Consumer Science

BBC online put out an online "Spot the fake smile" survey in which you can test for yourself how good you are at discriminating between a genuine and a fake smile.

 

Research about what facial expressions reveal about emotional states dates back to 1978 when Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen set out the Facial Action Coding System or FACS, an inventory of facial muscle movements and their corresponding emotional states. These days, this inventory is the basis for several software applications that can perform automated readings.

 

Find out for yourself how easy or hard you find it to read people's faces at http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/surveys/smiles/index.shtml

 

Reference:

 

Ekman, P., & Friesen. W.V. (1978). The Facial Action Coding system: A technique for the measurement of facial movement. Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto, CA.