A Feel-Good Theory: A Smile Affects Mood

By DANIEL GOLEMAN Published: July 18, 1989 PUTTING on a sad face or a smile directly produces the feelings that the expressions represent, according to a new theory of how emotions are produced. This view elaborates on ideas proposed more than a century ago by Charles Darwin and William James, the philosopher and psychologist. It holds that facial expressions are not just the visible sign of an emotion, but actually contribute to the feeling itself. The theory does not propose that facial expressions are more important than thoughts or memories in prompting emotions. But it points to the physiology of facial expression as a cause of emotions in its own right. The theory has been gaining gradual support over the last decade among psychologists. Two of the strongest pieces of evidence were published separately in scientific journals this month. In one, researchers found that simply inducing people to place the muscles of their face in the pattern of a given emotional expression elicited that feeling. In the other, researchers showed that facial expressions affected the temperature of blood flowing to the brain, providing a possible, although disputed, mechanism for regulating emotions.

To be sure, no one suggests that putting on a happy face can cheer up someone who is in mourning. The effects of facial expression are seen as modest, though consequential. In lieu of any other strong feeling, the theory holds, a given expression can induce the mood it portrays. While the weight of evidence now strongly shows that facial expression can influence mood, there is debate over what physiological mechanisms might be involved, as well as just how important the phenomenon is in emotional life. ''I'm not saying that all moods are due to changes in the muscles of the face, only that facial action leads to changes in mood,'' said Dr. Robert Zajonc, a psychologist at the University of Michigan and a leading proponent of the new theory. ''Of course there's more to emotion than that, but this is a significant part of the story, too,'' he said. Dr. Zajonc's theory holds that as certain facial muscles relax and tighten, they raise or lower the temperature of blood flowing to the brain. These changes in temperature, in turn, affect the activity of brain centers that regulate emotion.

The link between expression and emotion was demonstrated most recently in an article published this month in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. A team of psychologists at Clark University in Worcester, Mass., showed that simply having people put their facial muscles in a configuration typical of a given emotion produced that feeling. In the study, volunteers were given instructions like this, for fear: ''Raise your eyebrows. And open your eyes wide. Move your whole head back, so that your chin is tucked in a little bit, and let your mouth relax and hang open a little.'' Volunteers Not Told Similar instructions were given for anger, disgust and sadness. But the volunteers were not told that the study was testing emotion or that the facial movements were to mimic a specific expression. By and large, the different expressions produced the moods they portray. While making an expression of disgust, for example, the volunteers reported feeling more disgust than anger, fear, or sadness. In another study, German researchers were able to induce happy feelings by having people hold a small pen clenched in their teeth, imitating a smile. When the people held the pen in their protruding lips, imitating a pout, they felt unhappy. In Dr. Zajonc's study, volunteers repeated vowel sounds over and over, those of a long ''e,'' which forces a smile, and ''ah,'' which imitates part of the expression of surprise. Both induced pleasant feelings. But a long ''u'' and the German vowel ''u'' both put volunteers in their worst mood. Treatise by Darwin In 1984, Dr. Paul Ekman and other psychologists at the University of California Medical School at San Francisco published an article in the journal Science showing that when people mimic different emotional expressions, their bodies produce distinctive physiological patterns, such as changes in heart and breath rate, for each emotion. The findings have revived a longstanding debate in psychology over the mechanics of emotional life, one that traces its roots to Charles Darwin, who published a major treatise on facial expression and emotion in 1872. Darwin asserted that facial expressions played important roles in prompting the feelings that accompany it. His view was given its most influential support by William James, in 1884, although he also acknowledged that the idea seemed to run counter to most people's experience. Over the years, however, these views fell out of favor among psychologists, who generally believe that emotions follow from thoughts, and that facial expression are the final result of feelings, not their cause. The case that facial expression determines mood, along with a detailed proposal for the biological means, is made in the current issue of the Psychological Review by Dr. Zajonc.

Dr. Zajonc's theory hinges on the fact that all biochemical processes in the body change their rates as the temperature in the immediate region of the body changes. This includes the activity of neurons and neurotransmitters, the brain's chemical messengers. Regulating Temperature The internal carotid artery, which provides the main supply of blood to the brain, flows through the cavernous sinus. This part of the sinus is laced with veins from the face. As the facial muscles stretch and tighten, Dr. Zajonc contends, the blood flow to the cavernous sinus changes. This, in turn, raises or lowers the temperature of blood flowing into the brain, particularly the hypothalamus, a structure that regulates both emotion and the body's reactions to heat and cold. For instance, a smile tightens muscles primarily in the cheek, and the broader the smile, the tighter those muscles become. This in turn tends to decrease the flow of blood to the cavernous sinus, thus cooling the blood that flows to the brain, the theory holds. Unhappy expressions, like a frown or scowl, tighten different sets of facial muscles, which tend to allow more blood into the cavernous sinus. This heats the blood that flows to the brain. ''The hypothalamus is profoundly involved in emotional life,'' Dr. Zajonc said. ''But it also regulates the temperature of both the brain and the body. Its dual role is indicated, for instance, by its involvement in shivering, which occurs both in fear and in freezing, or in sweating, which is seen during anxiety or excitement, as well as in reaction to excessive heat.'' Dr. Zajonc points to a range of studies suggesting that raising the temperature of the brain causes unpleasant feelings, while cooling it leads to pleasant ones. Enthusiasm for Dr. Zajonc's conclusions is not universal. ''I think the theory is completely wrong,'' said Dr. Henry Schutta, chairman of the neurology department at the University of Wisconsin. ''There's nothing in the anatomy to support it. For instance, there are no special sensors in the cavernous sinus that would allow it to regulate temperature so finely. ''And although standard anatomy texts show the carotid artery going straight through the cavernous sinus, dissections find that it often runs to the side,'' he added. On the other hand, said Dr. Joseph LeDoux at the Center for Neural Science at New York University: ''Dr. Zajonc's evidence is very compelling so far, though the data aren't all in. We don't yet know the essential neuroanatomical details, but he's working in a gray area. His work on emotions is the most creative in years.''