Author: Chris

Barriers, Blocking or Shielding, Body cross, Clenching and gripping, Closed body language, Defensive body language, Disengagement body language, Low confidence body language, Low confidence hand displays

Body Language of Hand Clasping

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Body Language of Hand Clasping

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Hand Clasping or Interlocking Fingers 4Cue: Hand Clasping

Synonym(s): Folded Hands, Clasping Hands, Self Clasping Hands, Hands Holding Hands, Clasping The Hands.

Description: Done by placing one hand inside the other, holding the hands together or cupping them together.

In One Sentence: Clasping the hands together is a signal of insecurity and represents a need to be pacified.

How To Use it: Clasp the hands together when you feel that you need to create a reassuring feeling. This can be done inconspicuously by placing the hands under the table on the lap. Clasping the hands on a desk is more visible, but generally goes unnoticed by people and is misread as proper, casual and in control. However, hands together, instead, is a way that most people create positive soothing feelings. When we hold our own hands, it simulate holding a parent’s or loved one’s hand and therefore creates an comforting feeling.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m holding my hands together because I need to feel protected as if my Mom was holding my hand. While doing this, I’m not yet ready to participate in the discussion.”

Variant: See Fig Leaf Posture (The), Interlaced Fingers.

Cue In Action: During a business meeting, she held her hands on her lap cupped together. When she finally released her hands and added to the conversation, they knew she had finally welcomed the company strategy.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Clasping the hands together signifies a need for pacifying as it reminds us of our childhood when parents would have clasped the hand of their infant.

A person who uses the posture indicates shows doubt, low confidence, or that they are experiencing high stress. As tension escalates, the gesture will move from palm stroking into more rigorous interlaced finger stroking making the two a progression of intensity.

Alternatively, when the hands are unclasped it indicates that a person is ready to address the audience or someone else.

Cue Cluster: Clasped hands will show a reserved disposition. The person will lean back rather than toward, will be quiet and will be observing but not participating.

Body Language Category: Barriers, Body cross, Blocking or Shielding, Clenching and gripping, Closed body language, Defensive, Disengagement, Low confidence hand displays.

Resources:

Borenstein, Lynn. The development of friendship in childhood: A clinical conversation. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. 1996. 13(3): 213-224.

Bodie, Grahamd. ; Villaume, Williama. Men and Women Holding Hands Revisited: Effects of Mutual Engagement and Hand Dominance on Attributions of Cross-Sex Handholding. Communication Research Reports. 2008. 25(4): 243-254.

Bouras, N. ; Dykens, E. M. ; Smith, A. C. M. Distinctiveness and correlates of maladaptive behaviour in children and adolescents with Smith–Magenis syndrome
Journal of Intellectual Disability Research. 1998. 42(6): 481-489.

Barroso, Felix ; Feld, Jason. Self-touching and attentional processes: The role of task difficulty, selection stage, and sex differences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1986. 10(1): 51-64.

Butzen, Nathan David ; Bissonnette, Victor ; Mcbrayer, Dan. Effects of modeling and topic stimulus on self-referent touching. Perceptual and motor skills. 2005. 101(2): 413-20.

Broome, Marion E.. Helping Parents Support Their Child In Pain. Pediatric Nursing. 2000. 26(3): 315.

Bornstein, Marc H. ; Tamis-Lemonda, Catherine S. Maternal responsiveness and infant mental abilities: Specific predictive relations. Infant Behavior and Development. 1997. 20(3): 283-296.

Buckley, V., & Semple, S. (2012). Evidence that displacement activities facilitate behavioural transitions in ring-tailed lemurs. Behavioural Processes, 90, 433–435.

Bouhuys, A.L. ; Jansen, C.J. ; van den Hoofdakker, R.H. Analysis of observed behaviors displayed by depressed patients during a clinical interview: relationships between behavioral factors and clinical concepts of activation. Journal of Affective Disorders. 1991. 21(2): 79-88.

Bouhuys, A.L. ; Beersma, Domien G.M. ; van den Hoofdakker, Rutger H. Observed behavior as a predictor of the response to sleep deprivation in depressed patients. Psychiatry Research. 1989. 28(1): 47-61.

Berridge CW,Mitton E, ClarkW, Roth RH. 1999. Engagement in a non-escape (displacement) behavior elicits a selective and lateralized suppression of frontal cortical dopaminergic utilization in stress. Synapse 32:187–197.

Caplovitz Barrett, Karen. The origins of social emotions and self-regulation in toddlerhood: New evidence. Cognition & Emotion. 2005. 19(7): 953-979.

Chapell, M ; Basso, E ; Decola, A ; Hossack, J ; Keebler, J ; Marm, J ; Reed, B ; Webster, E ; Yoggev, D. Men and women holding hands: whose hand is uppermost?
Perceptual and motor skills. 1998. 87(1):127-30

Cowen, Emory L. ; Weissberg, Roger P. ; Lotyczewski, Bohdan S. Garfield, Sol L. (editor). Physical contact in interactions between clinicians and young children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1983. 51(1): 132-138.

D’alessio, M. ; Zazzetta, A. Development of Self-Touching Behavior in Childhood. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 1986. 63(1): 243-253.

DeSteno, D.; Breazeal, C.; Frank, R. H.; Pizarro, D.; Baumann, J.; Dickens, L, and Lee, J. Detecting the Trustworthiness of Novel Partners in Economic Exchange. Psychological Science. 2012. 23, 1549-1556.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/use-body-language-cues-create-trust

Flores, Luis E. ; Berenbaum, Howard. Desire for emotional closeness moderates the effectiveness of the social regulation of emotion. Personality and Individual Differences

Gulledge, Andrewk. ; Gulledge, Michelleh. ; Stahmannn, Robertf.. Romantic Physical Affection Types and Relationship Satisfaction. The American Journal of Family Therapy. 2003. 31(4): 233-242.

Gulledge, Andrew K ; Stahmann, Robert F ; Wilson, Colwick M. Seven types of nonsexual romantic physical affection among Brigham young university students. Psychological reports. 2004. 95(2): 609-14.

Goldberg, Shelly ; Rosenthal, Robert. Self-touching behavior in the job interview: Antecedents and consequences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1986. 10(1): 65-80.

Hernandez-Reif, Maria ; Diego, Miguel ; Field, Tiffany. Preterm infants show reduced stress behaviors and activity after 5 days of massage therapy. Infant Behavior and Development. 2007. 30(4): 557-561.

Harrison, Lynda Law. The use of comforting touch and massage to reduce stress for preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews. 2001. 1(4): 235-241.

Hung, Iris W. and Aparna A. Labroo. From Firm Muscles to Firm Willpower: Understanding the Role of Embodied Cognition in Self-Regulation. Journal of Consumer Research. 2011 37(6): 1046-1064. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/657240
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/firm-muscles-lead-willpower/

Heaven, Laura ; Mcbrayer, Dan ; Prince, Bob. Role of sex in externally motivated self-touching gestures. Perceptual and motor skills. 2002. 95(1): 289-94.

Heaven, L ; Mcbrayer, D. External motivators of self-touching behavior. Perceptual and motor skills. 2000. 90(1): 338-42.

Kochanska, G., Coy, K. C., & Murray, K. T. (2001). The development of self-regulation in the first four years of life. Child Development, 72, 1091–1111.

Kochanska, G., Murray, K. T., & Harlan, E. T. (2000). Effortful control in early childhood: Continuity and change, antecedents, and implications for social development. Developmental Psychology, 36, 220–232.

Katza, Carmit; Irit Hershkowitz; Lindsay C. Malloya; Michael E. Lamba; Armita Atabakia and Sabine Spindlera. Non-Verbal Behavior of Children Who Disclose or do not Disclose Child Abuse in Investigative Interviews. Child Abuse & Neglect. 2012. 36: 12-20.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/reading-nonverbal-behaviour-child-abuse-cases-encourage-children-divulge-information-truth-telling

Moore, Monica. Courtship Signaling and Adolescents: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Journal of Sex Research. 1995. 32(4): 319-328.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/girls-just-want-to-have-fun-the-origins-of-courtship-cues-in-girls-and-women/

Mohiyeddini, Changiz ; Semple, Stuart. Displacement behaviour regulates the experience of stress in men. Stress. 2013. 16(2): 163-171.

Mohiyeddini, C., Bauer, S., & Semple, S. (2013a). Displacement behaviour is associated with reduced stress levels among men but not women. PLoS One, 8, e56355.

Mohiyeddini, C., Bauer, S., & Semple, S. (2013b). Public self-consciousness moderates the link between displacement behaviour and experience of stress in women. Stress, 16, 384–392.

Navarro, Joe. 2008. What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People. William Morrow Paperbacks.

O’sullivan, Lucia F. ; Cheng, Mariah Mantsun ; Harris, Kathleen Mullan ; Brooks-gunn, Jeanne. I Wanna Hold Your Hand: The Progression of Social, Romantic and Sexual Events in Adolescent Relationships. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. 2007. 39(2): 100-107.

Pettijohn, Terry F. , Ii ; Ahmed, Shujaat F. ; Dunlap, Audrey V. ; Dickey, Lauren N. Who’s got the upper hand? Hand holding behaviors among romantic couples and families.(Report). Current Psychology. 2013. 32(3): 217(4).

Rosenbloom, Tova ; Ben-Eliyahu, Adar ; Nemrodov, Dan. Children’s crossing behavior with an accompanying adult. Safety Science. 2008. 46(8): 1248-1254.

Rubin, Mark Morrison, Todd G. (editor). Social Affiliation Cues Prime Help-Seeking Intentions. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement. 2011. 43(2): 138-141.

Toronto, Ellen L.K. A clinician’s response to physical touch in the psychoanalytic setting. International Journal of Psychotherapy. 2002 7(1): 69-81.

Troisi A. 1999. Ethological research in clinical psychiatry: the study of nonverbal behaviour during interviews. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 23:905–913.

Troisi A. 2002. Displacement activities as a behavioral measure of stress in nonhuman primates and human subjects. Stress 5: 47–54.

