Their faces were really creepy.
I scored 15/20. If I represent correct with an O and incorrect with an X, this is what my results looked like:
OOXOO
OXOXO
OOXOX
OOOOO
I note that I felt more confident on the last few, which is reflected in my scores. I think I thought less about it, too.
The way I looked was just to look for crow's feet. I would like to compare my results specifically looking for crow's feet and nothing else versus what I would get if I looked at the whole face and tried to guess without thinking.
I actually disagreed with my own system. Notably, the third from last. I really wanted to give an incorrect answer based on gut feeling, rather than on my system, which gave me the correct answer.
I recall that on the seventh, I felt relieved that he wasn't crazily contorting his face, and felt like a small, slow smile like that had to be genuine; it felt warm. He also vaguely resembles my recollection of someone I like the first time I saw him and felt attracted. (He's not actually all that similar, though. And when I saw this person most recently, he looked nothing like that.)
I correctly spotted six out of ten fakes (60%) and nine out of ten genuine smiles (90%). Out of the five I got wrong, I incorrectly identified four fake smiles as genuine and one genuine smile as fake.
I was notably creeped out by 3 (that forehead looks like an alien), 13 (I cannot determine this person's gender, but it's not because of a lack of distinguishing characteristics-- it's because of contradictory ones) and 14 (her face doesn't look real). Of the ones who creeped me out, I got two wrong, but then, they were fake. Did I overcorrect and try not to assume ill when I knew I was biased against them?
I found 12 attractive.
I say this not so much to put my opinions of strangers out on the internet but to give information to those who may have theories about why I would get answers right or wrong.
I also notice that I said earlier that guessing that a smile was fake was assuming ill intent. How odd; why should it be? I note that I feel the same way about all fake shows of emotion. I jump to assuming that a fake smile is intended to deceive, that it's an enemy trying to appear friendly. I jump to assuming that fake tears are a Wounded Gazelle Gambit (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... elleGambit). I don't feel the same way about fake anger; I have no guesses as to why you'd fake anger. (Actually, thinking about it for, like, one second, I do, but none that come paired with the idea of faking it.)
Is that because people are better-disposed toward smiling and crying people?
I will confess that I have faked happiness (or at least non-sadness) and sadness. Doesn't make me like others who do it better.
What DOES make me like them better is thinking of how they were just contorting their faces for money because a study required it. Is that because it takes away their agency, or because it reminds me that none of it is real? Perhaps it's because it's an actual, known explanation rather than just a suggestion.
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I'm using a non-verbal right now. I wish you could see it. --dyingofpoetry
NOT A DOCTOR
02 Dec 2010, 11:23 pm
