TED演讲 | 微笑背后隐藏的力量

Ron Gutman讨论很多关于微笑的研究，发表了一些令人惊讶的结果。你知道你的笑容可以预测你的寿命吗？你又知不知道你一个简单的微笑可会大大影响你整体的幸福？当你对这个传染性的行为更有了解，你便会习惯常常放松你的脸部肌肉。

演说者：Ron Gutman

演说题目：微笑背后隐藏的力量

滑动查看中英文演讲稿

0:11

When I was a child, I always wanted to be a superhero. I wanted to save the world and make everyone happy. But I knew that I'd need superpowers to make my dreams come true. So I used to embark on these imaginary journeys to find intergalactic objects from planet Krypton, which was a lot of fun, but didn't yield much result. When I grew up and realized that science fiction was not a good source for superpowers, I decided instead to embark on a journey of real science, to find a more useful truth.

0:41

I started my journey in California, with a UC Berkeley 30-year longitudinal study that examined the photos of students in an old yearbook, and tried to measure their success and well-being throughout their life. By measuring the students' smiles, researchers were able to predict how fulfilling and long-lasting a subject's marriage would be,

1:03

(Laughter)

1:04

how well she would score on standardized tests of well-being, and how inspiring she would be to others. In another yearbook, I stumbled upon Barry Obama's picture. When I first saw his picture, I thought that his superpowers came from his super collar.

1:20

(Laughter)

1:21

But now I know it was all in his smile.

1:24

Another aha! moment came from a 2010 Wayne State University research project that looked into pre-1950s baseball cards of Major League players. The researchers found that the span of a player's smile could actually predict the span of his life. Players who didn't smile in their pictures lived an average of only 72.9 years, where players with beaming smiles lived an average of almost 80 years.

1:52

(Laughter)

1:54

The good news is that we're actually born smiling. Using 3D ultrasound technology, we can now see that developing babies appear to smile, even in the womb. When they're born, babies continue to smile -- initially, mostly in their sleep. And even blind babies smile to the sound of the human voice. Smiling is one of the most basic, biologically uniform expressions of all humans.

2:20

In studies conducted in Papua New Guinea, Paul Ekman, the world's most renowned researcher on facial expressions, found that even members of the Fore tribe, who were completely disconnected from Western culture, and also known for their unusual cannibalism rituals,

2:36

(Laughter)

2:37

attributed smiles to descriptions of situations the same way you and I would. So from Papua New Guinea to Hollywood all the way to modern art in Beijing, we smile often, and use smiles to express joy and satisfaction.

2:56

How many people here in this room smile more than 20 times per day? Raise your hand if you do. Oh, wow. Outside of this room, more than a third of us smile more than 20 times per day, whereas less than 14 percent of us smile less than five. In fact, those with the most amazing superpowers are actually children, who smile as many as 400 times per day.

3:22

Have you ever wondered why being around children, who smile so frequently, makes you smile very often? A recent study at Uppsala University in Sweden found that it's very difficult to frown when looking at someone who smiles. You ask why? Because smiling is evolutionarily contagious, and it suppresses the control we usually have on our facial muscles. Mimicking a smile and experiencing it physically helps us understand whether our smile is fake or real, so we can understand the emotional state of the smiler.

3:58

In a recent mimicking study at the University of Clermont-Ferrand in France, subjects were asked to determine whether a smile was real or fake while holding a pencil in their mouth to repress smiling muscles. Without the pencil, subjects were excellent judges, but with the pencil in their mouth -- when they could not mimic the smile they saw -- their judgment was impaired.

4:21

(Laughter)

4:23

In addition to theorizing on evolution in 'The Origin of Species,' Charles Darwin also wrote the facial feedback response theory. His theory states that the act of smiling itself actually makes us feel better, rather than smiling being merely a result of feeling good. In his study, Darwin actually cited a French neurologist, Guillaume Duchenne, who sent electric jolts to facial muscles to induce and stimulate smiles. Please, don't try this at home.

4:52

(Laughter)

4:54

In a related German study, researchers used fMRI imaging to measure brain activity before and after injecting Botox to suppress smiling muscles. The finding supported Darwin's theory, by showing that facial feedback modifies the neural processing of emotional content in the brain, in a way that helps us feel better when we smile. Smiling stimulates our brain reward mechanism in a way that even chocolate -- a well-regarded pleasure inducer -- cannot match.

5:27

British researchers found that one smile can generate the same level of brain stimulation as up to 2,000 bars of chocolate.

5:36

(Laughter)

5:38

Wait -- The same study found that smiling is as stimulating as receiving up to 16,000 pounds sterling in cash.

5:47

(Laughter)

5:48

That's like 25 grand a smile. It's not bad. And think about it this way: 25,000 times 400 -- quite a few kids out there feel like Mark Zuckerberg every day.

6:01

And unlike lots of chocolate, lots of smiling can actually make you healthier. Smiling can help reduce the level of stress-enhancing hormones like cortisol, adrenaline and dopamine, increase the level of mood-enhancing hormones like endorphins, and reduce overall blood pressure.

6:19

And if that's not enough, smiling can actually make you look good in the eyes of others. A recent study at Penn State University found that when you smile, you don't only appear to be more likable and courteous, but you actually appear to be more competent.

6:36

So whenever you want to look great and competent, reduce your stress or improve your marriage, or feel as if you just had a whole stack of high-quality chocolate without incurring the caloric cost, or as if you found 25 grand in a pocket of an old jacket you hadn't worn for ages, or whenever you want to tap into a superpower that will help you and everyone around you live a longer, healthier, happier life, smile.

