One of the easier times for me to spot a fake smile is when someone is posing for a picture, usually it is because I know the circumstance, i.e. knowing that someone is putting on a smile for the picture and not smiling because they are really happy about something. Researchers from the British Journal of Social Psychology performed a few experiments where they tried to see if someone would notice a true enjoyment smile over a non-enjoyment smile.
The study found that people were attracted to genuine smiles (enjoyment) and did not notice the non-enjoyment ones as much. They also found that the subjects had more sensitivity towards the enjoyment smiles when there was some kind of trust in the partnering. This relates to real life and real relationships because I think it is a lot easier to spot a fake smile on a friend, because it is someone that you have seen smile a true enjoyment smile before. So now on, instead of asking my friends to pose for pictures, I will try to actually capture them enjoying the moment.
1 comment:
I honestly agree with this sentiment. For some reason I find myself unable to fake smile well, as with many of my friends - there's a running joke "You look like you're in pain". I think that perhaps it is physically impossible for many people to "fake smile". It is more like a grimace.
Candid shots always look better, and I can see why. They are smiling for themselves and because they are happy, not because someone asked them to or they feel obligated to.
I can see people being able to develop the ability to fake smile so well that people cannot tell the difference, but it doesn't seem like something I would ever want to do.
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