SplinterStar
Deinonychus
Joined: 14 Jul 2009
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 369
Location: Werewolf Country (Northern Canada)
12 Sep 2009, 8:04 am
01 Oct 2009, 4:50 am
Hala wrote:
ToughDiamond wrote:
Hala wrote:
my fake smiles never look even remotely real; I think they're more of a grimace than anything else.
That's what most (if not all) fake smiles look like to me. It's weird....Aspies are supposed to be poor at recognising facial cues, so why do I see what neurotypicals don't? Are they really taken in or do they just feel grateful that somebody goes to the trouble of pretending to be happy when they're not?
Perhaps it's because Aspies tend to analyse situations and events more than NTs do. Maybe instead of seeing the meaning behind an expression, like NTs probably do, we see the physical characteristics of the expression, possibly without being able to match it to an emotion. Maybe we calculate the time taken for the face to return to normal and the muscles used etc. and compare/analyse that information, whereas NTs may connect the smile to emotions, events and empathy instead. I don't know, instead it could be a matter of trust.
Personally, I'm not good at interpreting expressions at all. I'm not sure if I'm good at telling a fake smile from a real smile, partly because I tend to not look at people in the eye.
Poor eye contact does make it difficult of course. It's easier though when looking at photos and TV. I don't think NTs readily pick out small details and analyse them like we do. So I might see a TV show and 90% of my experience of it could be the fact that one person was holding a fake smile, and I'll be thinking "how can anybody fail to see through this hype?" Whereas for NT's, the fake smile will be an insignificant detail, just part of the way the world works, and they'll take in a lot more about the actual show.
bonuspoints
Veteran
Joined: 23 Aug 2009
Age: 43
Gender: Female
Posts: 598
Location: Washington state - *Do I get bonus points if I act like I care?*
01 Oct 2009, 8:59 am
