Language, Moods

We smile when we’re happy, frown when we’re not. In other words, moods affect facial expressions. But a recent study from the University of Wisconsin made creative use of Botox treatments to test how facial expressions might affect moods.

How it worked: The subjects were asked to read statements that were happy, sad or angry. They were given Botox treatments before and after doing so. The results? After the Botox, it took the subjects longer to react to the sad and angry phrases (but not the happy ones). In this University of Wisconsin-Madison article professor emeritus of psychology Arthur Glenberg shed some light on the findings:

“Normally, the brain would be sending signals to the periphery to frown, and the extent of the frown would be sent back to the brain. But here, that loop is disrupted, and the intensity of the emotion and of our ability to understand it when embodied in language is disrupted.”

The findings of this study are interesting because they show a link between expressions, understanding language and cognitive behavior. It’s the same concept behind today’s Morsel, which encourages users to improve their mood by making a point to smile today, whether there’s a reason to or not. And for related reading, BoingBoing discussed a similar study in an article titled “Why Darwin Would Have Loved Botox.” (Hint: the answer has to do with science, not vanity.)

If you found out that Botox could help you feel less sad or angry, would you consider using it?

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