Category: Smiling

Smiling Mind is a non-profit organization that provides a variety of programmes & resources to show the positive benefits of mindfulness and skills to cope with mental health issues. Mindfulness is the practise of concentrating attention on the present moment’s experience, with an attitude of tolerance, non-judgemental acceptance & curiosity. The Smiling Mind vision and goal is that—they want to change the way we all look after our mental health.

In 2015, Lawrence and a group of researchers reported that an issue with mental health support is the perceived stigma in accessing mental health services (Lawrence et al. 2015) and the shortage of mental-health professionals (Patel et al. 2007) are known to make it difficult for many young people with mental health1 issues to receive adequate support. With reference to Patton’s team’s research, during adolescence, significant biological, neurodevelopmental, social and psychological changes occur during the early adolescence developmental stage, the period between 11 and 14 years of age (Patton et al. 2016). Important health and social problems either start or peak from early adolescence through to young adulthood (World Health Organisation [WHO] 2017a). The World Health organisation has recorded that Mental health in particular is a concern, with 20% of young people experiencing a mental health problem within any given year (WHO 2017b). Left untreated, mental health issues can have a significant and detrimental effect on students’ well-being, functioning and development (McGorry et al. 2014). McGorry 2014 strongly advices that it is therefore, important that early intervention and prevention strategies are developed for this age group.

In schools, smiling Mind deliver a variety of resources and training programmes to promote education through the school communities nationwide. Learning about Mindfulness in schools is an excellent way to also help the teachers understand & cope while they learn with students new coping skills and ways manage the rising mental health issues people may face today.

Smiling Mind offers a variety of programmes and tools designed to make mindfulness accessible, easy to practise and as regular practise a part of your weekly lifestyle. One of their most successful programmes is their mindfulness-based programme through a free mobile app suitable for any age.

The programs that were delivered to students through the app all varied extensively in content, format, structure and duration. While the core elements of mindfulness, ‘present moment awareness’ and ‘breathing awareness’ were highlighted in the majority of the studies, that was where the similarities ended.

Bannirchelvam, Bell & Costello in 2017, conducted a qualitative exploration of the school student’s experience with Smiling Mind programs in schools and found that Students utilised mindfulness techniques from Smiling Mind for emotion regulation, typically by focusing on their breathing, shifting their attention to the present, and using a smartphone application. (Bannirchelvam, B., Bell, K.L. & Costello, S 2017).

Students in this study reported using mindfulness techniques when they were aware of feeling “angry” or “annoyed”. Julie shared, “I used the Smiling Mind app [a smartphone application] when my sister really annoyed me”. Student’ responses regarding their practice of mindfulness revealed a number of techniques are utilised including breathing, shifting to the present, and use of the Smiling Mind smartphone application (Smiling Mind 2016).

They found that spontaneous use of a smartphone application was particularly noteworthy given that participants were not introduced to the application as a component of the program. Surprisingly, several students practiced mindfulness using the guided meditations on the Smiling Mind application. This was an unexpected finding, and to our knowledge, this study is the first to report student’s spontaneous use of technology to support their practice of mindfulness.

However overall, research and findings from Joyce, Etty-Leal, Zzryn & Hamilton in 2010 suggest that not all teachers are qualified or suitable for implementation of mindfulness based teaching programs. According to Joyce, Etty-leal, Zazryn and Hailton 2010, Previous research has found that many teachers do not know how to deal with students that do not take the mindfulness lessons seriously (Joyce, Etty-Leal, Zazryn, & Hamilton, 2010).

In 2015, Kathy Arthurson discussed the promise of mindfulness could be lost if due attention is not given to maintaining its integrity and addressing issues raised, including about the range, duration and scheduling of activities for children and adolescents, and the background skills and qualifications of those that teach mindfulness based approaches as they are rapidly expanding in mainstream education. (Kathy Arthuson, 2015)

Burrows in 2011 enforced another view in that he found mindfulness to be effective to use a more indirect approach of bringing mindfulness into the classroom through working with teachers first, to develop their own practice. Burrows (2011, p. 5), similarly makes the case for what she terms ‘relational mindfulness’ described as an integration of mindfulness training, experience and counsellor training to develop a deep awareness of the present relational experience.

A Limitation of the Smiling Mind program is if the school or child has access to the technology to make full use of the smiling mind application. Developing countries may not have access to this program & technology due to less school funding or living in a poor region/area where this technology is not as common to the culture.

To conclude, the way mindfulness approaches are developed, incorporated and taught will determine whether the practices are adopted as a set of holistic processes or whether they just become another set of teaching tools in the classroom linked to better performance.

However, not all students utilised mindfulness techniques for the same undesired emotional states, potentially explaining the inconsistent findings in the literature investigating the impact of mindfulness on specific emotional and behavioural outcome measures in students. Contextualising these findings within current theoretical models of mindfulness and emotional regulation, some of the students’ responses reflected misconceptions of mindfulness as a form of distraction.

