I'm taking a course about the brain/mind - lots of .in depth information about structure and connections and all that -- a bit too theoretical. I read a lot about the subject and remember tidbits that may or may not be true. I suppose they're the parts I want to remember. Sometimes I try my own one-person completely uncontrolled nonstatistical experiments. One such bit of probably pseudo-science I read and remember is that smiles are at least a contagious in a crowded place as are yawns. Off and on I used to try it on the NYC subway -- get on, look around the car, smile at nothing in particular. Of course most people didn't actually look at me and see the smile, which, sometimes I tried to keep on as long as it could be sincere. I can't say I proved anything even to myself except that it actually feels good to smile. But then I knew that.
Emily Dickenson, being a woman of a different time, and certainly not often among crowds of people (if ever?) wrote a little more thoughtfully about smiles in this short poem (#1391)
They might not need me -- yet they might --
I'll let my Heart be just in sight --
A smile so small as mine might be
Precisely their necessity --
4 comments:
June -- nice subject. Your subway experiment reminded me of a woman I knew in Michigan. She would wear a nice smile when she checked out with a cashier in a store. Her aim was to see if a smile would be returned by the un-smiling cashier. In almost 100% of the time it was returned. Reinforces what you said about smiles being as contagious as yawns. And smiling at a cashier does make the transaction a bit more pleasant. -- barbara
Quite right, Barbara. I'm glad to say that most of the cashiers at the stores I most often patronize seem to smile often and naturally although I get a little tired of "have a nice day" - but, gee, it could be a lot worse.
Have you watched "The Brain Series" presented by Charlie Rose? Fascinating stuff for anyone interested in the workings of the human brain.
As for smiles, all I can say is that they work! Humans definitely respond.
But if we're gonna go all inter-species, dogs respond far more mightily to visual cues than humans. Dogs are simply amazing in that respect. I like humans, I do. But dogs can be so endearing in the way they can read our "body language".
Thanks, Jonas. What you say about dogs is very true, they see us a we are.
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