Vannorsdall, Tracy ; Dahlquist, Lynnda ; Shroff Pendley, Jennifer ; Power, Thomas. The Relation Between Nonessential Touch and Children’s Distress During Lumbar Punctures. Children’s Health Care. 2004. 33(4): 299-315.

Williams, Trish ; Connolly, Jennifer ; Cribbie, Robert. Light and Heavy Heterosexual Activities of Young Canadian Adolescents: Normative Patterns and Differential Predictors.(Author abstract)(Report). Journal of Research on Adolescence. 2008. 18(1): 145(28).

Auto contact or self touching, Frustration or frustrated body language, Pacifying body language, Pensive displays, Pseudo-infantile gestures, Shy nonverbal, Stressful body language, Stroking body language, Worry body language

Body Language of Hand Behind Head or Head Pacifying

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Body Language of Hand Behind Head or Head Pacifying

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Hand Behind Head or Head PacifyingCue: Hand Behind Head or Head Pacifying

Synonym(s): Head Scratching, Head Petting, Hair Stroking.

Description: A scratching, rubbing, petting, smoothing, scratching or ruffling of the hair at the back of the head. Head pacifying may also be done by holding of the back of the neck or head with the palm of the hand or hands.

In One Sentence: When the hand comes to the back of the head it shows that one is trying to self sooth due to negative emotions.

How To Use it: Stroking the back of the head or neck area can help to release positive calming hormones. One might use the gesture when other people are not nearby to help you resolve your problems. When difficult problems arise, ticking the back of the neck or just cradling the back of the neck can simulate the care we received as infants which, in turn, help dissipate the negative emotions.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m in need of comfort so I’m petting the back of my head in order to make me feel better as my parents did when I was a child.”

Variant: See Head Clasping or Head Cradling, Hooding or The Catapult.

Cue In Action: As he evaluated the business proposition, he worked his hand against the grain of his hair at the back of his head in effort to pacify himself and bring comfort.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Head pacifying through stroking the hair signifies a need to pacify during emotional discomfort, as a parent might do to a young child. Imagine Mom or Dad massaging the back of a child’s head when they are nervous or distressed. During stress or boredom, an adult uses stroking the back of the head to replicate the soothing feelings he recalls from his childhood.

Cue Cluster: The lips might purse or tense, the eyes might glaze over and contemplate, the hands might return to the face and rub the eyes, a hand might down stroke the mouth, and a person may show other signals of distress or boredom such as fidgeting.

Body Language Category: Auto contact or self touching, Stroking body language, Frustration or frustrated body language, Pensive displays, Pacifying, Pseudo-infantile gestures, Shy nonverbal, Stressful body language, Worry body language.

Resources:

Anderson, J. (1972). “Attachment Behavior Out of Doors.” In N. G. Blurton Jones (Ed.), Ethological Studies of Child Behaviour (Cambridge: University Press), pp. 199-215.

Brannigan, Christopher, and David Humphries (1969). “I See What You Mean.” New Scientist (Vol. 42), pp. 406-08.

Brannigan, Christopher, and David Humphries (1972). “Human Non-Verbal Behaviour, A Means of Communication.” In N. G. Blurton-Jones, ed., Ethological Studies of Child Behaviour (Cambridge: University Press), pp. 37-64.

Barroso, Felix ; Feld, Jason. Self-touching and attentional processes: The role of task difficulty, selection stage, and sex differences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1986. 10(1): 51-64.

Butzen, Nathan David ; Bissonnette, Victor ; Mcbrayer, Dan. Effects of modeling and topic stimulus on self-referent touching. Perceptual and motor skills. 2005. 101(2): 413-20.

Broome, Marion E.. Helping Parents Support Their Child In Pain. Pediatric Nursing. 2000. 26(3): 315.

Bornstein, Marc H. ; Tamis-Lemonda, Catherine S. Maternal responsiveness and infant mental abilities: Specific predictive relations. Infant Behavior and Development. 1997. 20(3): 283-296.

Buckley, V., & Semple, S. (2012). Evidence that displacement activities facilitate behavioural transitions in ring-tailed lemurs. Behavioural Processes, 90, 433–435.

Bernal, Gilda Rios ; Wortham, Suec. How to Calm Children through Massage. Childhood Education. 1997. 74(1): 9-14.

Bouhuys, A.L. ; Jansen, C.J. ; van den Hoofdakker, R.H. Analysis of observed behaviors displayed by depressed patients during a clinical interview: relationships between behavioral factors and clinical concepts of activation. Journal of Affective Disorders. 1991. 21(2): 79-88.

Bouhuys, A.L. ; Beersma, Domien G.M. ; van den Hoofdakker, Rutger H. Observed behavior as a predictor of the response to sleep deprivation in depressed patients. Psychiatry Research. 1989. 28(1): 47-61.

Berridge CW,Mitton E, ClarkW, Roth RH. 1999. Engagement in a non-escape (displacement) behavior elicits a selective and lateralized suppression of frontal cortical dopaminergic utilization in stress. Synapse 32:187–197.

Bouras, N. ; Dykens, E. M. ; Smith, A. C. M. Distinctiveness and correlates of maladaptive behaviour in children and adolescents with Smith–Magenis syndrome
Journal of Intellectual Disability Research. 1998. 42(6): 481-489.

Bond, Michael H., and Hiroshi Komai (1976). “Targets of Gazing and Eye Contact During Interviews: Effects on Japanese Nonverbal Behavior.” In Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Vol. 34), pp. 1276-84.

Blakeslee, Sandra (1995). “In Brain’s Early Growth, Timetable Maybe Crucial.” In New York Times (“Science Times,” August 29), pp. C1, C3.

Cantor, Michael B. ; Smith, Stephen E. ; Bryan, Bonita R. Induced bad habits: Adjunctive ingestion and grooming in human subjects. Appetite. 1982. 3(1): 1-12.

Caplovitz Barrett, Karen. The origins of social emotions and self-regulation in toddlerhood: New evidence. Cognition & Emotion. 2005. 19(7): 953-979.

Castles, Duncan L. ; Whiten, Andrew ; Aureli, Filippo. Social anxiety, relationships and self-directed behaviour among wild female olive baboons. Animal Behaviour. 1999. 58(6): 1207-1215.

D’alessio, M. ; Zazzetta, A. Development of Self-Touching Behavior in Childhood. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 1986. 63(1): 243-253.

DeSteno, D.; Breazeal, C.; Frank, R. H.; Pizarro, D.; Baumann, J.; Dickens, L, and Lee, J. Detecting the Trustworthiness of Novel Partners in Economic Exchange. Psychological Science. 2012. 23, 1549-1556.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/can-trust-use-body-language-create-trustworthiness/

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Ekman, Paul, and Wallace V. Friesen (1969). “Nonverbal Leakage and Clues to Deception.” In Psychiatry (Vol. 32), pp. 88-106.

Karagozoglu, Serife ; Kahve, Emine. Effects of back massage on chemotherapy-related fatigue and anxiety: Supportive care and therapeutic touch in cancer nursing. Applied Nursing Research. 2013. 26(4): 210-217.

Katza, Carmit; Irit Hershkowitz; Lindsay C. Malloya; Michael E. Lamba; Armita Atabakia and Sabine Spindlera. Non-Verbal Behavior of Children Who Disclose or do not Disclose Child Abuse in Investigative Interviews. Child Abuse & Neglect. 2012. 36: 12-20.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/reading-nonverbal-behaviour-child-abuse-cases-encourage-children-divulge-information-truth-telling

Givens, David B. (1977). “Shoulder Shrugging: A Densely Communicative Expressive Behavior.” In Semiotica (Vol. 19:1/2), pp. 13-28.

Goldberg, Shelly ; Rosenthal, Robert. Self-touching behavior in the job interview: Antecedents and consequences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1986. 10(1): 65-80.

Gregersen, Tammy S. Nonverbal Cues: Clues to the Detection of Foreign Language Anxiety. Foreign Language Annals. 2005. 38(3): 388-400
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/what-anxious-learners-can-tell-us-about-anxious-body-language-how-to-read-nonverbal-behavior/

Goodall, Jane (1986). The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University).

Givens, David B. (1976). An Ethological Approach to the Study of Human Nonverbal Communication (University of Washington Ph.D. dissertation in Anthropology, Ann Arbor: University Microfilms).

Grand, Stanley (1977). “On Hand Movements During Speech: Studies of the Role of Self-Stimulation in Communication Under Conditions of Psychopathology, Sensory Deficit, and Bilingualism.” In Norbert Freedman and Stanley Grand, eds., Communicative Structures and Psychic Structures: A Psycholanalytic Interpretation of Communication (New York: Plenum Press), pp. 199-221.

Hernandez-Reif, Maria ; Diego, Miguel ; Field, Tiffany. Preterm infants show reduced stress behaviors and activity after 5 days of massage therapy. Infant Behavior and Development. 2007. 30(4): 557-561.

Huflejt-Łukasik M, Czarnota-Bojarska J (2006) Short Communication: Selffocused attention and self-monitoring influence on health and coping with stress. Stress Health 22: 153–59.

Harrison, Lynda Law. The use of comforting touch and massage to reduce stress for preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews. 2001. 1(4): 235-241.

Hennessy, Michael B ; T. Williams, Michael ; Miller, Deborah D ; Douglas, Chet W ; Voith, Victoria L. Influence of male and female petters on plasma cortisol and behaviour: can human interaction reduce the stress of dogs in a public animal shelter?
Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 1998. 61(1): 63-77.

Harrigan, Jinni A. Self-touching as an indicator of underlying affect and language processes. Social Science & Medicine. 1985. 20(11): 1161-1168.

Harrigan, Jinni A.; Karen S. Lucic; Denise Kay; Anne McLaney and Robert Rosenthal. Effect of Expresser Role and Type of Self-Touching on Observers’ Perceptions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 1991. 21(7): 585-609.

Heaven, Laura ; Mcbrayer, Dan ; Prince, Bob. Role of sex in externally motivated self-touching gestures. Perceptual and motor skills. 2002. 95(1): 289-94.

