What it means when a guy looks at you and smiles to himself

If you have recently noticed that a guy looked at you and smiled to himself then you’re probably wondering why he did it.

This post will help you figure out why he looked at you and smiled to himself and help you to understand why other guys might do it in the future.

So, what does it mean when a guy looks at you and smiles to himself? A guy looking at you and smiling to himself might mean that he likes you if he only smiles to himself when he looks at you and if he shows other signs of attraction around you. It could also be that he is being submissive, nervous, he might be hiding something or he might just be glad to see you.

Since there are actually a number of different reasons why a guy will look at you and smile to himself it is important to consider the body language signals that he showed and the context of how it happened.

Reasons why a guy will look at you and smile to himself

Each of the different reasons why a guy will look at you and smile to himself will likely come with a number of clues in his body language.

Below, I’ll mention a number of reasons why a guy will look at you and smile to himself and the body language signals that you can expect to see with them.

He’s attracted to you

One reason that a guy will look at you and smile to himself is that he is attracted to you.

If that is why he did it then it would be likely that he would have only done it to you and he would likely change his behavior and body language when you are around.

If he does like you then it would be likely that he would show it in a number of different ways in his body language by doing things such as:
Mirroring your own body language
Standing near you when talking to you
Pointing his feet at you
Sitting or standing with a more upright posture when he notices you
Adjusting his clothing when he notices you
Becoming agitated when you’re talking to other men and sticking around when you are
Showing signs of nervousness when talking to you (more below)
Having more dilated pupils than normal when you’re around
Raising his eyebrows and smiling when he sees you
Asking your friends about you
Uncrossing his arms and legs when he sees you

He’s nervous

The reason that he smiled to himself when he saw you could be that he was nervous.

The reason that he was nervous could be that he is attracted to you and it caused him to feel nervous around you. If he is then it would be likely that he would show signs of both nervousness and attraction when he is around you.

Alternatively, it could be that he has some social anxiety in which case he would likely show similar body language signals around other people as he does around you.

If he did smile to himself because he was nervous then it would be likely that he would have shown other signs of being nervous such as:

Fidgeting
Self-hugging
Avoiding eye contact
Tapping the fingers and feet
Wringing the hands
Talking at a higher pitch
Coughing before speaking
Dry mouth
Quivering at the mouth and lower eyelids

He’s being submissive

The reason that he smiled to himself could be that he was being submissive.

If that is why he did it then it would be likely that you or someone else in the environment was coming across as being aggressive or threatening.

It would also be likely that he would have smiled only at the mouth and he wouldn’t have creased besides the eyes.

If he was being submissive then it would be likely that he would have shown other submissive gestures in his body language by doing things like:

Avoiding eye contact
Looking down
Distancing himself from you
Touching the face
Rubbing the arms, eye, nose, neck or legs
Pointing the feet away from you
Talking at a higher pitch and inflecting upwards at the ends of sentences

He’s hiding something

The reason that he smiled to himself could be that he wasn’t telling you about something.

If that is why he did it then it would be likely that he would have done it right after you had asked him or said something questionable.

If he was hiding something from you then it would also be likely that he would have shown some other signs of stress in that moment which could involve:

Tightening the lips
Coughing
Looking away
Talking at a different pitch
Changing the subject
Getting defensive
Touching the mouth
Scratching the neck
Rubbing the arms or legs
Blinking more frequently

He’s glad to see you

He might have smiled to himself simply because he was glad to see you.

If that was the case then it would be likely that he would have done it right at the moment that he first saw you and that the smile would have appeared genuine where he opens the mouth and creases beside the eyes.

He may also have shown positive body language signals such as:

Raising his eyebrows when he saw you
Uncrossing his arms and legs when he saw you
Having wide-open eyes when he saw you

The reason that he was glad to see you could also be that he is attracted to you. If that is why he was glad to see you then it would be likely that he would also have shown other signs of attraction in his body language.

He’s mirroring you

If you have smiled at him in the past then it could be the case that he was mirroring you.

If he was mirroring you then it would be likely that he would have smiled in the exact same way that you do.

It would also be a sign of attraction so you should consider the other body language signals that he was showing you.

If he was mirroring you then he might also have mirrored you in other ways as well by doing things like:

Standing with the same stance as you
Showing the same facial gestures as you
Showing the same hand gestures as you
Talking at a similar pitch as you

Consider how he reacts to seeing you

When you’re trying to figure out why he looked at you and smiled to himself it would be helpful to consider the way that he initially reacts when he sees you.

If he tends to uncross his arms and legs, sit up straight, hold prolonged eye contact with you, point his feet at you, raise his eyebrows and smile and he positions himself to be nearer to you then it would be more likely that he did it because he is attracted to you.

Whereas, if he crossed his arms and legs, looked away from you, distanced himself from you, and pointed his feet away from you then it would be more likely that he was not happy to see you.

Consider how he interacts with other people

The way that he interacts with other people will also likely help you figure out why he smiled to himself.

If you notice that he tends to smile in the same way to other people and he shows the same type of body language around you as he does around other people it would be more likely that he naturally smiles that way or that he did it due to having some social anxiety.

Whereas, if you notice that he only does it to you and he does change his body language around you then it would be more likely that he likes you but it causes him to get nervous assuming he shows it in his body language.

Think about multiple different signals in his body language

When you consider the type of body language that he was showing when trying to figure out why he smiled to himself it would be helpful to consider multiple aspects of his body language.

It’s difficult to draw a conclusion on what a guy might be thinking based on one body language signal because single body language signals can have many different meanings.

But, if he shows multiple body language signals that all point towards the same meaning then it would be much more likely that it is the actual reason that he is showing those signals.

Consider your relationship with him

It would also be helpful to consider the type of relationship that you have with him.

If he is someone that you know well then it would be more likely that he would have done it because he was either happy to see you or because he had something to hide.

Whereas, if it was a guy that you haven’t spoken to before then it would be more likely that he either was attracted to you or that he was nervous or both.