All language subtitles for BBC The Human Face - 1. Face To Face

Standing around enjoying
yourself with friends

There is nothing quite like it

Catching up, joshing
each other, having a laugh,

seeing them laugh, just enjoying
their company face-to-face

Yet in today's world

all too often we cut ourselves
off from other people

We forget the benefits
of being with others

I'll be finding out why being
face-to-face is so very important

and why making expressions
connects us with other people

and how facial expressions
can alter the way we feel

Our facial expressions promote
facial expressions from other people

When I smile at you,
almost immediately,

there is a smile comes back to me

We'll see how transforming your
expressions can transform your marriage

and we'll explore the
benefits of a good laugh

And now live from the heart
of London's West End its

Secrets Of The Face

Good evening
Tonight I shall be demonstrating

how to make and
read facial expressions

with help from my assistant Janet

Hello. That's a smile

But first a question

Why is it that so few
soap operas feature crocodiles?

Hello love

Hello dear

You look fed up

How can you tell?
I was just guessing

The problem with
crocodiles as dramatic actors

is that they only
have one expression

and that's three
less than Michael Palin

They are solitary
creatures that

don't need to be able to communicate
subtly with their fellow crocs

Most humans however
are interested in slightly

more than just sex and violence

We like to communicate

In fact, we like it so much

we can create over 7000
different facial expressions

And Janet will now demonstrate
a selection of them

Sadness

Contempt

Melancholic resignation with undertones
of knowingfulness moderated

by envy and puzzlement mixed with
guilty compassion plus a hint of irony

No, that's helpless astonishment

I told them to get Judi Dench

Never mind. Moving on

Now, the reason that the human face
can produce so many expressions

is the way that it is constructed

The face consists of
44 muscles and two bones:

The skull and the jaw

But unlike any other part of the body
these muscles are not attached to the bone

and so they are able to float freely

giving them the huge mobility
that gives us facial expression

Now most of us can make expressions
easily and effortlessly

Can I have my face back please?

Certainly

Give you the chance
to practise with it

So, it comes as a shock
to discover that

some people have great
difficulty doing this

Lauren Deveney suffers
from Mobius syndrome

The nerves that make her
facial muscles move are paralysed

so she can't really make
any expressions at all

We found out she had Mobius

about an hour and a half
after she was born

There was apparently a very
wonderful neonatologist

on the staff at that time

and she came and told us

and it all sounded horrid and awful and
she wouldn't do this, she wouldn't do that

The way we explain it
to people who just,

on the street or in the grocery store,
or people who don't know about Lauren,

she was born with Mobius syndrome which
gives her several characteristics:

She does have full
facial paralysis,

her eyes do not move left to right,

she doesn't blink as often

and her eyes do not
close all the way

It's hard to imagine not
being able to move your face

I've tried to imagine it several hundreds
of thousands of times and it's just,

nearly impossible to imagine how would
your face feel if you couldn't move it

Lauren's parents are
really worried about

how she is going to get
on with other kids

I'm just afraid that, you know,
she may get teased a lot and,

that whole social scene and friends
and cliques and all that type of thing

I think that without facial expression
they will perceive her

as being retarded, stupid,
not paying attention, not interested

It's amazing that you don't realise how
much your face does express your feelings

But Sharon and Dan have
found a surgeon in Canada

who may be able to put
a smile on Lauren's face

I would definitely like her to be
able to smile the first day of school

It would be a lot less
pressure on her

It would be a lot less
pressure on everyone, basically

Lauren and her family

drive to Toronto for her operation

I hear there is an ice skating
rink near our hotel

Do you think we should go ice
skating before your surgery? Yeah

We'll have to go
before your surgery

because you'll be in the
hospital room afterwards

All right, round the corner there

So this is our room

You can open your eyes

Dr Ronald Zuker has
helped pioneer

an operation that can
give facial movement

to people like Lauren

Our facial expressions promote
facial expressions from other people

So for example,
when I smile at you,

almost immediately, there is
a smile that comes back to me

and if you are unable
to make a smile

then you are unable to
have that interaction

And that interaction is crucial
for the development of self-esteem

Now I want you to give me
the biggest smile at you can

Big smile. Lots of teeth

Okay, now I want you to
squint as hard as you can,

squint your eyes closed
as hard as you can

I want you to turn around
and face that monkey now

You see that monkey over there?

