Bank of Scotland research reveals power of a smile

The Edinburgh-based bank’s survey of over 1,000 Scots unsurprisingly reveals that more than half of people perceived a smiling person as being happy (54 per cent) or friendly (59 per cent). And almost half (45 per cent) would view them as being a ‘good’ person (45 per cent).

Not only do Scots see people as being a more jovial when they crack a smile, but it can also increase a person’s chances of being trusted, with 13 per cent of Scots more likely to trust someone if they’re smiling. But there’s clearly a balance to be had, with 16 per cent of Scots still viewing a cheeky grin as a sign of suspicion.

You can’t choose your family, but you can choose your friends and unsurprisingly, a smiley disposition increases a person’s chances of being chosen as a friend threefold (32 per cent smiling v 11 per cent neutral).

Although it seems that a smile doesn’t carry quite as much weight for Scots when it comes to choosing a doctor, with a cheery GP only being chosen by 20 per cent in comparison to 8 per cent of Scots who would choose a straight faced doctor.

The same can be said when it comes to choosing employees with 43 per cent of Scots saying that a smiley disposition increased their likelihood of contracting with a candidate.

And not only will smiling help you win friends and influence people, it’s also helping Scots to cash in. When given money and asked to share it between two people, the research found that smiling Scots take home 4 per cent more cash than those with a neutral face. It’s seems that a smile provides more than the potential for extra cash flow too, with nearly nine out of ten Scots (88 per cent) who reported more frequent smiling during work also reporting having a happier working day.

To understand how much of an impact smiling can have on Scots, Bank of Scotland has been working with Riverhill Café in Glasgow. In an experiment where staff at the café were given vouchers for a free coffee or cake and asked to simply pass them on to customers’ of their choice, smiley customers were awarded with more vouchers than those who didn’t smile.

Ricky Diggins, Director, Bank of Scotland said: “A smile is simple and it’s encouraging to see the impact that it can make to our daily lives. Our research and experiment with Riverhill Café shows the positive impact a smile can have and if something as simple as smiling can have such positive benefits, sharing more smiles is a simple change we can all take on board.”

Dr Tugce Cuhadaroglu, lecturer of economics at University of St Andrews and conductor of the study, added: “The analysis of the survey results show that the small act of a smile can really have an impact. Economically, a smile shouldn’t make a difference on a decision in many contexts, but psychologically it clearly does! It plays a role in shaping our perceptions about people and therefore changes our attitudes towards them. If you take anything from this research, it should be to smile more.”