How to spot a fake smile
By Russell Hunter
Each of us smiles in a variety of ways for a variety of reasons. Some smiles are an outward expression of our inner thoughts and feelings. Other smiles are simply put on. How can you tell if one of your team members is really happy or just being polite?
Most of us are surprisingly bad at spotting fake smiles. The more optimistic we are by nature, the more likely we are to read most smiles as genuine. Although fake smiles often look very similar to genuine ones, they require different muscles, which are controlled by different parts of the brain.
Most of us are surprisingly bad at spotting fake smiles. The more optomistic we are by nature, the more likely we are to read most smiles as genuine. Although fake smiles often look very similar to genuine ones, they require different muscles, which are controlled by different parts of the brain.
Think you're pretty good at reading people? Professor Paul Ekman, a psychologist at the University of California, created a simple experiment to test this ability. The test has 20 questions and takes about 10 minutes to complete online.
Click here to take the test!
How did you do? If you got more than 15 correct, congratulations! You have an above average ability to spot a fake smile. Most people score between 10-13 correct answers.
Here's the basic science behind spoting a fake smile:
The signals that create fake smiles come from the conscious part of our brain so we can fake a smile anytime we want to. We decide we are going to smile, and a signal prompts the zygomaticus major muscles in the cheeks to contract. These are the muscles that pull the corners of the mouth outwards.
Genuine smiles, on the other hand, are generated by nonconscious parts of our brain. They are our automatic and habitual responses to an event or perception. When people feel pleasure, signals pass through the part of the brain that processes emotion (the limbic system). But in addition to making the mouth muscles move, the muscles that raise the cheeks – the orbicularis oculi and the pars orbitalis – also contract. This makes the eyes crease up, and the eyebrows dip slightly. So, to spot a genuine smile, those are the clues to watch for. It's all in the eyes.
Lines around the eyes do sometimes appear in intense fake smiles, and the cheeks may bunch up, making it look as if the eyes are contracting and the smile is genuine. But there are a few key signs that distinguish these smiles from real ones. For example, when a smile is genuine, the eye cover fold - the fleshy part of the eye between the eyebrow and the eyelid - moves downwards and the end of the eyebrows dip slightly.
The more attentive you are, and the more you practice this, the easier it becomes to spot these clues. Of course, it's always wise to test any assumptions we make about someone's emotional state by asking an individual how they are doing vs. assuming they are putting on a brave face. But knowing what to look for can be a helpful clue to knowing if someone genuinely feels happy, optomistic, and engaged.
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TAKING ACTION THIS MONTH:
Next time you walk into a meeting, be attentive. Are all those smiling faces around the conference room table genuine? Who might you need to check-in with at the break?
View other articles in January 09 Issue
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