THE SMILE: AN INDICATOR OF HAPPINESS

Authors

  • Paula Inez Cunha Gomide

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7322/jhgd.38373

Keywords:

smile, child, young adult, institutionalization.

Abstract

This work analyses the effects of institutionalization or family life on children’s and yong adults’ smiling behavior. Man owns a universal collection of expressive movements that allows communication despite lan~uage and cultural barriers. Researchers on facial expression have verified that the smile is a powerful source of interpersonal gratification and is related to the emotional state of joy. Orphanages, slums and family environment vary in degree and frequency of emitted and correspondend smiles. Two experiments were carried out to investigate the abovementioned hypothesis. Exp I registered smiles in children of both sexes, ages between 5 and 10
years old, coming from an orphanage, a slum and a middle-class neighborhood. Exp 11 observed young adults from 14 to 21 years old, male, derived from an orphanage for law-breakers, a boarding school for law-breakers and a regular high school. The subjects were observed in playing activities. It was clearly verified that children and adolescents raised in institutions smile less than those brought up in freedom, even when in precarious social conditions as in slums. This
research indicates that institutions that isolate children and adolescents from their families strongly harm their emotional development and their happiness.

Author Biography

  • Paula Inez Cunha Gomide
    Psicóloga. Profa. Dra. do Departamento de Psicologia da Universidade Federal do Paraná.

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Published

1996-12-19

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1-2 (1996)

Section

Opinião/Atualização

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