“People were asked to rate dozens of photos of anonymous faces out of sympathy. Some photos are smiling, others are neutral. We examined and measured how an assistant who smiled or showed a neutral face during the evaluation would affect their evaluation,” explained psychologist Martin Dolejo. Faculty of Arts at Palaki University, Olomouc.

More than 400 defendants participated in the research. In a normal environment and remotely online.

“We wanted to find out how much we lost when we lost our smile because we had been wearing masks and respirators in public for the past year and a half,” explained John Sopotoni, a member of the E.ON Energy Board of Directors.

The scientists came to three conclusions. One of them is that a smile constantly influences people in a subconscious way. Respondents rated up to 37% of the same photos positively if the current assistant looked at them and smiled.

Research has shown that the power of smiles is still chained and increasing. If not only the assistant but also the person in the picture smiled at the respondents, the rating of the photo was up to 84% excellent.

“When we smile, we may all feel conscious that our surroundings see us more positively. But thanks to research, we know how big the difference is. A smile on our face increases the chances of our surroundings seeing us more positively, up to 34%,” Zopotočný added.