Face Value: The Smile as “Social Currency”

By Stuart Foxman

It seems sheep are discerning eaters—at least when it comes to who serves them. In a 2004 study, researchers at Cambridge University in England gave sheep the choice of two doors to push open to get food. One door depicted a smiling human, the other an angry one. By a vast majority, the sheep chose the door with the smiling face.

That doesn’t surprise Mike Lipkin, head of Environics/Lipkin, a Toronto-based motivation company. It’s human nature to respond to a smile—and apparently sheep nature, too. Lipkin, who studies, lectures and writes extensively about personal excellence, calls an authentic smile a powerful form of “social currency.” He shares some insight about how smiling affects the people we encounter as well as ourselves.

RD: What makes a smile so important when we’re face-to-face with someone?
Lipkin: Research shows that three things go through our mind when we’re in front of other people. One, are they an adversary or an ally? Two, will they accept me or will I be on my own? Three, will I be admired? A genuine smile can communicate that I’m an ally, I accept you and I admire you.

RD: What do you mean by a “genuine” smile?
Lipkin: A smile from the inside out—a whole-face smile, as opposed to a painted-on smile, which is almost a masked threat. With a neutral or hostile expression, at least we know where we stand.

RD: So a smile sends out some important social messages.
Lipkin: At a primal level, humans are gregarious and we want to feel like we’re part of something bigger than ourselves. If we’re rejected, we don’t ask what’s wrong with the other person but what’s wrong with us. When someone genuinely smiles at us, we can relax and feel valued.

RD: Your research shows that smiling is one way of revealing some positive personal values.
Lipkin: People who are thriving—those who express a high level of personal well-being—share three values. They control their destiny, they have visceral vitality, and they have habitual generosity. A smile is their outward manifestation of an inner sense of well-being.

RD: What exactly do their smiles convey?
Lipkin: These people have a strong sense that they’ll rise above issues. When they exhibit an authentic smile, they’re saying that they handle life with ease. They radiate confidence. These people also have a deep visceral sense of health and wellness— physical, emotional and mental. The authentic smile sends out their joy and happiness. Finally, these people give more than others expect, and do it consistently. They smile because they feel like they have more to give.

RD: People don’t always feel like they have much to smile about.
Lipkin: But by smiling, you accelerate the acquisition of those three values. You begin to appreciate, at the deepest level, all the things around you, as well as why you should feel grateful to be where you are. You’ll find solutions to problems if you come at them with a certain frame of mind. If you’re not smiling, you’re caught up in your own angst. You get yourself into a state of disempowerment, of being a victim. Then, you become the problem. The more time you spend in that state, the more things go wrong and the more you expect things to go wrong. When you smile at a problem, you see it in perspective, and usually it’s much easier to solve.

RD: So smiling can alter your outlook?
Lipkin: Psychologists talk about being ‘in the zone’—operating at the peak of your effectiveness and efficiency. When you smile, you get in a state of excitement and raise your energy. Two things happen: You perform at a higher level, and other people treat you differently. Because you radiate a sense of happiness, you attract both people and opportunities. So you have the ability to elevate your state of high performance through the power of an authentic smile.