Now give me another big smile

Look at that monkey

I just want you to look at the monkey and
give me a smile. Smile at the monkey

We take a segment of the
muscle from the thigh

and we transplant it to the face,
supporting the lower lip,

which improves drooling,
supporting the corner of the mouth,

which also helps with
oral competence,

and putting it into the corner
of the mouth and upper lip so that

when it contracts it will lift up
the lower lip and help with speech and,

perhaps most importantly,

it will lift up the corner of the
mouth and upper lip and simulate a smile

Okay, here she comes. Sit still
Here it is, you see, it is warm. Okay?

By the summer she'll
have a full smile

and then for the first day
of school, it would be September,

and that will be an amazing day,
I think, for her to go to school

and have a smile to
show how happy she is

Were going to take you in now,
okay? Say bye to mummy

I love you. Good girl

Okay. Here we go

It will be six months
before Sharon will find out

if Lauren's surgery
will make her smile.

It's not going to be
a natural smile

It's going to be black
or white, you know,

she is either smiling
or she has her porcelain face

But I think that even that,
as small as it is,

is going to be a very
great thing for her

Lauren's inability to
make expressions means that

she's unable to send out signals

we'll use to communicate
how we're feeling

Facial and body language say
more about us the words ever do

but faces are also
more ambiguous in a meaning

What is she thinking?
Or him?

Now he certainly doesn't
look very friendly

She's completely different,
obviously thinking happy thoughts

What about this guy?

Look at the way he is doing his hair,
he is clearly full of himself.

Oh no, he's a happy man about
to make a success of his day

Happy! That man?
Oh don't be so silly and pompous

You always make yourself
sound so ridiculous

So, suspicion,

apprehension,

what?

Hurt resentment

Yes, very good

So this is our problem isn't it?

Our facial expressions are
supposed to communicate our feelings

but communication only takes place if
the other person reads our face correctly

And often human beings
are not very good at that

That's an excuse, it doesn't matter,
you said twice a year

That's what you told me
But why would I worry about, I've told you

It's true
It isn't.

It is
It isn't

Well what is it then?

On the 29th of February she proposed to me

but I had a good idea she would

and I actually had a ring ready for her

and I accepted

We used to make each other laugh
all the time

We were always having a laugh and a joke

Recently I haven't, I don't know,
I've not been happy at all

And neither has he, eventually,
come down to the fact that he wasn't either

And we are just
getting nowhere at all

I think the business
is a massive strain on us

Yeah, maybe

I try and make sure there's nobody
there when he comes home from work

because I know he doesn't
like people there

Now...
But then if there is...

Now it's better
But it wasn't like that before.

Yeah, but there wasn't for a while,
and all of a sudden there was, a one-day,

and you flipped. It wasn't one-day,
it was three days on the trot.

But that's because they
were waiting for a lift home

You know, it is my house as well

You don't have complete control
like you think you do

No, that's excuses
It isn't

Dr John Gottman, a psychologist
at the University of Seattle,

believes that when couples argue

it's not what they say

but what is shown on their
faces that really matters

The way it works is
almost unconscious,

I mean, a lot of times people
don't really realise that,

you know, when they look at
their partners brow,

you know, that they
see distress their,

you know, and they don't register
that's distress in a conscious way

they just realise that, you know,

they feel uncomfortable,

they'd like to leave, you know,
or they feel fed up,

or they're tired of this response,

they don't really know where
those emotions are coming from

But there is really a stream
of emotional communication

that's going back and forth
and all of that information

is being processed and being
understood by the brain and coming

and affecting each person's
behaviour and physiology

Sometimes I do think, you know,
because we're getting on so bad,

that if somebody better
than the comes along

then maybe she'll go
for it, you know

I can't make her happy,
somebody else can

I went to the solicitors
to file for divorce

because I couldn't see any
other option at the time

Mandy and Eden are going
to visit Dr Gottman

in a last-ditch attempt
to save their marriage

I'm hoping it's gonna give us a bit
more understanding of each other

and the way things are said and
the way things, the way we go about it,

discussion in general, or the whole,
everything really

This is the marital
research laboratory

This is where we bring our couples
And we bring them to this room

where we them up to different
physiological sensors

so we can see what kinds of physiology
is going on when they are arguing

And we are also videotaping them so that
we can look at the different kinds

of emotion that they are expressing
during the communication

One of the things that
we're really looking for is

what kinds of non-verbal things are
they doing when they talk with each other

Mandy and Eden are wired up
to monitoring devices

so the scientists can see how
their bodies change when they argue

Observers watch and analyse
the couples facial expressions

to try and discover what it is
they really feel about each other

It's hard for me
Yeah, but you do...

