Smile!

Reading about how facial expression influences your mood brought me back to the first psychology class I took, as a senior in high school.  My teacher used to give us surveys approximately once a week, about our moods, attitudes, and positive feelings.  It was the same survey every time.  One week, without mentioning the survey, my teacher made us all plaster big, fake smiles on our faces and skip around the third floor of our high school.  It felt ridiculous at the time.  Shortly thereafter, she gave us the survey. This silly experiment of hers demonstrated that acting like goofballs made almost my entire class report more positive emotions, even though we had to put on cheesy, fake smiles.  I had forgotten about this until recently. It definitely gives some credit to the catchphrase "Fake it 'till you make it!"