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Can Smiling Be Harmful?
spiegel.de — A German psychologist has warned "professional smilers" such as flight attendants and shop assistants that too much forced smiling can cause stress, depression and even heart problems. It's unlikely to become a major health issue though -- German customer service isn't renowned for its friendliness.
TalSiach- 645 diggs
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- BoogieManOh, on 05/19/2008, -8/+10I don't see any sources.. I'm not sure that I believe it. Maybe if your smile was really ugly.
- johndi, on 05/19/2008, -1/+8"Professor Dieter Zapf of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt told Apotheken Umschau, a healthcare magazine handed out free at pharmacies in Germany. Zapf's findings are based on research conducted by the university."
They don't give the name of the study, but there is your source. (Perhaps it hasn't been published yet).
It may not hold true for all people, but ask just about any introvert. I don't know many people, especially introverts, who like having to put on a phony PR smile for their job.- bronxelf, on 05/19/2008, -0/+4You beat me to it. The whole smiling all the time thing can be torture to introverts. Extroverts seem to have fewer problems with it and can push the whole "smile philosophy" thing really hard.
- RealmDown, on 05/19/2008, -0/+7I got a news flash for them: It's torture on us recipients too.
I know there are worse things to endure, but a phony smile ranks right up there.
I'd rather have an honest frown.
- taradisiac, on 05/19/2008, -0/+2Go back to Wikipedia.
- unpluggedboy, on 05/19/2008, -4/+2Maybe it pertains only to Germans. The German psyche wasn't built to endure such terrible bodily stresses such as smiling.
- johndi, on 05/19/2008, -1/+8"Professor Dieter Zapf of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt told Apotheken Umschau, a healthcare magazine handed out free at pharmacies in Germany. Zapf's findings are based on research conducted by the university."
- Neticule, on 05/19/2008, -4/+27Forcing yourself to smile can actually improve your mood, atleast in my experience, if I am getting upset for some certain reason, and can make myself crack a smile I feel much better.
I do think the article may be correct in a way though, being forced to smile by someone else, like a boss, is not fun at all, especially if its for a job and you must smile 10 hours straight.- EserVerx, on 05/19/2008, -1/+17Thats the ticket, repress those feelings. Nothing bad can come of repressing your feelings!
- houndeyex, on 05/19/2008, -1/+4I'm a tumor, I'm a tumor...
Oohh, I'm a tumor.
- houndeyex, on 05/19/2008, -1/+4I'm a tumor, I'm a tumor...
- fr3ddie, on 05/19/2008, -0/+14Serenity now.... insanity later!
- aladrin, on 05/19/2008, -0/+12But forcing yourself to smile -at- something or someone unpleasant will devalue your smile. It becomes a mask, instead of happiness. If used occasionally, it's fine, but if you deal with assholes day in and day out, you'll come to think of the smile as a tool instead of a reflection of how you feel.
I'd say this problem is biggest with those who don't naturally have a bubbly personality and are forced to fake it to do their jobs. Personally, I enjoy helping customers, so smiling was never a problem... And I rarely smiled at the assholes anyhow. (I kind of miss customer service now.) - WTFppl, on 05/19/2008, -0/+3That's when I leave that job!
- EserVerx, on 05/19/2008, -1/+17Thats the ticket, repress those feelings. Nothing bad can come of repressing your feelings!
- foxhaze, on 05/19/2008, -11/+5Those women aren't flight attendants. They're prostitutes.
- abran1984, on 05/19/2008, -6/+1This study is a load of crap. The only time I've ever been had any negative effects by smiling is when someone's taking my picture and I have to stand there forcing a smile for like five minutes straight.
- ConceptualTrap, on 05/19/2008, -0/+8Try being a flight attendant and having to force that smile for eight or more hours a day. It's just about the same thing.
Hell, I worked in a corporate coffee shop for a few months and everyday was like that. Some people I didn't mind but try forcing a smile when you've a line of people ten deep and the bitch at the counter takes five minutes to decide on mocha or a latte. Just knowing that she could of done this in line like every other person is enough to make you want to pour a pot of scalding coffee on her.
That said, getting out of work almost feels like winning the lottery.
