Tag Archive for Leniency

How Can We Tell If An Emotion Is Faked?

by  • March 6, 2013 • 1 Comment

The uneven smile. This one is a fake!

The uneven smile. This one is a fake!

Being able to tell the difference between real emotions and the body language that follows is a very useful skill in reading people. Being able to detect fake emotions can help us decide who we can trust and who is actually in agreement with us, versus those who are simply faking it. Liars and their body language are covered more extensively later in the book, so it is of no direct concern here. Rather, here we present rules of thumb that help us decide if facial expressions and emotions such as fear, sadness, happiness, shame, guilt and disgust are real and genuine or feigned. Emotional fakery of sadness is used to generate sympathy in order to gain various resources, and fake sadness is used to generate leniency and therefore receive help in the form of favours. Being able to detect real from fake is a useful skill because it gives the body language reader the power to decide what course of action is merited.

So how can we tell if a facial expression is fake versus real? While body language readers can never really know for certain, the face does subconsciously give us some clues that it’s not being honest. For example, a fake emotion is one where there are symmetrical differences between the right and left side of the face. That is, when the left and right side don’t match. A smiling face, where the smile is uneven is a perfect example of a false smile and one that was covered in great detail earlier. The second telltale sign of a fake expression is when it appears and disappears in a jerky, non-fluid manner. This tells us there is doubt and uncertainty. The third cue that an emotion is faked has to do with eye movements and directions. Looking downward and away indicates shame, guilt or disgust, looking down indicates sadness. The final way to detect false emotions is by catching those that seem to be held for too long, or seem over-exaggerated. Expressions that are so big that they are “over-the-top” or seem “out of this world” and don’t flow with context or match timing expectations, meaning they don’t go with what is being said, are more than likely fake.

The fear facial expression.

The fear facial expression.

Sadness.

Sadness.

Other times, emotions are difficult to decipher. For example, when the eyebrows go up, they sometimes indicate fear, but other times they are raised to indicate surprise. Fear is usually shown by showing the whites of the eyes, raising the upper eyelids, raising the inner brow and tightening the eyelid. However it is important to note that raising the inner brow can show sadness, lowering the brow can show anger or mental effort and tightening the eyelid can show anger or disgust.

 

Anger

Anger

Disgust.

Disgust.

Some expressions are only seen very rarely, which is the case with the more extreme expressions making them difficult to study. These facial expressions also happen very quickly, so it’s not always easy to spot them. Usually the expressions are encoded by the viewer in large part to the context in which we find them. For example, jumping out of the bushes and yelling at someone is bound to create a surprised look, but can you decide if a face absent of context shows fear or surprise, what about sadness? It’s not always that easy, but absent of slow motion photography and mind reading, the rules of thumb covered here can make the process simpler and more manageable.

Summary – Chapter 6

by  • March 5, 2013 • 0 Comments

We saw, in this chapter on smiles and laughter, that smiles are controlled by two sets of muscles called the zygomatic major muscles, that run down the side of the face to connect the corners of the mouth and the orbicularis oculi to help pull the eyes back. The orbicularis oculi produces crow’s feet, smiling eyes or Duchenne smiles, all names meaning the same thing; “real smiles.” The zygomatic muscles, on the other hand, are consciously controlled and can be a giveaway to a false smile as does asymmetry.

Next we looked at the origins of the smile, be it from fear as in the “fear grin”, or from happiness and whether happiness creates smiling or vice versa. We concluded that smiles today symbolize submission and are contagious. We then found that there are five commons smiles, the tight lipped smile with low intensity (indicating a hidden attitude or thought), tight lipped smile with high intensity (not a full honest smile but shows openness), the uneven smile (tongue-in-cheek humour or sarcasm), the upper smile (hidden agenda), the grin or smirk (indicating smugness and arrogance) and the broad smile (a true smile). We found that smiles generate leniency, release endorphins so can be addictive, and that women are more likely to smile than men and do so to placate them. We then covered context as it relates to humour and how humour has many different forms, how humour helps people bond and that it isn’t unique to humans since rats and gorillas emit similar vocalizations. We then looked at the differences between the sexes and saw that women laugh much more at men, than do men at women, suggesting a courtship link to laughter and that men use humour to playfully insult other men whereas women use it to bond. We then discovered that put-down humour can create belongingness so long as it is well received and avoids hitting on insulting truisms, that women should avoid snorting since it is unsexy and that laughter can help people recover from illness.

Smiles Generate Leniency

by  • March 5, 2013 • 0 Comments

People really feel that smiles get things done! Research shows that we smile more during interviews, we smile more when trying to gain approval from others, we smile when we feel someone will be disapproving of us and we smile more at our bosses. But what does all this extra smiling accomplish? Well, the science tells us that it really does help us win friends and influence people. When we smile we are more likely to be rated more honest and trustworthy and we can get out of possible wrongdoings more readily and with less negative consequences. Smiling therefore, helps us get out harsh punishments and so smiles generate leniency. Scientists call this the ‘smile-leniency effect’.

In a study by Joseph Forgas of the University of New South Wales in Australia it was found that smiling reduced punishment, especially on minor issues. In the experiment, over two-hundred individuals were asked to judge people based on a still photograph alone, by writing a description of their transgression. The photographs either had positive smiling faces or neutral faces. The smiling faces where less likely to be held responsible for the transgression and were evaluated more positively. There are a few theories as to why this is so. Smiles show that we are submissive, which indicates to others that we understand our wrongdoings. This makes severe punishment less necessary. Smiles make us more likeable and attractive, making it harder for other to punish us. Smiling also makes us appear more trustworthy and shows we are more sociable and diplomatic. The exact reason to explain smile-lenience might include all or none of these factors, but the results for smiling is universal; if you don’t want to receive the punishment for the crime, put on a big smile and you might just get off easy.

Introduction – Chapter 6

by  • March 5, 2013 • 0 Comments

Laughing is a primitive fear response - so to elicit laughter just surprise people with wit.

Laughing is a primitive fear response – so to elicit laughter just surprise people with wit.

The word humour comes from the Greek humoral referring to medicine (humours) that was thought to control human health and emotion whereas a sense of humour is the ability to experience humour. Humour depends on culture, education, intelligence and also context. Humour also has many variations such as slapstick thought to be a rudimentary form, and satire which was thought to be a more educated version. Laughter, on the other hand, is what results from humour and helps clarify emotional context (by defining amusement) between people.

Humour is deeply rooted in human evolution and is thought to be centered in two regions of the brain containing von Economo neurons which help us move though a complex social environment. Since laughter is universal it is thought to be a tool used to break down boundaries between people and cultures and create bonds. Laughter, as we shall see, is contagious and releases a host of pleasurable hormones throughout the body. An entire branch of therapy exists devoted to laughter as medicine.

In this chapter we will examine the different types of smiles including the Duchenne smile, the tight lipped smile (high and low intensity), uneven smile, the upper smile, the grin or smirk and the broad smile. We also cover the origination of smiles and laughter, their contagion, how they generate leniency and who smiles more, men or women. We will also hit on laughing cycles, the theory of jokes and when to avoid telling dirty jokes, why women should not grunt when they laugh and how laughter is linked to health.