Interpreting and Reading Body Language

What can be one of the greatest barriers some people have is the inability to detect physical social cues in conversations. Extroverts are usually more prone to develop this skill naturally through years of high exposure to new social interactions, while other more introverted personalities would need more guidance in this area. 

Sometimes we over-complicate things because we’re oblivious to what for others appears to be so simple they aren’t even conscious of their ability to read these signals. On the other hand we are far more conscious of the words we use, how we control and arrange our words in a particular way to portray our thoughts and emotions in a given moment. 

The idea of body language is to simply have a better understanding of social interactions between yourself and others and to understand your surroundings and what is going on in the minds of the ones around you to the best of our ability.


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It definitely is worth your time to learn about body language, first of all because it's a fascinating topic and by learning body language you can instantly improve your interactions by having a better read on a person or a groups state of mind. Also by taking a new view on social interactions with more of a critical eye on why things the way they are can really change the way you see others and yourself. 



And when I speak about control or a critical eye, the way I see it, it's not about tricks or manipulations (although there are many), but about training your intuition to have a better read on an interaction so you can steer it to a better and more positive direction.

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10 Quick And Interesting Facts About Body Language

As you may know body language is more complex than it seems at first glance. This is because reading body language has so many nuances and subtleties you have to account for such as context, culture, mood, level of comfort, baseline behavior etc. The list can go on. For example a country and its culture can have a wide range of facial expressions, body movements, and hand gestures that can signal particular emotions and feelings but go from one country to another and those same gestures and expressions can get lost in translation.

Take a look at these 10 quick and interesting facts about body language and see if you learn something new. Because body language is often nuanced and subtle with wide variations of expression you'll always learn something new. There are also experts who professionally study and research in reading body language, and even they can’t always read and interpret body language correctly. It just goes to show how complex human beings can be! We hope you enjoy this list of interesting body language facts.

1. Amazingly woman have a wider range of peripheral vision which allows her to look at a man’s body from head to toe without even getting noticed. A male’s peripheral vision on the other hand is not as good. This is why a man would typically move his gaze up and down a woman’s body which is very obvious and can wind up with the man getting caught.

2. Britain, similar to a lot of Northern Europe and the Far East, is labelled as a “non-contact” culture where there is little physical contact in their daily interactions. The Middle East, Latin America, and Southern Europe are considered “high contact cultures” where physical touch is a part of everyday socializing.

3. Covering the eyes or "eye blocking" such as prolonged blinking, lowering the eyes for a longer than usual period are all powerful signals that portray confusion, disbelief or disagreement.

4. Custom officers often notice that passengers who point their feet toward the exit while talking to the officer to make their custom’s declaration are more likely to be hiding something they should have declared in the first place.

5. Research shows that whatever we’re feeling first shows up in our body before entering our conscious minds microseconds later.



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6. Kissing and romantic touch releases Oxytocin in the brain. It is a hormone that strengthens the emotional bond between the two people.

7. Similar to how a dog will expose its throat to show submission or surrender, humans use their palms to show that they are harmless and not threatening.

8. It has been noted that in stores thieves will try to hide their physical presence by restricting their motions by hindering their head exposure by raising the shoulders and at times lowering the head. Otherwise most people walk around the store with their arms quite free and active and their posture upright.

9. Squinting is a motion that can be very brief, just fraction of a second, but it can often signal negative thoughts or emotions. We tend to squint when we are angry or when we hear sounds, or music or even voices we don’t like.

10. Even when a person is standing still, a person’s body is always telling a story.

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3 quick facts on body language and non verbal communication.

Body language can communicate a wealth of information about someone but usually people do not have the correct knowledge or have had the training to be able to spot the subtle sub-communications that take place that the person themselves aren't usually aware of. Having an awareness of peoples body language helps refine your quality of your personal interactions and make you that much more intuitive as you learn to fine tune your ''radar'' for other peoples non-verbals and even improve on your own body language as well. This brief guide on the psychology of body language will describe some facts about non verbal communication and the psychology behind these different aspects to help you understand why they are the way they are.


