Induced smile

What causes these smile-inducing people to behave like this even though they don't need to?"

The number one thing that I think it all boils down to? Passion!

I suspect that smile-inducing behavior is actually the "normal" way for people behave (perhaps "instinctive" would be a better word). But so many people are in situations where they learn that being passionate and doing those smile-inducing things gets them in trouble for goofing around (I saw a few mentions of this in other comments, too). So they stuff it, suppress it, quell or quench their passion, and become sourpusses who then propagate it because if they can't have a good time, dammit, neither can anyone else!

But when the environment encourages people to be passionate, to really get into whatever it is that they are doing, then they get so excited and so wrapped up in what they are doing that they stop worrying so much about what other people are going to think if they put this funny little twist in--or they project that other people will get a kick out of it so of course they want to share it with them!

Plus, especially in the case of the airline crews (for example) I think there's almost a little thrill of doing something you shouldn't. They're supposed to be professional, which apparently means cold and polite. So when they cross that line and do something warm and engaging there's something a little taboo about it. I think that might be why it almost always goes over well with passengers, too; it's a little bit of a surprise to realize that inside that uniform, just behind the nametag, there's a Real Person with feelings and emotions and everything! And after that, there's a sense of connection with that person that didn't quite exist before.

In a huge percentage of these cases, the smiler will never again encounter the person who made them smile (or even a first time in the case of things like that bathroom sign). But for the duration of the encounter there will be that little sense of connection, and after reading so many of the stories here in the comments I have to say that even just the memory of that will continue to evoke a smile for years to come.

Posted by: Joel J. | Jan 16, 2007 9:18:10 AM