- ConceptualTrap, on 05/19/2008, -0/+8Try being a flight attendant and having to force that smile for eight or more hours a day. It's just about the same thing.
- taradisiac, on 05/19/2008, -1/+40You mean forced behavior that makes you unhappy is bad? Gee no *****...
- ratherbeinvegas, on 05/19/2008, -1/+63Smiling at a stranger at a urinal may be very harmful.
- Pittance, on 05/19/2008, -3/+3Didnt some psychologist years and years ago prove that if you force a smile, your mind will feel happier since its habitual to smile while happy. Therefore it works partially in reverse.
- curseoflou, on 05/19/2008, -6/+2only if you've just left the dentist and you see that chick you really like
- jimmick, on 05/19/2008, -1/+19If you work in a profession which requires you to smile all the time, you may already be suffering depression and stress
Flight attendants cop SO much ***** from foppish fliers
"You! Bring me the Wall Street Journal, you two, fight to the death"- RealmDown, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1This is why I think that duct tape should be standard issue to flight attendants.
- RealmDown, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1This is why I think that duct tape should be standard issue to flight attendants.
- WoollyMittens, on 05/19/2008, -1/+7Smiling at the wrong people can work like showing your teeth at a chimpansee.
- hauntedchippy, on 05/19/2008, -0/+2I take it Chimps don't like that?
- Aensland, on 05/19/2008, -0/+5I don't recall where I heard it, but in the animal kingdom showing teeth is a sign of aggression.
- hauntedchippy, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1Perhaps among lower life forms, but I'm pretty sure I've seen Chimps geniunely smiling (without the aggression).
- belebih, on 05/19/2008, -0/+3Ah, I guess that sheds some light on this:
http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/DO_IT
Lower life forms indeed. I mean, it originates in 4chan after all. - maelnum, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1hmm...explains what happened at the office then...
- Aensland, on 05/19/2008, -0/+5I don't recall where I heard it, but in the animal kingdom showing teeth is a sign of aggression.
- hauntedchippy, on 05/19/2008, -0/+2I take it Chimps don't like that?
- MaxMWood, on 05/19/2008, -6/+1German tourists always push infront of everyone else. Its so stereotypical but its so true.
- yogiincork, on 05/19/2008, -4/+9Dugg for "...It's unlikely to become a major health issue though -- German customer service isn't renowned for its friendliness...."
Before you start flaming: I'm German, I know what I am talking about :)- hauntedchippy, on 05/19/2008, -1/+6I've always found you guys to be nothing less than extremely polite, or maybe thats just compared to the French?
- alanr19, on 05/19/2008, -3/+5[Insert another ignorant and insulting ethnic stereotype here]
Please choose from:
1. Fat uneducated and boorish American.
2. Drunk Irish
3. Lazy Mexican
4. Drug dealing black man
5. Penny pinching jewish person- hauntedchippy, on 05/19/2008, -0/+146. Fat virgin living in his parents basement trying to get moral high ground on the internet.
- jotok, on 05/19/2008, -0/+3No kidding! I've been living over here for 7 months...the service sector in Germany is not exactly "customer-oriented." It was probably the #1 thing to get over.
- mhummel, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1Clearly you've never flown Qantas ;)
- galvo, on 05/19/2008, -2/+5I can't stand a forced smile.
- Brad12088, on 05/19/2008, -0/+16I guess Ronald McDonald is screwed then.
- RealmDown, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1That's the way I always interpreted that smile.
- hauntedchippy, on 05/19/2008, -8/+1Only a bloody German!
- theholotrope, on 05/19/2008, -1/+10"Can smiling be harmful?"
Youre damn skippy. One time I smiled at a Scientologist and now Xenu is my master.- atgmac, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1Scientologists are worshipping Xenu now?
- racerx8413, on 05/19/2008, -1/+0it must be cold outside there!
- tama00, on 05/19/2008, -4/+0Anyone who believes this ***** deserve never to smile again.
- freakout1, on 05/19/2008, -1/+6WHAT?
http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/6341/genuineez4 ...- Crusad0r, on 05/19/2008, -1/+0That picture is harmful to everyone.