It's hard for me, but then like,
if you say to me, all right...

You're just agreeing
with what your mum said

To a certain degree,
not with everything.

You didn't, before...

You don't want me to go
to town for a few hours,

because you don't understand
why I have to be in town

I have done. I have done and I know it for
a fact that I probably went over the top

Facial expressions are really important
I mean, obviously the face is,

you know, one of the most
important things we look at

We don't put pictures of the
feet of people we love on our walls,

you know, we put pictures
of their faces,

usually they're smiling

And we saw with this couple,
you know, that there were really

certain characteristic facial expressions
both of them had that reveal,

you know, how they are really feeling
about their marriage at the moment

Yeah, you should want to say to me,
I'm going down to town

I shouldn't have to tell you
when I'm going down town

So we see the Darwin grief muscle,
we see the inner corners coming up

and together and the medial inverted
horseshoe figure in the brow

But it made her feel was really hopeless
and kind of disgusted and fed up

You know, there he goes again,

you know, feelings said and upset

She was kind of tired of that

On Mandy's face,

Dr Gottman notes signs
of disgust and contempt

Prevalence of contempt is really one
of our best predictors of divorce

and also a very good predictor of
the amount of infectious illnesses

that the recipient of contempt
has in the next four years

So contempt is really
quite unhealthy

Dr Gottman explains
to Mandy and Eden

had their physiology
changes when they argue

Your heart rate goes up
to 136 beats per minute

You are not in a treadmill,
you're sitting down talking to him

What is normal for
a woman is about 80

Yeah, and yours went into 125 beats
per minute during your discussion

Now, when your heart rate gets
above 100 beats per minute,

this is true for both men and women,
and a healthy heart, you know,

that's when your body
is secreting adrenaline,

and you get into this
physiological state

that makes it impossible
view to listen

But who's the one who kept
a diary while I was working?

What I'm really saying
to this couple

is contempt and disgust
that is unaddressed,

unless that changes in the
contents days and she's fed up,

and we see this reflected in her
really thinking very seriously

about divorce and about leaving

Now Mandy and Eden know
that they are making

these destructive expressions

they can learn to stop doing so

and perhaps save their marriage

I think it is really difficult to suppress
expressions of contempt and disgust

that I think you can become aware of them
and by talking about those feelings,

you know, the expressions
will change as well

The fact that I need
to listen more

is more important than
I probably realised before today

I think he will try
I'll help him so hopefully...

The faces of contempt, sadness and
disgust, are particularly powerful

because they belong to
a small group of expressions

that immediately trigger a deep,

almost primeval response
in all of us

The other expressions to do this are
happiness, surprise, anger and fear

Let's take a look at real fear

Janet

I happen to know she has a morbid
dread of squirrels

Put it away
That's disgusting

Does her expression of fear affect you?

Well it should

Scientists now know
of fear is recognized

in one of the oldest parts
of the brain, the amygdala

So, of course,

they stuffed me in
an MRI scanner to prove it

John, the first experiment
we will do,

we'll show you some fear faces

When I'm first in the scanner

there's no real activity
in my amygdala,

but what happens when
I'm shown fearful faces

I'm not conscious of
feeling any emotion

that the scanner's shows that

my amygdala has been stimulated

This send signals to other parts
of my body which means

I react without consciously
realising I'm doing so

But what would it be like
if this didn't happen?

