Winchester Academy hosts social psychologist
Paula Niedenthal will present “The Science of Smiles” at 6:30 p.m. Monday, March 5, at the Waupaca Area Public Library.
Free and open to the public, the program is sponsored by Winchester Academy.
Niedenthal, a social psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will share her research into emotions.
The smile may be the most common and flexible expression, used to reveal some emotions, cover others and manage social interactions that have kept communities secure and organized for millennia.
Neidenthal and international colleagues from Cardiff University and the University of Glasgow ran a set of experiments to better understand of the human smile.
Their study found three distinct, recognized expressions – smiles of reward, affiliation and dominance – and described the facial muscle combinations that make them.
Research into the use and effects of smiles is pivotal human interactions. Niedenthal has found that smiles can even shift the outcome of games and negotiation.
In addition, her research has provided information for surgeons who repair and reconstruct facial bones and muscles.
“They may have to make choices that will affect a patient’s expression for the rest of their life,” Niedenthal said.
Niedenthal received her bachelor’s degree in psychology from UW-Madison. She received her doctorate at the University of Michigan prior to becoming a faculty member at Johns Hopkins University and Indiana University.
She served as the director of research in the National Centre for Scientific Research at the Universite Blaise Pascal in France and has authored more than 80 articles and several books.
Winchester Academy is funded through sponsors and tax-deductible donations.
For more information about Winchester Academy, visit winchesteracademywaupaca.org, follow the group on Facebook, or contact Executive Director Ann Buerger Linden at 715-258-2927 or [email protected].