Trisha Leigh Zeigenhorn asks in this article from didyouknowfacts.com, Who would have guessed there was such a phenomenon? Not me, before researching this article (which is one of the things I just love about my job!). It turns out that a close examination of your face can reveal your social class.
I mean, I’m all for a society without classes but wth. We’ve got what we’ve got and this is interesting, people! Read on…
This study concluded that even if people don’t understand how or why they’re making judgments on how much money you have or what sort of family you come from, they do it anyway – because of what they see on your face.
The best guess as to why and how this works is that the sum of your stresses and experiences and tensions (or lack thereof) become etched on your face by early adulthood, after which they are very difficult to change.
According to the study’s c0-author, Dr. Nicholas Rule, “Over time, your face comes to permanently reflect and reveal your experiences. Even when we think we’re not expressing something, relics of those emotions are still there.”
Sort of unnerving, is it not, to think that your face is saying things you’d rather keep to yourself?
Most interesting (to me) is that the study participants were only able to reliably guess a person’s class when their facial expression remained neutral. If they were smiling, the effect vanished completely.
So there you go, folks. Smiling really does mask your pain – and, apparently, also your good breeding.
Image: Faces - clipartpanda.com