Heaven, L ; Mcbrayer, D. External motivators of self-touching behavior. Perceptual and motor skills. 2000. 90(1): 338-42.

Heaven, Laura. Role of Sex in Externally Motivated Self-touching gestures. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 2002. 95(4): 289.

Kochanska, G., Coy, K. C., & Murray, K. T. (2001). The development of self-regulation in the first four years of life. Child Development, 72, 1091–1111.

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Mohiyeddini, C., Bauer, S., & Semple, S. (2013a). Displacement behaviour is associated with reduced stress levels among men but not women. PLoS One, 8, e56355.

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of nonverbal behaviour during interviews. J Psychiatr Res 33: 243–250.

Troisi A. 1999. Ethological research in clinical psychiatry: the study of nonverbal behaviour during interviews. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 23:905–913.

Troisi A. 2002. Displacement activities as a behavioral measure of stress in nonhuman primates and human subjects. Stress 5: 47–54.

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Adaptors, Amplifier, Auto contact or self touching, Boredom body language, Courtship display, Indicator Of Sexual Interest (IOsI), Pacifying body language, Preening body language, Stroking body language, Worry body language

Body Language of Hair Play

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Body Language of Hair Play

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Hair Play 9Cue: Hair Play

Synonym(s): Playing With The Hair, Twirling The Hair, Hair Tossing, Hair Flick, Sucking On The Hair, Combing The Hair, Brushing The Hair,,Sexual Hair Play, Running Fingers Through The Hair, Wrapping The Hair Around The Neck, Flicking The Hair, Hair Twirl, Hair Sucking.

Description: When hair is playing with, tossed, twirled, flicked, combed, or sucked.

In One Sentence: Playing with the hair is a sign of self grooming, pacifying, or is a way to draw attention to feminine features in a dating context.

How To Use it: Women can play with their hair in order to draw men’s attention to it. When hair is tossed and otherwise displaced, it will draw men’s eyes. Tossing, flicking, and brushing the hair are ways to display youthful qualities of fertility which is mostly unique to women.

Sucking on the hair or stroking the hair is also a way to help sooth nerves although it is not advisable to do so repetitively as it can be read by others as insecurity.

Context: a) Dating, b) General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m drawing attention to my hair by grooming it so that I can show off its luxuriousness and get it ready for other people’s eyes to feast upon its greatness.” “I’m concerned my hair is out of place so I’m fixing it so others don’t think I’m unkempt.” “I’m sucking on my hair to pacify myself as a replacement for a soother.”

Variant: See Head Toss.

Cue In Action: a) When she saw a cute boy she subconsciously twirled her hair around her finger, titled her head to the side and batted her eyes at him. b) During a boring lecture she passed the end of her long blonde hair through her lips to pacify herself. b) His hair was overgrown and it constantly fell into his eyes so he either flicked it away or brush it away with the side of his hand.

Meaning and/or Motivation: a) Hair tossing is done by women to show off their luxurious hair to men. Hair tosses can be done by flicking the hair over the shoulder or away from the face. Hair can be removed from a band and twirled or rolled and placed on top of the head to expose the neck.

Other hair signals include running the fingers through the hair to preen it, wrapping the hair around the neck or curling it around the finger. These types of signals are done by women usually out of their conscious awareness. They may be available and seeking sexual attention, but equally, they can be done to serve an actual function. When they are done to attract attention, they are driven by inner thoughts and desires which manifest as nonverbal cues. It is the desires that prime the motivation to act out sexually. In this case, grooming draws attention to her luscious hair and hence her youth and fertility.

Men will also preen in during courtship and might try to flatten their hair, stroke it, or brush it away from the eyes. In more overt cases, men might remove a comb and fix their hair entirely.

b) Outside of a dating context, the hair might be preened due to either a functional purpose such as when it blocks the vision, or as a means of pacifying. Sucking on the end of the hair is a replacement for a soother as it stimulates the sensitive lips. Running the fingers through the hair can also serve a pacifying purpose as it reminds us of having our hands entwined in someone else’s. Other times the hair is fussed with simply to preen and keep the hair in its place.

Cue Cluster: a) Added sexuality can come with a lip lick or moistening of the lips with lip gloss or adding lip stick to make them appear red and seductive. Having the lips slightly parted as if blowing a small stream of air through them can escalate the cues even more dramatically.

For hair play to be a sexual cue, it will be done in association with eye contact, absent of which might just be a form of soothing auto contact. Eye contact turns a fairly random gesture like touching the hair into one that is directional, meaning the eye contact sends a message to a person of interest.

Other times, women use signals to “fish and lure” where signals happen in a more broad-stroke fashion, absent of eye contact and direction, sent off into the room at large.

When men preen they will often do so secretly and will not use eye contact to draw attention to themselves. In other words, men will preen before an approach rather than during one as women tend to do.

Body Language Category: Adaptors, Amplifier, Auto contact or self touching, Boredom, Courtship display, Stroking body language, Indicators of sexual interest (IOsI), Pacifying, Preening, Worry body language.

Resources:

Abrahams, Matthewf.. Perceiving flirtatious communication: An exploration of the perceptual dimensions underlying judgments of flirtatiousness. Journal of Sex Research. 1994. 31(4): 283-292.

Cantor, Michael B. ; Smith, Stephen E. ; Bryan, Bonita R. Induced bad habits: Adjunctive ingestion and grooming in human subjects. Appetite. 1982. 3(1): 1-12.

Céline Jacob A, Nicolas Guéguen A and Christine Delfosse A. She Wore Something in Her Hair: The Effect of Ornamentation on Tipping. Journal of Hospitality Marketing And Management, 2012; 21: 414–420.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/how-to-get-better-tips-wear-something-in-your-hair-says-research-research-on-tipping-behaviour-and-nonverbal-body-language/

Cameron C., S. Oskamp and W. Sparks. 1978. Courtship American style: newspaper advertisements. Family Coordinator 26: 27-30.

Clark, A. Attracting Interest: Dynamic Displays of Proceptivity Increase the Attractiveness of Men and Women. Evolutionary Psychology. 2008., 6(4), 563-574.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/risky-versus-proceptive-nonverbal-sexual-cues/

Dreznick, Michaelt. ; Cronin, Josephm. ; Waterman, Carolinek. ; Glasheen, Cristie. Saying Yes when Meaning No: An Investigation of Gender and Individual Differences in Token Seduction. Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality. 2003. 15(1): 69-84.

Dosmukhambetova, D., and Manstead, A. Strategic Reactions to Unfaithfulness: Female Self-Presentation in the Context of Mate Attraction is Link to Uncertainty of Paternity. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2011. 32, 106-107.

Fink, Bernhard; Nadine Hugill and Benjamin P. Lange. Women’s Body Movements Are a Potential Cue to Ovulation. Personality and Individual Differences. 2012. 53: 759-763.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/women-use-sexier-body-language-indicate-ovulation-fertility-women-dance-walk-sexier/?preview=true

Fletcher, Garth J. O ; Kerr, Patrick S. G ; Li, Norman P ; Valentine, Katherine A. Predicting Romantic Interest and Decisions in the Very Early Stages of Mate Selection. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 2014 40(4): 540-550.

Givens D. The nonverbal basis of attraction: Flirtation, courtship, and seduction. Psychiatry. 1978. 41: 346.

Grammer, Karl ; Kruck, Kirsten ; Juette, Astrid ; Fink, Bernhard. Non-verbal behavior as courtship signals: the role of control and choice in selecting partners. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2000. 21(6): 371-390.

Guéguen, Nicolas. Hair color and wages: Waitresses with Blond Hair Have More Fun. The Journal of Socio-Economics. 2012. 41: 370-372.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/research-says-blondes-fair-better-tips-courtship-donations-spontaneous-helping/

Guéguen, Nicolas. Hair Color and Courtship: Blond Women Received More Courtship Solicitations and Redhead Men Received More Refusals. Psychol Stud. 2012. 57(4):369–375. DOI 10.1007/s12646-012-0158-6

Guéguen, Nicolas. Brief Report: Women’s Hair Color and Donations: Blonds Receive More Money. North American Journal of Psychology. 2011. 13(3): 367-372.

Guéguen, Nicolas. The Sweet Color of an Implicit Request: Women’s Hair Color and Spontaneous Helping Behavior. Social Behavior and Personality. 2012. 40(7): 1099-1102.

Goetz, Cari D.; Judith A. Easton; David M.G. Lewis; David M. Buss. Sexual Exploitability: Observable Cues And Their Link To Sexual Attraction. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2012; 33: 417-426.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/victim-blaming-or-useful-information-in-preventing-rape-and-sexual-exploitation/

Goodboy, Alan, K. and Maria Brann. Flirtation Rejection Strategies: Towards an Understanding of Communicative Disinterest in Flirting. The Quantitative Report. 2010. 15(2): 268-278.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/how-to-reject-flirting-using-nonverbal-and-verbal-tactics/

Hartfeil E. and S. Sprechler. 1986. Mirror, Mirror…The Importance of Looks in Everyday Life. State University of New York Press, Albany.

Hald, G. M., & Høgh-Olesen, H. Receptivity to Sexual Invitations from Strangers of the Opposite Gender. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2010. 31, 453-458.

Hinsz, V. B., D. C. Matz, and R. A. Patience 2001 Does Women’s Hair Signal Reproductive Potential? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 37:166-172.

Hugill, Nadine ; Fink, Bernhard ; Neave, Nick. The role of human body movements in mate selection. Evolutionary psychology: an international journal of evolutionary approaches to psychology and behavior. 2010 8(1): 66-89.

Krumhuber, Eva; Antony S. R.; Manstead; and Arvid Kappas. Temporal Aspects of Facial Displays in Person and Expression Perception: The Effects of Smile Dynamics, Head-tilt, and Gender. Journal Nonverbal Behavior. 2007; 31: 39-56.
DOI 10.1007/s10919-006-0019-x
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/head-tilt-and-slow-onset-smile-nonverbals-trust-attraction-dominance-and-flirting-a-brief-report/

Kanazawa, S., & Still, M. C. (2000). Teaching may be hazardous to your marriage. Evolution and Human Behavior, 21, 185–190.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/rival-good-body-language-makes-partner-look-uglier/

Mesko, Norbert ; Bereczkei, Tamas. Hairstyle as an adaptive means of displaying phenotypic quality. Human Nature. 2004. 15(3): 251-270.

