Thread by @DrGJackBrown

1/ THREAD: Body Language Analysis No. 4604: Anne Frank and Sincere Smiles

#BodyLanguageExpert #BodyLanguage #EmotionalIntelligence #AnneFrank

2/ Today is Anne Frank's birthday. Had she lived, Anne would have been 92 years old today.

3/ In the above image of Anne Frank, we can see all the components of a sincere smile.

4/ A sincere (Duchenne) smile of Joy-Happiness includes the following components:

• Relaxed/noncontracted Forehead
• Partially Closed Eyelids
• Temporary, Concave-up furrows in lower eyelids ∆
• Upturned corners of mouth/elevated cheeks ∂
• Only upper teeth visible §

5/ § To expound a bit regarding the characteristics of the mouth of a Sincere Smile, oftentimes there are no teeth visible at all — in which case the mouth component is partially (but not fully) suppressed — in which case no teeth are visible.

6/ § Smiling with no teeth being visible is, in fact, quite common.

7/ § Also, sometimes the camera/observer's line-of-sight — or a downward tilted head does afford a view of some of the lower teeth.

8/ § Another caveat to this 'lower teeth rule' is some teeth may be visible if the person is crescendoing to laughter or decrescendoing from laughter (for sincere laughter often does expose the lower teeth).

9/ § ∂ When the 'corners' of the mouth are primarily upturned, there is a coexistent contraction and elevation of the 'cheek muscles'.

10/ § ∂ However, with feigned/fake/insincere/poor social smiles — the corners of the mouth are primarily vectored laterally. Characteristically, this also bares the lower teeth — and the 'cheek muscles' are much less involved.

11/ ∆ It's important to not place too much emphasis on the appearance of what some refer to as 'Crow's feet' on the lateral aspect of the eyes as a requirement for a sincere smile. This is because past a certain age, everyone has passive wrinkles in these locations.

12/ ∆ Also, because smiling is a dynamic and temporary process, the CHANGE in appearance of 'crow's feet' is far more important than the presence of crow's feet in an absolute sense.

13/ ∆ So 'crows feet' may be present (increasing) whilst a person is smiling, yes — but crows feet may also be present if that person is not smiling (or, crucially, with a false smile) — but simply to a lesser degree.

14/ ∆ Wrinkling of the skin is passive whereas furrows created by temporary contractions of the muscles beneath the skin are active.

15/ ∆ Thus, when looking at/near the eyes, the appearance of the temporary, concave-up furrows in the lower eyelids is a profoundly more reliable indicator of a sincere smile than 'crow's feet'.

16/ A smile with a contracted forehead is an extremely common body language signal of insincerity (not necessarily for the person as a whole, but for the person in *that moment*).

17/ Happy Birthday, Anne. Thank you for what you gave us, long ago. We remember you and hold you dear, in our hearts'.

Ω