The Hidden Power of a Smile
Smiling is a facial expression that is understood by everyone, regardless of culture, race, or religion; it is internationally known. In the lecture held at the University of TED in 2011, Ron Gutman, founder of the HealthTap Company, states that a simple smile has the power to make things better. Accordingly, he refers to a smile as a superpower. He explains that the act of smiling itself makes you feel better rather than smiling being a result of feeling good. So the purpose of this lecture may have been to encourage one’s ability to smile and be happy even in the hardest of times. Gutman reviews a raft of studies about smiling which reveals some surprising results and discusses how smiling is contagious and beneficial.
He starts off his lecture by revealing some logical facts about the hidden power of a smile. For instance, a study which measured smiles of students in a high school yearbook photos to look what the students’ lives were after decades, found that widest smilers were more likely to be in a long-lasting marriage and to have a better sense of personal well-being. Another study found that the span of major league baseball players’ smiles in their photos predicted longevity. Gutman surprises the gathering by revealing that we are actually born smiling as technology shows that babies appear to smile even in the womb. Therefore, it is one of the most basic biological expressions of all humans and we are part of naturally smiling species.
Smiling is evolutionary contagious and we have a hidden innate drive to smile when we see one. This occurs even among strangers when we have no intention to connect with the other person. Gutman interacts with the audience by asking if they smile more than 20 times a day. Then he mentions that one-third of people smile less than 5 times a day, which shocks the audience. At that point he states that in fact those with the most amazing super powers are children, who smile as four hundred times per day. He supports his
He starts off his lecture by revealing some logical facts about the hidden power of a smile. For instance, a study which measured smiles of students in a high school yearbook photos to look what the students’ lives were after decades, found that widest smilers were more likely to be in a long-lasting marriage and to have a better sense of personal well-being. Another study found that the span of major league baseball players’ smiles in their photos predicted longevity. Gutman surprises the gathering by revealing that we are actually born smiling as technology shows that babies appear to smile even in the womb. Therefore, it is one of the most basic biological expressions of all humans and we are part of naturally smiling species.
Smiling is evolutionary contagious and we have a hidden innate drive to smile when we see one. This occurs even among strangers when we have no intention to connect with the other person. Gutman interacts with the audience by asking if they smile more than 20 times a day. Then he mentions that one-third of people smile less than 5 times a day, which shocks the audience. At that point he states that in fact those with the most amazing super powers are children, who smile as four hundred times per day. He supports his