- TheAnomaly, on 05/19/2008, -0/+3To quote Bob Kelso: "Dr. Simotas, stop smiling! .... I hate smiling."
- R75700, on 05/19/2008, -1/+1I don't think I could have expected to ever read that headline.
2) I can't wait until they take it too far, saying that flight attendants don't have to smile if they don't want to because of health reasons and I walk on a plane and instantly get worried because of the straight face the attendant has....the smiling keeps me at ease. "ok they want to get me there safely" not, get on the plane you're in for a hell of a ride.
I'm sorry I looked to much into that...I just had to. - alanr19, on 05/19/2008, -3/+4"German customer service isn't renowned for its friendliness"?? WTF?
Retards and their reliance on ethnic stereotypes.- drgreenberg, on 05/19/2008, -2/+1Agreed. It's more annoying still for suggesting that the output of German research would apply only to German people.
- jotok, on 05/19/2008, -1/+5Do you live in Germany?
I do. Customer service here is terrible and people who run the shops are always irritable. Don't even try calling anyone's customer service line...they are fully empowered to hang up on customers if they don't want to deal with you for ANY reason (my neighbor works in a t-punkt call center and can verify this).
Of course I have been told this is really a Schwabian thing and that Berliners are a lot more friendly.- sanotaan, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1I also lived in Germany. I would not say it's Schwabian, nor would I say that Berliners are any more or less friendly than those in other parts of the country. Perceived or real brusqueness, as it is with any culture, probably just boils down to the individual. However, when I lived in Germany (chiefly Thüringen, though I spent time near most major cities), I could much more readily tell that Germans in customer service roles (restaurant waitstaff included) were in the mindset of doing a job and fulfilling a task rather than simply earning money.
- thisoneisunique, on 05/19/2008, -0/+5After 9 months in England I returned to Germany and the first time I went to my bank I thought about one of the clerks "geez, she's RUDE"... But! The guy in the bank in England with all of his "would you like to have a seat?" and "We will sort that out for you." and disappearing behind a door for 10 minutes, coming back and repeating those phrases... well, he was essentially useless; and the rude clerk in my small town got things done. I'm not excusing rude behaviour but politeness is just one side of good service, isn't it. Oh, and I am a native Swabian, and I'm as polite a person as you'll ever meet :)
- herbstblatt, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1I totally agree. I once called a German helpline based in the Netherlands because of a software key. I was quite angry because I finally wanted to receive that key I should have gotten a month ago or so but the woman at the other end didn't even try to help me even though I tried to stay as friendly as possible. At some point she kind of shut down, got rude and I knew that she wasn't interested anymore. That was a terrible and annoying experience!
There I really have to say that Swiss helplines are much better. I've made several very good experiences that helped me much (although I do not know whether this is always the case. Nothing against Germans, really).
- nicoladimaria, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1I'd smile at those flight attendants
- MrFurious2k, on 05/19/2008, -1/+2If this is the case, those guys down at Burger King a few blocks away must have the least stressful job of any I've dealt with.
- maelnum, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1Check the patties before taking a bite.
- chrisplusjacqui, on 05/19/2008, -0/+3Tune in next week when we dig deep into the legend of the lethal hug...
- Razyael, on 05/19/2008, -0/+2There's a clown on the wing!
- RealmDown, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1That's a gremlin with a forced smile.
- dngbauer, on 05/19/2008, -1/+2Dugg simply for the comments. :)
- RealmDown, on 05/19/2008, -0/+2Was that a real smiley, or a forced smiley ?
- dngbauer, on 05/29/2008, -0/+1always a real smiley :) :)
- RealmDown, on 05/19/2008, -0/+2Was that a real smiley, or a forced smiley ?
- akilleen, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1At first glance I thought it said "Can Smiting Be Harmful", in which case I would have to say yes.
- seanhive, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1Makes sense to me. Anyone ever worked in retail?
- davewashere, on 05/19/2008, -0/+3Let's make a study that shows a correlation between forced emotions and higher stress/depression levels and then release the study with a sensational headline like "Is Smiling Harmful?" that will be sure to attract various brainless non-news sources like Spiegel and CNN.com. Women will read my name in these news articles and want to have sex with me, the famous psychologist.
