What makes a fake smile different from real one?
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When people show actual emotions, like when smiling, your face does lots of involuntary movements.
People are extremely good at facial recognition. We can spot extremely subtle things in a persons face that makes things feel “off”.
Now, when you ask someone to fake a smile, they’ll probably do several things. They will make their mouth into a smile shape. They may even crease their eyes. Is that the sum list of components that make a convincing smile? Well, maybe not. Peoples ears move, skin stretches, your cheeks move, your nasal openings dilate, your lip contorts along with the smile shape. And then there is the temporal aspect. Obviously a snap shot is fine, but a smile is an event, and happens over several seconds, if you’re trying to fake a smile, you need to nail every second. And then there is context. You need to also give a socially acceptable fake smile.
Fail any of these checks, and people will be able to spot a fake smile. This is however, a learned skill. Lots of people learn how to fake a smile. And lots of people get very good at it.
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