Significantly, this study was amongst the first to find that students spontaneously access guided meditation through technology to practice mindfulness. The factors of the ease of access to the smiling mind app and that it was involving the students as a community positively contributed to these findings. Teachers found their students made psychological, behavioural and learning progress over time from practising mindfulness activities (Arthurson 2015; Costello and Lawler 2014).

The most commented-on change was students being relaxed and settled after meditation practices, which reduced disruptive behaviour and increased on-task behaviour as they became less reactive (Costello and Lawler 2014; Joyce et al. 2010). The results of the current study suggest that mindfulness interventions in schools are well received by students and can be an effective tool for emotional regulation.

References

1. https://go-gale-com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA386942018&v=2.1&u=swinburne1&it=r&p=EAIM&sw=w Australia : Government funding for Smiling Mind education project
2. https://www.smilingmind.com.au/references/#anchor-education-references
3. https://mindtools.io/programs/smiling-mind/
4. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol40/iss5/2/
5. Teaching Mindfulness to Year Sevens as Part of Health and Personal Development – Arthurson, K. (2015). Teaching Mindfulness to Year Sevens as Part of Health and Personal Development. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 40(5).
6. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40688-017-0141-2
7. https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/article/10.1007/s40688-017-0141-2
8. Bannirchelvam, B., Bell, K.L. & Costello, S. A Qualitative Exploration of Primary School Students’ Experience and Utilisation of Mindfulness. Contemp School Psychol 21, 304–316 (2017). https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/10.1007/s40688-017-0141-2
9. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s40814-019-0463-0
10. Yaari, M., Sheehan, J., Oberklaid, F. et al. Early Minds: a pilot randomised controlled trial of a mindfulness program in early learning centres. Pilot Feasibility Stud 5, 81 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40814-019-0463-0
11. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-018-0998-9
12. McKeering, P., Hwang, Y. A Systematic Review of Mindfulness-Based School Interventions with Early Adolescents. Mindfulness 10, 593–610 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-018-0998-9
13. Book/PDF – Social and Emotional Learning in Australia and the Asia-Pacific Perspectives, Programs and Approaches – Erica Frydenberg · Andrew J. Martin RebeccaJ.Collie

In the essay “why women smile” the author Amy Cunningham analyzes the logic behind why women smile. According to her article women have been influenced by society in the way they show or do not show their emotions. So my essay will go over how women are still not wholly equal and how society still has control over the way women act.

In opening the article, the author seems to convey the idea that the leading cause of a woman’s smile is based on natural happiness, but more so a women smile is nurtured by societal expectation. Which is why the author states “I find myself trying to quit” implying to the reader that her smile is something that is negative. It makes her feel as though the only thing that helps her to accomplish the things that she has accomplished in life is her smile. By saying “find myself” the author may also be implying that the best way for her to find/understand herself is if she stops doing things to please people and start doing things to please herself, which is to narrow down on the amount of time she smiles.

As a woman, it seems as though all of her power is in her smile, which is why she continued by saying that she is “seeking to lower the wattage a bit.” A wattage is signified as the amount of power required to operate an electrical device. So when the author uses the word wattage she may be referring to her light, and as a woman, we are under much pressure because we must learn how to be great mothers, excellent worker and even if we’re frustrated and tired we still have to continue to smile just so we can be that light within society.

Our smile is what defines us in a sense because it is what draws people to us. According to Cunningham as women people “associate you with your smile” because women are known to be more nurturing. She makes it seem as though the main reason women have the cliché of always smiling is that like smiling with a baby people want to feel that nurturing vibe from a woman and smiling allow women to have more of a comforting presence. She also claims that “women doctors smile more than their male counterparts” which goes to show that society is still in the slightest way saying that women success strongly depends on what others think of them.

When writing the essay the author talks in the first person point of view to show her emotion, as a woman she wants all women to know that they are not alone in their views. The first person point of view allows her to be involved in her opinion, requiring her not to only speak her point of view, but also include outside information that can help the reader, whom I’m assuming are women, relate to what it is that she is saying.

Which is why she continued with saying, “My smile has gleamed like a cheap plastic night-light” by the use of the word “my” she is including herself and it also shows that she has a lot of confidence in her opinion. A night-light is used only in the dark, and a women smile is seen as something in a sense that brightens everyone’s day, and this is a good thing. However, what about women needs, it’s like women are meant to take care of everyone, make sure they feel comfortable when society doesn’t even think to do the same for us.