Mishra, Sandeep; Andrew Clark and Martin Daly. One Woman’s Behavior Affects The Attractiveness Of Others. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2007 28: 145-149.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/rival-good-body-language-makes-partner-look-uglier/

Miller, G., Tybur, J. M., & Jordan, B. D. Ovulatory cycle effects on tip earning by lap dancers: Economic evidence for human estrus. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2007. 28: 375-381. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2007.06.002.

Moore, Monica. M. Nonverbal Courtship Patterns in Women: Context and consequences. Ethology and Sociobiology. 1985. 6:237- 247.

Moore, M. M. Courtship Communication and Perception. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 2002. 94(1): 97-105. doi:10.2466/PMS.94.1.97-105.

Moore, M. M. and D. L. Butler. 1989. Predictive aspects of nonverbal courtship behavior in women. Semiotica 76(3/4): 205-215.

Moore, M. M. 2001. Flirting. In C. G. Waugh (Ed.) Let’s talk: A cognitive skills approach to interpersonal communication. Newark, Kendall-Hunt.

Moore, Monica. Courtship Signaling and Adolescents: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Journal of Sex Research. 1995. 32(4): 319-328.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/girls-just-want-to-have-fun-the-origins-of-courtship-cues-in-girls-and-women/

Patton, Tracey Owens. Hey Girl, Am I More than My Hair?: African American Women and Their Struggles with Beauty, Body Image, and Hair. NWSA Journal. 2006. 18(2): 24-51.

Rosette, Ashleigh Shelby ; Dumas, Tracy L. The hair dilemma: conform to mainstream expectations or emphasize racial identity. Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy. 2007. 14(1): 407(15).

Swami, Viren ; Barrett, Seishin. British men’s hair color preferences: An assessment of courtship solicitation and stimulus ratings. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. 2011. 52(6): 595-600.

Singh, Devendra. Mating strategies of young women: Role of physical attractiveness. Journal of Sex Research. 2004. 41(1): 43-54.

Sorokowski, Piotr. Attractiveness of blonde women in evolutionary perspective: studies with two Polish samples. Perceptual and motor skills. 2008. 106(3): 737-44.

Thompson, Cheryl. Black Women, Beauty, and Hair as a Matter of Being. Women’s Studies. 2009. 38(8): 831-856.

Thompson, Kristin. Grooming the Naked Ape: Do Perceptions of Disease and Aggression Vulnerability Influence Grooming Behaviour in Humans? A Comparative Ethological Perspective. Current Psychology. 2010. 29(4): 288-296.

Rich, Melissa ; Cash, Thomas The American image of beauty: Media representations of hair color for four decades. Sex Roles. 1993. 29(1): 113-124.

Roberts – Grey, Gina. The root of health.(natural hair color offers surprising insights into your mental and physical well-being)(Report). Women’s Health. 2010. 080.

McAlexander, James, H. and John W. Schouten. 1989. Hair style changes as transition markers. Sociology and Social Research. 74: 58-62.

Synott, Anthony. 1987. Shame and glory: A sociology of hair. British Journal of Sociology. 38: 381-413.

Weitz, Rose. Women and Their Hair: Seeking Power through Resistance and Accommodation. Gender and Society. 2001 15(5): 667-686.

Watkins, Jessica L. and Jeffrey A. Hall. The Association Between Nonverbal
Sensitivity and Flirting Detection Accuracy. Communication Research Reports. 2014. 31(4): 348-356, DOI: 10.1080/08824096.2014.963220
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/men-women-detect-nonverbal-flirting-accurately/

Walsh, D. G., & Hewitt, J. (1985). Giving Men The Come-On: Effect Of Eye Contact And Smiling In A Bar Environment. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 61, 873-874.

Weerth, Carolina ; Kalma, Akko. Gender differences in awareness of courtship initiation tactics. Sex Roles. 1995. 32(11): 717-734.

Amplifier, Courtship display, Elective nonverbal traits, Hostile body language

Body Language of Hair Length Language

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Body Language of Hair Length Language

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Hair Length Language 1Cue: Hair Length Language

Synonym(s): Long Hair, Short Hair, Shaved Head.

Description: The hidden meaning associated with the relative length of the hair.

In One Sentence: The length of a person’s hair indicates underlying emotions and beliefs.

How To Use it: Use the length of the hair to signal to others your underlying emotions and beliefs. For example, long hair signals youthfulness and is therefore often useful to women whom are trying to portray an image that includes sexual appeal. In young girls, it is useful in signaling femininity generally and helps to separate them from young boys whom are generally restricted to shorter more masculine hair.

All women, but particularly older ones can use hair extensions to create the illusion of youth and sexuality. A high quality weave or hair extensions produces thickness and usually comes from youthful sources so gives the impression of good health.

Men can also use hair length to demonstrate various attitudes. Long hair signals a carefree and easy going attitude, generally, and in highly attractive dominant looking men, long hair, signals a feminine beauty. Men do best with shorter hair which has historically been the default for men since it presents less of a functional hindrance and commands less grooming overall.

Men should drop long hairstyles when they suffer from male pattern baldness and avoid come-overs as they are universally seen in a negative light. A clean shaven head in men can be particularly attractive to women as it is a demonstration of confidence.

Whatever hair style you choose, know that it will help define who you are.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: See Meaning and/or Motivation.

Variant: N/A

Cue In Action: a) She broke up with her long-term boyfriend and immediately cut off all her hair. She let her emotions dictate her hair length. She told the world that she was no longer in a dating mood and to prove that, she cut off her sexuality at the root. b) In his youth, he rocked it hard with long hair. It was just part of fitting into the band. As he got a job, a house and kids, his hair style evolved to be much shorter. He grew out of his carefree youth with more conventional hair length.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Men with short hair are often conservative whereas those with long hair are usually carefree, artistic, or radical. A shaved head can mean that he has succumb to male-pattern baldness and has chosen to shave it off or desires to appear tough and masculine.

Women with short hair are seen as artistic, business minded and sometimes harsh, hardheaded, emotional or radical. Long hair on women is associated with youth, sex appeal and good health, but aging women with extremely long hair can harbour insecurities or are trying to maintain their youthful appearance.

Short hair or a shaved head can also be an indicator disease such as cancer.

Cue Cluster: Hair length is only one cue to the hidden meaning of hair length. Be sure to couple this cue with adjoining cues in cluster to determine its true intent. A long-haired woman in her 20’s is probably using her hair to embellish her sex appeal, whereas another with short hair who is an activist is likely telling a story of strength over passivity.

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Courtship display, Elective nonverbal traits, Hostile body language.

Resources:

Fink, Bernhard ; Neuser, Frauke ; Deloux, Gwenelle ; Röder, Susanne ; Matts, Paul J.
Visual attention to and perception of undamaged and damaged versions of natural and colored female hair. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology. 2013. 12(1): 78-84.

Grammer, Karl; Fink, Bernhard; Mller, Anders P.; Thornhill, Randy. Darwinian aesthetics: sexual selection and the biology of beauty. Biological Reviews. 2003. 78(3): 385-407.

Hinsz, V. B., D. C. Matz, and R. A. Patience 2001 Does Women’s Hair Signal Reproductive Potential? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 37:166-172.

Patton, Tracey Owens. Hey Girl, Am I More than My Hair?: African American Women and Their Struggles with Beauty, Body Image, and Hair. NWSA Journal. 2006. 18(2): 24-51.

Mesko, Norbert ; Bereczkei, Tamas. Hairstyle as an adaptive means of displaying phenotypic quality. Human Nature. 2004. 15(3): 251-270.

Moore, M. M. and D. L. Butler. 1989. Predictive aspects of nonverbal courtship behavior in women. Semiotica 76(3/4): 205-215.

Moore, M. M. 2001. Flirting. In C. G. Waugh (Ed.) Let’s talk: A cognitive skills approach to interpersonal communication. Newark, Kendall-Hunt.

Moore, M. M. 1985. Nonverbal courtship patterns in women: context and consequences. Ethology and Sociobiology 64: 237-247.

Moore, Monica. Courtship Signaling and Adolescents: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Journal of Sex Research. 1995. 32(4): 319-328.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/girls-just-want-to-have-fun-the-origins-of-courtship-cues-in-girls-and-women/

Rosette, Ashleigh Shelby ; Dumas, Tracy L. The hair dilemma: conform to mainstream expectations or emphasize racial identity. Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy. 2007. 14(1): 407(15).

Swami, Viren ; Barrett, Seishin. British men’s hair color preferences: An assessment of courtship solicitation and stimulus ratings. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. 2011. 52(6): 595-600.

Singh, Devendra. Mating strategies of young women: Role of physical attractiveness. Journal of Sex Research. 2004. 41(1): 43-54.

Sorokowski, Piotr. Attractiveness of blonde women in evolutionary perspective: studies with two Polish samples. Perceptual and motor skills. 2008. 106(3): 737-44.

Thompson, Cheryl. Black Women, Beauty, and Hair as a Matter of Being. Women’s Studies. 2009. 38(8): 831-856.

Rich, Melissa ; Cash, Thomas The American image of beauty: Media representations of hair color for four decades. Sex Roles. 1993. 29(1): 113-124.

Roberts – Grey, Gina. The root of health.(natural hair color offers surprising insights into your mental and physical well-being)(Report). Women’s Health. 2010. 080.

McAlexander, James, H. and John W. Schouten. 1989. Hair style changes as transition markers. Sociology and Social Research. 74: 58-62.

Synott, Anthony. 1987. Shame and glory: A sociology of hair. British Journal of Sociology. 38: 381-413.

Weitz, Rose. Women and Their Hair: Seeking Power through Resistance and Accommodation. Gender and Society. 2001 15(5): 667-686.