At Cambridge University I met
a student who has just this problem

I have difficulty working out

what people are feeling
of thinking better time

Some people would call that

mind reading I guess

And I also have difficulty making

expressions and knowing what is
appropriate non-verbal social behaviour

like what kind of eye
contact is appropriate

Chris suffers from Asperger's disease,
a mild form of autism,

that means he can't recognise emotions
on other people to faces

Look what happens to his brain when
he is shown the same images as me

Nothing

When I'm in a social situation
I usually feel very nervous are anxious,

especially if I'm around
people I don't know well

I'll just try and pick up
cues off other people

because most of the time
I really don't know how to behave at all

I just have to sort of
be quiet and watch

I think I've found some emotions
more difficult than others:

Fear, anger, surprise

because they are quite similar

in the way the people express them,
especially when they are mild

It can be really small cues that
lets you tell between them,

I guess, because I'm not
picking them up

That's very interesting because if
I do this, what you think that is?

It looks like fear and possibly
a little bit of surprise as well

I don't know

How would you tell the difference?

Well it is say that was fear
and maybe not surprise?

Well, I would say was fear, because your,
the corners of your mouth were down-turned

If your mouth had been opened
instead then it would have been,

I would have thought
it was surprise

Interesting
So you've got the fear

from the corners of
my mouth turning down?

Yes, yes

That's fascinating. So you have to
kind of learn it a brick the time

Yeah, exactly
And then you can begin//to put it together

Yeah, it is really hard work to learn

It is really difficult because no one
writes books about these things,

at least none that I've read

Everybody just seems to assume that
it comes naturally to everyone

I have profound respect for the way
Chris is teaching himself

to connect with people to avoid
the risk of ending up isolated

It was the fear that their daughter
would suffer social isolation

that prompted Lauren Deveney's parents
to put her through major surgery

It's cold outside

I'm not cold
That's good

lts now six months since
she had the operation

which promised to give her
the ability to smile

Today, is a big day,
her first day at a new school

We were out running some errands

and she told me that
she could smile

I was quite surprised and I said Lauren,
when did this happen?

She told me that she had been looking
in the mirror the past few days

and had noticed that
it started working

And I said well,
why didn't you tell me?

I can't believe you waited
a couple of days to tell me

Welcome to your first day
at kindergarten boys and girls

So I asked her about five times
to show me her new smile

because it was hopeful smile and
I was just so impressed with it,

and she said I wish
I wouldn't have told you

She could now smile again
and again and again

We smile for many
different reasons

and yet there is only one smile

that is the true smile of enjoyment

There is the listen and response smile,
where you smile to encourage the speaker

There is the polite smile
that you give people, you know,

when your aunt gives
you a tie at Christmas,

you say thank you so much

Then there is what I called
the miserable smile

This is the smile you give
the dentist when the dentist

says you need a root canal,

it's gonna hurt a lot
and cost a lot of money

That's one you might recognize
from President Clinton

So there are smiles to cover
of what you are feeling

So sorry you didn't get that
Oscar nomination

Up yours granddad

We usually know that its fake

but nevertheless it somehow
serves the purpose

The great thing about the masking
smile is that it is so easy to fake

It simply involves tightening
these two muscles here

Like that

And there is one other way
to achieve this

The genuine enjoyment smile, on the
other hand, is incredibly hard to fake

And getting it right can
make a lot of difference

Take a look at these photographs

Can you guess which of these women

was happiest 40 years later?

Well, an amazing study conducted
over four decades by psychologists

at the University of Buckley,
near San Francisco,

discovered that whether we really
smile or not in a single moment,

the taking of a photograph, can predict
the happiness of our whole lives

What is striking is that we find that

the intensity of smile aged 21

relates to the tendency for women
to feel less negative emotion

all the way up to aged 52

We looked at the amount of positive
emotion that young women

showed in their college
yearbook photos

and we related that to their reports of
their emotional lives later on in life,

their likelihood of getting married,
how happy they were in their marriage

and how happy they were
in their life in general

More specifically, we coded for the
presence of two muscle actions:

The zygobatic major, which pulls the
lip corners up, and then importantly,

the orbiculas occuli,
which circles the eye

and when that contracts
we know that that feels,

is correlated with the
experience of pleasure

My name is Diana Odermat

and I am part of the Mills
class of 1960

What you see with this woman
here is you see sort of

a moderate intensity muscle movements
that's pulling the lip corners up

I live in Berkeley
with my husband

and we were married right
after graduation in 1960

lmportantly, you also see,
with the bulging underneath the eye,

and a little bit of crows feet,

is that the orbiculas occuli
muscle is also involved

I have two lovely children

who are now also married
and have children of their own

This person would have
received a fairly high score

in terms of intensity of
positive expression

I describe myself as being
enthusiastic and positive,

one who always thinks the
glass is half full

Judy Rapsmith,

I went to Mills College,
graduated 1960

Now this woman, I think you'll
see a little bit of difference

in terms of the nature of the expression
What is striking is that

we find that the muscle action on the
lips is about the same intensity that

you don't see the signs of that action
on the muscle that surrounds the eyes

I got married to the wildest
man I could find

I got a divorce in our forties
and so I was a single mother

My name is Betty Anne Wong

and I graduated from
Mills College in 1960

Once again, you don't see the
visible bulging, the crows feet,

or the glisten in the eyes.

