The Difference Between Real and Fake Smiles

So according to the BBC, I only have about a 50% success rate of determining whether a smile is genuine or fake. Unlucky, me! Fortunately, at the end of the lovely little quiz to which I've just hyperlinked you, they explain some cool stuff about fake smiles.

Sure, you could go there and read the serious, factual version, but you could also stay here and read the fun, exciting version!

Or BOTH.

The primary difference between real and fake smiles comes down to the muscles that are used, since they are controlled by different parts of your brain. Fair dinkum smiles are generated automatically, and your cheek muscles rear up, creasing your eyes a bit, and your eyebrows dip slightly. This, then, is a trustworthy face.

On the other hand, a fake smile is generated consciously, by pulling the cheek muscles outwards. Intense fake smiles can also have lines around the eyes.

Or something like that, anyway. I only spent two minutes reading and regurgitating and now I have to get back to uni work. But there you go! Now you know what kind of face to trust and what kind of face to stab to death.

Other interesting things I learnt today:

• Joe Walker looks uncannily like Mark Hamill
• Canada has nuclear reactors
• The appearance of our letter 'A' is derived, in a very convoluted way, from that of an ox. That may have made for a more interesting blog article, actually. Oh well.