Authoritative body language, Confident body language, Courtship display, Dominant body language, Guiding body language, Leadership body language, Social touching

Body Language of Guiding Body Language

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Body Language of Guiding Body Language

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Head Drop or Head Beckoning 2Cue: Guiding Body Language.

Synonym(s): Hand To The Lower Back Of Another, Lightly Pushing Another’s Back, Pulling Someone While Shaking Hands, Shaking Hands Pull In Or Out, Moving People Around.

Description: Using a hand to lightly push on another person’s lower back to move them in a desirable position. Pulling someone in while shaking hands.

In One Sentence: Guiding is a way to create dominance by controlling the actions of others.

How To Use it: Guiding is a very powerful power-play. Men can increase their sex appeal by placing their hands on the small of a woman’s back and lightly moving her in the direction of his choosing. The same effect works while dancing where the man is expected to, and benefits from, leading the woman.

Men can also guide women by holding their hand and steering or pulling them with a slight lead. This is a powerful way to demonstrate leadership to women which they usually find sexually appealing as it is a display of dominance and leadership.

Guiding can also be done without placing the hand directly in contact with another person’s back, but rather holding it just off contact.

Men can also guide other men less intimately, by placing an arm over the shoulder and putting weight against them, thus moving them in their chosen direction. The man who is confident enough to control other men by one-directional contact will be perceived as the most dominant.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m trying to force you into compliance through light force by gently pushing you in the direction I want you to travel.”

Variant: See Head Drop or Head Beckoning.

Cue In Action: a) The host greeted her guest, grabbed their overcoats and gently moved them from the front foyer to the living area for drink and company. b) The man led his dance partner across the room with light pressure to her lower back. c) He guided his date around the room with light pressure to her lower back to meet his family at the cocktail party.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Using a hand to lightly push on another person’s back, pulling someone in when shaking hands, using a finger to beckon someone closer, or using alluring eye contact are all ways to influence people to move in ways desirable.

Guiding is a throwback technique to childhood. Due to its commonplace use during our childhood by our parents, we easily succumb to such tactics throughout our life. A light touch the lower back is conditioned to encourage us to move with, rather than against, the pressure. Guiding is a way other people can control how we move, when and in which direction.

People who use guiding body language are usually dominant. They seek control, are authoritative and seek leadership positions wherever they go.

Cue Cluster: Watch for strong eye contact, head high, good voice patterns and gesturing, strong use of touch in order to flatter and control, strong leadership, and charisma.

Body Language Category: Authoritative body language, Courtship displays, Confident body language, Dominant body language, Guiding body language, Leadership body language, Social touching.

Resources:

Argo, J. J., Dahl, D. W., & Morales, A. C. (2006). Consumer contamination: How consumers react to products touched by others. Journal of Marketing, 70(April), 81–94.
Aranguren, Martin. “Nonverbal interaction patterns in the Delhi Metro: interrogative looks and play-faces in the management of interpersonal distance.” Interaction Studies. 2016. 16(1) forthcoming.

Aranguren, Martin and Stephane Tonnelat. Emotional Transactions in the Paris Subway: Combining Naturalistic Videotaping, Objective Facial Coding and Sequential Analysis in the Study of Nonverbal Emotional Behavior. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2014. 38:495–521. DOI 10.1007/s10919-014-0193-1
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/seriously-stop-touching-use-nonverbal-signaling-manage-unwanted-touching-busy-public

Bailenson, J.N. & Yee, N. (in press). Virtual interpersonal touch: Haptic interaction and copresence in collaborative virtual environments. International Journal of Multimedia Tools and Applications.

Bohm. 1997. Effects of interpersonal touch, degree of justification, and sex of participant on compliance with a request. The Journal of social psychology. 137: 460-469.

Crusco, A. and C. Wetzel. 1984. The midas touch: the effects of interpersonal touch on restaurant tipping, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 10: 512–517.

Fisher, J; Rytting, M and Heslin, R. 1976. Hands touching hands: affective and evaluative effects on interpersonal touch, Sociometry 39: 416–421.

Guéguen, Nicolas. Nonverbal encouragement of participation in a course: the effect of touching Social Psychology of Education. 2004. 7: 89–98.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/a-touching-way-to-encourage/

Gueguen, Nicolas; Sebastien Meineri and Virginie Charles-Sire. Improving Medication Adherence by Using Practitioner Nonverbal Techniques: A Field Experiment on the Effect of Touch. Journal of Behavioral Medice. 2010. 33:466–473
DOI 10.1007/s10865-010-9277-5
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/touching-boosts-compliance-improving-medical-compliance-using-nonverbal-communication/

Gueguen, N. (2001a). Toucher et soumission a` une requeˆte: Re´plications expe´rimentales en situation naturelle et e´valuation de l’impact du statut. Revue Internationale de Psychologie Sociale. 2001(a). 14(3):113-158.

Gue´guen, N. (2001b). L’effet d’influence du toucher sur le comportement du consommateur: 2 illustrations expe´rimentales en exte´rieur. Direction et Gestion: La Revue des Sciences de Gestion. 2001(b). 190–191, 123–132.

Guéguen, N and C. Jacob 2006, Touch and consumer behavior: A new experimental evidence in a field setting, International Journal of Management 23: 24–33.

Guéguen, N., & Jacob, C. The effect of touch on tipping: An evaluation in a French’s bar. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 2005. 24(2): 295-299.

Guéguen, Nicolas; Celine Jacob; Gaelle Boulbry. The Effect of Touch on Compliance With a Restaurant’s Employee Suggestion. Hospitality Management. 2007. 26: 1019-1023.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/touching-leads-compliance-study/

Hall, Jeffrey A. and Chong Xing. The Verbal and Nonverbal Correlates of the Five Flirting Styles. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2015. 39:41–68. DOI 10.1007/s10919-014-0199-8
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/first-12-minutes-flirting-using-nonverbal-communication-study-reveals-26-body-language-cues-attraction/

Hadi, R., and Valenzuela, A., A meaningful embrace: Contingent effects of embodied cues of affection. Journal of Consumer Psychology. 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2014.02.001
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/whats-in-a-nonverbal-object-caress/

Hertenstein, Matthew J; Keltner, Dacher; App, Betsy; Bulleit, Brittany A; Jaskolka, Ariane R 2006. Touch Communicates Distinct Emotions. Emotion. 6(3): 528-533

Jeffrey D. Fisher; Marvin Rytting; Richard Heslin. 1976. Hands Touching Hands: Affective and Evaluative Effects of an Interpersonal Touch. Sociometry, 39(4): 416-421.

Kleinke, C. Compliance to Requests Made by Gazing and Touching Experimenters in Field Settings. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 1977. 13: 218–223.

Kaufman, D. and J. Mahoney. 1999 The effect of waitresses’ touch on alcohol consumption in dyads, The Journal of Social Psychology 139: 261–267.

Kneidinger, L. M.; Maple, T. L.; Tross, S. A. 2001. Touching behavior in sport: functional components, analysis of sex differences, and ethological considerations. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 25(1): 43-62.

Krishna, A., & Morrin, M. (2008). Does touch affect taste? The perceptual transfer of product container haptic cues. Journal of Consumer Research, 34(6), 807–818.
Lynn et al., 1998 M. Lynn, J.M. Le and D. Sherwyn. 1998. Reach out and touch your customers, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quaterly 39: 60-65

Lee Ann Renninger, T. Joel Wade, Karl Grammer. Getting that female glance: Patterns and consequences of male nonverbal behavior in courtship contexts. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2004; 25: 416–431.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/part-i-how-to-read-male-sexual-body-language-a-study-for-women-and-the-men-who-wish-to-cheat-the-system/

Moore, Monica. Courtship Signaling and Adolescents: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Journal of Sex Research. 1995. 32(4): 319-328.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/girls-just-want-to-have-fun-the-origins-of-courtship-cues-in-girls-and-women/

Nannberg, J., and Hansen, C. Post-compliance touch: An incentive for task performance. The Journal of Social Psychology. 1994.134, 301–307.

Peck, J., and Shu, S. B. (2009). The effect of mere touch on perceived ownership. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(Oct), 434–447.

Peck, J., and Wiggins, J. (2006). It just feels good: Consumers’ affective response to touch and its influence on persuasion. Journal of Marketing, 70(Oct), 56–69.

Remland, M. S. and T. S. Jones 1995. Interpersonal Distance, Body Orientation, and Touch: Effects of Culture, Gender, and Age. Journal of Social Psychology 135(3): 281-297.

R. Stephen and R. Zweigenhaft. 1986. The effect on tipping of a waitress touching male and female customers. The Journal of Social Psychology 126 pp. 141–142.

Smith, D. E., Gier, J. A., & Willis, F. N. 1982. Interpersonal touch and compliance with a marketing request. Basic and Applied Social Psychology. 3: 35-38.

Thompson, Erin H. and James A. Hampton. The Effect of Relationship Status on Communicating Emotions Through Touch,. Cognition and Emotion. 2011. 25(2): 295-306. DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2010.492957.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/using-touch-convey-emotion

Williams. 1993. Effects of Mutual Gaze and Touch on Attraction, Mood, and Cardiovascular Reactivity Source: Journal of Research in Personality. 27(2): 170-183.

Willis, F. N., & Hamm, H. K. 1980. The use of interpersonal touch in securing compliance. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 5: 49-55.

Williams, L. E., Huang, J. Y., & Bargh, J. A. (2009). The scaffolded mind: Higher mental processes are grounded in early experience of the physical world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 1257–1267.

Courtship display, Indicator Of Sexual Interest (IOsI), Liking, Ownership gesture, Preening body language

Body Language of Grooming and Preening

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Body Language of Grooming and Preening

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Grooming and Preening 2Cue: Grooming and Preening.

Synonym(s): Preening.

Description: A gesture that aims to make the self or someone else more presentable. It includes removing lint or pet hair, fixing a tag from a shirt, smoothing clothing, adjusting a shirt collar, fixing the hair, applying makeup, checking a mirror, and so forth.

