The O’Toole Chronicles: Smile for the Camera (Duchenne v. Pan Am)

I know the premise of this column sounds borderline ridiculous and be forewarned that this isn’t a tribute to Alan Funt, but let’s get down to business and make sense of today’s lesson and don’t forget to smile.

Here goes nothing – in our everyday lives we meet and greet dozens of people a day, unless you are still socially isolated and still bunkered Covid style, but as we re-emerge from our self-imposed cocoons, we need some modern-day instruction as to how we should greet and acknowledge one another in the year 2025. The simple answer is we need to smile more, a lot more, and mean it.

Let’s get to the punch line quickly—we need to teach ourselves to smile more if we care about our health, looking to advance in politics or the corporate world, want to make friends, or simply want to better relate to one another. Who would have guessed that the best way to achieve all these objectives is to smile more often and more meaningfully?

For starters, by a show of hands, how many of us know that the type of smile you utilize can help determine whether you live longer or excel in your job or keep friends? To help make the point, there is a 2013 study done by the Association of Psychological Science Magazine that was focused on the benefits of smiling and the study suggested strongly that there are countless benefits received from one who smiles and there are endless physical and psychological effects for the person who smiles. I know it sounds silly but hang in there.

In 2011, Eric Jaffe raised the profile of the art and science behind smiling when he wrote a cover story in the magazine, The Psychological Study of Smiling, and he started the article with the following:

“…a smile begins in our sensory corridors. The ear collects a whispered word. The eyes spot an old friend on the station platform. The hand feels the pressure of another hand. This emotional data funnels to the brain, exciting the left anterior temporal region in particular, then smolders to the surface of the face, where two muscles, standing at attention, are aroused into action. The zygomatic major, which resides in the cheek, tugs the lips upward, and the orbicularis oculi, which encircles the eye socket, squeezes the outside corners into the shape of a crow’s feet. This entire event is short—typically lasting from two-thirds of a second to four seconds—and those who witness it often respond by mirroring the action and smiling back.”

I know that this subject matter is getting a little technical so time to change gears and move forward.

Without wading back into the science fields, we do need to address just how many types of smiles are out there. The not so simple answer is far too many to count, but most experts say that they can count at least 12 different types of smiles that we encounter on a daily basis.

By memory let’s go over the list-and yes this is actually a real list: lying smile, wistful smile, Botox smile, closed-lip smile, forced smile, polite smile, flirtatious smile, embarrassed smile, affiliative smile, reward smile, dominance smile, Pan Am smile, and Duchenne smile. I really want to drill down on the power of the smile and spend time talking about the last two, Pan Am vs Duchenne, which are the two most talked about and most dissected by social and political scientists.

The Pan Am smile is one that most of us quickly and immediately identify. In short, it is really the fake and forced political smile that we all engage when meeting people that we don’t really love or like. The Pan Am smile was named after the now defunct airline because Pan Am used to train their flight attendants to smile constantly and always be courteous. The problem with this forced and contrived smile is that it is forced and contrived, and everyone knew it was a marketing ploy. There isn’t a politician out there who hasn’t practiced and used this Pan Am version. Next time you are at a large political gathering, try and count the Pan Am moments, and we can agree that when put under a discerning microscope we can easily identify the thinness and blatantly inauthentic Pan Am smile. Let’s repeat – there is insincerity in politics and sometimes the political smile reflects the vacuous soul, and the tell for many of us is obvious.

On the other hand, the Duchenne smile is an organic and genuine smile, one that the user means. The Duchenne smile uses the fullness of the face and a collection of muscles that insures the meaningfulness of the smile. This smile is usually reserved for family members you actually like, friends and good times. But we all know that trying to summon up the inner Duchenne for the cameras isn’t always that easy.

Pro tip – for politicians who need to perfect the award winning and constituent noticing Duchenne smile for all the world to see, former United States Senator Trent Lott has some timeless advice. Trent said whenever he would be in a position where he had to smile and look authentic, he simply thought of his grandchildren, leading to a wide grin and massive smile on his somewhat aged and time worn face.  Senator Lott was a politician who represented Mississippi in the United States House of Representatives from 1973-1989 and was a United States Senator from 1989 to 2007, including two stints as Senate Majority Leader. Of some note, Senator Lott stepped down as the Senate leader when he walked himself into a beehive of controversy for praising former Senator Strom Thurmond’s 1948 presidential run, which was centered around segregation.

Back to our point, the Duchenne smile is named after a French neurologist, Guillaume Duchenne who made this discovery. This smile uses more muscles in the face and eyes and has involuntary contractions difficult to mimic. If we want to be perceived as the real deal and believable in politics and in life, we need to perfect our Duchenne. And if we need any more reasons to get our Duchenne on, did you know that when you smile frequently you can get some amazing physical and mental benefits, including:

Reduced stress
Reduced anxiety
Lower blood pressure
Boosted immunes system
Released endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine
Reduced pain
Increased ability to succeed
Toned muscles in your face (making you look younger).

The power of a smile is hugely underrated, and we should think about engaging in this phenomenon more often. As we navigate the society of today, no one could argue that smiling doesn’t have its benefits.

Next time you see a politician shaking hands and smiling for the camera – ask yourself the easy question – Pan Am or Duchenne?