 A smile is a simple action that can change the world. When we are smiling, we are perceived as more attractive in the eyes of other people. We often associate smiles with feelings of pleasure and happiness. But did you know that smiling can have a lot of different meanings? My name is Robin Wallast, I'm a doctor in psychology and in this video I will describe different types of smiles. Our smile can tell a lot about our personality and depends strongly on the context. For example, in our personal life, a broad smile can indicate that we are approachable and ready to accept people. At work or in school, a confident smile demonstrates leadership, intelligence and the ability to handle challenges. Smiling is a powerful way to communicate with other people but not all smiles are equal. Scientific research has demonstrated that smiles can be classified into three fundamental social functions. Smiles of rewards, smiles of affiliation and smiles of dominance. First, smiles of rewards express positive emotions and reward both the thunder and the perceiver. Smiles of rewards can reinforce pleasurable sensation through positive feedback. For instance, babies' smiles activate dopamine that feel good chemical in their mother's brain to keep the mother's invested in their child. Reward smiles induce agreeable states and can thus be used to reinforce the behavior that gave rise to the smiles in the first place. Smiles of reward may occur when we are offered a dream job or are seeing a friend that we have not seen for a long time. In sum, reward smiles have the function to reinforce desired or good behavior. Second, smiles of affiliation tend to create and maintain social bonds. A person displaying an affiliative smile intends to be perceived as friendly and polite. People use affiliative smiles to reassure others and to communicate trustworthiness, belonging and good intentions. For instance, we may use affiliative smiles when entering a room for a job interview or greeting a teacher. In this context, a gentle smile can be seen as a sign of respect and positive intentions. Third, smiles of dominance are used to negotiate social status and hierarchy. There is strong scientific evidence that smiling is influenced by the power relations between people. Some individuals use dominant smiles to impose and maintain higher social status to show their superiority and to make others feel less powerful. For example, we may use dominant smiles when making fun of a rival or meeting an enemy after winning an important prize. On the contrary, a smile can also be taken as a sign of submission and docility. These subservient smiles may often communicate a position of inferiority. We may use the subservient smile when being scolded by your parents, teacher or boss. These are three main types of smiles, but there are many other variants. There is the Duchen smile that involves the eyes and is recognized as the most authentic expression of happiness. Moreover, we have all heard about fake smiles and lying smiles when we know we should smile but we do not feel like it. Finally, there are the polite smiles, embarrassed smiles, flirtatious smiles and the list goes on. All of these smiles have specific meanings in social interaction and communication. Smiling is therefore used in a wide variety of situations depending on the context and social norms learned through socialization and experience. To summarize, smiles have a lot of different social functions. They may reward behavior, maintain social connection or impose dominance and submission. They can be used to express feelings, to show compassion and understanding, to flirt, to signal discomfort and to cope with pain. When we are smiling, we show who we are as human beings, so we should use our smile to change the world but not let the world change our smile. Thank you for watching. Let me know in the comments below what kind of smiles do you have and do not forget to put a smile on my face by liking this video and subscribe to my channel. Stay safe and healthy. Bye.