#LOOKS THAT KILL REAL FACE SERIAL#

Considerations for “beautiful smiles” – taken from trends in plastic surgery requests, celebrity smile rankings, art, beauty concepts – often featured celebrities with a specific (but not uncommon) muscle variation known as the bifid zygomaticus major. One interesting finding was that there seems to be a fine line between what defines a “beautiful smile” and what defines a “creepy smile.”Ī few months ago, while researching anatomical variations of the zygomaticus major muscle, I got pretty deep into the aesthetics of a smile. It should be pointed out that Type I and Type II represent exaggerated versions of a trend however, “creepy smiles” exist on a spectrum and features from Types I & II can be blended to form a combo type. co-activation of muscles associated with emotions such as anger, contempt, fear, and disgust muted lip corner pulling due to either:.increased eye openness due to lack of orbicularis oculi contraction or to presence of upper lid raiser (widened eyes).multiple pronounced facial wrinkles due to exaggerated orbicularis oculi contraction, high intensity lip corner pulling, and/or low facial fat content.low facial fat content- especially around the infraorbital triangle (area between eyes and laugh lines).exaggerated orbicularis oculi contraction ( smizing ).sharp features (can be related to cheeks, nose, eyes, teeth, etc.).

wide, high-intensity lip-corner pulling (mouth smiling from zygomaticus major muscle).Types I and II typically contain all or many of the following features: From observing trends in art, social media, ranking systems, and pop culture, I identified two main types of “creepy smiles”: Type I, which I coined The Grinch Pinch and Type II, which I coined The Muted Shark. Pre-serial killer considerations, I simply intended to study what causes people to perceive certain smiles as creepy. Results revealed near the end of this post. See NOTES 1-3 at the bottom of the page for survey limitations.

#LOOKS THAT KILL REAL FACE SERIAL#

T he main purpose of this survey was to explore potential biases in what people THINK a serial killer’s smile may look like. Survey participants were asked to vote on which two smiles they believed to be the smiles of serial killers. Two of the four were smiles of convicted serial killers. What do people THINK a serial killer’s smile looks like?Īs an experimental and informal survey, I posted four photos of different people smiling with only their lower faces exposed.

Looks that kill real face