What’s in a Smile? The features of Indigenous Fijians’ and NZ Europeans’ smiles

Abstract

The Fijian “Bula Smile,” is often described as the world’s friendliest, however its description remains anecdotal. We aim to describe and compare the features of Fijians’ smiles with those of New Zealand Europeans. An observational study was conducted on two ethnic groups, Fijians (FJ; N=23) and New Zealand Europeans (NZ; N=23), age- and gender-matched. All participants were asked to watch amusing videos, and their reactions were video recorded. The videos were analysed by software to assess the frequency, duration, intensity, and genuineness of smiling episodes. Based on the Facial Action Coding System, Action Unit 6 (AU6 - cheek raiser), Action Unit 12 (AU12 - lip corner puller), and Action Unit 25 (AU25 – lips apart) were assessed. Data were analysed by generalised linear models after adjusting for personality traits. Fijians smiled longer than New Zealand Europeans (+19.9%; p=0.027). Mean intensity of AU6 (+1.0; 95%CIs=0.6-1.5; p<0.001), AU12 (+0.5; 95%CIs=0.1-0.9; p=0.008) and AU25 (+22.3%; 95%CIs=7.3-37.3%; p=0.005) were significantly higher in FJ group than the NZ group. Smiling features of Fijians and New Zealanders showed objective differences, the most distinctive being a higher activation of the Duchenne’s marker (AU6) in the Fijian group, which is regarded as a sign of smile genuineness.