The Age of Empathy: Nature's Lessons for a Kinder Society

by Frans de Waal

One idea, which I’ll call the “Body First Theory,” holds that it starts with the body and that emotions follow. Someone else’s body language affects our own body, which then creates an emotional echo that makes us feel accordingly. As Louis Armstrong sang, “When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.” If copying another’s smile makes us feel happy, the emotion of the smiler has been transmitted via our body. Strange as it may sound, this theory states that emotions arise from our bodies. For example, our mood can be improved by simply lifting up the corners of our mouth. If people are asked to bite down on a pencil lengthwise, taking care not to let the pencil touch their lips (thus forcing the mouth into a smile-like shape), they judge cartoons funnier than if they have been asked to frown. The primacy of the body is sometimes summarized in the phrase “I must be afraid, because I’m running.”