Fake Smiles and Women’s Intuition
A study conducted by Professor Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire and the Edinburgh International Science Festival has found that women may not be as intuitive as they think they are. In fact, men may be more intuitive than women. Study participants "were asked to look at ten pairs of photographs showing smiling faces. One of the smiles in each pair was genuine and the other was fake, and people had to spot the genuine smile." You can take this fake-smile test yourself and see how intuitive you are. I only scored 5 out of 10, so I must not be intuitive at all. However, I have a few doubts about the study. First of all, how do they judge the difference between a fake smile and a real smile? In all the sets of photos the people are obviously posing, so what makes one posed smile real and another posed smile fake? Also, I'm not sure how much you can tell about intuition by looking at pictures, because body language, which isn't conveyed in these still images, has a lot to do with intuition.
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Categories: Psychology Posted by Alex on Sun Apr 17, 2005 |
Comments (31) |
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got 7/10, good enough XD
How i watched out for the 'real' smiles is that usually their mouth is wider, they dont' care as much how they look *fake smiles are prettier*, and their eyes shine.
Posted by Yushi on Sun Apr 17, 2005 at 07:19 PM
How i watched out for the 'real' smiles is that usually their mouth is wider, they dont' care as much how they look *fake smiles are prettier*, and their eyes shine.
Woohoo, 8/10
I dunno why that pleases me.
Posted by Winona on Sun Apr 17, 2005 at 07:38 PM
I dunno why that pleases me.
Yeah, the eyes can tell a lot. I got 8/10.
Posted by joemono on Sun Apr 17, 2005 at 07:42 PM
I was thinking I could get a good score on this test. I took it and got 4/10. So, I went back and took it again. I checked the opposite of the ones I had originally selected and thought I'd get a 6/10, but only got a 5. Hm.
Posted by thephrog on Sun Apr 17, 2005 at 07:46 PM
I was looking at eyes and I only got 5/10 but that doesn't suprise me because I am a shocking judge of character. My first impressions are almost always wrong and I get taken advantage of a lot. I think it's because I don't want people to think I'm a bitch so I'm nice to everyone. Hmmm, maybe time to change my tactics. This site has taught me a lot....
Posted by Nettie on Sun Apr 17, 2005 at 08:02 PM
I got a rock
Posted by Hairy Houdini on Sun Apr 17, 2005 at 08:45 PM
Hmmm...must be something in the water. I'm better at judging people by talking to them.
Posted by Smerk on Sun Apr 17, 2005 at 09:32 PM
Did anyone wonder why the results page's title in the browser is "Rate Jokes"? Sounds a little fishy.
Posted by Kevin on Sun Apr 17, 2005 at 09:48 PM
Narwhal, pirhana, barracuda... sounds a lot fishy
Posted by Hairy Houdini on Sun Apr 17, 2005 at 09:56 PM
8 out of 10. Winona, you're my soulmate, definitely 😉
I alreadyy knew I am pretty good at distinguishing friendly "masks" from genuine friendliness.
Posted by LaMa on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 02:44 AM
I alreadyy knew I am pretty good at distinguishing friendly "masks" from genuine friendliness.
I'm a girl and got 8/10. I didn't look for the eyes in particular, just thought if the face seemed happy or not.
Posted by corax on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 06:32 AM
I'm a notoriously bad judge of character, especially when it comes to the opposite sex, yet I scored 9/10 and had one that I was uncertain about (the one?). Real smiles are just real smiles, they don't tell you why the person is really smiling, just that they are.
Posted by Neal on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 06:44 AM
I got 7/10. They don't tell you which ones are which, do they?
Posted by Glamcat on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 07:18 AM
I scored 8/10. I went with the wider smiles most of the time. But I agree, how to determine a "genuine" smile?
Posted by Nigel on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 07:23 AM
7/10 and I'm notoriously bad at judging people. I thought everyone hated me. Turns out only most of 'em do.
:cheese:
Posted by Charybdis on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 07:42 AM
:cheese:
I got an 8 out of 10. Could have done better, but pretty good.
Posted by Reynard Muldrake on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 08:59 AM
I got 6 out of ten simply by choosing the right hand photo each time...not bad.
Posted by Ev on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 01:26 PM
I think they are all fake!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by X on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 01:30 PM
10/10, I must be freakin' psychic. Really, all I did was look at the expression, fake smiles tend to be smaller than "real" smiles, and eye's tend to be less crinkled, at least that's what I assumed going in. I have the worst fake smile, it's like Chandler from Friends.
Posted by ReadbackMonkey on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 02:00 PM
7/10 I suppose it's in the eyes and cheekbones, the cheesier the smile the faker it is
Posted by Silent Fish on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 04:43 PM
6/10... Oh well, better luck next time.
Posted by Mark-N-Isa on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 04:46 PM
Got 9/10, -wish they'd tell me which one was wrong - I'm clueless on that, but I'm with Yushi, the first poster's middle statement, "They don't care as much about how they look".
Posted by stork on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 05:41 PM
4/10. I had absolutely no feeling for which were real and which were fake, so I just guessed. However, I have never claimed to be intuitive.
Posted by Ledasmom on Mon Apr 18, 2005 at 05:51 PM
Yeah, well. Internet surveys. Credibility 0.
Posted by Paul in Prague on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 01:34 AM
I did this survey last year when I was actually working for the science festival.
I think I got around eight.
I can't believe that random things I did that were to do with work are turning up here!
Posted by Boo on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 02:13 AM
I think I got around eight.
I can't believe that random things I did that were to do with work are turning up here!
Well, if you work in the science industry, I suppose you must come across a lot of unusual things, Boo!
Posted by Smerk on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 02:44 AM
Ha, ironically, now I work at an art gallery.
But the science festival was the coolest place to work. Lovely people. Obsessed with doughnuts.
😊
Dr Wiseman's pretty cool. He was a magician before he got his degrees in psychology. He did quite an interesting interactive project on luck last year, where he was trying to see whether being born in a particular month was more likely to make you lucky.
(I explained that really badly)
Posted by Boo on Tue Apr 19, 2005 at 03:10 AM
But the science festival was the coolest place to work. Lovely people. Obsessed with doughnuts.
😊
Dr Wiseman's pretty cool. He was a magician before he got his degrees in psychology. He did quite an interesting interactive project on luck last year, where he was trying to see whether being born in a particular month was more likely to make you lucky.
(I explained that really badly)
8/10. From my basic studies in psych, it's mostly in the eyes. It's the "squinting" that you watch for. I tried to imagine saying something funny in front of these people and then imagining which reaction would be more likely to come of it. But then again, I could really be saying something stupid and they could be humoring me with a smile. Well I guess that blows my theory to hell...
Posted by Ethan Lee on Wed Apr 27, 2005 at 12:23 AM
I scored 3.
THREE!!!
I'm seriously worried about how the people in my local pub and bank feel about me now, thoughts I was really popular....hmmmmmm
Posted by JD on Tue May 03, 2005 at 10:34 AM
THREE!!!
I'm seriously worried about how the people in my local pub and bank feel about me now, thoughts I was really popular....hmmmmmm
Got a 9/10. The one I missed was very similar and I managed to convince myself that there had to be one that was a setup to catch you.
Posted by Ceredur Crysane on Tue Oct 25, 2005 at 02:18 PM
{stupid336x280}
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