# Can YOU spot the fake smile? I can...I rock. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 18, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375 "2011-05-18T21:40:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/1 "2011-05-18T21:40:10Z")
This is very cool: > **[BBC - Science & Nature - Human Body and Mind - Spot The Fake Smile](https://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/smiles/)** > > Spot The Fake Smile Survey I am absurdly pleased with myself because I got 18 of 20 right, and one of the two I missed didn’t actually play, it got stuck, so I really got 19 of 20. I am a little mystified about why this tickles me so…maybe it’s because I am by nature extremely trusting and accepting, so it’s good to know that I have decent radar for insincerity… So test yourself, and please, **DO NOT SPOIL IT FOR OTHERS.** There is a kind of “key” (that I knew the answer to, BTW) and if you want to talk about it or anything, **put it in a spoiler box** so other people can take the test “raw”. I am referring to (don’t read this if you don’t want your “raw” result changed) the fact that the thing to look at is the eyes. I didn’t know why until I read the result page, but I did know to look there and that’s what I looked at. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/2 "2011-05-18T21:51:58Z")
I got 17! but I had read somewhere before about the tip you show in your spoiler. ---
**Author:** ![psychobunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/54ee81/32.png) [@psychobunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychobunny)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/3 "2011-05-18T21:59:21Z")
Even knowing about the tip I only got 13. At least it’s better than random. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Tone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ccd318/32.png) [@Lucas\_Tone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Tone)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/4 "2011-05-18T22:07:32Z")
Twelve out of ten, I’m getting duped left and right, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/5 "2011-05-18T22:13:54Z")
15/20 I read somewhere that women are better than men at this. No cite. ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/6 "2011-05-18T22:14:38Z")
I took this a few months ago, and I knew about the tip beforehand (just from previous reading/experience), and I got a perfect score or damned near. It’s pretty obvious once you know what to look for, in the quiz and in real life. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/7 "2011-05-18T22:20:14Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > 15/20 > > I read somewhere that women are better than men at this. No cite. Makes sense. Women are generally more tuned in to personal communication than guys are… all that talking and stuff we do. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/8 "2011-05-18T22:27:28Z")
11/20 here. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/9 "2011-05-18T22:28:54Z")
I got 17 out of 20 correct. I missed the last guy in the second row and the Asian chick and the chick to her right with the crazy hair. Is it just me or were a lot of those people have REALLY messed up teeth? … though this was on the BBC site… ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/10 "2011-05-18T22:32:44Z")
17 I had heard the tip before, but was actually going on whether or not I automatically smiled back. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/11 "2011-05-18T22:55:32Z")
1. I think its more because of the “dismount” though, then the eyes. The “real” smilers still looked amused when the stopped smiling. The fake ones just dropped the smile when they were queued. If the experimenters had cut the film mid-smile for all the faces, I think I would’ve done a lot worse. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/12 "2011-05-18T22:59:56Z")
18/20 Both wrong ones being false negatives. I think one of them stuttered, since as I was hitting next, I think I saw the video start moving again. The second to last one was hard…At first I thought it may just be that he had one of those faces that always looks like he’s smiling…but, no, like me he looks a bit surly with a neutral expression. Oh, and also…a lot of the fake smiles were pretty blatantly fake. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/13 "2011-05-18T23:02:03Z")
18 out of 20. I’m also really good about telling if people are lying to me. Well, except for that last boyfriend… ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/14 "2011-05-18T23:15:45Z")
15/20. After a few, it became apparent to me that the most telling was the eyes ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/15 "2011-05-18T23:24:38Z")
18/20. I thought everyone knew you look at the eyes and not the mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/16 "2011-05-18T23:29:08Z")
I heard of an experiment that asked people to identify real and fake smiles, and found that people do this by “trying it on for size”, that is, imitating the smile to see if it feels sincere. They found by making people hold a pencil between their teeth, they could reduce people’s ability to spot fake smiles. Anyone want to try? ---
**Author:** ![SanibelMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@SanibelMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanibelMan)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/17 "2011-05-18T23:30:48Z")
I got 19/20, only missing #10. I knew to [look at the eyes](http://books.google.com/books?id=2Q-XZrokVrcC&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=%22she+smiled+-+not+with+her+eyes%22&source=bl&ots=qCCVGthad9&sig=qJeqO8ccuXe3iK8xIYEpQCsCN94&hl=en&ei=LlbUTdLPK5KZhQfgqZSbAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22she%20smiled%20-%20not%20with%20her%20eyes%22&f=false). ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/18 "2011-05-19T00:13:04Z")
18/20. That was cool! ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/19 "2011-05-19T00:29:09Z")
12/20. Anyone got anything to sell me? ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375/20 "2011-05-19T00:35:11Z")
15 out of 20. Missed #1, #2, #10, #19, #20. First two, last two and one in the middle. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-spot-the-fake-smile-i-can-i-rock/582375.md?page=2)