Ingredients for Happiness: Bodily and Facial Cues

Happiness is often considered to be a universally understood emotion. People tend to directly

associate it with smiling, saying that as long as theres at least a smile, then the perso
person
n must be happy.
This is a rather rash and hasty assumption, and is not nearly enough to capture happiness in its entirety.
Just like sorrow, grief, anguish, disappointment, bliss
bliss,, and other more specific and complicated
emotions, happiness
ess is also an enigma of sorts, and certainly cannot be watered down to only a smile.
This does not mean that smiling is trivial to understanding happiness. In fact, it is one of the
most important aspects of identifying and expressing happiness. The important thing to remember is
that although
lthough the exact definition of happiness differs across cultures, there are many physical gestures
and facial expressions that are universal when it comes to displa
displaying happiness. The most prominent
ones have to do with the mouth/lips, the eyes/eyebrows, and the hands/arms.
BODILY/FACIAL CUE #1: The mouth and lips
The first thing that comes to mind when talking about the mouth and how it relates to
happiness is most likely a smile. Its true that it is not enough to indicate happiness by itself,
itself but it is an
essential part. Smiling comes in many forms. IItt ranges from quiet, understated, and upturned lips to a
full-blown
blown opening of the mouth. It can be said that the degree to which the mouth is opened
determines the level of happiness, with happiness increasing as the mouth opens wider. There are
always exceptions, but generally, this is the case for most people.
For instance, consider the following photos.

In the left photo, the old mans smile indicates that he is at least
st content, maybe happy or
amused, but isnt exactly experiencing happiness. Notice that his lips are mostly touching and that the
majority of his mouth is closed. This contrasts greatly wit
with the old womans open-mouthed
mouthed smile in the
right photo, which suggests greater happiness. Even though the general shape of the lips in both photos
are roughly the same, the distance between the upper and bottom lip seems to indicate how much
happiness a person
erson is experiencing at any given moment. Its also interesting to note that in the openopen
mouthed smile, the upper lip is raised so that it is curving upwards, while the upper lip in the left photo
is curving downwards in a U shape.

In addition to the shape of the mouth and the distance between the lips, whether any noise is
made in the process of smiling also indicates the level of happiness. The most common example is
laughter. Laughter accompanies open-mouthed smiles, while giggles, chuckles, and quieter/shorter
versions of laughter accompany closed-mouthed smiles. This seems to suggest that the loudness and
duration of laughter directly correlates with happiness, although there are always exceptions.
BODILY/FACIAL CUE #2: The eyes and eyebrows
If all emotions were only based on one bodily or facial cue, then all emotions would start to
jumble together and become unidentifiable. For instance, if one were to only consider upturned lips as
being happy and downturned lips as being sad, then not only would this disregard other emotions that
have similar features, but it would also ignore the fact that there can be exceptions to these rules. This is
why physical display of emotions requires multiple factors. The eyes and eyebrows are extremely
important to conveying happiness, because they work with the mouth and lips to accent or tone down
the actual amount of happiness experienced. Other times, the eyes can even display happiness without
the aid of the mouth.
Consider the following photos.

In the first photo on the far left, the boys smile is mostly obscured by his arm. But, because of
his bright eyes and his arched eyebrows, one can clearly see that he is experiencing happiness. The
shape of the eyes and the crinkles they make are extremely important in conveying happiness. Notice
that the eyes, instead of being in the normal, elliptical shape, are actually somewhat skewed so that the
bottom is arched upwards a bit. Thus, the entire shape of the eye becomes an upside-down U shape,
depending on the amount that the bottom eyelid is arched. This shape tends to form from genuine,
heartfelt happiness, as shown by the middle photo. Even though the old mans actual eyes arent seen
due to the shadow cast from downwards from up above, the upside-down U shape of where the eyes
would be are indicative of the mans happiness, accompanied by the slight smile. This shows that one
doesnt necessarily need to see the eyeballs clearly in order to detect another persons happiness,
simply the shape of the eyes.
This is not to say that the eyeballs are not important. In fact, the photo on the far right shows
that they can be very expressive. Arguably, without the bright, round eyes of the baby, it would be
difficult to tell just how happy he is. For instance, if one were to cover the eyes up and compare the two
photos, then he or she will find the babys expression to be quite different.

In the first photo, where the eyes are covered up, only the eyebrows and slightly downturned
mouth are seen. If one were to assume that a downturned mouth is equivalent to being sad, then he or
she would inaccurately describe the babys actual expression. In fact, it does seem plausible that without
the eyes, one could infer that the baby was sad, even though he is not. This shows that eyes are just as
important as the mouth when it comes to physical expression, and that the two often need to work
together to fully display an emotion.
BODILY/FACIAL CUE #3: The hands and arms
There are other parts of the body important for physical display of emotion besides the face.
When it comes to happiness, the hands, arms, and general poise of the torso play crucial roles.
Consider the following photos.

Both photos show people smiling, with their arms and hands in front and wrapped around an
object, yet the body language is completely different. On the left, the old ladys slightly slouched back
and inwardly turned shoulders (often seen as an act of self-protection) are less spontaneous than the
childrens more freeing and exuberant motion of hugging the pole. The variance in age accounts for and
explains this difference, but it is still important to note that the more energy and movement there is to a

persons posture, the more life they bring to the overall physical display of happiness. The following
photos are more examples of arms and hands playing pivotal roles in portraying happiness.

For every emotion, a careful combination of various ingredients is needed to construct the
perfect recipe for physical expression. Happiness requires a little bit of almost everything, including the
three most prominent ones discussed above. In the end, words arent really needed to convey emotion.
They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, and in a way, the way people use their body to
portray their feelings is akin to painting a portrait of themselves in various points in time.