Smile and the Jury Smiles With You

Called before a jury? Interviewing for a job? Pulled over by a traffic cop?

Smile.

A researcher says flashing a grin can make the difference between a harsh and lenient sentence, a new job or a rejection, a lavish or paltry tip.

“The big effect is that the person is perceived as being more honest, more trustworthy, more sincere,” said Marianne LaFrance, a Boston College psychology professor.

She studied the reactions of 125 people asked to imagine they were part of a disciplinary committee deciding the case of a student charged with cheating. Each was shown a picture of the student, sometimes smiling, sometimes not.

“We wanted to see whether . . . smiling, in effect, could get you off the hook,” she said.

It didn’t, entirely. Most subjects found the student guilty. But those shown the picture of the student smiling generally urged a lesser punishment than expulsion.

LaFrance repeated the test with the same results.

In earlier research, she found that subjects pretending to be traffic cops were more likely to give warnings instead of speeding tickets to motorists who smiled; that waiters and waitresses who smiled got bigger tips; and that job applicants who smiled were more likely to be hired.

“The smile says . . . this person is someone who is sort of basically trustworthy,” said LaFrance, who specializes in nonverbal means of communication, such as gestures, posture, tone of voice and eye contact.