Green | January 22, 2008 | 19 comments

Quiz: can you spot the fake smile?

Image
richjm
Watch twenty short videos of people smiling and decide if they're real or fake.

Also, try and work out if the videos are slightly stretched, making all the faces look slightly, um, inbred. It might just be me but the people in the clips do seem a little... distorted.
  1. groups:
    Green,   Earth and Science,   Science,   Health,   1 more
  2. tags:
    Green Earth and Science Health Science 3 more
  3.     
    |

19 comments // Quiz: can you spot the fake smile?

  • swizzylions
  • Joydejavu17
  • theprimtv1
  • theprimtv1
    • 0
      theprimtv1  
    • I don't have a browser that would open the pics to judge them.
      That is always how it works out for me....I guess you could say I am a pessimist. : p
      I thought about going ahead and doing it without see the pic.
      You know what, I'll see if I can. Kind of the "Blind" test.
      If I can I will come back and post my score.

    • 4 years ago
  • woodywoodbeck
  • ac
    • 0
      ac  
    • 17/20 I felt like I could often tell before even hitting the play button. And I agree, the eyes were crucial.

    • 4 years ago
  • EricaJaye
  • missehka
  • phillyharper
  • longster
    • 0
      longster  
    • i got 16/20 although i was quite surprised that alot of those people were able to pull off a genuine smile, didnt appear like they had a great deal to smile about.

    • 4 years ago
  • MornRail
  • phoenix_fire999
    • 0
      phoenix_fire999  
    • 17/20. The eyes are sometimes helpful. But I try to get an overall sense of whether or not they are having a good time. Oh, it's hard to explain. But if they are genuinely smiling, they look like they could be laughing.

      No wonder I've been sensitive all my life! Maybe it is better to not be so accurate. I can usually tell if people really like me or don't like me. And I end up scurrying away with my wounded pride if I see one of those fake smiles. Sigh...

    • 4 years ago
  • gaz46andtwo
  • mattbrawn
  • abbym0308
    • 0
      abbym0308  
    • i got 14/20. i think that means that i like to believe that people are, in general, a happy species and that people don't just smile for the sake of it. would i'd rather people not smile than fake it? no. because even your fake smile might make someone's day.

    • 4 years ago
  • richjm
  • mattbrawn
    • 0
      mattbrawn  
    • I got 15 out of 20!

      This expert piece of observation tickled my fancy,

      'Although fake smiles often look very similar to genuine smiles, they are actually slightly different...'

      Isn't that just blatantly obvious?

      This got me thinking, I wonder if people can distinguish between a real smile and a fake smile, so...

      Am I for real or am I faking?

    • 4 years ago
  • richjm
    • 0
      richjm  
    • Forgot to say, I got 14/20 and I said I looked at the eyes because that's what everyone says but I think I looked at the mouth more.

      Given how quickly the smiles ended and the fact the test was done in very sterile, forced conditions, I wonder how genuine the 'genuine' smiles were.

      I mean, if the test was a case of "Ok, fake smile now!" for the false smiles and knock knock jokes to encourage the genuine smiles, maybe the test subjects fake smiled a little during the genuine moments if they didn't find the jokes funny but felt like they should.

      Saying that, the boffins probably thought of that and aren't about to be out-foxed in all things science by an arts graduate with very, very limited scientific knowledge.

      So... in conclusion, I got 14/20.

    • 4 years ago
  • phillyharper
more from Green:

top videos