In One Sentence: Grooming other people is a way to bond and when done on the self, is a way to make yourself presentable.

How To Use it: Use grooming of yourself to show other people that you are in good health and care about how you are presented. This is important in every facet of one’s life from intimate relationships to job settings.

In dating as well as between friends and relatives, grooming is a welcome form of caring and demonstration of respect. To show people you care, remove lint, smooth clothing, adjusting a tie, notify them of stains on clothing or food on their face and so forth. Some debate exists as to whether we should risk the embarrassment by helping people self-groom, however, it is usually well received. Think of grooming as a way to help people avoid extra embarrassment. At the same time, grooming shows people that you are looking out for them.

The gesture is particularly important in a dating context since it shows the opposite sex that you really care about them. Men and women can both groom each other to show intimacy.

Context: a) General b) Dating.

Verbal Translation: a) “I’m fixing my body up so I seem more attractive and presentable because I want others to view me in a positive light.” b) “I’m fixing your body, by grooming you, because I care about you and how you look and how you feel.”

Variant: See Invisible Lint Picker or Lint Picker.

Cue In Action: a) She pardoned herself from the conversation and reapplied make-up as the rain had washed most of it off. b) He straightened his tie and buttoned up his jacket before giving her a hug and kiss. c) Mom went over to her son and brushed him off. He had leaves all over the back of his shirt.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Grooming and preening says that a person is keeping their outward appearance clean and presentable to show the world that they are in good mental health and, or, a good mate. It tells others that they care about how they are viewed by others and that they are social and amicable.

Preening and grooming can also be one on other people. In this case, it means that a person really cares about someone else and that they want to bond by keeping them healthy. This is an evolutionary throwback to removing bugs as monkeys do today. Preening someone else is a way to form a strong bond between two people. A mother might groom her son and a wife might groom her husband. The context will define its meaning.

When grooming is not required or done to excess in front of another person, it signals distain. Such is the case with removing imaginary lint or picking the fingernails. These are all forms of grooming that should be done in private. If they are done in front of people while avoiding eye contact, and opting out of the conversation, it sends a strong message of disrespect.

Cue Cluster: The cue cluster in which preening appears will depend on its intent. When it is designed to improve outward appearance, then eye contact will continue, a person will continue to pay attention or they will excuse themselves in order to preen. When someone wishes to use grooming in a way as to be dismissive, they will break eye contact, while feigning agreement indicators, or conversely, not even pretend to care about what the other person is saying. Other sexual cues will be present in a dating context to indicate that grooming is sexual in nature.

Body Language Category: Courtship displays, Indicators of sexual interest (IOsI), Liking, Ownership gestures, Preening.

Resources:

Cantor, Michael B. ; Smith, Stephen E. ; Bryan, Bonita R. Induced bad habits: Adjunctive ingestion and grooming in human subjects. Appetite. 1982. 3(1): 1-12.

Curtis, V., & Biran, A. (2001). Dirt, disgust, and disease: Is hygiene in our genes? Perspectives in biology
and medicine, 44(1), 17–31.

de Waal, F. (1997). The chimpanzee’s service economy: Food for grooming. Evolution & Human Behavior, 18, 375–386.

Dunbar, R. (1996). Grooming, gossip and the evolution of language. London: Faber and Faber.

Givens D. The nonverbal basis of attraction: Flirtation, courtship, and seduction. Psychiatry. 1978. 41: 346.

Hosey, Geoffrey ; Thompson, Robin. Grooming and touching behaviour in captive ring-tailed lemurs ( Lemur catta L.). Primates. 1985. 26(1): 95-98.

Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511–524.

Ingmanson, E. Cultural transmission of a communicative gesture in a captive group of bonobos (Pan paniscus).(Abstract). American Journal of Physical Anthropology. 2002. 117(4): 88(1).

Kinzey, W., & Wright, P. (1982). Grooming behavior in the titi monkey, Callicebus torquatos. American Journal of Primatology, 3, 267–275.

Moore, Monica. Courtship Signaling and Adolescents: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Journal of Sex Research. 1995. 32(4): 319-328.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/girls-just-want-to-have-fun-the-origins-of-courtship-cues-in-girls-and-women/

Nelson, Holly ; Geher, Glenn. Mutual Grooming in Human Dyadic Relationships: An Ethological Perspective. Current Psychology. 2007. 26(2): 121-140.

Rempel, J., Holmes, J., & Zanna, M. (1985). Trust in close relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49, 95–112.

Shimooka, Yukiko ; Nakagawa, Naofumi. Functions of an unreported “rocking-embrace” gesture between female Japanese Macaques ( Macaca fuscata ) in Kinkazan Island, Japan. Primates. 2014. 55(2): 327-335.

Thompson, Kristin. Grooming the Naked Ape: Do Perceptions of Disease and Aggression Vulnerability Influence Grooming Behaviour in Humans? A Comparative Ethological Perspective. Current Psychology. 2010. 29(4): 288-296.

Wachtmeister, C. (2001). Display in monogamous pairs: A review of empirical data and evolutionary explanations. Animal Behaviour, 61(5), 861–868.

Wilkinson, G. S. (1986). Social grooming in the common vampire bat, Desmodus rotundus. Animal Behaviour, 34(6), 1880–1889.

Appease, Clenching and gripping, Closed facial gestures, Defensive body language, Dislike (nonverbal), Lying or deceptive body language, Masked emotions, Negative body language

Body Language of Grin, Smirk or Closed-Lip Grin

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Body Language of Grin, Smirk or Closed-Lip Grin

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Grin, Smirk or Closed-Lip Grin 1Cue: Grin, Smirk or Closed-Lip Grin

Synonym(s): Smirk, Closed-Lip Grin

Description: This is a smile done by keeping the mouth closed, teeth hidden, and curling up the corners of your lips.

In One Sentence: The grin is a type of smile that is mischievous.

How To Use it: Use the grin to signal that you are “up to no good.” This can work well in intimate relationships as a way to tease. Men can use this to good effect to create a ‘bad-boy’ type impression which can leave women guessing. This can help spark sexual interest.

Children can also use the grin to good effect against parents as it is often seen as playful and cheeky and not particularly troublesome.

One should avoid the grin when dealing with authoritative figures as these people, especially when under stress, may not take well to humour.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m holding back information and not being totally open and honest which is why I’m not doing a full smile and exposing all my teeth.”

Variant: See Smiling, Fear Smile, Friendly Smile, Frown (the) or Downturned Smile, Honest Smile or Duchenne Smile, Jaw Drop Smile, Nervous Smile, Polite Smile (the), Uneven Smile Or Lopsided Smile, Upper Lip Smile, Artificial Smile or Fake Smile, Nervous Smile, Honest Smile or Duchenne Smile, Contempt Facial Expression.

Cue In Action: Dave set up a prank on his good buddy when he was away picking up lunch.  When his buddy realized that his cubicle had been “redecorated,” Dave cracked his lips in a grin.

Meaning and/or Motivation: This smile indicates smugness, arrogance, or hiding of information or feelings.

It is a tight lipped smile with the addition of a degree self satisfaction for good measure.

The close lipped smile is a restraint and concealment smile commonly associated with politicians and those who are up to no good. Children are sometimes seen sporting this smile, as are people who are teasing or being playful. If someone is speaking, but holding a tight grin, you can be assured that they aren’t telling you everything.

Sometimes the smile is done to hide bad or yellow teeth. An honest smile bares the teeth.

Cue Cluster: The smirk has accompanying dominant body language such as head back, shoulders back, open postures along with dialogue riddle with exuberant pride.

Body Language Category: Appease, Clenching and gripping, Closed facial gestures, Defensive, Dislike (nonverbal), Lying or deceptive body language, Masked emotions, Negative body language.

Resources:

Abel, Ernest L. and Michael L. Kruger. Smile Intensity in Photographs Predicts Longevity. Psychological Science. 2010. 21(4): 542-544.
Seder, J. Patrick and Shigehiro Oishi. Intensity of Smiling in Facebook Photos Predicts Future Life Satisfaction. Social Psychological and Personality Science. 2012. 3(4): 407-413.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/facebook-smile-predicts-life-satisfaction/

Colonnesi, Cristina; Susan M. Bogels; Wieke de Vente and Mirjana Majdandzic. What Coy Smiles Say About Positive Shyness in Early Infancy. Infancy. 2013. 18(2): 202–220. ISSN: 1525-0008 print / 1532-7078 online
DOI: 10.1111/j.1532-7078.2012.00117.x
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/nonverbal-meaning-coy-smiles-infants/

Fairbairn, Catharine E.; Michael A. Sayette; Odd O. Aalen and Arnoldo Frigessi. Alcohol and Emotional Contagion: An Examination of the Spreading of Smiles in Male and Female Drinking Groups. Clinical Psychological Science. 2014. DOI: 2167702614548892
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/alcohol-social-lubricant-male-smiles/

Gosselin, Pierre; Reem Maassarani; Alastair Younger and Mélanie Perron. Children’s Deliberate Control of Facial Action Units Involved in Sad and Happy Expressions. Journal of Nonverbal Behaviour. 2011. 35:225–242. DOI 10.1007/s10919-011-0110-9.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/childrens-control-facial-actions-improve-age-create-accurate-emotional-expressions/

Gunnery, Sarah D.; Judith A. Hall and Mollie A. Ruben. The Deliberate Duchenne Smile: Individual Differences in Expressive Control. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2013. 37:29–41. DOI 10.1007/s10919-012-0139-4
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/can-probably-fake-honest-smile-deliberate-duchenne-smile/

Golle, Jessika; Fred W.; Mast and Janek S. Lobmaier. Something to Smile About: The Interrelationship Between Attractiveness and Emotional Expression. Cognition and Emotion, 2014. 28:2: 298-310. DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2013.817383.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/smiles-arent-just-cameras/

Guéguen, N. The Effect Of A Woman’s Smile On Men’s Courtship Behavior. Social Behavior and Personality. 2008. 36(9): 1233-1236.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/how-women-can-use-a-simple-smile-to-attract-men/

Guéguen, N., & Fischer-Lokou, J. (2004). Hitchhiker’s Smiles And Receipt Of Help. Psychological Reports. 94: 756-760.

