Facts About Your Smiling Face

Can you tell the difference between a real smile and a fake smile? Most people are able to tell the difference even if they have not been taught the difference. In fact studies have shown that people can tell the difference between a real and a fake smile just by listening to the person speak. 

All cultures recognize a smile as an expression of happiness. It reflects an inner satisfaction, joy, and contentment. The ability to smile is something that a person is born with. Even babies are able to smile before they have ever seen a smile, and once they have learned what a smile is they prefer a smiling face over a non-smiling face. 

Surprisingly, women smile more than men. Younger people smile more than older people. Those who smile least of all are generally males with a high testosterone level. 

Not surprisingly, of all the facial expressions, a smile is used the most frequently. It takes at least five pairs of facial muscles to produce a smile and sometimes a smile involves as many as 53 facial muscles. Nevertheless, it takes fewer facial muscles to produce a smile than it does to produce a frown. 

The release of endorphins in the brain which accompanies the feeling of happiness often produces a smile. Conversely, creating a smile, even a forced smile, can lead to a release of endorphins in the brain and make a person feel more joyful. 

There are numerous different kinds of smiles, but the two most interesting ones are the fake smile, sometimes called the Pan American smile, and the open smile, often called the Duchenne smile. The Pan American is the type of smile often found on airlines and used by flight attendants and pilots as they greet passengers. It's a smile of courtesy and politeness rather than real joy. 

The Duchenne smile is the genuine smile, named after Guillaume Duchenne, a French neurologist, who mapped 100 or more facial muscles in 1862. He determined that a genuine smile involved two sets of muscles, those around the eyes and those around the mouth. 

A Duchenne smile results in a contraction of the zygomatic muscles of the cheek and eye, generally causing the skin at the corner of the eye to wrinkle into what is commonly called crow's feet. At the same time the muscles around the mouth cause the corners of the mouth to curl upward. The Duchenne smile occurs naturally as the result of inner happiness. It's a spontaneous reaction and happens without being thought about. Duchenne said it was the face's reaction to "the sweet emotions of the soul."