Real or Fake Smile? Body Language of Smiles

Can you identify a fake smile?

Look at this pictures below and decide which one is the real smile and which is the fake one.

On what did you base your call?

I don’t want to give you the answer just yet, read on and discover if you were right.

Muscle up!

You see, the real anatomical difference between a genuine real smile and a fake one, is in the muscles involved in your face. There is a different set of muscles that are activated each time. When we’re faking a smile we use voluntary muscles that we can control consciously… While in the real smile, the subconscious mind is firing up an extra set of muscles that we usually can’t control.

Let me elaborate a little more…

So basically when looking at someone’s smile – look at his eyes too, see if there is a slight change of arch or crease there, the brow may even dip a bit. Don’t forget to pay attention to the cheeks and see if they rise, too.

Some people are capable of faking even the real smile – there are lines around their eyes and they can raise their cheeks. Only an expert can identify this fraud. Try it yourself, see if you can fake the face expression.

So the fake smile in the pictures, is the left one (Well actually, they are both fake, but for the sake of demonstration…) – you can see the crow feet’s in my eyes, and my cheeks rising. I even exaggerated a bit, you can barely see my eyes… An hazard of smiling too hard I guess – it will swallow your eyes XD

Test Yourself

Here is a nice test at the BBC site based on Paul Ekman’s research – see if you can identify fake smiles. It has some nice explanation at the end, if you seek some more info.

One more thing – a genuine smile usually lasts a bit longer than the fake. People who just being polite won’t hold the smile for long, it’s more like a chore than expressing true happiness. You will know when the smile is simply too short – it’s not satisfying to look at.

Just to clarify, it’s not that the fake smile is an evil or manipulative smile necessarily. It may indicate that someone is just being polite or looking at the camera…

Bad Boy Attitude Status

My Story

These fake smiles disappoint me a lot because my friends usually give me this and i used to remember that why is this happening to me are they tired of me or they are driving me away from them.

I have spent most part of my life with my friends for over 6 years leaving no day behind that they were not there with me but with passage of time I came to know that nothing is going to last forever.

I completed my 6 year journey with my friends and move back to my personal hometown and then my life seems to take another turn.

Now the smile they used to give me now I give that smile to the world, to the people around me, to my family and now they are worried that something wrong might happened to me but it is not true. when you get old you give these sort of smiles to the world because now you have developed and attitude that only you understand.

You want to bear the pain alone but it is not necessary. you can share that pain with others and avoid giving fake smiles.

Only give fake smiles to fools and where it is necessary not everyplace is required to give a fake smile. Always smile with your heart.

Read More About Body Language.