Gueguen, Nicolas. Weather and Smiling Contagion: A Quasi Experiment With the Smiling Sunshine. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2013. 37:51–55. DOI 10.1007/s10919-012-0140-y
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/weather-smile-not-contagion-smile-linked-weather-conditions/

Hertenstein, Matthew J.; Carrie A. Hansel; Alissa M. Butts and Sarah N. Hile. Smile Intensity In Photographs Predicts Divorce Later In Life. Motiv Emot. 2009; 33:99-105
DOI 10.1007/s11031-009-9124-6
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/small-smiles-predicts-divorce/

Harker, L., & Keltner, D. (2001). Expressions Of Positive Emotion In Women’s College Yearbook Pictures And Their Relationship To Personality And Life Outcomes Across Adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(1), 112–124. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.80.1.112.

Kraft, Tara L ; Pressman, Sarah D. Grin and Bear It. Psychological Science. 2012. 23(11): 1372-1378.

Kalokerinos, Elise K. ; Greenaway, Katharine H. ; Pedder, David J. ; Margetts, Elise A. Desteno, David (editor). Don’t Grin When You Win: The Social Costs of Positive Emotion Expression in Performance Situations. Emotion. 2014. 14(1): 180-186.

Krumhuber, E., Manstead, A., & Kappas, A. Temporal Aspects of Facial Displays in Person and Expression Perception: The Effects of Smile Dynamics, Head-tilt, and Gender. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2007. 31(1), 39-56.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/slow-onset-smile-best/

Krause, Michael W. and Teh-Way David Chen. A Winning Smile? Smile Intensity, Physical Dominance, and Fighter Performance. Emotion. 2013. 13 (2): 270–279. DOI: 10.1037/a0030745
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/smile-lose-smile-intensity-predicts-fighting-ability

Krumhuber, Eva G.; Manstead and Antony S. R. Can Duchenne smiles be feigned? New evidence on felt and false smiles. Emotion. 2009. 9 (6): 807-820.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/can-fake-real-smile-practice/

Krumhuber, Eva; Antony S. R.; Manstead; and Arvid Kappas. Temporal Aspects of Facial Displays in Person and Expression Perception: The Effects of Smile Dynamics, Head-tilt, and Gender. Journal Nonverbal Behavior. 2007; 31: 39-56. DOI 10.1007/s10919-006-0019-x
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/head-tilt-and-slow-onset-smile-nonverbals-trust-attraction-dominance-and-flirting-a-brief-report/

Labroo, Aparna A.; Anirban Mukhopadhyay; Ping Dong. Not Always the Best Medicine: Why Frequent Smiling Can Reduce Wellbeing. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2014. 53:156-162.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/why-too-much-smiling-can-be-bad-for-you/

Lockard, J. S., McVittie, R. I., & Isaac, L. M. (1977). Functional Significance Of The Affiliative Smile. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 9, 367-370.

Okubo, Matia; Akihiro, Kobayashi and Kenta Ishikawa. A Fake Smile Thwarts Cheater Detection. Journal of Nonverbal Behaviour. 2012. 36:217–225. DOI 10.1007/s10919-012-0134-9
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/fake-till-make-cheaters-fake-smile-make-lies-difficult-detect/

Reissland, Nadja; Brian Francis, James Mason, Karen Lincoln. Do Facial Expressions Develop before Birth? August 2011. 6(8): e24081. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024081.g001
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/the-cry-and-laugh-face-in-the-human-fetus/

Reed, Lawrence Ian; Katharine N. Zeglen and Karen L. Schmidt. Facial Expressions as Honest Signals of Cooperative Intent in a One-Shot Anonymous Prisoner’s Dilemma Game. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2012. 33: 200-209.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/facial-expressions-honest-signals-smiling-contempt-predict-cooperation-defection/

Samuele Centorrino, Elodie Djemai, Astrid Hopfensitz, Manfred Milinski, Paul Seabright. Honest Signaling in Trust Interactions: Smiles Rated as Genuine Induce Trust and Signal Higher Earning Opportunities. Evolution and Human Behavior DOI: dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.08.001.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/smile-great-gain-smiling-key-negotiation/

Tidd, K., & Lockard, J. (1978). Monetary Significance Of The Affiliative Smile: A Case For Reciprocal Altruism. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 11, 344-346.

Vazire, S., Naumann, L.P., Rentfrow, P. J., and Gosling, S. D. (2009). Smiling reflects different emotions in men and women. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32:5, 403–405.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/smiling-reflects-different-emotions-men-women/

Vigil, J. M. (2009). A socio-relational framework of sex differences in the expression of emotion. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32, 375–428.

Walsh, D. G., & Hewitt, J. (1985). Giving Men The Come-On: Effect Of Eye Contact And Smiling In A Bar Environment. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 61, 873-874.

*No Photo, Automatic gesture, Emotional body language

Body Language of The Grimace

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Body Language of The Grimace

No picCue: Grimace

Synonym(s): N/A

Description: A facial expression that is contorted and uneven with many muscles of the face contracting to twist the face into an odd and painful looking orientation.

In One Sentence: A grimace is a nonverbal demonstration of pain.

How To Use it: Use the grimace to tell other people, in a nonverbal fashion, that you are suffering.

Sports athletes can use the grimace to show that they are strong enough to play through large amounts of emotional and physical pain. This serves to protect their dominance.

However, a persistent grimace can notify others that one is in need of emotional or medial help. Rather than suffering in silence, a grimace can show others that you are working hard to stifle the pain, but that you are struggling. This can often active other people to come to your assistance and offer aid.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m in so much distress that my facial muscles are contracting in an odd and unusual ways.”

Variant: See Fear Facial Expression (The), Fear Smile.

Cue In Action: To see this face authentically, pay close attention while watching courtroom television shows. Usually the defendant who is under stress will seem to beam with light from their teeth. The judge will often see him or her as being defiant, and often requests for them to remove their smug look.

Meaning and/or Motivation: A grimace results from extreme shock or nervousness, disgust, disapproval, pain or fear. We see the fear facial expression under high stress situations.

The grimace happens in situations where one is forced to talk or debate under a stressful situation. You will find that this sly face appears almost universally even though no pleasure is felt. The grimace is a disarming gesture meant to appease others, but it usually comes off as insincere and smug.

Cue Cluster: A grimace will appear with other pain related body language such as head lowered, arms pulled inward, shoulders slumped, chest lowered to protect the abdomen and so forth.

Body Language Category: Automatic gesture, Emotional body language.

Resources:

Bonanno, George A. ; Keltner, Dacher Strauss, Milton E. (editor). Facial Expressions of Emotion and the Course of Conjugal Bereavement. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 1997. 106(1): 126-137.

Boucher, J D. Facial displays of fear, sadness and pain. Perceptual and motor skills 1969. 28(1): 239-42.

Burton, Keith W. Habitual emotion regulation and the facial grimace. Psychological reports. 2011. 109(2): 521-32.

Burton, K. W., Hargrave, K., Myers, S., Warren, A., Wolsfeld, S., Tompkins, D., Qualls, M., & Reminger, S. (2008) Habitual emotion regulation and increased zygomaticus major activity evoked by negative images (or “grimacing”). Psychophysiology,
45, S118.

Craig, Kenneth D. ; Patrick, Christopher J. Hogan, Robert (editor). Facial Expression During Induced Pain. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1985 48(4): 1080-109.

Cannon, W. B. (1929). Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear and rage (2nd ed.). New York: Appleton, Century, Crofts.

De Morree, Helma M ; Marcora, Samuele M. The face of effort: frowning muscle activity reflects effort during a physical task. Biological psychology. 2010. 85(3): 377-82.

Frijda, Nico H.. What is pain facial expression for? Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 2002. 25(4): 460-460.

Gehricke, Jean-Guido ; Fridlund, Alan J. Smiling, frowning, and autonomic activity in mildly depressed and nondepressed men in response to emotional imagery of social contexts. Perceptual and motor skills. 2002. 94(1): 141-51.

Humphries, Courtney. Not raving but frowning.(Viewpoint essay). New Scientist. 2012. 215(2874): 42(4).

Ichikawa, Hiroko ; Makino, Junshiro. Function of congruent facial responses to smiling and frowning. Perceptual and motor skills. 2007. 105(3 Pt 1): 838-51.

Lang, P. J., Greenwald, M. K., Bradley, M. M., & Hamm, A. O. (1993) Looking at pictures: affective, facial, visceral, and behavioral reactions. Psychophysiology, 30,
261-273.

Larsen, J. T., Norris, C. J., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2003) Effects of positive affect and negative affect on electromyographic activity over zygomaticus major and corrugator supercilii. Psychophysiology, 40, 776-785.

Mori, K., & Mori, H. (2010) Examination of the passive facial feedback hypothesis using an implicit measure: with a furrowed brow, neutral objects with pleasant primes look less appealing. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 111, 785-789.

Morree, Helma ; Marcora, Samuele. Frowning muscle activity and perception of effort during constant-workload cycling. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2012. 112(5): 1967-1972.

Hermann, Christiane; Flor, Herta. Facial expression of pain more than a fuzzy expression of distress? Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 2002. 25(4): 462-463.

Han, Changsu ; Park, Geun-Young ; Wang, Sheng-Min ; Lee, Seung-Yeop ; Lee, Soo-Jung ; Bahk, Won-Myong ; Pae, Chi-Un. Can botulinum toxin improve mood in depressed patients? Expert review of neurotherapeutics. 2012 12(9): 1049-51.

