Practising the Fake Smile
As we've said, most people can't consciously differentiate between a fake smile and a real one, and most of us are content if someone is simply smiling at us — regardless of whether it's real or false. Because smiling is such a disarming gesture, most people wrongly assume that it's a favourite of liars. Research by Paul Ekman showed that when people deliberately lie, most, especially men, smile less than they usually do. Ekman believes this is because liars realise that most people associate smiling with lying so they intentionally decrease their smiles. A liar's smile comes more quickly than a genuine smile and is held much longer, almost as if the liar is wearing a mask. A false smile often appears stronger on one side of the face
The Definitive Book of Body Language
than the other, as both sides of the brain attempt to make it appear genuine. The half of the brain's cortex that specialises in facial expressions is in the right hemisphere and sends signals mainly to the left side of the body. As a result, false facial emotions are more pronounced on the left side of the face than the right. In a real smile, both brain hemispheres instruct each side of the face to act with symmetry.
When liars lie, the left side of the smile is usually more pronounced than the right
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