Body Language of The Head Bobble
Cue: Head Bobble
Synonym(s): N/A
Description: A side-to-side motion across an arc.
In One Sentence: The head bobble shows indifference and indecisiveness.
How To Use it: Use the head bobble to show others that you haven’t made up your mind.
Context: General.
Verbal Translation: “My head is swaying back and forth between options on one side and options on the other, I just can’t decide. My head is shaking in an arc between the two ideas.”
Variant: See Head Shake or Head Negation and Head Nod.
Cue In Action: When deciding between the stainless steal and the plain white dishwasher, she bobbled her head in an arc back and forth.
Meaning and/or Motivation: The head bobble implies indecision and thought processing.
The head bobble also means different things to different cultures. For example, in East Slavic it means disapproval and in India it means “okay”. In Bulgaria, India and Pakistan the head bobble means “yes.” In the West head bobble means maybe, or that a person is contemplating between options. Their head is leaning one way for one option and one way for the other.
Cue Cluster: Watch for the index finger coming up the side of the face or touching the chin, chin stroking, rubbing or slapping the head trying to motivate it and eyes moving as if trying to decide.
Body Language Category: Buy signals, Confused body language, Metronomic signals, Microgestures, Evaluative, Pensive displays.
Resources:
Austin, Keith ; Theakston, Anna ; Lieven, Elena ; Tomasello, Michael Eccles, Jacquelynne S. (editor). Young Children’s Understanding of Denial. Developmental Psychology. 2014. 50(8): 2061-2070.
Akiyama, M. M. (1985). Denials in young children from a cross-linguistic perspective. Child Development, 56, 95–102. doi:10.2307/1130177
Cameron-Faulkner, T., Lieven, E., & Theakston, A. (2007). What part of no do children not understand? A usage-based account of multiword negation. Journal of Child Language, 34, 251–282. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2010.08.017
Fusaro, M., & Harris, P. L. (2013). Dax gets the nod: Toddlers detect and use social cues to evaluate testimony. Developmental Psychology, 49, 514–522. doi:10.1037/a0030580
Fusaro, M., Harris, P. L., & Pan, B. A. (2012). Head nodding and head shaking gestures in children’s early communication. First Language, 32, 439–458. doi:10.1177/0142723711419326
Gräfenhain, M., Behne, T., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2009). One-year-olds’ understanding of nonverbal gestures directed to a third person. Cognitive Development, 24, 23–33. doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2008.10.001
Guidetti, M. (2005). Yes or no? How do young children combine gestures and words to agree and refuse. Journal of Child Language, 32, 911–924. doi:10.1017/S0305000905007038
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/
Harrigan J. and Rosenthal R. Physicians’ head and body positions as determinants of perceived rapport. J. appl. Sot. Psychol. 13, 496, 1983.
Hietanen, Jari. Social attention orienting integrates visual information from head and body orientation. Psychological Research.2002 66(3): 174-179.
Hummer, P., Wimmer, H., & Antes, G. (1993). On the origins of denial negation. Journal of Child Language, 20, 607– 618. doi:10.1017/S0305000900008503
Kim, K. J. (1985). Development of the concept of truth-functional negation. Developmental Psychology, 21, 462–472. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.21.3.462
Schouwstra SJ, Hoogstraten J (1995) Head position and spinal position as determinants of perceived emotional state. Percept Mot Skills 81: 673–674. doi: 10.2466/pms.1995.81.2.673.
Tam, C. W., & Stokes, S. F. (2001). Form and function of negation in early developmental Cantonese. Journal of Child Language, 28, 373–391. doi:10.1017/S0305000901004688
Underwood, M. K.. Glares of Contempt, Eye Rolls of Disgust and Turning Away to Exclude: Non-Verbal Forms of Social Aggression among Girls. Feminism & Psychology. 2004 14(3): 371-375
Vaidyanathan, R. (1991). Development of forms and functions of negation in the early. tages of language acquisition: A study in Tamil. Journal of
Child Language, 18, 51–66. doi:10.1017/S0305000900013295
Wode, H. (1977). Four early stages in the development of L1 negation. Journal of Child Language, 4, 87–102. doi:10.1017/S0305000900000490