Remember your high school yearbook photo, an awkward portrait where you proudly donned your band uniform, enormous braces and a smattering of zits? It turns out the smile you sported in that photo can give major insight when it comes to your adult relationships. Research at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana finds that the way people smile in photos in early life can reveal whether their adult relationships are likely to last. The study required 661 people (ranging in age from their 20s through their 80s) to provide pictures of them taken between ages 5 and 22. Psychologist Matthew Hertenstein and his research team evaluated these, as well as college-yearbook photos, analyzing the eyes and mouth of each participant. A score was then given for "smile intensity."
The finding? Those who smiled the most in their yearbooks (the top 10 percent of the subjects) were five times less likely to divorce than those who smiled the least. And among the subjects who provided a range of photos, the top 10 percent of grinners were three times less likely to get divorced. Hertenstein notes that people highly expressive of positive emotion may be more open to relationships, and smiling facilitates social bonding. So that mean bully brooding and glowering in the background of all your high school yearbook photos? Sure, he gave you a massive wedgie in front of the entire cheerleading squad, but he's also on divorce number three.
還記得高中畢業年鑒相簿嗎?上面的照片現在看來有點尷尬,你當時自豪地穿著學校的樂隊制服,咧嘴露出顯眼的牙套,臉上還有顆青春痘。然而你在那張照片上展露的笑容,卻能窺見你日后的人際關系是否成功。位于印第安納洲格林賽的迪堡大學研究發現,人們在早年時候照片上的笑容,能夠顯現他們在成人后戀愛關系是否持久。該研究邀請了661個人參加(年齡層從20多歲到80多歲),他們提供自己5到22歲之間的照片。心理學家馬修·赫特斯汀和他的研究團隊對這些照片進行評估,包括大學年鑒相簿。他們分析了每個參與者的眼部和嘴部,并給每張照片的”笑容強度“打分。結果呢?那些在年鑒相簿中笑的最開的人(排名前10%)比起那些笑得最少的人,離婚的幾率要小五倍。并且在提供照片的參與者中,那些得分排名前10%露齒而笑的人離婚的幾率要小3倍。赫特斯汀注意到,那些很善于表達正面情緒的人似乎在人際關系中更能敞開胸懷,并且笑容更加強了他們的社交關系。所以高中年鑒里,那些在你所有照片背景里擺著臭臉怒氣沖沖的惡霸學生又會怎樣呢?哼,是啊,他或許曾在整個拉拉隊美眉面前拉出你的內褲讓你丟盡了臉,但是,現在的他卻在痛苦地經歷第三次的離婚。