“Number of muscles used” isn’t really the deciding factor in whether we do things. People have all sorts of idle actions that use muscles, such as tapping your foot, drumming your fingers, or jiggling your leg while sitting down.
Another question to be asking is, is it *actually* true that people overall frown more than smile? It probably varies a lot from person to person.
Because it takes less energy to frown because the muscles aren’t contracting. The energy expended in contracting your cheek muscles is greater than the energy of those muscles at rest. For an example, consider your average fresh corpse. Very few smiles because there is no way to maintain the energy expenditure to keep the cheek muscles contracting to pull the lips and cheeks into a smile.
Latest Answers