71. People Can Tell if a Smile is Fake or Real More Accurately with Video

The Science Behind a Smile

Guillaume Duchenne used to study smiling by stimulating the muscles in the face with electric currents and take pictures. This made it look more like pain (because it was) There are two types of smiles:  Duchenne Smiles: uses both the zygomatic major muscles (raise corners of the mouth) and the orbicularis oculi muscle (raises the cheeks and makes the eyes crinkle) Non-Duchenne Smiles: only contract the zygomatic muscles

Can you spot a fake smile? (Embed)

Caption: : Test Yourself Here

Real Smiles

Real smiles are believed to be Duchenne smiles because 80% of people aren't able to control the muscles around their eyes naturally, meaning they're more genuine. People are more trusted when they show a real smile because they're showing genuine emotion.

Testing the 80%

Krumhuber and manstead (2009) researched if the 80% idea was true When photos were taken 83% of the fake smiles were believed to be true. But in video they found harder to show a fake smile because it was easier to read the other contributing factors (i.e. impatience, how long it was held, other emotions showing through, etc.).

Takeaways

Pay attention to smiles in videos It's possible to fake a smile and crinkly eyes and it's easier to fake a photo fake smile. people can tell a fake smile by noticing underlying emotions. If a smile looks real, it will engage the viewer.