full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling


Unscramble the Blue Letters


Have you ever wondered why being around children, who smile so frequently, makes you smile very often? A recent sutdy at usplpaa University in Sweden found that it's very difficult to frown when looking at someone who smiles. You ask why? Because smiling is evolutionarily contagious, and it suppresses the control we usually have on our facial mlscues. Mimicking a smlie and eeripcixnneg it physically hlpes us understand whether our smile is fake or real, so we can understand the emotional state of the smiler.

In a recent mimicking study at the University of Clermont-Ferrand in France, subjects were asked to determine whether a smile was real or fake while holding a pencil in their mouth to repress siilnmg muscles. Without the pencil, subjects were excellent judges, but with the pencil in their mutoh — when they could not mimic the smile they saw — their judgment was impaired.

Open Cloze


Have you ever wondered why being around children, who smile so frequently, makes you smile very often? A recent _____ at _______ University in Sweden found that it's very difficult to frown when looking at someone who smiles. You ask why? Because smiling is evolutionarily contagious, and it suppresses the control we usually have on our facial _______. Mimicking a _____ and ____________ it physically _____ us understand whether our smile is fake or real, so we can understand the emotional state of the smiler.

In a recent mimicking study at the University of Clermont-Ferrand in France, subjects were asked to determine whether a smile was real or fake while holding a pencil in their mouth to repress _______ muscles. Without the pencil, subjects were excellent judges, but with the pencil in their _____ — when they could not mimic the smile they saw — their judgment was impaired.

Solution


  1. helps
  2. experiencing
  3. smile
  4. study
  5. mouth
  6. muscles
  7. uppsala
  8. smiling

Original Text


Have you ever wondered why being around children, who smile so frequently, makes you smile very often? A recent study at Uppsala University in Sweden found that it's very difficult to frown when looking at someone who smiles. You ask why? Because smiling is evolutionarily contagious, and it suppresses the control we usually have on our facial muscles. Mimicking a smile and experiencing it physically helps us understand whether our smile is fake or real, so we can understand the emotional state of the smiler.

In a recent mimicking study at the University of Clermont-Ferrand in France, subjects were asked to determine whether a smile was real or fake while holding a pencil in their mouth to repress smiling muscles. Without the pencil, subjects were excellent judges, but with the pencil in their mouth — when they could not mimic the smile they saw — their judgment was impaired.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
state university 2
facial muscles 2
smiling muscles 2
facial feedback 2



Important Words


  1. asked
  2. children
  3. contagious
  4. control
  5. determine
  6. difficult
  7. emotional
  8. evolutionarily
  9. excellent
  10. experiencing
  11. facial
  12. fake
  13. france
  14. frequently
  15. frown
  16. helps
  17. holding
  18. impaired
  19. judges
  20. judgment
  21. mimic
  22. mimicking
  23. mouth
  24. muscles
  25. pencil
  26. physically
  27. real
  28. repress
  29. smile
  30. smiler
  31. smiles
  32. smiling
  33. state
  34. study
  35. subjects
  36. suppresses
  37. sweden
  38. understand
  39. university
  40. uppsala
  41. wondered