Ok, so saving the world with a smile is a bit of an exaggeration. But have you ever noticed that when someone shows you their most genuine and brilliant smile, you feel a little better on the inside?
Well, apparently that subtle feeling of joy you feel when a complete stranger smiles at you has scientifically measurable effects on mood and behaviour. Smiling strangers makes people not only feel more joy in their heart, but also makes them more likely to help people around them.
“Hmm, she is smiling at me. I should adopt an orphan.”
This published study reports the findings of a real-world test in which about 800 people were experimented on with the power of smiles. In the test, a hired participant would smile their best smile at a complete stranger, and then another hired actor would spill a case of disks right after they walked by the smiling stranger. The findings indicate that even if a complete stranger smiles at you, you are about 10% more likely to help someone afterwards.
10% doesn’t sound like much, but imagine if you smiled at 10, or even 20 strangers in one day. You would be making mankind mathematically 200% better! Well, we are pretty sure thats how math works anyway. So show off your Summerlea Dental smile, and save the world one smile at a time!