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.