Huang, Ding-Hau; Shih-Wei Chou; Yi-Lang Chen and Wen-Ko Chiou. Frowning and Jaw Clenching Muscle Activity Reflects the Perception of Effort During Incremental Workload Cycling. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2014. 13: 921-928.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/physical-strain-leads-jaw-clenching-frowning-body-language/

Kunz, Miriam ; Peter, Jessica ; Huster, Sonja ; Lautenbacher, Stefan Gray, Marcus (Editor). Pain and Disgust: The Facial Signaling of Two Aversive Bodily Experiences (Comparing Facial Expressions of Pain and Disgust). 2013. 8(12): p.e83277

Kunz, Miriam ; Mylius, Veit ; Schepelmann, Karsten ; Lautenbacher, Stefan. Impact of age on the facial expression of pain. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 2008. 64(3): 311-318.

Keogh, Edmund; Holdcroft, Anita. Sex differences in pain: Evolutionary links to facial pain expression. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 2002. 25(4): 465-465.

LeResche, Linda ; Dworkin, Samuel F. Facial expression accompanying pain
Social Science & Medicine. 1984. 19(12): 1325-1330.

Navarro, Joe. 2008. What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People. William Morrow Paperbacks.

Pantic, Maja; Rothkrantz, Leon J. M. Machine understanding of facial expression of pain. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 2002. 25(4): 469-470.

Vlaeyen, Johan W.S. ; Hanssen, Marjolein ; Goubert, Liesbet ; Vervoort, Tine ; Peters, Madelon ; van Breukelen, Gerard ; Sullivan, Michael J.L. ; Morley, Stephen. Threat of pain influences social context effects on verbal pain report and facial expression. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 2009 47(9): 774-782.

Walsh, Joseph ; Eccleston, Christopher ; Keogh, Edmund. Pain communication through body posture: The development and validation of a stimulus set. Pain. 2014. 155(11): 2282-2290.

Courtship display, Eye Language, Indicator of interest (IoI), Liking, Nonthreatening body language, Tie signals

Body Language of Gazing Adoringly

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Body Language of Gazing Adoringly

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Gazing Adoringly 1Cue: Gazing Adoringly

Synonym(s): N/A

Description: The eyes and eyelids relax and move freely from each eye to the mouth and lips, with brief glances to the rest of the face including hair and ears.

In One Sentence: Gazing adoringly indicates a deep emotional connection.

How To Use it: Mothers and fathers naturally use the gaze pattern when looking into the eyes of newborn babies as it helps them from deep bonds. Dating partners should, and do, also use this eye pattern to build trust and connectivity.

Context: a) General b) Dating.

Verbal Translation: “I’m so infatuated with you that I want to peer right into your soul, through your eyes. I show you this with no tension in my face as my eyes wander about studying everything on your face. I’m connecting with you emotionally.”

Variant: See Intimate Gaze (The) or Triangular Gaze Pattern, Friendly Social Gaze, and Business Gaze.

Cue In Action: a) While breast feeding, the new Mom literally spent hours bonding with baby through mutual gaze. b) The couple gazed adoringly at one another while hanging out at the beach.

Meaning and/or Motivation: An eye pattern stemming from infatuation and deep love and affection that lacks any negative emotion whatsoever. Gazing adoringly happens during courtship between couples and between mothers and their newborn infants as they bond to each other.

Cue Cluster: Gazing adoringly is often coupled with a very relaxed and tranquil face that lacks all tension. The head is usually tilted forward and leaning in, the eyes will be softly focus and will travel from eye-to-eye as if trying to measure emotion.

Body Language Category: Courtship displays, Eye Language, Indicator of interest (IoI), Indicators of sexual interest (IOsI), Liking, Nonthreatening body language, Tie signals.

Resources:

Argyle, Michael; Lefebvre, Luc; Cook, Mark 1974. The meaning of five patterns of gaze. European Journal of Social Psychology. 4(2): 125-136.

Argyle, M., and Ingham, R. 1972. Gaze, mutual gaze, and proximity. Semiotica, 1, 32–49.

Argyle, M. and Cook, M. Gaze and Mutual Gaze. London: Cambridge University Press, 1976.

Allan Mazur; Eugene Rosa; Mark Faupel; Joshua Heller; Russell Leen; Blake Thurman. Physiological Aspects of Communication Via Mutual Gaze. The American Journal of Sociology. 1980; 86(1): 50-74.

Breed, G., Christiansen, E., & Larson, D. 1972. Effect of lecturer’s gaze direction upon
teaching effectiveness. Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 2: 115.

Colonnesi, Cristina ; Zijlstra, Bonne J. H. ; Van Der Zande, Annesophie ; Bogels, Susan M. Coordination of gaze, facial expressions and vocalizations of early infant communication with mother and father. Infant Behavior and Development. 2012. 35(3): 523(10).

Ellsworth, Phoebe; Carlsmith, J Merrill. 1973. Eye contact and gaze aversion in an aggressive encounter. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 28(2): 280-292.

Foddy, Margaret 1978. Patterns of Gaze in Cooperative and Competitive Negotiation
Human Relations. 31(11):925-938.

Fogel, Alan ; Dedo, Jae Young ; McEwen, Irene. Effect of postural position and reaching on gaze during mother-infant face-to-face interaction. Infant Behavior and Development. 1992. 15(2): 231-244.

Heimann, Mikael. Neonatal imitation, gaze aversion, and mother-infant interaction.
Infant Behavior and Development. 1989. 12(4): 495-505.

Kim, Sohye ; Fonagy, Peter ; Koos, Orsolya ; Dorsett, Kimberly ; Strathearn, Lane. Maternal oxytocin response predicts mother-to-infant gaze. Brain Research. 2014. 1580: 133-142.

Kellerman. 1989. Looking and loving: The effects of mutual gaze on feelings of romantic love. Journal of Research in Personality. 23(2): 145-161.

Kendon, A. Some Functions of Gaze Direction in Social Interaction. Acta Psychologica. 1967. 32: 1-25.

Kleinke, C. L. 1980. Interaction between gaze and legitimacy of request on compliance in a field setting. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 5(1): 3-12.

Langer, Julia and Rodebaugh, Thomas. Social Anxiety and Gaze Avoidance: Averting Gaze but not Anxiety. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 2013, Vol.37(6): 1110-1120.

Leeb. 2004. Here’s Looking at You, Kid! A Longitudinal Study of Perceived Gender Differences in Mutual Gaze Behavior in Young Infants Source: Sex Roles. 50(1-2): 1-14.

McAndrew. 1986. Arousal seeking and the maintenance of mutual gaze in same and mixed sex dyads Source: Journal of nonverbal behavior. 10(3):168-172.

Mulac, A., Studley, L., Wiemann, J., & Bradac, J. 1987. Male/female gaze in same-sex
and mixed-sex dyads. Human Communication Research. 13: 323-343.

Moszkowski, Robin J. ; Stack, Dale M. ; Chiarella, Sabrina S. Infant touch with gaze and affective behaviors during mother–infant still-face interactions: Co-occurrence and functions of touch. Infant Behavior and Development. 2009. 32(4): 392-403.

Marquette, L. ; Helbraun, E. ; Beebe, B. ; Jaffe, J. Microanalysis of mother-infant gaze and infant self-comfort behavior in dyads reporting high, mid-range, and low maternal depressive symptoms. Infant Behavior and Development. 1998. 21: 554-554.

Natale, Michael. 1976. A Markovian model of adult gaze behavior. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. 5(1): 53-63.

Phelps, F., Doherty-Sneddon, G., & Warnock Educational Psychology., 27, 91-107. (2006). Functional benefits of children’s gaze aversion during questioning. British Journal Developmental Psychology. 24: 577-588.

Rosenfeld, H., Breck, B., Smith, S., & Kehoe, S. 1984. Intimacy-mediators of the proximity-gaze compensation effect: Movement, conversational role, acquaintance, and gender. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 8: 235-249.

Williams. 1993. Effects of Mutual Gaze and Touch on Attraction, Mood, and Cardiovascular Reactivity Source: Journal of Research in Personality. 27(2): 170-183.

Confused body language, Disengagement body language, Eye Language

Body Language of Gaze Omission

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Body Language of Gaze Omission

Cue: Gaze Omission

Synonym(s): Ignoring.

Description: Defined as a failure to look at someone without intending to (rather than avoidance).

In One Sentence: Gaze omission is the failure to look at someone due to preoccupation.

How To Use it: Gaze omission is a signal that happens without awareness so does not have any meaning. However, if one wishes to avoid the possible negative fall-out from lack of acknowledging someone, one should be sure to be conscious enough to excuse their inattentiveness. In other words, one should be aware of ones social position and whether another person is expecting you to acknowledge them or not. Often, lower ranking people feel particularly offended when higher ranking people do not notice them. This if often taken as a personal insult despite the intention. Omitting gaze is one such way that may potentially damage a leader’s efficacy. Therefore, authority figures should be sure to always acknowledge the presence of others, no matter how pressing the situation.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m so busy and distracted that I don’t see you and so I don’t mean anything by not acknowledging your presence.”

Variant: See Gaze Avoidance.

Cue In Action: Bill had a big presentation and really needed to get the chairs in place before everyone arrived. When Mary tried to get his attention to discuss her role in the company, he seemed to brush right past her. She felt that he snubbed her and was feeling angry, but later in the evening he asked her a few questions in passing that lead her to rethink her negative evaluation of him.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Eye gaze includes “mutual gaze” when two people look each other’s faces or eye-to-eye, “gaze avoidance” in which a person purposely prevents eye contact and what we discuss here “gaze omission” where people don’t look at or notice other people, but not due to any reason specifically.

While mutual gaze and gaze avoidance have meaning, gaze omission has no meaning.

It is typical for people who are busy or distracted to easily go without seeing people around them. This is especially so with men who have been shown to have more tunnel vision and when focused, will exclude all other information around them. Women can see around their periphery better than men and can also handle more information at the same time, so it’s not as usual for women to omit their gaze. It is up to the body language reader to collect enough cues to decide if gaze is omitted or gaze is being avoided which is a big distinction.

Cue Cluster: Someone that omits their gaze will be distracted, harried, will be shuttling around with their bodies, or eyes, will be grimacing or seem worried, tensed, with tight lips. Other times the mind will seem adrift, the eyes glazed over, the face may be blank as if contemplating something internally.

Body Language Category: Confused body language, Disengagement, Eye Language.

Resources:

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