While I agree with Cunningham’s argument, saying that women in our society are being forced to smile I kinda also disagree. In a sense society, I think, doesn’t really force women, to smile it force us to live up to the societal standards of beauty causing women to develop their own insecurities. The insecurities that women have because we have so much pressure being put on us to be attractive, we smile because society influences us to believe that smiling makes you more beautiful. When she said that “a woman’s face is her work of fiction” she is implying that a woman smiling doesn’t necessarily imply happiness but it’s because we want to fit in. our smile is fictional meaning that it is made up in order to entertain our audience, which would be society.

In a sense, it like society promotes to women that your smile is “the essence of you” meaning that a women smile is her most important quality. Our smile draws people in, it is what makes people want to get close to us and if we don’t smile when we are pushing people away because we look like we are angry/ unattractive. We are limiting our opportunities when we decide not to smile, and “despite all the work we Americans women have done to get and to maintain full control of our bodies….. We still don’t seem to be fully in charge of a couple of small muscle groups in our faces.”

In ending her essay Cunningham then stated that she believes the idea that “female mature earlier than males” play a big role in the reason why women smile. Completely changing her view she ends the essay in a way saying that society doesn’t control us, it is us women who control society with our smile. Promoting to women that smiling is good as long as we are being honest with our feelings.

With the fast manner in which the modern world works, stress has become more of an unhealthy personality trait than just an occasional ailment. ‘The last two decades have witnessed a growing societal concern with stress and its psychological toll’ (Holahan, 1994). Peggy A. Thoits talked about how ‘stressors can negatively affect physical health ;or mental health (or both simultaneously)’ and how stress significantly relates to the occurrence of multiple conditions such as flus, depression, angina, and alcohol and drug use (Thoits, 2013).

Tara L. Kraft and Sarah D. Pressman’s ‘Grin and Bear It’ is an experimental study that explores the relationship between peoples’ stress responses and the action of smiling. The aim of this experiment was to determine whether a specific smile coupled with awareness would result in a faster recovery after an episode of stress. In simpler terms, Kraft and Pressman were investigating the benefits of smiling and trying to find out if the action of ‘grinning and bearing it’ had real-life applications. Through this study, people can gain a better perspective on how to deal with their day-to-day anxiety before it manifests into something more dangerous.One-hundred seventy participants from a Midwestern university were randomly assigned to one of three groups: standard smilers, Duchenne or ‘sincere’ smilers, and neutral-expression control group. Prior to this, they had been ‘screened for facial muscular disorder, lack of English fluency, and psychological disorder’ (Kraft, Pressman, 2012, p. 1373). This was done was by giving the partakers chopsticks to place in their mouths so that they could mimic the correct expression and engage the right muscles. The manner in which the participants’ faces were arranged served as the independent variable. Standard smilers adjusted the chopsticks in such a way that the zygomaticus major muscle was in effect, and the Duchenne smile did the same while also engaging the orbicularis oculi muscle. To ensure the correct muscles were being used, Facial Action Coding System was utilized. These ‘smiling groups’ were then further split into two halves where one half

With the fast manner in which the modern world works, stress has become more of an unhealthy personality trait than just an occasional ailment. ‘The last two decades have witnessed a growing societal concern with stress and its psychological toll’ (Holahan, 1994). Peggy A. Thoits talked about how ‘stressors can negatively affect physical health or mental health (or both simultaneously)’ and how stress significantly relates to the occurrence of multiple conditions such as flus, depression, angina, and alcohol and drug use (Thoits, 2013).

Tara L. Kraft and Sarah D. Pressman’s ‘Grin and Bear It’ is an experimental study that explores the relationship between peoples’ stress responses and the action of smiling. The aim of this experiment was to determine whether a specific smile coupled with awareness would result in a faster recovery after an episode of stress. In simpler terms, Kraft and Pressman were investigating the benefits of smiling and trying to find out if the action of ‘grinning and bearing it’ had real-life applications. Through this study, people can gain a better perspective on how to deal with their day-to-day anxiety before it manifests into something more dangerous.

One-hundred seventy participants from a Midwestern university were randomly assigned to one of three groups: standard smilers, Duchenne or ‘sincere’ smilers, and neutral-expression control group. Prior to this, they had been ‘screened for facial muscular disorder, lack of English fluency, and psychological disorder’ (Kraft, Pressman, 2012, p. 1373). This was done was by giving the partakers chopsticks to place in their mouths so that they could mimic the correct expression and engage the right muscles. The manner in which the participants’ faces were arranged served as the independent variable. Standard smilers adjusted the chopsticks in such a way that the zygomaticus major muscle was in effect, and the Duchenne smile did the same while also engaging the orbicularis oculi muscle. To ensure the correct muscles were being used, Facial Action Coding System was utilized. These ‘smiling groups’ were then further split into two halves where one half was aware of the fact that they were smiling through the chopsticks and were actively told to smile throughout the experiment, and the other group was unaware of these reasons.

