Gender differences in smiling behaviour

Nonverbal communication, and especially facial expression, is a highly interesting and highly complex theme. First, there are many different facial expressions and for each expression even more different hypothesis and opinions. To reduce this complexity, I want to concentrate on just one aspect of facial expression, which is smiling. As “smiles are the most easily recognized facial expression” it offers a great variety of aspects for research, e.g. whether there are cultural differences and whether facial expressions are due to nature or nurture. Although they are all very interesting, I want to concentrate on the aspect of gender differences.

Therefore, I will begin with a more general part presenting what a smile is, what it is used for and which differences there are. Then there will be a greater part on gender differences and the various hypothesis and thesis around it. Finally, I will present my own empirical study, which is an observation of the anchormen and women on CNN, focusing on their smiling behaviour in connection with specific utterances. In this way, I will also develop my own hypothesis.