Aligning the smiles of dating dyads causally increases attraction | PNAS thumbnail
Aligning the smiles of dating dyads causally increases attraction | PNAS
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To do this, we extracted happiness time series for each participant and each trial with an emotion extraction model (Materials and Methods). We then computed a maximum cross-correlation measure between the happiness time series of participants for each interaction (Fig. 4A for an example of highly s
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Summary

- 😊 **Smile Synchronization**: The study found that aligning smiles between dating partners significantly increased attraction, demonstrating the power of nonverbal cues in social interactions.
- 📊 **Data Analysis**: Researchers used a happiness time series analysis to measure the synchronization of smiles, revealing a strong correlation in expressive behavior among participants.
- 💞 **Influence of Smiles**: Participants perceived their partners as more attracted to them when they observed increased smiling, supporting the idea that smiles enhance social affiliation and trust.
- 🤔 **Prosocial Responses**: The findings suggest that even slight manipulations in smiling can trigger prosocial behaviors, indicating a desire to build rapport, especially when one partner appears less positive.
- ⚖️ **Ethical Considerations**: The study raises important ethical questions about the use of AI to manipulate human social signals, highlighting the need for careful consideration in future applications.

Top Highlights

  • To do this, we extracted happiness time series for each participant and each trial with an emotion extraction model (Materials and Methods). We then computed a maximum cross-correlation measure between the happiness time series of participants for each interaction (Fig. 4A for an example of highly synchronized time series). The distribution of maxi...
  • Using this paradigm, we found that participants were influenced by the artificial smiles they saw on the face of their interacting partner. Specifically, participants thought the other person was more attracted to them when we increased the smiles seen in the other person
  • This is in line with findings that highlight the prosocial function of smiles (33), and how smiling can positively influence social affiliation (14), trust (34), or interactive cooperation (11).
  • However, while the interaction of our manipulation with specific kinds of smiles remains unknown, our results demonstrate that shifting average smiling levels across the interaction is enough to trigger prosocial responses.
  • This behavior may be driven by an increased desire of participants to build rapport with their interacting partner, when seeing that their partner is not portraying a positive facial display, and possibly less attracted (c.f. other seeing me again ratings).

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