I need people to smile, otherwise they dislike me

How come my understanding of facial expressions is so primitive that if people are not smiling I interpret their thinking as dislike of me? 

Parents
  • This is something I spoke about it my diagnosis too, so I can definitely relate. I’m starting to see that this isn’t always the case, but it’s hard not to slip back into my natural way of thinking. A smile certainly helps me to know for sure though. But it’s also difficult to know that sometimes people smile even when they are not actually happy with something. In that instance, not much is clear.

Reply
  • This is something I spoke about it my diagnosis too, so I can definitely relate. I’m starting to see that this isn’t always the case, but it’s hard not to slip back into my natural way of thinking. A smile certainly helps me to know for sure though. But it’s also difficult to know that sometimes people smile even when they are not actually happy with something. In that instance, not much is clear.

Children
  • Very good point! When studying true and fake smiles specialists point to the eyes as a complementary source of information. A real smile involves both eyes and mouth whereas a fake smile is only on the mouth. It is very difficult to fake a full smile! Slight smile