Spot the fake smile

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Aspies are supposed to be bad at reading facial expressions. Recognizing a fake smile is thought to be one of the most difficult exercises, even for normal people. I have found a very nicely done online test for that:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/smiles/index.shtml

What are your scores? (Labels in the poll section are mine.)

I did it twice, two weeks apart, and got a rather surprising result: 17 (85%) correct. I consistently misread two faces, and one additional mistake was different each time. It appears that I am superhumanly good!

Wow that's really good! I got 12, so it was like flipping a coin for me

I had read somewhere awhile ago that for a real smile, you look for the crinkles around the eyes or something and the rest of the face moving, but despite the science that was stated on the site, wouldn't there be variations in facial muscles and stuff? And that some people just aren't inclined to smile as bigtime? Just like how people laugh in different ways? I'm not sure, but I would have thought it to be trickier than this. It certainly was difficult for me to differentiate.

I always thought when Mr. Spock or Data tried to smile, it looked subdued and therefore "fake" or grossly exaggerated (when Data had his emotion chip in, or that time Spock got kinda high). I wonder if the same is true of Aspies smiling?

That being said, it's hard for us to read most body language -- but then, vice-versa, how easy it is for most people to read Aspie body language? For example: I cross my arms a lot, even when I'm not defensive.

I did pretty good. I got a surprizing 16 out of 20 right. Although, I do remember watching a show on TV that said, inorder for a smile to be real the cheeks have to get kind of wrinkly. So, for me it was all about looking at the cheeks.

I now see that I made an arithmetical error in poll labels - limits are asymmetric! Three last categories should have limits:
8-12
4-7
0-3
Ah, not a big deal. Slim chance that someone would get 0-7 anyway!

Last edited by magic on 16 Jul 2004, 6:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I got 9 out of 20.

19 out of 20. I'd already read what to look for and was able to apply that. Unfortunately I'm not quick enough to do that in real life .

12 out of 20, but didn't it quickly. I assume I would of gotten similar doing it slower.

Aspies are not bad at figuring out facial expressions, we are bad at being affected by those expressions. You can tell a genuine smile, because the eyes crinkle, the upper cheek muscles flex, and if they laugh there is a very distinctive shoulder shaking that cannot be duplicated to the best of my attempts.

But the fact that I watched all those people smiling without ever feeling a desire to smile myself (and yes I smile a lot so no worries there), is a good indication I think, that I might have Aspergers. NTs would probably respond with a few smiles themself.

And oh no! I voted /then/ saw the link! I hate how you can't change your vote. Chalk one solid 15 up for me, my vote was in the 9-12 range as I'd forgotten I had been told about the eye wrinkle trick before, reading Piers Anthony matter of fact.

Greetings,

I got 15 out of 20. the only thing I was really paying attention to was the mouth (and some of the freaky head shapes )

I got 6 out of 20... I thought I was better at this stuff than that... dude...

As I quickly went through the faces, it at least seemed that I was looking at the lips more than anything else.

So, next question is: is fake smiling always a bad thing? If sometime expresses happiness for you and they're always using a "fake smile", doest that mean you should whup them for their insincerity ?

I don't think a "fake smile" necessarily means someone is sad, mad and/or upset.

Last edited by Tom_FL_MA on 18 Jul 2004, 2:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

I don't think so. A fake smile is not necessarily a false smile. I smile often "fakely", because natural smile doesn't come easily for me. That doesn't mean that I try to deceive people. And even if somebody smiles just to create a good mood, what is wrong with that?

I got 12 out of 20 but some one kept butting in so I'm not sure what I would have gotten unaided. However if the eyes are the main indicator, then I bet my score would have been abyssmal. I never look at people's eyes. Especially if they're looking back at me.

Hm, one thing I've had personal problems with is the following. I'm confused between "fake" and "false". Don't worry I have nooo problem with you smiling however you wanna smile, but this is an example:

Someone feigning excitement at something that they are in fact bored with or just "pretending along". They may smile just to be polite, but perhaps it's indicative of something wrong under the soil and in the roots, so to speak. Someone who smiles for you while applauding, while inside, their heart is envious and they are doing a "grin and bare it" robot routine.

I know this dips into the lake of the "white lie" but... if you really feel happiness inside, it's okay to smile however you want. However, when I see that slick snake-oil salesman grin trying to scam me of my money (which has happened more than once before), then my reaction is to be defensive because the other person is smiling with negative intent -- as strange as that sounds!

So, "fake smile" then seems to be a bit of a misnomer.

But here's a VERY real smile for you