Seriously, this study has nothing to do with smiling. Professor Dieter Zapf of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe have undermined their careers just to get their names in a stupid article. - Llanowar, on 05/19/2008, -0/+2Of course it carries health risks.
I always want to beat up people who smile too much. - ZeRux, on 05/19/2008, -2/+2I don't know if it's harmful or not, but whenever you smile, you're supporting L. Ron Hubbard because he said that Xenu will appear on Earth when more than 5% of its population are smiling at same time. That's why smiling must be prohibited by law, otherwise Scientologists win, and even a lifetime without laughter is better than one second of Scientology controlling the Earth!
(Digg me up if you don't want Scientology controlling the Earth) - Gudath, on 05/19/2008, -0/+2This reminds me of the old story of the passenger who chided a flight attendant for not smiling. She said, "Show me how." He gave her a big, warm, beaming smile. She said, "OK, that's great. Now hold it like that for eight hours."
- hybridcreation, on 05/19/2008, -0/+2This just in...life is harmful.
- hgwoodworks, on 05/19/2008, -1/+1Ever heard the phrase, "Smiling until your cheeks hurt?" Smiling without real feeling behind it doesn't sound too healthy.
- radiopayola, on 05/19/2008, -1/+2HAHAHA... I remember reading about a study a few years back in which an American scientist blamed grumpy German tendencies on all of the umlauted vowels in the german language.
Talked about here: http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/%7Emyl/languagelog/archi ...
This new study almost seems like a blatant response by a bitter and umlauted german scientist. Hilarious... In all seriousness, however, I am in full agreement with the premise of this study. Forcing a smile isn't healthy, and in most people a forced smile is usually accompanied by other detrimental facial expressions/contortions like furled brows, sagging eyes, and a tense jaw. Actually, I think this type of forced smile is probably the predominant type in our modern culture. It's pretty rare that you come across someone who's actually capable of truly smiling with their entire face.- thisoneisunique, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1But when I say ü and ö I look like I want to to give someone a kiss... that's a good thing, right? So I'm all for umlaute
- Jan33, on 05/19/2008, -0/+2some of the bavarians i meet would rather chew their own legs off than display moderate friendliness on the job. Unrelatedly, perhaps, some of them also think eating pussy is demeaning.
- thisoneisunique, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1But when I say ü and ö I look like I want to to give someone a kiss... that's a good thing, right? So I'm all for umlaute
- kahakauai, on 05/19/2008, -1/+1Stfu..... This is B/S
- Versh, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1I've read an excellent article by Scott Wetzler, Ph.D a few months ago in Psychology Today about passive aggressive behavior, and "fake/forced smiling" is almost always a tremendous tip-off.
In general, I would suggest avoiding being passive-- it wrecks the blood pressure even when you exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet.
This issue with smiling is just the facade for deeper problems. - mindlessknight, on 05/19/2008, -0/+2smiles that aren't genuine shouldn't be researched at such....pretending to work out probably wouldn't be great for my health either.....haha, and it would certainly be depressing!
- donkeySays, on 05/19/2008, -0/+2heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :D *i hate you*
- MoroMou, on 05/19/2008, -1/+1this is great.
I hate those fake-smilers. I want to slap them for having no dignity and pretending to smile all the time. Lame. - kahakauai, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1Watch... Next year they will have a new "scientific study" that says laughing causes cancer...
- 3allawi, on 05/19/2008, -0/+1Makes sense, they are one Grumpy Healthy nation !!
- solid12345, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1....Beware, we Germans aren't all smiles and sunshine....
- Literaturfan, on 05/20/2008, -0/+0This article sounds quite strange. I can't believe that smiling can be harmful. There are plenty of studies which prove the opposite
- punx, on 05/20/2008, -0/+1I worked for Disney when I was a young teenager, and we were forced to smile all the time. I can promise that the only thing that does is make you want to kill your boss. The job lasted three months, and that was two months and three weeks too long. It does end up pissing you off, because those smiles are in no way real.
- Emma1989, on 05/26/2008, -0/+0If you had to smile during you are really sad, maybe it could effect your healthy. Yes, I think so.
- skairam, on 06/04/2008, -0/+0This is why I am anti-smile.
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