The Psychology Of Smiling - The Duchenne Smile

Discussion in 'Happy Talk' started by Nancy Hart, Feb 16, 2021.

  1. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    I wondered if people could sense if you were smiling behind a Covid-19 mask. The Duchenne Smile is named after Guillaume Duchenne, who studied emotional expression by stimulating various facial muscles with electrical currents in the 1860's. I had never heard of it. [​IMG]

    The Psychological Study of Smiling

    paraphrased from the intro...

    A smile begins in our sensory corridors. The eyes spot an old friend. This emotional data funnels to the brain, then smolders to the surface of the face, where two muscles, standing at attention, are roused into action. One (zygomatic major) resides in the cheek and tugs the lips upward. The other (orbicularis oculi) encircles the eye socket, squeezes the outside corners into the shape of a crow’s foot. Those who witness it often respond by smiling back. Other muscles can simulate a smile, but only the peculiar tango of the zygomatic major and the orbicularis oculi produces a genuine expression of positive emotion. Many psychologists consider it the sole indicator of true enjoyment.

    There are basically two types of smiles: a genuine smile and a fake one. A fake one is sometimes call a Pan-Am Smile, from the observation that flight attendants on Pan-Am airlines had learned to fake smile at the passengers.

    Can you tell which one of these pairs demonstrates a Duchenne smile?

    upload_2021-2-16_11-42-36.png

    upload_2021-2-16_11-43-0.png

    upload_2021-2-16_11-43-19.png

    upload_2021-2-16_11-43-42.png

    Supermodel Tyra Banks coined the word "smize," meaning to "smile with your eyes." (She also notes that it is possible to learn how to fake a genuine smile.) I think the eyes have it, and you can recognize a genuine smile behind a mask, in most cases. Do you?
     
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  2. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I've wondered if people could sense me smile at them behind my stupid mask.
     
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  3. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    For years Julia Roberts has been voted to have the best smile, of both males and females.

    upload_2021-2-16_15-11-42.png

    But what about Kate Middleton?

    upload_2021-2-16_15-11-57.png

    There are two female personalities of the past of whom I've yet to find a picture displaying a Duchenne smile: Princess Diana and Nancy Reagan. Were they afraid of showing crow's feet?

    .
     
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  4. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    So I'm probably being dense: are you saying that a Duchenne smile is one that is artificially induced as opposed to being genuine? Or s it the other way round?
     
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  5. Joe Riley

    Joe Riley Supreme Member
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    "When your smile hits your eyes, like a big pizza pie....thats a Duchenne"!

    Peter O'Toole and Ed Sullivan sing "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling"

     
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    Last edited: Feb 16, 2021
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  6. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Don't give me a Dean Martin reference and then show a pic of Peter O'Toole and Ed Sullivan. I have a hard enough time focusing as it is.

    So a Duchenne is sincere?
     
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  7. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    I'm sorry, John. I was trying to edit volumes of stuff down into a post that wasn't too long, and didn't state the main point.

    The Duchenne smile is the genuine smile.
     
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  8. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    No need to apologize. I just shot you a Duchenne smile ;)

    I still wonder if people can tell that I'm smiling behind my mask. Maybe my efforts to make it clear are somehow compromising it.

    Regarding Lady Diana: you think her smiles look too "controlled"? All of her pics do seem as though she's sort of posing. Nancy, too.
     
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  9. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    Matthew McConaughey was recently voted as having the best smile among the men. Look at those crow's feet! :D

    upload_2021-2-16_16-12-8.png

    I like these too.

    [​IMG]

    A super smile

    [​IMG]

    Even with glasses

    [​IMG]
     
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  10. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    Just say (rather than cheese). :p



     
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  11. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    "Did you see the orbicularis oculi on that babe? Maaaannn!!!! Makes me go wæ."
     
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  12. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    George Reeves, shot to death (suicided?) under questionable circumstances.
    [​IMG]

    So sad.
     
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  13. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (de Boulogne) with his subject

    [​IMG]

    In 1852 Duchenne was able to catalog the muscles and muscle groups involved in a variety of different facial expressions, using electrical probes to stimulate the muscles in the faces of his subjects. Duchenne discovered that when he stimulated the muscles used to smile (Zygomatic Major), his subject produced a large smile, yet did not look truly happy (left image). o_O

    [I don't think I'd be too happy either with electric probes stuck on my cheeks]

    upload_2021-2-16_23-18-53.png

    Intrigued by this un-genuine smile, Duchenne told the man a joke, capturing his reaction immediately after (right image). Duchenne had discovered that when we feel true enjoyment we engage the muscle surrounding our eyes as well as the muscles that produce a smile.

    Other pictures from Duchenne's experiments. :D

    upload_2021-2-16_23-13-43.png
     
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  14. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I applaud your use of ":D" in this thread.

    It's fascinating stuff...cutting edge at the time. And you look at the subject and are reminded of those movies where they doctor finds some poor guy on the street, offers him the equivalent of $5, and then does stuff like this to him.

    The whole thing looks like a crude TENS unit. There's a Pic #59!!! Damn. Kick him another franc, Doc.

    I wonder if the subsequent work your linked article discussed has been used in the broader arena of facial recognition. I also wonder if their conclusions regarding "core disposition" are correct. Lots of things may influence how someone responds (opens up) to the outside world at any point in their lives.
     
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  15. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    Funny you mention that. The following sentence was in the article (LINK) where I found the first picture, and it sounded suspicious.

    "It’s worth noting that this particular subject had an anesthetic condition of the face and could feel no pain."

    What is an "anesthetic condition?" LOL

    Didn't they have only chloroform and ether back then? And didn't those knock you out completely? I'm not sure.
     
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