How to scientifically spot a genuine smile

They'renotthesame,arethey?Thesmilesyouseewhenyoumeetyourfriendsandfamilycomparedwithwhatyouseefromsalespeopletryingtogetyoutobuysomethingormanagementconsultantspretendingthatthebadnewsthey'regivingyouisactuallygoodnews.Howcanwetellthatsomeonereallymeansitwhenthey'resmiling?

Therearephysicaldifferencesbetweentypesofsmiles.19thCenturyFrenchneurologist,GuillaumeDuchenne,spottedthattherearetwosetsofmusclesthatareusedforsmiling.Unsurprisingly,onesetofmusclesmovesthecornersofyourmouth.Theothertightenstheskinaroundyoureyes.Henoticedthatonlygenuinesmilestriggeredthemusclesaroundtheeyes,leadingarealsmiletobenamedaDuchennesmile.Laterresearchsuggeststhattherearetwopathwaystotriggeringthesesetsofmuscles.Thosethatarearoundthemouthcanbesetoffvoluntarily,whilethosearoundtheeyesaretriggeredinvoluntarilyandalmostalwaysbyouremotions.

Agenuinesmilehascertainphysicalsigns.Typically,ifasmileisreal,thenpeople'scheeksarepulledup,theskinundertheireyesbulges,andcrow'sfeetcanbeseenatthecornersoftheireyes.Smilesthataren'tgenuineoftendisappearsuddenlyratherthanfadinggradually.Thesefakesmilesarenotcausedbyemotions,buttheycangetmixedwithsignsoftheemotionsthatsomeoneisgenuinelyfeeling,likeawrinkledforeheadcausedbyworry.

Eventen-month-old-babieshaveshownthattheycanidentifyarealsmile.Itmaybethatwehaveevolvedtospotgenuineemotion.There'sclearlyabenefitinbeingabletoidentifywhototrust,andwhomaybetryingtodeceiveus.That'snottosaythatfakesmilesarealwaysaproblem.Theycanhelptosmoothoverdifficultsituationsandmaintainpoliteness.Buttherearetimeswhenit'sgoodtoknowthatasmilereallymeanssomething.

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