A smile is, quite literally, contagious.
Our brains are programmed to feel other people's experiences in such a way that we relate to their emotions. It's all due to mirror neurons, which are fired by the actor and the observer such that the observer feels as though they were acting.
When you watch a football game, the same area of your brain is activated as the player running the field. You cringe when someone takes a tumble up a brick staircase, as if you fell yourself. And when someone smiles at you, your brain fires up its neurons to smile.
So the next time you run into a grumpy coworker or an angry cashier, resist the "bad day" mirror neurons in your brain, and fight back with a smile.
more on empathy... or the lack thereof:
neurological basis for the lack of empathy in sociopaths
how to spot a sociopath at work
why (some) psychopaths make great CEOs
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