Category: Arousal

*No Photo, Amplifier, Arousal, Autonomic signal, Buy signals, Courtship display, Dislike (nonverbal), Emotional body language, Excited body language, Eye Language, Indicator of interest (IoI), Indicator Of Sexual Interest (IOsI), Indicators of disinterest (IOD), Indicators of sexual disinterest (IOsD), Leaked or involuntary body language, Liking, Microexpression

Body Language of Pupillary Reflex, Pupil Dilation or Pupillary Constriction

by Chris • October 27, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Pupillary Reflex, Pupil Dilation or Pupillary Constriction

Cue: Pupillary Reflex

Synonym(s): Pupillometrics, Pupillary Constriction.

Description: The pupils of the eyes (the dark part of the eye) expand or contract dependent on the level of arousal. The pupils will automatically open up and allow more light into the eye on arousal or if we see something we like. Conversely, they will contract or close when we see things we don’t like. The pupils also respond automatically to changes in light. They open when it’s dark and close when it’s bright. This protects our eye from harm and increases our ability to see as the level of light changes.

In One Sentence: The papillary reflex refers to the dilation of the pupils in response to arousal.

How To Use it: Pupils react autonomically to light and emotion, thus it is not something that can be consciously controlled. However, one might artificially create situations which control the size of the pupil. For example, to create wide attractive pupils simply set up dates in low lighting conditions. Candlelight, for example will cause the pupils to dilate, thus making them more attractive. Women can make their eyes more dreamy in profile photos by digitally enhancing the size of their pupils. Likewise, matching your desires to reality will cause eyes to dilate naturally. In other words, finding a correct dating match, which really creates excitement, will naturally produce eyes that dilate, thus compounding the attraction effects.

Context: a) General b) Dating.

Verbal Translation: “When I’m aroused or when I like what I’m seeing, my pupils dilate and open wide so I can take it all in. When I’m turned off, or it’s bright, my pupils contract and take in less light.”

Variant: See Bedroom Eyes or Dialated Pupils.

Cue In Action: a) Mom’s eyes dilated to the max as she watched her newborn baby. a) During poker, he hit the card he liked and his eyes dilated widely, fortunately he wore sunglasses protecting them from sight. b) Her eyes dilated as she observed her muscularly sculpted boyfriend undress.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Pupillometrics is the study of pupil size in relation to emotion such as liking, interest, fear and dislike. Research has shown that young children have larger pupils than adults. This is probably a way for kids to appear more attractive and gain favour and attention. Watch how cartoonist’s habitually embellish the eyes of their characters to make them more appealing.

Pupil dilation can help a body language reader assess when emotion is taking place. Under stress or arousal of any kind, be it liking or visceral disliking, the pupils expand to permit more light to enter facilitating vision. This can include stress and fear due to lying, any other fearful situation and even attraction.

Conversely, the eyes contract due to not liking. This is an entirely autonomic process and not consciously controlled. When assessing someone on their pupil size, be sure to account for changes in ambient light, as the pupils will also respond to these changes.

Cue Cluster: Watch for congruency in body language to determine the meaning behind the pupillary reflex. Liking (dilation) would be coupled with head tilted to the side, open and relaxed facial expressions, smiling and loose body language. Disliking (contraction) would be coupled with head on, hard eyes, pursed lips, grimacing, eyebrows coming together and so forth. Also watch for changes in ambient light which will also determine the meaning behind the pupils.

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Arousal, Autonomic signal, Buy signals, Courtship display, Dislike (nonverbal), Emotional body language, Eye Language, Excited body language, Indicators of disinterest (IOD), Indicator of interest (IoI), Indicators of sexual disinterest (IOsD), Indicators of sexual interest (IOsI), Leaked or involuntary body language, Liking, Microexpressions.

Resources:

Ariel, Robert and Castel, Alan. Eyes wide open: enhanced pupil dilation when selectively studying important information. Experimental Brain Research, 2014. 232(1):.337-344.

Ahern S, Beatty J (1979) Pupillary responses during information processing vary with scholastic aptitude test scores. Science 205:1289–1292

Adolphs, Ralph A. 2006. Landmark study finds that when we look at sad faces, the size of the pupil we look at influences the size of our own pupil Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 1(1): 3-4

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.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/seriously-stop-touching-use-nonverbal-signaling-manage-unwanted-touching-busy-public-areas

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

Beatty J (1982) Task-evoked pupillary responses, processing load, and the structure of processing resources. Psychol Bull 91:276–292

Bijleveld E, Custers R, Aarts H (2009) The unconscious eye opener: pupil size reveals strategic recruitment of resources upon presentation of subliminal reward cues. Psychol Sci 20:1313–1315

Bradley MM, Miccoli L, Escrig MA, Lang PJ (2008) The pupil as a measure of emotional arousal and autonomic activation. Psychophysiology 45: 602–607.

Daniel J. Kruger and Jory S. Piglowski. The Effect of Eyelid Constriction on Perceptions of Mating Strategy: Beware of the Squinty-Eyed Guy! Personality and Individual Differences. 2012. 52: 576-580.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/beware-squinty-eyed-guy-studying-body-language-narrowed-eyes

Daniel H. Lee, Reza Mirza, John G. Flanagan and Adam K. Anderson. Optical Origins of Opposing Facial Expression Actions. Psychological Science published online 24 January 2014 DOI: 10.1177/0956797613514451
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/eyes-and-facial-expressions-may-be-biologically-controlled-serve-a-real-non-emotional-purpose-says-research/

Daniele Marzoli, Mariagrazia Custodero, Alessandra Pagliara, and Luca Tommasi. Sun-Induced Frowning Fosters Aggressive Feelings. Cognition And Emotion. 2013; 27 (8): 1513-1521.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/the-sun-can-produce-feelings-of-anger-and-aggression-it-makes-us-frown/

Ekman, P., O’Sullivan, M., & Matsumoto, D. (1991a). Confusions about context in the judgment of facial expression: A reply to “The contempt expression and the relativity thesis.”. Motivation & Emotion, 15(2), 169-176.