I'll be having incredibly wonderful
news and the very next day

it's a just be rock bottom

I have not been married as yet

Our study, rather provocatively,

suggests that these women
might marry later,

perhaps a little more prone
to experience negative emotion,

and perhaps a little less
well-being, in their lives

The genuine smile of enjoyment
not only makes us feel good

but it also makes others feel good

This suggests that being good
at making and reading expressions

is an important skill for
any social animal

but why is it so important?

The facial expression
originally had, and still has,

a really important social function

And not necessarily a
consciously directed one

That is to say it is of benefit
to a group to know if an animal,

if a member of that group, is,
what shall we say, frightened

And if they turned round
and see that this creature,

his companion of theirs, is frightened
about something, it's very useful

So the ability to make facial
expressions involved to save lives

but we often use this skill
to manipulate others

Sometimes you want to convey what it is
your feeling, sometimes you don't,

but if you are able to simulate
feelings by your face,

you know how to put it on, and a so that
is then used, can be used,

consciously by an individual
in order to send signals

which also may, or may not,
be truthful

What Sir David is talking
about here is lying

Now here is a little test

On this video of pictures

either of happy chimpanzees
frolicking in the jungle

or a rather bloody heart
transplant operation

and I don't know which
it is so let's see

Oh, it's the chimps

Yeah, two of the little
ones are fighting

and there's a big one there
who is wondering whether he should,

one of them just hit the,

well, one of them'd
getting quite cross

So would you like to
watch the film too?

Have another look

Oh, it's the chimps

Yeah, two of the little
ones are fighting

and there's a big one there who
is wondering whether he should...

Could you have told just by looking
at my face that I was lying?

That's very pleasant

In a similar test,

Paul Ekman set out to find how good
people were at spotting liars

...very pensive

I took nursing students
in what I did was

to show them the worst scenes of
medical gore that they might encounter

and while they watched that they had
to convince the interviewer

they were talking to, who couldn't see
what they were seeing,

that they were watching
the nature film

Now, I also had them see one of these
nature firms and describe it honestly

How you feeling now?

The same

Paul Ekman asked various people

affected the liars
from this experiment

This is the moment when this
young woman gives herself away,

she's lying, but could they tell

And this is how non-experts
like us scored

No better than chance

Okay, so now we come to the experts

People whose professions have giving
them special experience with lying:

Police, judges, trial lawyers,
forensic psychiatrists

and the experts who actually
carry out lie detector tests

And here is how they scored

Judges!

Forensic psychiatrists:

Now police

the experts who carry out
lie detector tests,

nobody could pick the liars,
it's amazing,

except one group:

One-third of Secret
Service agents

scored 80 percent

That's seriously good

So what do they know that
nobody else does?

Using more recent footage

Ekman can show us what the
secret agents were spotting

There is one sign of concealment
and that is a micro-expression,

an expression that is very reduced in
time, about a 25th of a second is typical,

while the normal facial expression is
a half second to two or three seconds

In this experiment, we found out what
people had the strongest convictions about

The particular person I'm gonna show you
it was about capital punishment

And then they were
given the choice

to either truthfully
describe their opinion

or to lie and claim to hold
the exact opposite of their opinion

So let's take a look at it

Personally, I think that they should
be killed, I mean, should be executed

Well, we've already seen a little
micro-expression in the forehead

and let me just back that up

Now it's those little wrinkles,
they've gonna appear there

They're very fast and you realize
what he is saying is,

personally, I believe they
should be executed

Now, if he's telling the truth,
and confident about this,

that probably shouldn't
be occurring

They should be killed, I mean...

