Not all smiles are true indications of authentic joy and contentment. In fact, if you’re a chronic people pleaser like me, you probably spend more time faking smiles than actually feeling the happiness behind them.We all fake a smile from time to time. For example, you might find the urge to force a look of happiness when you’re working, on a bad date, or at the wedding of two flashy people whose relationship was built on a foundation of infidelity.Our facial expressions can communicate valuable information to those around us. Even if we don’t realize it, many of us can subconsciously pick up on certain cues based on minor shifts in expressions. This is especially true with smiling.Also known as the non-Duchenne smile, this fake or forced polite smile involves raising the corners of your lip to appear like a smile. However, there’s typically no movement around the eyes. With a Duchenne smile, or a real smile, our eyes typically crinkle in enjoyment or laughter. You likely have picked up on these forms of smiles from your close friends or family members. Perhaps you’ve mentally noted that, though your loved one is smiling, they’re not actually as happy as they’re trying to appear. In other words, their smile didn’t quite reach their eyes…What is a Duchenne smile?Simply put, the Duchenne smile is genuine. This type of smile was discovered by and named after the French neurologist and physician Guillaume Benjamin Amand Duchenne.“As Guillaume Benjamin Amand Duchenne discovered through his pioneering studies in electrophysiology, smiles that are the result of true happiness occur spontaneously and involve the muscles around the eyes as well as those of the mouth,” the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory reported. In other words, the smile activates the muscle groups associated with the corners of your mouth and those around the eyes. Typically, when someone is authentically happy or laughing, they’ll produce those ever-dreaded crow’s feet. (You know, the ones many people think they should erase with Botox.)What is a non-Duchenne smile?When you’re feeling off or upset, someone close to you might point out that “your smile doesn’t quite reach your eyes.” This is because non-Duchenne smiles, or fake/forced smiles, don’t typically involve the muscles around your eyes.“When someone puts on a perfunctory smile, like those found in class photos or on the faces of store greeters, the muscles surrounding the eyes play no part,” the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory explained.And though we might think we’re easily able to fake an authentic smile, according to the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, the eye muscle movement involved in a genuine smile is actually involuntary. In other words, it’s difficult to force it.How to identify a fake smileOftentimes, we can subconsciously pick up on the presence of a fake smile. Even if you don’t know the individual well—for instance, when you’re on a first date with someone—you can still usually tell if someone is trying to look happy when they’re actually feeling uncomfortable, awkward, or downright upset. If you need help, pay close attention to their smile lines and whether they reach their eyes.Being able to identify such cues can help us better understand social situations and contexts. For example, if you’ve been talking to someone for minutes on end about a random story they seem disinterested in, you might notice they’re forcing a polite smile. From there, you can pull back a bit and ensure you’re not dominating the conversation. This also helps us in dating, as you can recognize when someone doesn’t seem authentic in your communications. Does this mean you should analyze your date’s crow’s feet every time they laugh? Probably not. But trust your instincts. You can’t fake authenticity.The post This Is How You Can Spot a Fake Smile appeared first on VICE.