A Fake Smile Is Bad for Health: Autistics Were Right All Along

Finally, an objective study that shows that forcing a smile is actually bad for you.

We Autistics were right all along. Neurotypicals “mask” too, and when it’s in the form of forcing smiles, it could be damaging even to them.

Forcing a smile has been touted as a way to feel better in the moment. This is actual advice given by advocates for happiness and mental health.

Now, research reveals that faking cheerfulness all day actually leaves people irritable and unhappy.

Autistic people have a name for this: masking. However, neurotypicals have used this term as well, for faking moods or pretending to come off in a way that isn’t true to oneself, just to impress or fit in with others.

Not only can forcing smiling all day or even for shorter periods make one irritable or feel miserable, it can also leave them feeling taxed or drained. This is well-known in the autism community.

Finally, it’s coming to light in a more mainstream setting of information.

The Story Behind the Study

Psychologist Nicholas Coles spent years studying how smiling lifts mood, even though his own past proved otherwise.

During his time working at a Florida theme park, he actually got written up for failing to keep a smile plastered on his face.

That real-world frustration sparked a new question for Coles and his team at the University of Florida.

They wanted to know what happens when smiling shifts from a casual choice into a repetitive job requirement.

How Researchers Tested Fake Smiles

To mimic retail and service jobs, the researchers had over 1,100 online participants look at both cute and upsetting images.

Some people reacted naturally, while others had to force a smile either once or 10 times in a row.

To raise the stakes, half the group was told they would lose two dollars of their six-dollar payout if they didn’t smile properly.

Everyone got paid in full at the end, though the threat created genuine workplace-style stress.

When Faking Happiness Backfires

A single forced smile actually gave people a slight mood lift when looking at sad pictures.

Once they had to repeat that fake grin under the threat of losing money, however, any emotional benefit completely vanished.

In the case of autistic people who fake a smile, the perceived threat is that of not fitting in or being viewed as weird with or by the group they’re presently around (e.g., coworkers, a social event, party, church group, volunteer group, even a bowling league).

In the study, things got even worse when participants looked at pleasant images like kittens and flowers.

Repeating a forced smile under financial pressure actually dragged their happiness down and sparked noticeable anger and irritation.

What’s particularly fascinating is that the financial pressure involved only single dollars.

Why Workplace Smile Rules Hurt Everyone

These results help explain why strict customer service policies often cause major burnout.

When companies like big box retailers require workers to smile on cue, it strips away their ability to feel genuine emotions.

Customers feel the awkwardness too, often sensing the pressure to play along with forced friendliness.

Instead of constantly trying to manufacture joy, Coles suggests we might all feel better if we simply let ourselves be content.

I recall one day being on a bus in Chicago while my car was in the shop.

Nearby was a couple, presumably married, and visibly over 65.

The man had a natural facial expression, one that fit with standing on a bus going somewhere: neutral.

Meanwhile, his wife, who was seated, was wearing a perpetual and big smile.

She didn’t waver for a second. There was no conversation between them, and there was nobody nearby having an amusing conversation.

Her face did not look like she was recollecting fond memories. The smile looked forced.

It made me wonder if in this woman’s childhood, she had been repeatedly admonished for not wearing a smile – something that a girl might be lectured on, a la “You should smile more often; you have such a pretty face.”

It’s possible she had even been harshly punished for not keeping up a smile.

I could clearly see that her habitual smiling had caused deep lines in her face.

I was reflecting on how, should her husband suddenly tell ME to smile, I’d pipe back, “What, and get deep crevasses in my face like your wife has?”

Honestly now, it’s downright rude and thoughtless to tell a stranger to smile.

You have no idea what kind of news they’ve recently received or what stressful events have been going on in their lives.

Though the study focused on a controlled setting that was meant to mimic workplace rules to smile, we can extrapolate from it that social rules to smile can be just as backfiring.

Lorra Garrick is a former personal trainer certified by the American Council on Exercise. At Bally Total Fitness, where she was also a group fitness instructor, she trained clients of all ages and abilities for fat loss and maintaining it, muscle and strength building, fitness, and improved cardiovascular and overall health. She has a clinical diagnosis of ASD.

Top image: Magnific, wayhomestudio