Okay, that was a distress expression

The corners going up, short wrinkles
in the centre the forehead, okay

We have the equipment
to see these things

I can teach anyone in 30 minutes

to see micro-expressions

which they didn't see before

When I teach policeman it's
the thing they like the most

because 30 minutes later they can
do things they couldn't do before.

I want you to listen to me,

I'm gonna say this again,

I did not have sexual relations
with that woman, with that woman...

Paul Ekman can teach
is how to spot

the hidden emotion
in an expression

but some societies
seem determined

to teach their citizens
had to hide their emotions

and here is a surprise:
This isn't England

For a long time the Japanese have
emphasised the importance of the stiff

upper lip in a way that makes the
British one seem positively floppy

What's the point?

What you've got is a large amount
of people really crammed into a small

amount of place that's liveable
where people need to co-operate

with each other and they need to
live harmoniously with each other

and so instead of seeing anger or disgust
or sadness he was here masked for example,

by smiles or even neutralised,
showing nothing on the face

In Japan, the need to control ones
expression even extends into their sport

In the martial art of Kendo, the skill
of controlling one's own expressions

and observing those of one's opponents,
is given priority of the physical prowess

It's very interesting because you've got
two masters are facing off at each other,

basically staring
at each other,

and one who has more confidence
in winning will not budge

The one that budges or flinches
will be the one that ultimately loses

But things in Japan are changing

The West is increasingly
influencing Japanese lifestyles

And the Japanese are beginning
to abandon the idea

that expressing emotion
is a bad thing

And indeed some of them are learning
how to smile in a western fashion

For a long time, expressing natural
feelings was an embarrassing thing

In olden times men
were not supposed

to show their teeth
when they smiled

Women painted their teeth
with black paint

so they didn't look as
though they were smiling

They also shaved off their eyebrows
and painted false ones up here

These old practices explain that

expressing true feelings was
considered to be a bad thing

I was working at the sales
headquarters of a company

which was developing
a nationwide retail chain

I came to realise that we could
sell more by smiling more

Actually you can boost sales

by 30 to 50o/o by smiling

I first explain how important
it is to smile

I explain to them what good
things a smile can bring you

Then we practise smiling

I really think it should be
taught in schools and houses

If mothers don't show their
children how to smile

who will?

Biting chopsticks is clearly an
unnatural way of trying to look happy

but it is necessary if you didn't
pick up how to smile as a kid

Most of our children learn
how to express themselves

by being face-to-face
with their parents

but in the modern world this kind
of contact is being neglected

Instead of doing traditional
things like playing with dolls

and fighting kids

are spending increasing amount
of time with electronic games

We are learning that

this can cause relationship
problems later in life

Well, the techies have
finally realised that

technology causes social problems

so they have come up
with a solution

Naturally enough,
a technological one

Here at MIT in Boston,
scientists are developing a robot

called Kismet which can actually
make facial expressions

Hello Kismet, I am John

Kismet, can you be happy?

Can you look sad?

The point about building Kismet

is to try to build a socially
intelligent machine,

a sociable machine

For me, what that means is that a robot
that is naturally intuitive for people

to interact with, just like
you would another person,

as well as to teach
and learn from

What else can you do?

Can you show me tired?

What about...

boo... surprise!

We require a lot of feedback when we
interact with someone to try to understand

what is going on in their head:
How are they responding to me,

do they like what I am saying,
do they not like what I am saying?

What do you think of me Kismet?

Disgusting! Naughty Kismet!
I shall take your batteries out

It's a question of if you alone
for a long period of time,

no matter what you are doing,

I don't think it's healthy

We just, again, we've such a social species
It's important for us

to interact with people to feel like
we've part of a community

It gives, in some sense,
an enrichment to our lives

that I don't think you can neglect

When I have to go now Kismet,
I expect that will make you sad

Bye-bye

I fell in love with Kismet,

of course, but deep down I don't
think technology is the answer

More computers mean

less real human facial feedback

and when we are denied that there
can be all sorts of consequences

What's your bloody game?
Come on

Ever since cars were first invented
people have been trying to work out

why it is that we all behave much worse
when we are driving than we do normally

You bastard!

I mean take road rage

That sort of thing just doesn't
happen among pedestrians

When two pedestrians collide,

there's none of that anger they received
by motorists cross one another's path

I mean, just think what
it would be like

it pedestrians started
behaving like motorists

Excuse me

Now why don't we actually
get pavement rage like this?

