Duchenne Smiles can be Feigned, but it Depends on Culture

Although the Duchenne smile appears in the literature predominately as a signal of feeling happiness, some data indicate that the posed smiles also involve the activation of a so called orbicularis oculi (e.g., Schmidt, Ambadar, Cohn, & Reed, 2006), which is supposed to guarantee sincere, positive expression (e.g., Frank, Ekman & Friesen, 1993). As claimed by Krumhuber and Manstead (2009), Duchenne smiles can be feigned, and displayed even with the absence of positive feelings. Accordingly, the present study aimed to address this line of research and contribute by adding a new, cultural perspective. Poland and North America were chosen in view of a great discrepancy in standards of culture display rules of smiling: Poland, as a part of Eastern Europe, with its norm of expressing negativity (Wojciszke, Pieńkowski, & Krzykowski, 1995; Wojciszke & Baryła, 2005) and valorizing of the sadness (Wojciszke & Baryła; 2002; Szarota, 2006) and North America, with the norm of expressing positive emotions (Eid & Diener, 2001; Safdar, Friedlmeier, Matsumoto, Yoo, Kwantes, Kakai, & Shigemasu, E., 2009) and valorizing of the cheerfulness (Kotchemidova, 2005, Wierzbicka, 1999). The author examined the hypothesis that North Americans, experiencing the pressure to stay positive, will display posed smiles (i.a., feigned Duchenne smiles) more frequently than Poles, which will also be reflected in a decreased level of well-being. The results of the experimental study conducted in the respective countries showed that culture moderated the relationship between the Duchenne smile and current mood. Specifically, it was found that Duchenne smiles displayed by Canadians were related directly with the increase of negative affect, which did not appear among Poles. Thus, the ‘sincere’ smile that worsened the mood among Canadians might point to the feigned Duchenne expression. These findings lead to the conclusion that posed and spontaneous display of Duchenne smiles may depend on culture.