Having objects in front of your body
Having an object in front of you serves as a barrier between you and the other person you are speaking to and barriers normally indicate a sense of insecurity whether it is rooted from shyness, intimidation or maybe just plain distrust. For instance a desk between you and an upset worker at the office, a stool between you and a person you don't really want to speak to and a notepad between you and that person you are about to give bad news to all serve as a barrier or defensive mechanism in the same way you cross your arms when you a feeling insecure. Small objects can serve as barriers also such as a pen on a desk between you and someone else sitting on the other end the same goes for mugs, cups and utensils. Just about anything can be used as a form of a barrier to limit exposure to your body in case of a potential emotional attack. Joe Navarro an ex FBI agent speaks about body language and the use of objects in detail in his book What Every Body Is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People

Pupil body language
Whether someone is feeling either emotionally open or defensive isn't just indicated through the main parts of the body such as the arms, legs and torso, these emotions are also signaled via the pupils. For instance when you see something you favor, like or you're feeling aroused your pupils quickly open up and dilate to let in a substantial amount of light allowing a large amount of information to reach the brain, while on the other hand when you feel defensive or an unpleasant stimulus presents itself the pupils will close and constrict blocking information from reaching the brain as well. Keep in mind for contextual reasons changes in lighting as they affect how your pupils will react even before any emotions are present; in a brighter setting your pupils will constrict to stop too much reaching the brain while in a darker setting your pupils will dilate to allow more light to reach the brain giving you a better view. Think of the pupils as a something similar to a dimmer switch. Lastly these responses are purely subconscious; meaning we have no control and are barely aware these responses are even happening while there happening.

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Early attraction signs and body language
In regards to dating and courtship males and females are two different sides to the same coin. In the presence of the opposite sex who they find attractive they will carry out behaviours to emphasize certain characteristics and use body language and non verbal communication to also make themselves seem more attractive. For instance males may act more dominant when around a female they find attractive because dominance is a masculine trait females find attractive. When sitting down or walking he may spread his arms, legs and feet out more giving the impression that he needs more space to take up his large stature. The male may be more controlled in his general behavior also talking in a more deeper evened out voice while making the use of his hands to highlight what he is saying (again taking up space).

On the other side of the coin females will act more submissive when in the presence of a male they find attractive as submissiveness can emphasizes her femininity and males are more attractive to females who are very feminine. When she is seated or standing her legs are more close together to give the impression that she doesn't take up much physical space, the same reason goes for when she uses her hands when she speaks; she'll keep them close to her body not using a lot of the space around her and maybe highlighting parts of her body. She is more likely to perform other behaviors such as tilting her head to the side which exposes her neck making her seem more submissive, she may also have her back arched to tighten and highlight her buttocks while at the same time this same position pushes out her chest to emphasize her breasts also, though some females may lean forward to expose her breasts to give them more shape.

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Rapport and being a copy cat.

Imitation is one of the most common and recognizable behaviours in human interactions, just as a young ape copy's its behaviours such as climbing and swinging across trees just like other apes, people copy other people's actions whether it is posture, mannerisms, words or accents. This behavioural mimicry is called rapport. When people are in rapport they understand each other whether its each others, ideas, feelings or personal views, rapport takes place when the people involved in the same interaction are in sync; in fact this is the foundation of all positive communication because rapport is a by-product of trust and a sense of being on the same wavelength, this is all subconscious of course.

Psychologists have found that the mimicry that goes with rapport tends to increase when the people involved are performing a common goal or task, this maybe because when performing a task the people that are included are forced to embody a similar mindset required for the task, for example in a game of football; a football player having the mindset of a basketball player would be out of sync with the other football players making it more difficult to communicate, cooperate and perform as opposed to the football player having a mindset of another football player so now he/she will be in sync with the other players and they now will be able to interact and play smoothly. Mimicry is usually one of being persuasive, charismatic and having the ability to smoothly converse with someone effectively, for instance really good sales people understand that to be able to sell their product they have to essentially sell themselves and by doing this the customer has to feel that they are being understood and that the salesman can see their point of view.

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A study at Duke University North Carolina led by assistant Professor Robin Tanner researched the psychology of how mimicry affect potential buyers and clients. The experiments involved 37 Duke students to try a new sports drink and answer a few questions in an interview regarding this sports drink, during each interview the interviewer mirrored roughly half the participants. The interviewer mirrored the participants posture, body language and body movements with a two second delay so if the participant folds their arms after two seconds the interviewer would fold their arms, if the participant scratches their face, taps the table, rub their nose the interviewer does the same after two second gap and if the participant crosses their legs the interviewer does the same with opposing legs and so on. The idea was not to follow too closely otherwise the person being mirrored will find out and not respond naturally in the remainder of the interview. Luckily for the researcher none of the mimicked students picked up on any of the mimicry though interestingly enough by the end of the interview they were more likely to consume this new sports drink and more importantly they said they would buy it and assumed it would be successful in the market. That goes to show that the flattery of being a copy cat can go a long way.

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Psychology of body language: General principles.

Body language is a major part of communication, it has been told that body language constitutes over 60% of what we are communicating. Learning to communicate well means that using and reading body language will come at a prerequisite, this includes learning what to do as well what not to do.