After the participants had been trained to hold the chopsticks in the correct manner, they were given automated cuffs that measured their heart rate, which was the dependent variable, every couple of minutes. This would serve as a tracker for the cardiovascular stress response. Then, two different stressful tasks were conducted under the innuendo that the study was testing people’s multitasking abilities. The first task consisted of the participants using their non-dominant hand to repeatedly trace a star while looking at a mirror image of their hand and the star. The second task was a cold-pressor task where the participants stuck their hand in ice water for one minute and then recovered again for five minutes. Participants’ heart rates were measured during a five-minute recovery period post each task.

The heart rates during the recovery periods were then computed against time onto four different graphs: two depicting the three facial-expression groups (standard smile, Duchenne smile, neutral) after the star-tracer and cold-pressor tasks, and the other two depicting the aware and unaware subgroups against the neutral group post both tasks. Both of the facial-expression graphs showed that the participants that maintained a Duchenne smile had lower heart rates, followed by standard smilers, and then the neutral expression group. The graphs depicting the bpm for the aware/unaware/neutral subgroups showed the aware having lower heart rates, followed by the unaware, and then the neutral. The main conclusions made were that sincere, or Duchenne, smiles were more effective than standard smiles, and that unaware smilers had less (but similar) heart rate benefits than the people who were aware.

This would mean that people who were making an active effort to smile benefited with regards to their stress and this links to the ‘Facial-Feedback Hypothesis’ which states that our facial expressions ‘modulate ongoing emotions, and initiate them’ and that they ‘may influence the occurrence of specific emotions’ (McIntosh, 1996). Still, the data was not significant as the bpm of the aware and unaware smilers were similar in the end. Hence, another way to see these results is that ‘smiling did not increase positive affect but instead reduced the detrimental affect influences of stress’ (Kraft, Pressman, 2012, p. 1376).

A number of factors have to be considered if we are to say whether smiling is a potential treatment. For one, although the participants had been screened, they all fell in the ‘young adult’ age range and were university students. This means that these results cannot be applied to the older and younger age groups, as well as people who have less or more stressful lifestyles, different cardiovascular health and stress-coping mechanisms to that of a typical university student.

Another element to consider is that the initial results produced by the methods were inconsistent between the two stressful tasks as there were a number of extraneous factors, such as sex, perceived task difficulty, condition adherence, and so on, were not accounted for. It was only after a number of covariates were later considered that the results started to make more sense and form steady patterns between the two tasks. However, these variables accounted for difference in stress levels and perceptions in difficulties of tasks among university students alone. They did not account for how it would be for people who have different abilities, stress levels, and tolerances. Further studies that account for a better representation of the population would present better results and depict whether this study can be applied to the public.

There were two methods through which the stress levels were measured: heart rate and self-reporting. The participants were asked to complete a questionnaire prior to the testing so that their ‘baseline’ could be determined. Considering that the volunteers were under the impression that they were doing a multitasking activity, they could have exaggerated their ability to take on multiple tasks (take on stress) by believing it might impress the researchers. These count as a demand characteristics which are ‘aspects of an observational setting that cause people to behave as they think someone else wants or expects’ (Schacter, 2017, p. 42). Another problem with self-reporting is that the participants themselves may be confused about how they feel when they’re being put in a stressful situation and simultaneously being asked to smile in specific ways. This would mess up the psychological-physiological relationship that is trying to be established as they would be conflicting each other rather than working together. To put it briefly, this study lacked external validity as well as respondent bias. Nevertheless, that does not mean it cannot be learned from.

Measuring heart rate as a way of gaging stress levels also seemed to be a reasonable idea since it has been seen that if an individual shows fear, their cortisol levels rise and hence the cardiovascular response to stress also increases (Lerner, 2007, Results). Lerner’s study also found that ‘the more indignation individuals displayed in response to the same stressors the lower their cortisol levels and cardiovascular responses’ (Lerner, 2007, Results). If emotions are capable of riling people up, perhaps certain emotions, like happiness, can come through a smile and calm people down. In the star-tracer test, the volunteers were given impossible standards to work up to for the activity and were also told that if they accomplished these ‘goals’, then they would be given chocolate. The incentive to win coupled with the unattainable levels would then contribute to the stress of the groups. This scenario depicts goals and societal standards and can be compared to majority of day-to-day tasks that people undergo. The situation itself is artificial and although it cannot do real-life scenarios justice, it does lay the ground for a good test run.

To conclude, it should be understood that there is a link between smiling and stress-recovery that may benefit people. This link has not shown accurate enough results for it to be a guaranteed way to deal with stress, but it can be further implemented and enhanced, such as through a sample that better represents the population. The ‘stress epidemic’ is on the rise and these types of studies could be a major factor in fighting it before it becomes even worse. Hence, it’s important to look into Kraft and Pressman’s work and learn from it.