Negotiation Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1441: George Clooney, Sudan and Foreheads -A Sincere Smile Never Has This ...

Yesterday, George Clooney was arrested while protesting in front of the Sudanese Embassy. He was charged with the disorderly crossing of a police line. Only two days before he had dined with the President in the White House and testified before Congress regarding the mounting crisis in South Sudan. 

In the above image, during a casual moment at his congressional testimony, Clooney certainly displayed all the components of a sincere smile: partially/mostly closed eyes with the necessary concave-up furrow in each lower eyelid and an open mouth with only the top teeth showing. 

I want to call attention to George's forehead though. While there are some slight passive wrinkles in his forehead (Mr. Clooney is 50), there is no contraction of the actors forehead muscles. When the forehead does contract however, the tissue elevates and pulls the eyebrows up along with it (most don't realize that the eyebrows lower slightly during a sincere, joyful smile - although this is difficult to see dynamically). For a smile to reflect authentic happiness-joy, the forehead must be relaxed.

One common type of feigned smile, is the "false-surprise smile" aka the "dropped-jaw smile" (see Blake Lively example this: Secret # 133: Surprise or a Smile or Neither?) which is easy to spot because of the wide open mouth, elevated eyebrows and raised & furrowed forehead.

The take-home message: If the forehead is contracted, the smile is insincere. No matter what the rest of the face looks like - always evaluate the forehead.

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Negotiation Secret # 133: Surprise or a Smile or Neither?

Blake Lively is certainly one of Hollywood's most attractive young starlets. In this image, Blake has a classic False Smile though. It is commonly known as a False-Surprised Smile or Dropped Jaw Smile (B. & A. Pease).  With a true, felt smile - the forehead is relaxed - but Ms. Lively's forehead is contracted across its entire width.  With true surprise, the expression is very brief - nearly always less than a second or two.  We cannot tell the duration of Blake's expression, of course, because this is a photo. It is valuable to keep this in mind though - for if you see a surprised expression, and it lasts longer than 1 or 2 seconds, at least a portion of it (or perhaps the entire emotion) is being faked or exaggerated. This is a red flag - dig deeper.

Another sure sign that this is not true surprise, is that Ms. Lively's eyelids are not opened wide.  With true surprise, the eyelids are opened wide enough to see the whites of the eyes (sclera) ABOVE the iris (colored part of the eye).

Blake Lively - beautiful but not believable (here in this photo). Blake is not surprised, nor is this a sincere smile, but a common expression that looks (to most people) like both, but is neither. Things are not always as they seem. Don't get fooled by professional actors or those around you whose motives may be questionable.

See also:

Secret # 702: Mouth of Fear, Trying to Smile and Forehead of Pain

Analysis # 2: Body Language of Blake Lively and Penn Badgley Strongly Suggests an Impending Break-up in Near Future

Nonverbal Communication Secret # 2091: Sincere Smiling (a la' Blake Lively) and Laughing Reduces Anxiety and  Heart Rate, Boosts Immune System and Relieves Pain

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2203: A Body Language Metric of Intimacy and Affection -  How Do YOU cuddle?

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Sincerity Secret # 53: Surprise giving way to Fear

Surprise is the most fleeting of all emotions. The distinction between real surprise and false surprise helps differentiate sincerity vs insincerity. If apparent surprise lasts more than a few seconds, there is at least a component of it that is false or exaggerated. It's almost always is followed by a second moderate to strong emotional response - commonly anger, fear, embarrassment, laughter, relief, or disgust. Here, Aiden Grimshaw (of The U.K.'s X Factor fame)is experiencing fear after initial true surprise. Because surprise is so brief, photos of pure surprise are rare, and most of those examples are blended with another emotion - as demonstrated here with Mr. Grimshaw. Both surprise and fear cause the eyes to be opened very widely - which I call "White and Wide", and with the additional bearing of Aiden's teeth (especially his bottom teeth) in the context of a dropped jaw and a widely open mouth is a sure signal of an of element fear rushing in.

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