Knowing the basics of reading peoples non verbal cues can help shed light on what generally peoples psychology such as what are thinking and feeling, and being knowledgeable on the subject can vastly change your quality of communication for the better not only can it help you read people with greater precision it can help you convey your message with more impact giving you more credibility with whatever subject your are speaking about.

Within this post I'll be going over a few general things to keep an eye out for then later on I'll go into a few concepts of reading body communication.

The face
The face has roughly has 50 muscles in it, with these this give the face the ability to perform an array of expressions depending on the emotion the person has at a given time. It is very useful in interactions to be able to learn and read facial body language, obviously most people know this and this is common knowledge. At the same time it shouldn't solely depended on and should be treated as part of the whole picture as a lot of people usually can and will fake facial expressions if they feel the need to hide their thoughts and feelings.

Negative facial expressions:
Negative facial expressions are generally quite easy to spot as they have a common theme of the person having either tension around the eyebrows, nose and mouth or having what seems like a downwards pull on the face. This is usually caused by negative thoughts or emotions, to identify the cause of such emotion depends on each individual case.

Positive facial expressions
On the opposite end of the scale positive facial expressions have a more 'open' set of features about them. The head may be raised slightly higher up, eyebrow are also raised even the mouth from corner to corner may be raised and if the emotion is strong the mouth is maybe open showing a smile. Overall the face looks more relaxed showing little tension even having lift giving an openness about the person.

Arms and Torso
This  is an interesting one as usually in regards to body language this is rarely talked about in too much detail. When reading somebody's torso body language you want think of it as either being comfortable or being uncomfortable though it is not completely black and white but it is a good guideline. 



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The torso is an important part of the body, it houses most of  the major organs which are protected by the ribs and the arms which come into play in the act of defence. Because of the delicate nature of these organs humans naturally are wired to protect the torso from danger and physical harm. Here's where it gets interesting, the same region of the brain is activated when the body experiences pain whether it is emotional or physical, the brain doesn't know the difference. So when somebody feels a negative emotion or feels discomfort, the brain interprets it as a mild attack to the body so in retaliation the arms cross over the torso to protect it hence the defensive body language, its a way of the body comforting itself. So when somebody isn't entirely comfortable with a certain situation they tend to either put an arm across their body, cross their arms or in other cases touch their neck, its a way of comforting themselves by protecting their sensitive body parts. You see this with kids who cover themselves with a blanket all the time until they grow out of it, the blanket is a source of comfort.

On the flip side people who keep their torso open are the ones considered to be more inviting, open and more comfortable with themselves as they feel don't feel threatened in any way. On the extreme end males sometimes forcefully open up their torsos to make themselves seem bigger and take up space if they feel the need to intimidate or ward others off while females open up their torsos to expose their breasts and show off their bodies, this is usually in the presence of a male they are attempting to attract.

To summarize, open torso equals comfortable or confident and closed body language equals uncomfortable or unconfident.

The Legs
Legs are also underrated when it comes to body language, they are so easily forgotten as people often just read the top half of the body and people aren't often conscious of what their legs are doing unless they are trained to read body language such as police officers, salesmen even researcher who study the science of psychology. For instance similar to reading torso body language, when someone stands with their legs wide open its a signal of self assurance and confidence as the crotch is on display, contrary to legs standing close together indicating lower confidence as the person is making less of an effort to take up space.  Again the closing of legs protects sensitive organs (genitals) in the presence of an uncomfortable situation.

When sitting down the same principles apply to open and closed legs, depending on the anxiety level the legs maybe open and relaxed or closed and tense. Other seated positions such as the figure four seating position where an ankle is resting on the other knee are usually used by males competing with other males and to be inviting to females due to the involvement of the crotch display. Females on the other hand may sit with one leg pressed over the other leaning away from a nearby male showing off muscle tone and shape of the thigh, hip and bum.

Usually when somebody is sitting their knees are pointed to their object of interest, even if that person doesn't know it. This goes for standing also. Lastly, any kind of off beat rapid movement of the leg like tapping (not to music) jittering or bouncing whilst sitting is usually a sign of anxiety or nerves and general unease.


Feet
Very similar to legs, usually forgotten and are good for giving away someone's object of interest via pointing. When they are angled outwards this is normally a sign of invitation whilst if they were parallel that would be a sign of a non-invitation. The same principles apply in terms of excessive movement similar to the legs is a sign of anxiety and unease, contrary to feet curling which are signs of extreme pleasure.

Overall body language
When reading body language it is best to take in the whole picture instead of looking at one individual body part and making a reading from there. Usually when people are experiencing a certain emotion or thought it leaks and the whole body gets involved (subtly). Lastly when reading several leaks or signs on somebody's body language you are reading what are called clusters, and they are more reliable than any one body part. Keep in mind to take in the overall picture not just an isolated clue.