7:05

(Applause)

0:11

小时候，我一直梦想成为一个超级英雄 我想要拯救世界并让所有人快乐 但我知道我需要拥有超能力 来实现梦想 于是我经常幻想 在银河间寻找超人的故乡氪星 这可有意思了 只不过一直没有找到 长大以后，我才明白 科幻小说并不是超能力的源头 我于是决定踏上真正的科学旅程 寻找更有意义的真相

0:41

加利福尼亚州是我旅程的起点 我学习了加州大学伯克利分校一项长达30年的研究 这项研究对一本旧年册上学生的照片 进行了分析 试图对他们毕生的成功与幸福 进行测量 通过衡量学生的微笑 研究者们得以预测 一个研究对象的婚姻 持续时间与美满程度 她在幸福感标准考试中 能够得多少分 以及她能给其他人带来多少启发 在另一本年册, 我翻到了巴里.·奥巴马的照片 第一眼看到这张照片时 我以为他的超能力是来自于他超大的领子 但是现在我知道其实是来自他的微笑

1:24

另一项令人顿悟的研究 是由2010年韦恩州立大学进行的 这个项目研究了二十世纪五十年代前 美国职业棒球联盟球员卡 这些研究者发现 一个球员笑脸的绽放程度 能够预测其寿命的长短 没有在照片上露出微笑的球员 平均寿命只有72.9岁 而那些微笑的球员 平均寿命将近80岁

1:52

（众人笑）

1:54

好消息是，我们天生就会微笑 通过三维超声波技术 我们可以看到，即使在子宫中，正在成形的胎儿 似乎也是面带微笑的 出生之后 他们还是带着微笑－－ 他们大多在睡梦中微笑 失明的婴儿 听到人声时也会微笑 微笑是全人类生理上最统一、 最基本的表情

2:20

在巴布亚新几内亚进行的一些研究中 保罗. 艾克曼 世界上最知名的面部表情研究者 发现原始部落Fore的成员 虽然与西方文化相隔绝 并以其食人肉的宗教习性著称 但他们也像我们一样 在不同场合下会露出微笑 从巴布亚新几内亚 到好莱坞 再到北京的现代艺术 我们经常微笑 以微笑来表达 喜悦美满之情

2:56

在座的各位 有多少人每天微笑超过20次？ 超过的请举手。哇 在全世界 每天有超过三分之一的人每天微笑超过20次 而每天微笑不足五次的人 占人口的14% 实际上，拥有最多超能力的 要数儿童 他们每天微笑约为400次

3:22

你有没有想过 为什么与经常微笑的孩子们相处久了 你也变得爱笑了？ 瑞典乌普萨拉大学近期的一项研究 发现当人在微笑时 很难同时皱起眉头 你可能会问为什么 这是因为微笑的感染力极强 它主导了 我们对面部肌肉的控制 对微笑进行模拟 和物理测试 能够让我们分辨微笑是真是假 进而了解 微笑者的情绪

3:58

法国克莱蒙费朗大学 近期的一项模拟研究 要求研究对象 通过微笑肌肉 把一支铅笔含在嘴上 以此判断微笑的真假 在不含铅笔的情况下，研究对象都能够轻松做出判断 担当他们含着铅笔时 他们无法模仿眼前的微笑 也就无法正确判断

4:21

（笑声）

4:23

除了在《物种起源》中提出进化论 查尔斯. 达尔文 还提出了面部反馈理论 这里理论提到 微笑这一行为 实际上能让我们的心情变得更好－－ 而不仅仅是 心情好的产物 在他的研究中 达尔文援引了法国神经学家Guillaume Duchenne的研究 他通过给面部肌肉做电颤刺激 来产生微笑 请不要在家里模仿

4:52

（笑声）

4:54

德国一项相关研究中 研究者们通过功能核磁共振成像 测量在微笑肌肉注射了肉毒杆菌前后 对大脑活动 进行测量 这个发现应证了达尔文的理论 表明面部反馈 控制了神经 对大脑中情绪信息的处理 这就让我们在微笑时心情变得更好 微笑启动了我们大脑的奖励机制 就像巧克力－－ 这种公认的开心秘方－－ 都不可比拟的

5:27

英国的研究人员发现 一个微笑能够带来 相当于2000块巧克力产生的脑部刺激 (笑声) 不仅如此，这项研究还发现 微笑带来的刺激 还相当于16000英镑现金产生的刺激 每笑一次就相当于得到了25万美元 太值了 我们这样想： 25000乘以400－－ 那么世上该有多少孩子 每天感觉自己是马克. 扎克伯格（Facebook创始人）啊！

6:01

而与巧克力不同 经常微笑能够让你变得更健康 微笑能够帮助降低 皮质醇，肾上腺素和多巴胺等 增压激素的水平 提高内啡肽等 改善心情的激素水平 并降低整体血压

6:19

如果这还不够 微笑还能够让我们 在其他人眼里更好看 宾州州立大学近期一项研究 发现微笑 不仅能让你更好看，更礼貌 还能让你看起来更能干

6:36

如果你希望自己看起来更棒更有能力 减轻压力 或改善你的婚姻 或者感受吃了一大推巧克力后的快感－－ 而不用担心热量过多－－ 或体会你在多年未穿过的外套口袋里 摸出了25万元时的狂喜 还有你想要得到一些超能力的时候 微笑能够帮助你以及身边所有人 活得更长，更健康，更幸福 笑一个吧

7:05

（掌声）