class assignment

a. What according to Dr. Niedenthal, is the scientific explanation for smiling?
muscle contraction that varies among certain situations. It's also highly related to a country's custom.

b. How did Dr. Niedenthal and her colleagues begin to study the science of smiling?
They noticed it's such a complicated way of expression assosiated with diverse emotions followed by varying types of muscle contractions.

c. According to the article, is it correct to say a smile is simply an expression reflecting feelings of happiness? Explain.

It's wrong to say a smile only displays feelings of happiness. As stated above, it accounts for various types of emotions such as jeolousy, fright, shame, etc.

The thing is, each smile aimed to show a different feeling looks quite different from another.

d. What are some of the categories smiles fall into? What are some of the distinguishing features of each?

happy smile
: cheek muscles contract thus pulling up the ends of the mouth with crinkling eyes.

forced smile
: cheek muscles contract.. and that's it.

embarrassed smile
: chin doesn't slant up.. rather it slightly flops down as if spacing out


e. Is it possible that people use smiles to gain some advantage over others? How?

Certainly possible. Some people are crackhand at facking smiles trying to look better,  like in an interview no interviewer would like to choose the smile-less over the smile. This is the case of getting some advantage for those who smile. Sometimes, smiles are ofthen used for one to get away with a blame. One would just try to pass it over with a mere smile on his/her face as if it's ok and everything's fine.