Understand how smiling influences rapport building in real life conversations

Smiling during a conversation creates warmth and makes people feel more comfortable and connected. For example, a friendly smile when meeting a new person can ease nervousness. A smile can ease the tension in a debate and show respect for participants despite disagreement.

In fact, extensive studies have been conducted in the past to try to understand smiling interactions in a natural conversation. However, despite these studies, little is known about the extent to which one person’s smile during a conversation influences or is influenced by the other person’s smile.

A recent study sought to investigate this by quantifying the influence of smiling in face-to-face conversations. The study, led by Professor Yohei Otaka of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Fujita Health University School of Medicine, Japan, found that as the intensity of the listener’s smile increased, the intensity of the speaker’s smile increased, particularly in same-sex couples. Also involved in the study were lead researchers Dr. Yota Obayashi, Dr. Shintaro Uehara and Dr. Akiko Yuasa from the same university participated.

Your results will be published in Frontiers of behavioral neuroscience.

Prof Otaka says: “The main purpose of this study was to develop a methodology for assessing dementia symptoms, as affected individuals tend to lose facial expression. We also intend to evaluate the effectiveness of rehabilitation treatment in these individuals. This study is: “In fact, it is the first step toward the larger goal stated above of assessing people’s reactions to others’ smiles in young, healthy participants.”

The study involved 40 participants (20 men and 20 women) in three-minute face-to-face interviews. During these interactions, listeners were asked to smile at different levels – less, moderately and more – and speakers’ smiles in response were observed. Special software was used to measure the intensity and frequency of smiling during conversations.

The results showed that speakers smiled more when listeners smiled more, particularly in conversations between two people of the same sex – men smiled more when speaking to other men who were smiling, and women smiled more when speaking to other women who were smiling .

Interestingly, this effect was less pronounced in mixed-sex conversations, suggesting that participants did not show the same level of reciprocal smiling as they did in conversations with same-sex partners. However, the researchers speculate that in mixed-sex couples, speakers smiled more often than listeners to build interpersonal relationships.

Another important finding was that the more the listener smiled, the more positively the speaker assessed the interaction. Speakers reported that they felt friendlier and enjoyed the conversation more when their partner smiled frequently. This result highlights the emotional importance of smiling in conversations, as it strengthens the feeling of connection and trust between people.

Explaining these findings further, Prof. Otaka says, “If you smile more during a conversation, the other person will also smile more, which can lead to a better interpersonal relationship.”

Additionally, the study found that smile synchronization occurred consistently across all types of couples – both same-sex and mixed-sex couples. This implies that people smiled at the same time regardless of who was talking to whom, highlighting that smiling is a reciprocal behavior.

In summary, the study shows that smiling is a powerful, dynamic part of personal conversations. Speakers’ smiles are influenced by how much and how intensely the listener smiles, especially in conversations between people of the same sex. Additionally, smile synchronization is important for building social bonds and promoting positive feelings during interactions.

These results highlight the importance of nonverbal communication, particularly facial expressions, in everyday conversations. Additionally, this study suggests that interaction between two people can be helpful in assessing dementia and mental disorders.