The Effect of Smiling on Whether or Not Others Are

More Inclined to SmileBy: Andrew Brindell

Mrs. Pietrangelo’s Honors Biology

Period 3

Problem Statement and Hypothesis

Problem Statement: If I smile at a person will they be more inclined to smile immediately after?

Hypothesis: If I smile at a group of 160 strangers I have never met, then over fifty percent of them will smile back at me.

Reasoning A topic unknown by me. Appeared fairly interesting. Based on human personality and

patterns. Fascinated to see the results.

Basic Concepts -Contagiousness-

tending to spread from person to person -Inclination-

a disposition or bent, esp. of the mind or will. -Smile-

to assume a facial expression indicating  pleasure, favor, or amusement, but sometimes derision or scorn, characterized by an upturning of the corners of the mouth.

Positive Emotions and Facial Structure

Design Diagram Title: The Effect of Smiling on

Whether or Not Others Are More Inclined to Smile

Hypothesis: If I smile at a group of 160 strangers I have never met, then over fifty percent of them will smile back at me.

IV: The Amount of Times I Smiled at Strangers.

DV: The Amount of Strangers That Smiled Back.

Design Diagram (Continued)

Constants: The type of smile that I use from person to person for each level. Not knowing or having and bias of the people in the experiment. The absence of humorous instigators near by. The speed at which you walk around when conducting the experiment as defined by the procedure. The period of time that the smile is held for during the experiment. The period of which the strange is given to smile back. A similar amount of total people in the public area. The type of area that the experiment is taken place in from level to level. Locations of Smiling Trials.Materials: 1 pad of college ruled paper to record results from experiment on. 1 #2 pencil to write down the recorded results from the experiment on the pad of paper. The ability to smile to carry out the experiment and its goals A setting that will easily allow the experiment to take place (Ex. A mall or a park)

Levels Average Smile

Slightly Exagger

ated Smile

Hysterical Smile

Control: No

Incentives to Smile

Trials 40 40 40 40

Procedure Create four charts on the pad of college ruled paper using your pencil each having two defined

sections. One for strangers that smiled back, and one for strangers that did not. They all should look something like the following:

 

Go to the Montgomery Mall to conduct the different levels of the experiment. Do 10 trials of “Average Smile”, 10 trials of “Slightly Exaggerated Smile”, 10 trials of “Hysterical Smile”, and 10 trials of the “Control Group”.

Slowly walk around the area that you have selected, if a stranger makes eye contact with you smile at them according to the proper level of the experiment that you are testing.

If the stranger smiles back at you put a tally in your table under the column titled “Strangers That Smiled Back”, if the stranger does not smile at you put a tally under the column titled “Strangers That Did Not Smile Back”.

Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have a total of 40 combined tallies in the different tables on your pad of paper, 10 for each table.

Repeat steps 2 through 5 but instead of the Montgomery Mall change the location to a different location for every 40 people that you tally. Other locations include Plymouth Meeting Mall, King of Prussia Mall, and Willow Grove Mall.

Repeat steps 3 through 5 changing the levels as necessary until you have filled all the tables on your pad of paper, having each table with 40 tallies. Make sure that you are not repeating the strangers that you smile at.

Once finished analyze data to see whether your hypothesis was either supported, refuted, or neither supported nor refuted.

Strangers That Smiled Back Strangers That Did Not Smile Back

Results

People that smiled back (A), People that did not smile back (B). (A/B)

Specific Mall:

Montgomeryville

Plymouth Meeting

King of Prussia

Willow Grove

Control: 0/10 2/8 0/10 0/10

Average Smile:

1/9 3/7 4/6 0/10

Slightly Exaggerated

Smile:

2/8 5/5 3/7 5/5

Hysterical Smile:

4/6 6/4 7/3 3/7

Totals: 7/33 16/24 14/26 8/32

Calculations -Total Average: 11.25/28.75

[(7+16+14+8)/4] -Total Median: 11/29 [7,8,14,16] -Total Mode: None -Average For Control: 0.5/9.5 [(0+2+0+0)/4] -Average For Level 1 (Average Smile): 2/8

[(1+3+4+0)/4] -Average For Level 2 (Slightly Exaggerated

Smile): 3.75/6.25 [(2+5+3+5)/4] -Average For Level 3 (Hysterical Smile): 5/5

[(4+6+7+3)/4]

Statistical Analysis

∑=19.981

Levels Expected (e)

Observed (o)

o-e (o-e) x (o-e)

(o-e) x (o-e) /e

Average Smile

11.25 8 3.25 10.5625 0.9388888

Slightly Exaggerated Smile

11.25 15 -3.75 14.0625 1.25

Hysterical Smile

11.25 20 -8.75 76.5625 6.8055555

Control 11.25 2 9.25 85.5625 7.6055

Sum 45 45 XXXXXXX XXXXXXX 16.599999

Graphs

Mont-gomeryville

Plymouth Meeting

King of Prus-sia

Willow Grove

Control Group

0 2 0 0

Average Smile (Level 1)

1 3 4 0

Slightly Exag-gerated Smile (Level 2)

2 5 3 5

Hysteri-cal Smile (Level 3)

4 6 7 3

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

5.5

6.5

7.5

The Effects of Different Types of Smiles on Whether or Not Others Are More Inclined to Smile

Control Group

Average Smile (Level 1)

Slightly Exaggerated Smile (Level 2)

Hysterical Smile (Level 3)

Specific Mall

Nu

mb

er o

f P

eo

ple

Th

at

Sm

ile

d B

ack

Graphs (Continued)

Montgomeryville Plymouth Meeting King of Prussia Willow Grove

Totals 7 16 14 8

1

3

5

7

9

11

13

15

17

Total Amounts of "The Effect on Smiling on Whether or Not Others Are More Inclined to Smile

Specific Mall

Nu

mb

er

of

Pe

op

le T

ha

t S

mil

ed

Ba

ck

Conclusions Background Information: Factors

Contributed to Smiling + Representation of Smiles in Other Cultures.

Sources of Error: • Environmental One Specific Setting• Human Video or Images to be Judged• Subject Hand Picked Subjects

Extensions: Sneezing, Coughing, Having to Use the Bathroom.

Applications: Knowledge, Livelihood, Persuasion

Acknowledgements My parents for transportation and

supplies Mrs. Pietrangelo for helpful in sight

and thought process All the people I smiled at

The End