If you watched the Rio Olympics

you may have noticed how much

variation there is in the human smile.

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Most people look better smiling.

But some people look worse.

And some people just plain have “it.”

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Simone Manuel, the first African American

woman to win a gold medal in swimming

is an example of a smile changing her entire

being. Seemingly a very serious person,

when she finally smiled she

lit up the world.

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Michael Phelps seems to have no

middle ground between a huge, toothy

smile and almost maniacal intensity.

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Then there are the half smiles.

Half smiles are really hard

to pull off.  Maybe that’s

why models get paid so much

or why the Mona Lisa is so

riveting.

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Let’s face it, we don’t really gravitate

towards people who rarely smile.

But then again, we don't really trust

people who smile all the time.

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How many times have we seen

speakers go up to a podium and say,

“I’m so happy to be here”

but look like they are attending a wake?

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Would a fake smile be better in that instance?

Probably.

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It actually depends on how

far away your audience is.

If they are really close to you

that would be tough.

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So, if you’re giving a speech

the key is to do what the actors do:

build a couple of moments

into your speech where

you are guaranteed to emit a real smile.

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This can take some doing.

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President Obama has one heck of a smile.

But is it always real?

That’s debatable.

Once in a while you catch

him faking it. He suddenly smiles

when he knows the cameras are rolling.

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It’s hard to be always “on.”

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Hillary Clinton’s smile is very variable.

Most of the time it looks fake.

But she does have a very real laugh.

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The Donald’s teeth are blinding

so it’s really hard to tell what’s real.

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Bernie, on the other hand,

looks best not smiling.

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A genuine smile doesn’t

strike like lightning.

It doesn’t happen by chance

unless you’re Bill Clinton or Pat Buchanan

(one is amusing to many,

the other at least amuses himself.)

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In physiology, a smile

is a facial expression formed

by flexing muscles most notably

near both ends of the mouth

but also around the eyes.

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You can fake the mouth part,

but faking smiling eyes is really hard.

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Actors train for years to be able to

deliver a “real” smile on cue.

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Most of them end up using sense

memory to put them in a remembered

place where they really did smile.

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It is a disconnect between the eyes

and the mouth that usually

betrays an imposter.

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If you covered Donald Trump’s

or Hillary Clinton’s mouth

would you know that they were

smiling if you only had their eyes to go by?

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Rudy Giuliani, on the other hand,

seems to have it down.

He’s not the most handsome guy

on the planet but when

he chooses to smile his eyes twinkle.

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It really does seem real, doesn’t it?

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Researchers have identified a

number of different types of smiles.

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The two that predominate are

the “Duchenne Smile” and the

“Pan American Smile.”

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The Duchenne Smile,

named after the researcher

Guillaume Duchenne

is the most studied and involves

the movement of both

the zygomaticus major muscle

near the mouth

and the orbicularis oculi muscle

near the eyes.

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It’s believed that the Duchenne smile

is only produced as an involuntary response

to genuine emotion.

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It’s considered the “genuine smile.”

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Due to the involvement

of the muscle near the eyes,

it’s believed that you can tell whether

or not a smile is real by whether or not

it reaches the eyes.

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The “Pan American Smile,”

on the other hand,

is the voluntary smile involving only

the zygomaticus major muscle

to show politeness.

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It was named after a stewardess

on the now defunct airline

Pan Am.

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Considered insincere,

this type of smile is also referred to as

“The Professional Smile.”

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The most studied smile

of all, of course, is the Mona Lisa’s.

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If you look at the painting’s right side

it is instantly evident that she has definite

up-turned lips for a smile.

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But her eye on this side

does not demonstrate the signs

usually associated with a real smile.

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A real smile has laughter lines at

the outer corner of the eyes where

the skin crinkles up. The muscles

involved cannot be easily controlled

consciously and usually activate only

with a real smile.

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These muscles also affect the eye lids

and cause them to tense

up with a real smile.

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In her case the lower eye lid

does not have the same thickness

and tension as her other eye.

Hence, this eye is very relaxed

and there is no smile evident in this eye.

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What makes her so fascinating

is that we are always guessing

about what she is really thinking.

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Her eyes and her smile communicate

two entirely different  but not

necessarily oppositional emotions.

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That’s great if you're a painting.

But not so great if you are striving

to be a "sincere.”

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So should you coach a smile out of

a politician if he or she doesn’t

smile naturally?

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I don’t think that a coach would

really get very far telling Dick Cheney

to lose the grimace and replace it

with sunshine.

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Nor would it be advisable in my opinion.

Stretching that far out of character

is always transparent.

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But it’s also not "acceptable"

for a female politician to be caught

pulling “a Cheney.”

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Think about it,

how often have you seen

a female politician repeatedly scowl?

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It’s variation of emotion

and facial expression that reads

as genuine to an audience.

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So paint your speech palate

with contrasting emotional colors

instead of monotone earth tones

and beware of what

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Confucius observed:

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“I do not want

a friend who smiles when I smile,

who weeps when I weep.

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For my shadow in the pool can

               do better than that.