The Book of Tells (Peter Collett)[unlocked]

SUBMISSIVE TELLS
feet' appear beside the eyes. Duchenne recognized that
the critical clue to a genuine smile was to be found in the
region of the eyes, because while the zygomatic major
muscles are under conscious control, the orbicularis oculi
are not. As he put it,
The emotion of frank joy is expressed on the face by the
combined contraction of the zygomaticus major muscle
and the orbicularis oculi. The first obeys the will but
the second is only put in play by the sweet emotions of the
soul. . . The muscle around the eye does not obey the will;
it is only brought into play by a true feeling, by an agreeable
emotion. Its inertia, in smiling, unmasks a false friend.
If you watch how subordinate people behave towards
dominant people, you'll notice that most of their smiles
involve the muscles above the mouth instead of those
around the eyes - in other words, they're 'mouth smiles'
rather than 'mouth&eye smiles', or what are known as
'Duchenne smiles'. Strictly speaking, mouth smiles are
'false' smiles because they pretend to show enjoyment but
they're really only motivated by the desire to appear
sociable and unthreatening. But if you watch how
dominant people behave towards their subordinates,
you'll notice that they smile far less, but that their smiles
are more likely to be 'mouth&eye smiles'. This difference
arises because subordinates use smiling for the purpose of
appeasement, whereas dominant people have the licence
to smile when and how they wish. Smiles that are
designed to appease may differ from genuine smiles in
other ways. They may, for example, involve the corners of
the mouth being pulled sideways rather than up, so that
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