The British smile is judged more genuine than the American in a new study from the Univeristy of California. There is impressive evidence to back up the difference. The psychology professor who authored the study correctly identified the nationality of 14 out of 15 people, just from their smiles.
'Restrained but dignified' is how the study describes the British smile. It tends to show the lower teeth and create a crinkle around the eyes, whereas a typical American shows more teeth and doesn't reach the eyes. Perhaps Americans are just more proud of their dental work than us Brits - something they've been telling us for years...
The science of creativity
As Pablo Picasso once pointed out, all children are creative; the challenge is to remain creative into adulthood.
Unfortunately public education systems around the world seem designed to crush creativity in favour of rote learning and test passing. As the years pass a fear of being wrong takes over from our natural creative tendencies.
Unlike mathematics, languages or the humanities, we are rarely taught about creativity, despite its importance to our lives. Yet the information is out there, waiting to be used.
If you would like to be more creative at work and at home—and that has to be most of us—the insights in this ebook will be useful.
Join PsyBlog's 51930 readers now:
Share/save this article:
Featured