Can You Spot A Fake Smile?

[Dien Rice]

Being able to "read" someone can be very important in business - especially if you're considering a partner in a venture. That's because it's important to be able to tell if someone is genuine or a "faker" - so you won't get ripped off!

Here's a great page with videos of 20 real or fake smiles... Can you tell which is which?

At the end, you'll get your score, and you'll also get some tips on how to spot a real smile from a fake one!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbo...es/index.shtml

- Dien

P.S. I didn't do as great as I had hoped... I only got 13 out of 20 right! Hmm... I'm gonna have to practice my fake smile spotting...

Fascinating, Dien! What an interesting experience and site.

Yes, I took the test. I see, as a result, where I mis-judged and why...won't happen again most likely (assuming I remember). I got 15 out of 20 correct, if anyone's interested. There were two that I couldn't quite make up my mind on so chose fake. One was, one wasn't. Very enlightening.

Would love to know other folks thoughts, results, etc. Ready to share?

Sandi Bowman

Dien,

I'm perplexed by this test.

How do you define "fake smile" and how do you define "genuine smile"?

What are the criteria that makes a smile "fake" or "genuine"?

Lacking accurate, verifiable definitions, how can anyone judge whether or not someone's assesment of each smile is correct?

Without some real, scientific basis to determine "fake" from "genuine", isn't one person's opinion just as valid as the next's?

Obviously, someone is asserting that THEY are some kind of a "smile authority", and THEY know what is real and what is fake. BUT . . . if they can't give you the specific criteria that makes one fake and one genuine, how do you know that THEY are right and YOU are wrong?

It just could be that YOU are right and THEY are wrong!

Right?

---- Hugh

[Dien Rice]

Originally Posted by Hugh Gaugler

Dien,

I'm perplexed by this test.

How do you define "fake smile" and how do you define "genuine smile"?

What are the criteria that makes a smile "fake" or "genuine"?

Hi Hugh,

I could be wrong, but I think they probably asked people to give them a "fake smile", or alternatively, they tried to make them laugh (told them funny jokes? put on a funny Groucho Marx glasses and moustache? Probably something like that!) and videotaped that...

That's my guess, anyway...

- Dien

Hi Dien,

Thanks for this test very fun and interesting.

At first I was CONSCIOUSLY trying to Analyze the facial expressions ie. looking specifically at head movement, eye squint etc. etc.

THEN partway through it, I said to myself..

."DUANE you have NO IDEA what specific facial feautres to look for, you can ONLY view the video once, and you have a lot more questions to go...so RELAX and just go with your impression"

Check out this informal result.

CONSCIOUSLY LOOKING: I got the FIRST 5 ALL WRONG! ALL! Yikes

Then After Relaxing and going based on "impression" (Unconscious mind) I got 12 out of the remaining 15 correct.

CONSCIOUSLY LOOKING: 0% correct
UNCONSCIOUSLY FEELING (impression): 80% correct

Ha! No conclusions about this...Just Interesting :->

Thanks Dien

Duane Adolph

Originally Posted by Dien Rice

Hi Hugh,

I could be wrong, but I think they probably asked people to give them a "fake smile", or alternatively, they tried to make them laugh (told them funny jokes? put on a funny Groucho Marx glasses and moustache? Probably something like that!) and videotaped that...

That's my guess, anyway...

- Dien

Dien,

After going back to the site, I'm guessing your guess is correct!

---- Hugh

Hugh,

Thanks for raising this point.

*I* define fake as "not spontaneous, voluntary" and Genuine as "spontaneous, involuntary".

Generally, using the above, a Genuine Smile has two characteristics - the eyes Smile - and - it takes a while for the mouth to return to normal. Any smile which is turned Off, and the face instantly relax, is therefore fake. And even though the Environment and Staged Conditions could deem all smile fake, their generation comes about either voluntarily or involuntarily.

If you go through the series again notice the first girl. Her eyes smile and her smile Lingers - genuine. The next guy's eye do nothing - fake.

