There is an adage that goes 'you are never fully dressed without a smile'. A smile can convey your feelings and emotions that even your words can't express. But how do you decode smiles? While the combinations facial muscles and emotions can create infinite expressions and smiles, the smile that you wear can also be broken down into three main categories: smiles of pure enjoyment, social smiles, and dominance smiles. Read on to know what each one of them means.

Smiles of True Enjoyment

Also known as the reward smile, the smile of true enjoyment is a genuine smile, wherein it almost reaches a person's eyes. This kind of smile has the smiling muscle bring the lip corners up and also activate the muscle around the eye. The muscle around the eye bring the cheeks up and give some people crow's feet and thins out the eyelids. These smiles express positive emotions like happiness, excitement, and amusement. National Handshake Day (US) 2020: Different Types of Handshakes and What they Mean.

Social Smiles

Social smiles are affiliative smiles of non-enjoyment. In social smiles, the eye muscles are not activated and are somewhat strained. It is usually a no-tooth smile you give a person you pass on the street. While they may not be genuine, they play an essential role in being courteous and displaying openness to those around you. How to Read Someone's Body Language? Decode What Your Partner or Your Crush Feels About You!

Dominance Smiles

Dominance smiles are used to manage social hierarchies and status. In this, your eyebrows and cheeks lift, but the smile itself loses its symmetry and looks more like a smirk. While social smiles are considered as a sign of pleasantry, dominance smiles are not. They are associated with superiority, condescension, and boasting. Health Benefits of Smiling That Will Make You Grin More Often.

The truth is, smiles can combine with anything the face does to create expressions. The affiliation and dominance of the smile depend on the combination. Once you are aware of the types of smiles, you can better understand and communicate with people. So, now when you see someone's eyes light up behind the mask, you know they are smiling.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 14, 2020 04:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).