This thought caused him to smile

[99bottles]

This thought caused him to/made him smile with amusement.

Which is correct? I know that make means force in such cases, which is not what I'm looking for. Then again, I often hear You make me smile, which obviously doesn't mean You force me to smile. So what do I put here?

 

[emsr2d2]

Use "made him". It's clear no one's forcing him to smile. The cause-and-effect is clear.

 

[Tarheel]

You could also say:
.
The thought put a smile on his face.

 

[Tdol]

The police made him smile when he made his false confession.

You can talk about force in this case. But when something funny makes me smile, there's no force.

 

[jutfrank]

The pattern make somebody do something does not always have a sense of forcing. In fact, I'd guess that in most cases it doesn't.