Body Language of Polite Smile (the)
Cue: Polite Smile (the).
Synonym(s): Tight Lipped Smile With Low Intensity.
Description: This smile happens as the lips are stretched across the face using the risorius muscle. Flexing these muscles causes the lips to move toward the ears or curled up modestly. No teeth are showing because the risorius muscles are unable to raise the corner of the lips. The tight-lipped smile can vary with intensity and it is directly related to the amount the lips that are raised in the corners of the mouth.
In One Sentence: The polite smile signals the desire to appease without being overly friendly.
How To Use it: The polite smile is used to acknowledge others without showing a high degree of warmth. When you want to say hello, but don’t want to build a relationship, perhaps due to differences of opinion, then offer the polite smile. Thus, it is useful to maintain peace, while clearly demonstrating a lack of interest in going any more intimate with the relationship. Use this smile with acquaintances, strangers, and people you are forced by their proximity and presence to placate.
Context: General.
Verbal Translation: “I acknowledge you, but don’t know you well enough to give you a full honest smile so I’m just going to stretch my lips toward my ears and offer no upward lip curl.”
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: A man might say about his boss “He’s a great boss, I’d switch companies and follow him anywhere if he left.” and this might be followed by a tight lipped smile serving to negate the comment.
Meaning and/or Motivation: The polite smile indicates a hidden attitude or thought, uncertainty, hesitation or lack of confidence. This smile is used to placate others and frequently shows itself while posing for photographs.
Strangers passing on the street might also use this shallow smile as a form of greeting or acknowledgement. The smile is a feigned or dishonest smile that we employ when we don’t want others to know we aren’t particularly excited to see them. The tight lipped smile is the most commonly used smile when meeting new people. It might also appear out of nervousness or stress.
When the tight lipped smile with low intensity happens in conversation in can serve to negate the previous statement. Small babies have been shown to use this smile for all others except their mothers, whom they reserve the use of the true, honest smile.
Cue Cluster: Expect to see neutral body language that is neither opened nor closed, dominant nor submissive.
Body Language Category: Appease, Automatic gesture.
Resources:
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