Well, I have a theory

Let's have a look at those
pedestrians again

Thank you

When pedestrians collide
there is no aggression

because they are able to exchange
little signs of apology

which you can't see when
you are trapped in a car

The same kind of misunderstandings
can easily happen on e-mail

The style of e-mail
is terse and informal

so often people get annoyed

when no rudeness was intended
because they can't see the expression

on the face of the person
they are communicating with

This problem has now
become so widespread that

e-mailers now send little signs

to show they are being friendly

And what do they send?
Faces

So this is the problem
What is the solution?

The answer is that about the only chance
we've got is to meet face-to-face

Good evening

Good evening

The benefit of seeing each other's
faces just can't be underestimated

We are social animals

That's why the punishment most feared
in prison is solitary confinement

When we are with our friends
they cheer is up,

we laugh more,

and that is not just nice at the time

it's good for us in all sorts
of unexpected ways

And these benefits are being studied
in India by a doctor who's

become almost obsessed by the idea
that after really is the best medicine

And he organises groups that meet
every morning just to laugh

Welcome. Welcome. Welcome.

Ready...

start!

So how many laughter
clubs have you got?

We have over 600
laughter clubs in India

Really?
And maybe 800 all over the world

Line up there again

We will attack Mr John
Ready... start!

This 15 to 20 minutes
of laughter session

makes you feel fresh
throughout the day

You inhale more oxygen

and it has been proved
by scientific studies

that laughter helps you to unwind
the negative effects of stress

and also it boosts
your immune system

And all these minor symptoms
of coughs, colds, sore throats

and infections will
go down significantly

We'll do laughter, please,
you have to drink

In laughter exercises we do
start with fake laughter,

a kind of forced laughter,

but when you laugh in a group,

you have good eye contact,
it turns into real

So half of it is made
and half of it is real

But does it matter from the
point of view of the benefits?

Same set of happy chemicals are
released whether the laugh is forced

or whether the laugh is real

So the body doesn't
know the difference?

Yes, that's incredible!

Yeah! That is so weird
Yes

So you can get away with it by faking
it you still get the good effects?

Yes. We have a slogan called fake it,
fake it until you make it

Well, you all know what a good
laugh feels like

but what struck me was how easy
it was to get started

because when you have a lot of friendly,
warm, funny faces coming at you,

you respond very naturally

And a lot of the time
when we are with people

we like we laugh although there
isn't anything very funny going on

Although of course the whole thing
is wonderfully ridiculous

Dr Kattari's mission

is leading to set of clubs
in unusual places

He invited me to attend the first session
with a lovely group of murderers,

rapists and robbers in
a Bombay prison

The prisoners have a lot
of depression

They are away from their family
and they have got a lot of anger

inside the laughter helps you to
allay your anger feelings

Ready... start!

Sitting here, I found
myself wondering

do we really want villains to be
having quite such a good time?

Then I remembered the people who
are supposed to benefit from this

are not just the prisoners
but also the prison staff

I was struck by how laughter
connected with people

It's almost impossible to
maintain any kind of distance

or any sense of social hierarchy
when you are just howling with laughter

Laughter is a force for democracy

Coming home from India
set me thinking:

Better physical and
mental health, fitting in,

understanding each other,
sorting out problems,

feeling better about ourselves

So many reasons for us to
seek out face-to-face contact

But what's happening in
our society today?

We are more solitary than
we have ever been before

And what is turning us into
a race of hermits?

Technology!

All our lives are now run by computers

We sit their staring at screens
for hours and hours

avoiding any real communication
with other people

And even when we are in the
most intimate situations

technology gets in the way

Worst of all, we listen to advice on
the direction that our society

should be taking which comes from
the most successful computer nerds

We are so cowed by technology

that we think these nerds
know more than we do

We know that all important
human matters

take place face-to-face

but they don't tell us
that do they?

Oh no! No! They pretend that
anyone who is not a nerd,

who actually likes being with people,
is some kind of prehistoric loony

Thank you Janet. I needed that

And you couldn't get
that on the Internet

Do more research
- it's going to be fine

You couldn't get that
on the Internet either

When you're smiling
When you're smiling

The whole world smiles with you