So, Botox may give you a lovely smooth forehead, but it may also endanger all your relationships, according to a newly published study. David Havas, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and colleagues, discovered that people take ‘significantly longer’ to imagine how they might react to different events, such as being ignored on their birthday, after they had Botox injections. Because their facial muscles were frozen, they couldn’t make the same expressions, which Havas believes ‘diminishes the experience of emotion’.
Not only is it possible we experience less emotion if we can’t move our faces, it’s also possible that other people will see us as as cold or unfeeling. ‘If people seem slow in reacting to what they are being told, it is likely to be interpreted as a lack of sympathy or interest,’ says Havas.
But might this have a positive effect? Aren’t we always being told that we’ve become a soppy, sentimental nation of emotionally incontinent whingers? Since Diana died, none of us has been able to keep a grip on our feelings, according to more than one grumpy commentator. There was even a study on the ‘emotionology’ of Britain in a post-Diana world, looking at the remarkable mass outpourings of emotion. Perhaps, if Botox becomes more widely available, we’ll see a re-emergence of the good old British stiff-upper lip. Quite literally. And about time too.
(I’m joking, of course. Or am I? Since you can’t see my face, you’ll have to make your own mind up. And if you want to learn how Botox is affecting prime-time drama, check out this article, by Amanda Fortini)
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