Body Language of Fidgeting or Fidget
Cue: Fidgeting or Fidget
Synonym(s): Swaying Back And Forth, Shifting, Squirming, Dancing In The Chair.
Description: Fidgeting includes repetitive behaviours such as tapping the toes, swinging the feet with one crossed over the other, drumming the fingers, swaying back and forth, shifting the body, squirming or dancing in the chair.
In One Sentence: Fidgeting signals that the mind is not at ease or that the body has excess energy which it needs to burn.
How To Use it: Fidgeting is usually viewed negatively. However, fidgeting can provide the body with a release of energy which can help sooth nerves. When fidgeting is desired, one might replace this with action to resolve the underlying discomfort. A full workout, going for a run, or lifting weights, or as mentioned actually putting the body into constructive action can help reduce fidgeting. Moving the body in a constructive way, is a better way to release stress relieving hormones than is fidgeting.
Research has shown that fidgeting is associated with lack of attention, but in reality, is simply an indication of physical duress from sitting too still. In other words, fidgeting is your body’s way to ask you to do some exercise or play. Use that information as incentive to break fidgeting and actually move the body in a more dramatic and constructive way.
Context: General.
Verbal Translation: “I have excess energy but am not permitted to get up and use it so instead I’m trying to burn it off while sitting in one place.”
Variant: See Tapping The Fingers or Metronomic Signals, Foot Kicking, Foot Fidgeting, Rocking The Body.
Cue In Action: a) The instructor was to call on him next and he knew it. He began to fidget in his chair as his body excitedly prepared itself to perform his speech in front of the other students. b) It was a long study session and the students where beginning to shift back and forth in their chairs. Finally, they broke down and gave up for the afternoon and played some Frisbee to burn off some energy before getting back down to work.
Meaning and/or Motivation: In adults, fidgeting can be a sign that a person has excess energy or even hyperactivity disorder. It can also signal boredom or even nervousness. As the body releases the stress hormone adrenaline, the body is induced to movement to try to burn it off. In an evolutionary sense, movement was required to solve problems and our hormone adrenaline and other stress hormones such as cortisol were the body’s way to shove it into action to resolve matters. This is why today we see fidgeting during high stress events where people seem to squirm in their chairs under pressure.
Fidgeting is often an indication of boredom or under-stimulation. The body is given internal cues to get up and leave the conversation. It’s like the body revving its engine. Fidgeting is therefore a substitute to walking or running where neither is socially acceptable or the situation warrants otherwise.
Other times fidgeting is an expression that the body requires exercise and movement to burn off pent up energy. This is common in small children who are not accustomed to sit still for long periods of time. Fidgeting was commonly associated with hyperactivity disorder in children, but more recently, it has been understood to be overstated. Many recent accommodations for children have been made permitting them liberty to move about in classroom settings to release the “excess energy” they possess. Boys, due to higher levels of the hormone testosterone habitually fidget when movement is not permitted.
Cue Cluster: Fidgeting can include touching the face or other parts of the body frequently, smoothing clothing, shifting back and forth, rocking back and forth, checking pockets, standing up and then sitting back down again, pacing, and so forth.
Body Language Category: Arousal, Boredom, Energy Displacement, Escape movements, Nervous body language, Ready posture, Stressful body language.
Resources:
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Leanne ten Brinke; Dayna Stimson and Dana R. Carney. Some Evidence For Unconscious Lie Detection. Published online before print March 21, 2014, doi: 10.1177/0956797614524421.
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Mehrabian, Albert (1974). “Communication Without Words.” In Jean Civikly, ed., Messages: A Reader in Human Communication (New York: Random House), pp. 87-93.
Rothman, Naomi B. Steering Sheep: How Expressed Emotional Ambivalence Elicits Dominance in Interdependent Decision Making Contexts. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 2011. 116: 66-82.
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