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Microexpressions and spotting a liar.

Pretty much everybody has the ability on some level or another to read facial expressions. this can be from cheerful to sad to angry amongst other emotions, from seeing an expressions on somebody's face you can identify that emotion due to past experiences. Now we all know people can fake their facial expressions and most of us have even done it ourselves whether its bumping into somebody you don't really like and greeting them with a fake smile, acting calm when receiving bad news or acting really pleased when you receive that bright green woolly jumper on your birthday for the fifth time. Though we may act nice and relaxed on the outside on the inside it is a different story we may feel disappointed, sadness anger. Sometimes the opposite is true like when you hear good news and try to contain your excitement. Microexpressions are the result of hiding your true emotions; they aren't easily controllable and often leak out without you knowing. When these microexpressions do occur they can last for as short as one-twenty-fifth of a second.

The expressions we display for longer periods of time are called macroexpressions and are generally easier to spot and are also evoked by our emotions but unlike microexpressions they can be faked. One of the most well known researchers on the psychology of micrexpressions and lying is Dr Paul Ekman, as a researcher of the subject for about 40 years he discovered that emotions are universal and also biological, and by 1972 he identified a list of seven main microexpressions, these expressions are..

Anger
An emotion which is usually quite easy to spot than other expressions anger is very typical in its nature, the lips narrow and tense up slightly, the eyebrows slant and furrow together and eye contact has more focus and intensity.

Disgust
An emotional reaction against something you  really do not like, though it doesn't have to be physical like the sight or smell of a certain food, the sight of bodily fluids or something unclean disgust can be towards something you may hear of such as a belief you disagree with or a story that is gory or unpleasant. disgust is often recognised with the upper lip raised exposing teeth and wrinkling of the nose, the cheeks may be raised and the eyes squint also.

Contempt
Closely linked with disgust contempt is only in reaction to people and their actions and unlike disgust it isn't in reaction to physical objects, smells and bodily fluids. Contempt is recognised by the wrinkling of the nose and raising of the upper lip but this time on one side of the lip instead of raising the front lip when feeling disgust.

Fear 
Fear can sometimes be misidentified as surprise; this is because both emotions use similar facial muscles. When fear presents itself the eyes are most noticeable as they are more wide open and the mouth opens slightly, the lips pull back towards the ears and the eyebrows are raised considerably higher and pulled together.

Surprise
Even though it is linked to the emotion of fear surprise does have some differences; the eyebrows are raised, eyes are widened from the outer corners and the jaw is opened just a little being thrust forward. You may also notice that a person being surprised will gasp for air ever so slightly. Depending on the context surprise can be towards something either negative or positive, keep in mind if a follow up reaction is toward something positive a smile may follow the initial response or if it is something negative the following reaction maybe to step or lean back even frown towards the object of negativity.

Sadness 
An interest emotion as it can empathised with quite easily, for instance if you see somebody who is feeling sad or upset after enough time you will find yourself feeling that very same emotion. When people experience sadness the outer corner of the eyes droop down while the eyes themselves can be fixated on something or in a daze as the eyelids sag, the mouth similarly droop down from the outer corners also. Interestingly enough sadness can be displayed in one part of the face so everything described earlier can be individually isolated and still be recognised as sadness.

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Happiness
Just like sadness happiness is an emotion which normally can be empathised and even cause you to smile yourself. Using pretty much the whole face the microexpression of happiness uses the mouth and eyes which are given a lift from each outer corner, though people do fake this expression it can be spotted as people who fake happiness rarely incorporate the eyes which is a key part of displaying this emotion.


When studying somebody's non-verbals such as microexpressions it is always useful to keep in mind the context of the situation, this will help to correctly assess the subjects non-verbals with greater accuracy minimizing any misreadings that may occur. A notable authority on the subject is Dr Paul Ekman who realised the existence of microexpressions when he was lecturing a group of young psychiatrists who wanted to know how to tell if a previously suicidal psychiatric patient was lying when asked if they were feeling better in preparation for their possible release. As we know psychiatric patients normally make claims of a positive recovery even though they may not have not recovered at all, and if they managed to gain permission to leave the hospital they may make an attempt to take their own lives. Because some patients can be particularly convincing the young psychiatrists wanted to know; is there any way to be sure they are telling the truth? So Ekman decided to look into it using a collection of pre-recorded 12 minute interviews of some of the patients at the hospital. During a conversation with one of the patients after looking at the interviews the patient told him that she lied to him. so Ekman looked back at the film slowing it right down until he found across two frames an expression of extreme distress, and after that he wound up finding more examples of deceit within the interview. In the words of Dr Ekman... and that was the discovery of microexpressions. 

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