Spot the fake smiles

Dr. Loon

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/smiles/index.shtml

Very interesting. Try and spot the fake smiles and the real ones.

I got 15 out of 20.

Most people are surprisingly bad at spotting fake smiles. One possible explanation for this is that it may be easier for people to get along if they don't always know what others are really feeling.

Although fake smiles often look very similar to genuine smiles, they are actually slightly different, because they are brought about by different muscles, which are controlled by different parts of the brain.

Fake smiles can be performed at will, because the brain signals that create them come from the conscious part of the brain and prompt 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 the unconscious brain, so are automatic. When people feel pleasure, signals pass through the part of the brain that processes emotion. As well as making the mouth muscles move, the muscles that raise the cheeks – the orbicularis oculi and the pars orbitalis – also contract, making the eyes crease up, and the eyebrows dip slightly.

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.

Scientists distinguish between genuine and fake smiles by using a coding system called the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), which was devised by Professor Paul Ekman of the University of California and Dr Wallace V. Friesen of the University of Kentucky.

Hello Kitty

I got 15 out of 20 aswell...

oneweb

13/20

Micheal Wittman

I got 10:(

ozt9vdujny3srf

Ooer 15 out of 20 aswell.

Mossy Monk

You got 15 out of 20 correct

ozt9vdujny3srf

Its rigged I tells ya.

Spunog UIE

got 12 of them right, i actually thought most of them seemed fake :S

Redshift

I got 18 out of 20 just by looking at their eyes. The eyes can't lie as they say.

Stark

16/20. I can so identify with that "Most people are surprisingly bad at spotting fake smiles. One possible explanation for this is that it may be easier for people to get along if they don't always know what others are really feeling." bit. It's a horrible feeling you get when you spot someone giving you a fake smile, makes you want to run like hell.

bennyx_o

Results
You got 17 out of 20 correct

hitachi_man

bah i couldnt get passed the second smile for some reason.

bus77

8-20 bah:(

Gideon wrote:

got 12 of them right, i actually thought most of them seemed fake :S

Yeah, how did they go about getting these smiles?
Look into the camera there and Ill tell ya a great joke....."Three men were in a boat....

ArthurDent

Cool link!

I got 13 out of 20 - hmm thought I would have been better than that.

Deaners

You got 15 out of 20 correct

robbie1876

12. I have the worst fake smile.

jothee

20/20. i found it pretty easy. I deal with the public alot so i'm good at spotting fake smiles... as well as giving them

it takes one to know one i guess.

RobertFoster

Redshift wrote:

I got 18 out of 20 just by looking at their eyes. The eyes can't lie as they say.

I got 18/20 too, but I looked at their mouths...

Exit

And I got 18/20 by looking at their eyes too.

I'd imagine the real smiles were taken while they were being prepared to be filmed and talking to the researcher rather than them knowing they were being filmed and told a joke.

Big Ears

oneweb wrote:

13/20

same . (genuine) (fake)

cormie

13! shux! I need this skill for poker!

embee

Got 19 outta 20.

I thought the last dude looked like a tosser who might be genuinely laughing at his own joke, so I said genuine. It was fake though.

Its all in the eyes.

Big Ears

embee wrote:

Got 19 outta 20.

I thought the last dude looked like a tosser who might be genuinely laughing at his own joke.

.

and all from a short video clip .

embee

Big Ears wrote:

and all from a short video clip .

Thats right. He had an air about him that I didn't like.

Sarky

12. Meh, I'm not really a people person. I get around it by refusing to trust anyone I just meet.

UnrealQueen

15 outta 20. Number 13 doesn't look human.

segadreamcast

16.

Damn... Made some last second changes - 3 of the 4 I got wrong had me stumbling for a while.

1,8,11 and 20 caught me out. I'm too suspicious.

gogo

embee wrote:

Thats right. He had an air about him that I didn't like.

lol
I only got 12- pah. I thought i'd be able to tell by the eyes, obviously I can't.

Battlesnake

17/20 looked at the eyes!

OfflerCrocGod

14 - by guessing the whole way and not playing the videos

lilo moo

i got 14/20... 7 & 12 caught me out, which surprised me. i liked them... what a shame

TomTom

16/20 its quite cool and unusual

Thordon

14/20

I wonder what they did to make them smile, they seemed to stop smiling on command too, that made it hard to judge sometimes, but you could sometimes see a lingering amusement trying to be hidden that gave it away as genuine.

Lump

Got 11 out of 20 right.... God I am bored.


John

TUTS

18 out of 20.

Used the eyes.