In sum, both Duchenne as well as Ekman and Friesen argued that we can distinguish between real and fake smiles by looking at the muscles around the eyes. A fake smile, however, did not involve the same changes around the eyes. Similar to Duchenne’s observation, in FACS research, a real smile was observed to consist of pulled up cheeks, bunched up skin below the eyes, an upward movement of the lower eyelids, wrinkles at the corners of the eye sockets, pulled down skin above the eyes, and lowering of the eyebrows. Friesen documented many observable facial movements in a coding scheme called the Facial Action Coding System (FACS see a visual guidebook). The real automatic smile was labelled the Duchenne smile, in honour of its inventor.Įmotion researchers Paul Ekman and Wallace V. So while real and fake smiles look similar, they are produced by different facial muscles. The muscles around the eyes, however, are contracted involuntarily by the unconscious brain in a real smile. This muscle raises the corners of the lips and can be contracted voluntarily by the conscious brain. The zygomaticus major muscle, in contrast, is used for both. In the 19th century, a French scientist named Guillaume Duchenne discovered that the orbicularis oculi muscles surrounding the eyes are used for real smiles but not for fake ones. Humans have 43 muscles in the face alone (picture 1), an impressive number, and producing a smile requires several of these muscles. So how can we know whether a smile is real or fake? This explains why people telling lies often smile to avoid being caught. However, smiles can also be used to disguise negative facial expressions. Smiles are frequently perceived as signs of trustworthiness since they contribute to a positive facial expression. For example, we often perceive someone with a negative facial expression as less trustworthy, whereas we perceive someone with a positive facial expression as more trustworthy. How do you know if their smile is real or just meant to be polite?įacial expressions play an important role in our understanding of people’s emotional states and intentions. Your friend responds with a silent nod and a smile. You just started to learn to play the violin, and ask your friend for feedback.
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