However, and this is where we get into the Questionable area, further into the test a guy (I think with some facial hair) smiles while his eyes do not and he turns it off quickly. This is deemed Genuine and not fake even though it fails both of my tests. This is followed by a grey haired fellow whose face squints up. It passes my Eyes test but not my Linger test. While the last guy, fails the eyes test but passes the "trying to get the smile under control" linger test.

Here's something fun to try... next time you are flipping through a magazine and see a Model smiling, cover the face leaving only just the eyes. And see if you can tell whether she is smiling or not going just by the eyes. You'll see the eyes are Not smiling.

Also, with the Smile thing, there are More Cues which play a part in our interactions with people. People just don't sit down and suddenly smile - as this test had them do. We take those Cues into account in the Real World.

Now the next question is... can you spot Fake Laughing? Spend some time in the human theater and Listen to the Laughter - anywhere were Groups of people gather, and even in the workplace. And do YOU (generic you) participate in the Fake Laughter Trend?

Michael Ross

Michael,

Thanks for your thoughts. Meriam-Webster says a smile is:

"a change of facial expression involving a brightening of the eyes and an upward curving of the corners of the mouth with no sound and less muscular distortion of the features than in a laugh that may express amusement, pleasure, tender affection, approval, restrained mirth, irony, derision, or any of various other emotions"

The above definition supports your idea of including the eyes.

More Webster:

genuine (adjective) - "sincerely and honestly felt or experienced : not forced but arising naturally : not feigned, factitious, or hypocritical"

fake (verb) - "to create the illusion of the reality or existence of : cause (something inexistent) to appear as real or existing : CONCOCT, FABRICATE, SIMULATE, PRETEND"

These definitions also tend to support your definitions of fake as "not spontaneous, voluntary" and Genuine as "spontaneous, involuntary".

Armed with the above definitions, yours and the dictionary's, I went back to the site and watched each person smile with a piece of paper covering their face below the eyes. In other words, I watched the eyes ONLY. I looked for what appeared to be "spontaneous change" of the eyes, with that change ADDING something to the eyes . . . a "twinkle" or a "brightening" or what have you.

If you think about it, the turning up of the corners of the mouth is irrelevant as a test, because ALL smiles . . . genuine and fake . . . have that characteristic.

The result of this experiment: 18 out of 20 CORRECT!

In retrospect, I did see some change in a couple of the smiler's eyes, but I didn't deem it "enough" to warrant the label "genuine". I have no doubt that the ones whose eyes remained totally flat (no change) are certain fakers.

My conclusion: I suspect that with practice one could develop the skill of detecting genuine vs fake smiles with 100% accuracy. In other words, one could become an "SMILE EXPERT"!

However, I'm not sure of the value of this skill. A couple of the most wretched scoundrels I've ever known were excellent actors, able to turn on the smiles and the charm at will. Actually, any actor/actress of any skill can generate a "genuine" smile, including the brightening of the eyes, on demand. But I think you can catch the less skillful scoundrels every time by watching their eyes!

Originally Posted by MichaelRoss

Now the next question is... can you spot Fake Laughing? Spend some time in the human theater and Listen to the Laughter - anywhere were Groups of people gather, and even in the workplace. And do YOU (generic you) participate in the Fake Laughter Trend?
Michael Ross

Yes, I can spot a fake laugh a mile away. There are certain so-called "funny" disc jockeys who employ one or two side kicks whose entire job, it seems, is to "laugh" at the DJ's lame jokes. Fake, fake, fake! Then there's the sitcoms on TV with their canned "laugh" tracks. Sick! Maybe TV is turning the laughter of the entire population into a laugh track?

---- Hugh

[Ankesh]

Thanks Dien. Excellent stuff.

If anyone is interested in learning more about determining facial features and emotions, Paul Ekman is the guy to go to. He has published a few books and CDs.

Surefire way to make people laugh? Show them this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk

Ha! I guess I'm pretty good at it. I got 19. I missed one my wife told me to pick, but I chose the opposite. On the other hand though, there were a couple she picked wrong but I got right.

Something else I noticed, well, it was something we both noticed. Sometimes with the genuine smiles, there was body movement -- like they were laughing. Ironically, I went against this, and it was the one I got wrong. HA!