When it comes to office fashion, my guru is the always stylish Candace Keener, editor extraordinaire here at HowStuffWorks. According to Candace, the fashion trends we should avoid at all costs this season include shapeless tunics, acid-wash denim and anything with Ed Hardy’s name on it (sorry, Jon Gosselin). Her fashion do’s include animal prints and booties (the shoes, not the shorts). While I’ll never match her ability to throw an outfit together effortlessly, I do pay attention to what Candace says about clothing, which was why I was intrigued when she sent me an article about the Happiness Hat this morning.

The Happiness Hat is a white knit cap designed by Lauren McCarthy. That sounds practical enough – winter is approaching, and we all need a good head cover for those cold days. But the Happiness Hat sets itself apart from other cold weather accessories by including a smile sensor. When the sensor detects that your mouth isn’t curved into a smile, a metal spike, powered by a hidden motor, pokes you in the head. McCarthy told the New York Daily News that the spike shouldn’t draw blood, but it is meant to be so uncomfortable that you’ll keep grinning like a fool to avoid another jab.

I know what you’re thinking – where oh where can I purchase something that will cause me so much pain? Well, the product isn’t for sale just yet. It’s a conceptual art piece in which McCarthy is investigating whether technology can teach us to be more human, according to the Daily News. Still, Psychology Today points out that the thinking behind this hat is actually pretty sound. If you fake a smile, then your artificial happiness may eventually become real happiness. In a study conducted in 1988 by German psychologist Fritz Strack, people who were forced to smile while reading comics found the cartoons more hilarious, while participants who were forced to frown didn’t see as much humor.

And while the idea of wearing the Happiness Hat seems like it would be a downer, it’s worth noting that the hat is meant to be of service to the greater community. That’s because our brains possess mirror neurons, and when we see someone smiling or frowning, we’re likely to emulate the look. If you see someone in a white knit cap smiling on the subway, you might smile as well – if only because they’re wearing a hat that pokes them.

Most fashionistas will tell you that you’re never fully dressed without a smile, and Tyra Banks has made boatloads of money teaching women to smile with their eyes. So whether or not you invest in a grin-inducing hat, why not bare those pearly whites a little more than usual today?
 
More from HowStuffWorks:
Is happiness contagious?
Is laughter contagious?
Does smiling make you happy?
Does Botox make you happier when it takes away your frown?