Understanding how smiling influences relationship building during real-life conversations | Researchers measured the intensity and frequency of smiling in face-to-face conversations and how it influences mutual response

From the article: Smiling during conversations creates warmth, making people feel more comfortable and connected. For example, a friendly smile when meeting someone new can ease nervousness. A smile can soften tension in a debate, showing respect among the participants despite disagreement. In fact, extensive studies have been conducted in the past in an attempt to understand smiling interactions in a natural conversation. Despite these studies, however, little is known about the extent to which one’s smile influences or gets affected by the other person’s smile during a conversation.

A [new study](https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2024.1420361) sought to investigate this by quantifying the influence of smiling in face-to-face conversations. The study, led by Professor Yohei Otaka from the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Japan, found that the amount of smiling by the speaker increased as the listener’s smile intensity increased, particularly in same-sex pairs. The study also involved lead researchers Dr. Yota Obayashi, Dr. Shintaro Uehara, and Dr. Akiko Yuasa from the same university. Their findings were published in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience on 09 August 2024.