How to Spot a Fake Smile
People often use the fake or polite smile to let others know that they're friendly, approachable and listening to what you're saying. It is a way of putting people at ease and making potentially awkward or tense social situations more relaxed. But in situations such as first dates, public performances or job interviews, determining whether you're receiving a fake smile can become much more important than it might normally be. To this end, you'll be looking for specific facial muscle activity and how long it takes place.
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Instructions
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Watch the eyes of the person smiling. Take note of whether their eye cover folds -- the area between the eyelid and eyebrow -- move down and whether the ends of their eyebrows droop down with them.
Smiles resulting from genuine emotion will cause eye cover folds and eyebrow ends to reflexively move downward.
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Look closely at the face muscles of the person smiling.
A person engaged in a false smile will use only the facial muscles right around their mouth, while their other facial muscles will appear to be at rest. A person engaged in a genuine smile will experience reflexive facial muscle activity, including forehead muscles compressing downward, visibly rising cheek muscles and jaw movement.
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Note the length of time that the smile lasts.
Smiles produced reflexively as a result of strong, genuine emotion don't often last more than a few seconds.
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Tips & Warnings
The facial muscles used to draw the corners of your mouth upward when engaged in a genuine smile are the zygomaticus muscles.
The facial muscles used to draw your lips horizontally apart during a fake smile are known as the risorius muscles. With a fake smile, the zygomaticus muscles are minimally used to draw the corners of the mouth up just enough to give some semblance of genuine happiness or amusement.
References
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