Moderating Self Esteem: Facial Expression begets Happiness

Ta’Myia Willimas

Facial expressions are one of the frst things people see.

  • Did this picture make you smile?
  • Psychologists argue that smiling when you are happy brings more happiness as well as frowning when sad brings more sadness (Coles at al., 2019).
  • Psychologists have studied the effects of smiling on happiness and the way self-esteem affects how we feel for a very long time (Kraft-Feil et al., 20230. However, whether others have high or low self-esteem just might alter how much happiness seeing them smile brings.

Main IV: Facial Expression

  • Construct definition
    • Positioning of the face muscles to produce a non-verbal cue of emotion
  • Operational definition
    • Measured using an Image Task that showed one picture of a Duchenne Smile and one of a neutral expression.

Moderator IV: Self-esteem

  • Construct definition
    • The level of confidence one has in his/her own abilities.
  • Operational definition
    • Participants were shown a short sentence noting the level of self-esteem of the person in the photo shown as either high or low.

Dependent Variable: Happiness

  • Construct definition
    • The level of happiness self-recorded by the participants.
  • Operational definition
    • Participants completed a happiness survey of questions were pulled from existing Happiness questionnaires (Hills & Argyle 2002; QuestionPro, 2024 ). Participants rated answers 1-4 varying from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

Hypotheses

Main IV
Duchenne Smile Neutral Expression
Moderator IV High self-esteem Higher happiness Lower happiness
Low self-esteem Lower happiness Lower happiness

Figure of results

Results

Discussion

  • 1 Limitation: No random sampling
  • 1 Strength: Consistent conditions
  • 1 Implication: Attractiveness and its effects on happiness

How others see themselves is more important than how we see others.

Confidence is key * All you need is a little bit of confidence and a smile!