Body Language of Grin, Smirk or Closed-Lip Grin
Cue: Grin, Smirk or Closed-Lip Grin
Synonym(s): Smirk, Closed-Lip Grin
Description: This is a smile done by keeping the mouth closed, teeth hidden, and curling up the corners of your lips.
In One Sentence: The grin is a type of smile that is mischievous.
How To Use it: Use the grin to signal that you are “up to no good.” This can work well in intimate relationships as a way to tease. Men can use this to good effect to create a ‘bad-boy’ type impression which can leave women guessing. This can help spark sexual interest.
Children can also use the grin to good effect against parents as it is often seen as playful and cheeky and not particularly troublesome.
One should avoid the grin when dealing with authoritative figures as these people, especially when under stress, may not take well to humour.
Context: General.
Verbal Translation: “I’m holding back information and not being totally open and honest which is why I’m not doing a full smile and exposing all my teeth.”
Variant: See Smiling, Fear Smile, Friendly Smile, Frown (the) or Downturned Smile, Honest Smile or Duchenne Smile, Jaw Drop Smile, Nervous Smile, Polite Smile (the), Uneven Smile Or Lopsided Smile, Upper Lip Smile, Artificial Smile or Fake Smile, Nervous Smile, Honest Smile or Duchenne Smile, Contempt Facial Expression.
Cue In Action: Dave set up a prank on his good buddy when he was away picking up lunch. When his buddy realized that his cubicle had been “redecorated,” Dave cracked his lips in a grin.
Meaning and/or Motivation: This smile indicates smugness, arrogance, or hiding of information or feelings.
It is a tight lipped smile with the addition of a degree self satisfaction for good measure.
The close lipped smile is a restraint and concealment smile commonly associated with politicians and those who are up to no good. Children are sometimes seen sporting this smile, as are people who are teasing or being playful. If someone is speaking, but holding a tight grin, you can be assured that they aren’t telling you everything.
Sometimes the smile is done to hide bad or yellow teeth. An honest smile bares the teeth.
Cue Cluster: The smirk has accompanying dominant body language such as head back, shoulders back, open postures along with dialogue riddle with exuberant pride.
Body Language Category: Appease, Clenching and gripping, Closed facial gestures, Defensive, Dislike (nonverbal), Lying or deceptive body language, Masked emotions, Negative body language.
Resources:
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Colonnesi, Cristina; Susan M. Bogels; Wieke de Vente and Mirjana Majdandzic. What Coy Smiles Say About Positive Shyness in Early Infancy. Infancy. 2013. 18(2): 202–220. ISSN: 1525-0008 print / 1532-7078 online
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Fairbairn, Catharine E.; Michael A. Sayette; Odd O. Aalen and Arnoldo Frigessi. Alcohol and Emotional Contagion: An Examination of the Spreading of Smiles in Male and Female Drinking Groups. Clinical Psychological Science. 2014. DOI: 2167702614548892
Gosselin, Pierre; Reem Maassarani; Alastair Younger and Mélanie Perron. Children’s Deliberate Control of Facial Action Units Involved in Sad and Happy Expressions. Journal of Nonverbal Behaviour. 2011. 35:225–242. DOI 10.1007/s10919-011-0110-9.
Children’s Control of Facial Actions Improve With Age To Create Accurate Emotional Expressions
Gunnery, Sarah D.; Judith A. Hall and Mollie A. Ruben. The Deliberate Duchenne Smile: Individual Differences in Expressive Control. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2013. 37:29–41. DOI 10.1007/s10919-012-0139-4
You Can Probably Fake An Honest Smile – The Deliberate Duchenne Smile
Golle, Jessika; Fred W.; Mast and Janek S. Lobmaier. Something to Smile About: The Interrelationship Between Attractiveness and Emotional Expression. Cognition and Emotion, 2014. 28:2: 298-310. DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2013.817383.
Guéguen, N. The Effect Of A Woman’s Smile On Men’s Courtship Behavior. Social Behavior and Personality. 2008. 36(9): 1233-1236.
Guéguen, N., & Fischer-Lokou, J. (2004). Hitchhiker’s Smiles And Receipt Of Help. Psychological Reports. 94: 756-760.
Gueguen, Nicolas. Weather and Smiling Contagion: A Quasi Experiment With the Smiling Sunshine. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2013. 37:51–55. DOI 10.1007/s10919-012-0140-y
‘Weather’ To Smile Or Not – Contagion Of A Smile Linked To Weather Conditions
Hertenstein, Matthew J.; Carrie A. Hansel; Alissa M. Butts and Sarah N. Hile. Smile Intensity In Photographs Predicts Divorce Later In Life. Motiv Emot. 2009; 33:99-105
DOI 10.1007/s11031-009-9124-6
Harker, L., & Keltner, D. (2001). Expressions Of Positive Emotion In Women’s College Yearbook Pictures And Their Relationship To Personality And Life Outcomes Across Adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(1), 112–124. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.80.1.112.
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You Smile, You Lose – Smile Intensity Predicts Fighting Ability
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Fake It ‘Till You Make It – Cheaters Fake Smile Make Lies More Difficult to Detect
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Facial Expressions As Honest Signals – How Smiling and Contempt Predict Cooperation and Defection
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I’m autistic and really want to learn the difference between the mischievous and friendly smiles. Autistics find it hard to impress interviewers. Friendly smiles would be more preferable for impressing them but the subtlety makes it harder to fake correctly.
It would be. I understand what you mean.
It’s in the eyes. A true ‘Duchenne smile’ has crinkles at the edges of the eyes (crows feet) – because the muscles around the eye flex. This means real happiness, but researchers have found that with some practice it can be faked. You could perform this smile in an interview if you were really experiencing happiness and therefore it fit and made sense.
A mischievous smile might have eyes ‘popping’ or wide eyes as in surprise combined with a smile. This makes the expression look devious. You would want to avoid this unless you’re being wise or cracking a funny joke.
I read a recent study that said that smilers did worse on job interviews. At least excessive smilers. People that smiled the most at the beginning and end of the interview did best. During the guts or middle of the interview, those who got down to business and smiled less and showed focus on the task at hand (answering questions) and so forth, appeared better. It’s all about striking a balance and I know this is hard without having some of that innate wiring that others have.
Do you approach the interview with honesty? Do you tell them that you’re interested with words? Do you express some of the difficulties you have with expressions and how you handle them? Most employers, given the job, will be happy to have someone who is hardworking and task focused over someone who can just fake their way through. Just my 2 cents. Focus on your assets and skills, but be honest about your limitations!
Thanks Chris. That’s very helpful! The cheek raiser can be controlled voluntarily. Peter Hurley called it the squinch and recommends it for looking photogenic and confident.
At interviews, I answered normally. It’s important to express interests with the tone of voice too. Disclosing the difficulties sounds good. During the interview, wouln’t it hurt if we are devoid of expressions?
No, not totally. You’d still want to do you best to appease people’s emotions and give them confidence that they are about to hire someone that can get the job done. Good luck, please write back if you want to share your story with our readers – even in an article. You can message me anytime ChristopherPhilip55[at]gmail.com