There is an old Chinese saying describing fake smiles, "Skin smiles while flesh doesn't". As a person of low EQ, I'm never confident with my ability to distinguish people's fake smiles especially when there is no any other clue for me to make a judgment. That's exactly the challenge I faced in a psychology test titled "Spot the Fake Smile". But...I do love this and the idea is wonderful!!! Found on BBC Human Body & Minds, 8th Annual Webby Award Winners on Education.
I got 13 out of 20 right. Interesting enough that 3 times I made second mistakes after the first one.
This is my result:
According to the explanation along with the test result, the mechanisms of fake and genuine smiles are totally different-- the former one is at will while the latter is automatic. There are some tips for us to tell a fake smile from genuine ones,
...when a smile is genuine, the eye cover fold - the fleshy part of the eye between the eyebrow and the eyelid - moves downwards and the end of the eyebrows dip slightly.
Even so, I do wish to purchase "a coding system called the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), which was devised by Professor Paul Ekman of the University of California and Dr Wallace V. Friesen of the University of Kentucky". FACS facilitated the scientists to make the judgments. How lucky they are!!!
A bunch of surveys and psychology tests are also available.
Update: Don't try the Disgust test if your stomach isn't strong enough. I've lost my appetite but finally survived the test. Yuck!!!
I got 14 out of 20 correct!
That's because I've dropped a hint and you take that.
i got a 18 out of 20....I have decided to do a psychology project similar to this if anyone has ideas please contact me at heather_usko@yahoo.com
FACS is great, but you have to be ready to spend quite a while on it (months maybe). I really liked the smiles test!
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