Smiling Game
CSP10 - Entry 04 - Shanghai Did you know that it takes less muscles to smile than to frown? 50 muscles to frown and 13 to smile. Hypothesis: Smiling is contagious. Experiment: On our way back from the Bund today, my friends and I played “the smiling game” on the subway. 10 points for people with blank faces. 20 points for frowns. 50 points for babies. And a grand 100 points for old men/women frowning. Conclusion: You can make anyone smile if you start smiling directly at them, but in Shanghai, it is just a bit harder.
My guess is that Shanghai-ers need 50 muscles to smile and 13 to frown.
If I had to say which city had the friendliest people, I would most definitely not pick Shanghai. For the past two months, I have noticed that catching a person smiling in Shanghai is nearly impossible. Every morning as I wait for the 911 bus to arrive on my way to work, I take advantage of the time for people watching. They pass by me in motorcycles, mopeds, bicycles, and cars, and most of the time they stare right back at me as if I just made a “Your Mama” joke that got a little too personal (or maybe too true to admit).
But why is this? Why the frown? Why the staring?
In the States, we learned that staring is impolite The kind of staring that results from this social convention means that if you want to stare, you do a “hoping you don’t see me staring at you” kind of stare. Meaning that the moment the person notices that you are staring, you swivel your head away to pretend you weren’t staring in the first place at all.
In Shanghai, there’s no shame in staring. It’s a quick evaluation or “peer into your soul.” Why does staring and frowning seem more genuine than smiling? Does that make Shanghai-ers the more genuine of people?
I did a test.
