Smiling Through the Holidays Can Instantly Change How People See You
Holiday gatherings are a perfect storm of split-second social judgments. Across crowded dinner tables and over clinking glasses, we instinctively scan faces for cues: Who seems warm? Who feels safe to approach? Who can we trust?
According to new research published in Emotion, those snap decisions may hinge on something surprisingly simple — whether someone smiles, and whether we smile back. This non-verbal communication, known as emotional mimicry, plays a large role in our social interactions and even in developing trust.
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What Is Emotional Mimicry?
Facial expressions are a cornerstone of human communication. With only a brief glance, we infer another person’s mood, intentions, and character. But this process is not passive. We often mirror the expressions we see, subtly activating the same facial muscles as the person in front of us. This unconscious imitation is emotional mimicry, and it appears to play a powerful role in how we evaluate others.
Emotional mimicry refers to our tendency to automatically copy another person’s facial expressions during social interactions. This mirroring happens quickly and often without awareness, yet it serves an important purpose. By matching someone else’s emotional display, we may better understand their internal state and strengthen social bonds.
Psychologists have long suspected that mimicry supports empathy and connection, but this new study goes further by linking mimicry directly to judgments of trustworthiness and character. The researchers set out to examine whether people who display certain emotions are evaluated more positively, and whether the act of mimicking those expressions amplifies the effect.
“We hypothesized that participants would evaluate smiling people better and trust them more than people expressing anger or sadness. Additionally, we predicted that participants would be more willing to mimic expressions of happiness than sadness,” said psychologist Michal Olszanowski in a press release. “Importantly, it is the intensity of mimicry that will predict how much participants will trust the people they mimic. In other words, the more someone mimics another person’s smile, the more they will trust that person.”
Do We Trust Smiling People More?
To test these hypotheses, the research team conducted three experiments exploring how emotional mimicry influences social judgements.
In the first experiment, 62 participants viewed short video clips of faces expressing happiness, sadness, or anger. They then rated each person’s trustworthiness, confidence, and attractiveness. Using electromyography, the researchers measured facial muscle activity and found that participants were far more likely to mimic joyful expressions than negative ones.
The second experiment examined cause and effect more directly. Forty-six participants watched videos of people displaying emotions, deliberately mimicked those expressions, then assessed the individuals’ credibility. The results showed that facial muscle activity tied to imitation actively shaped character evaluations.
In the third experiment, trust was tested using a virtual “trust/investment game.” Once again, smiling faces were mimicked more frequently and inspired greater trust than sad expressions.
Why Smiles Carry Social Power
Together, the findings reinforce a familiar scientific belief that smiling people are judged more positively and trusted more readily, particularly when they feel socially similar to us. The study also highlights that it is not merely the smile itself, but our bodily response to it, that helps cement trust.
“Our study shows that people draw conclusions about others based on their facial expressions. Most importantly, this study reinforces the view that facial expressions predict character-trait judgements, and that happiness is particularly important here. To some extent, this confirms the common observation that expressive positive emotions can result in better attitudes towards a given person,” concluded Olszanowski.
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