Ekman, P., O’Sullivan, M., & Matsumoto, D. (1991b). Contradictions in the study of contempt: What’s it all about? Reply to Russell. Motivation & Emotion, 15(4), 293-296.

Girard, Jeffrey M.; Jeffrey F. Cohna; Mohammad H.Mahoor S.; Mohammad Mavadati;
Zakia Hammal; and Dean P. Rosenwalda. Nonverbal Social Withdrawal In Depression: Evidence From Manual And Automatic Analyses. Image and Vision Computing. 2013.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-language-signals-withdrawal-depression

Geangu, Elena; Petra Hauf; Rishi Bhardwaj and Wolfram Bentz. Infant Pupil Diameter Changes in Response to Others’ Positive and Negative Emotions. 2011. PLoS ONE 6(11): e27132. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0027132
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/distress-happiness-reflected-infants-eyes/

Goldinger SD, Papesh MH (2012) Pupil Dilation Reflects the Creation and Retrieval of Memories. Current Directions in Psychological Science 21: 90–95.

Heaver B, Hutton SB (2011) Keeping an eye on the truth? Pupil size changes associated with recognition memory. Memory 19: 398–405.

Hoeks B, Levelt W (1993) Pupillary dilation as a measure of attention: A quantitative system analysis. Behav Res Methods 25:16–26.

Hamel, R. F (1974). Female subjective and pupillary reactions to nude male and female figures. Journal of Psychology. 87: 171-175.

Harrison, Neil A.; Wilson, C. Ellie; Critchley, Hugo D. 2007. Processing of observed pupil size modulates perception of sadness and predicts empathy. Emotion. 7(4): 724-729.

Hess, E. H., & Polt, J. M. (1960). Pupil size as related to the interest value of visual stimuli. Science, 132: 349-350.

Hess, E. H. 1965. Attitude and pupil size. Scientific American, 212 (4): 46–54.

Hess, E. H. 1975. The role of pupil size in communication. Scientific American. 233(5): 110–119.

Janisse, Michel Pierre. 1973. Pupil Size and Affect: A Critical Review of the Literature Since 1960. Canadian Psychologist Psychologie Canadienne. 14(4): 311-329.

Marzoli, Daniele; Mariagrazia Custodero; Alessandra Pagliara and Luca Tommasi. Sun-Induced Frowning Fosters Aggressive Feelings. Cognition And Emotion. 2013; 27 (8): 1513-1521. http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/avoid-anger-sunny-days/

Otero SC, Weekes BS, Hutton SB (2011) Pupil size changes during recognition. memory. Psychophysiology 48: 1346–1353.

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/body-language-signals-withdrawal-depression/

Rieger, Gerulf ; Savin-Williams, Ritch C Kemp, Andrew H. (Editor). The Eyes Have It: Sex and Sexual Orientation Differences in Pupil Dilation Patterns (The Eyes Have It). PLoS ONE, 2012, Vol.7(8), p.e40256.

Privitera CM, Renninger LW, Carney T, Klein S, Aguilar M (2010) Pupil dilation during visual target detection. J Vis 10(10):3.

Steinhauer SR, Siegle GJ, Condray R, Pless M (2004) Sympathetic and parasympathetic innervation of pupillary dilation during sustained processing. International Journal of Psychophysiology 52: 77–86.

Tombs, Selina; Silverman, Irwin 2004. Pupillometry: A sexual selection approach. Evolution and Human Behavior. 25(4): 221-228.

Weisfeld, Glenn E. and Jody M. Beresford. Erectness of Posture as an Indicator of Dominance or Success in Humans. Motivation and Emotion. 1982. 6(2): 113-130.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-language-cues-dominance-submission-children/

Wierda , Stefan M.; Van Rijn; Hedderik; Taatgen; Niels A.; Martens, Sander. Pupil dilation deconvolution reveals the dynamics of attention at high temporal resolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2012. Vol.109(22): 8456-8460.

Wang, Joseph Tao-yi ; Spezio, Michael ; Camerer, Colin F. Pinocchio’s Pupil: Using Eyetracking and Pupil Dilation to Understand Truth Telling and Deception in Sender-Receiver Games. American Economic Review, 2010. 100(3): 984-1007
Raul, Muresan. Pupil dilation and visual object recognition. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 2011, Vol.5.

Zellin, Martina; Pannekamp, Ann; Toepel, Ulrike; van der Meer, Elke. In the eye of the listener: Pupil dilation elucidates discourse processing. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 2011, Vol.81(3): 133-141.

Arousal, Courtship display, Indicator Of Sexual Interest (IOsI), Intention movements, Leaked or involuntary body language, Masked emotions, Microexpression

Body Language of Pouting Lips or Lip Parting

by Chris • October 27, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Pouting Lips or Lip Parting

Cue: Pouting Lips.

Synonym(s): Lip Parting, Parting Lips, Bottom Lip Jut.

Description: a) When the lips form a pout or kiss and are pushed forward. Sometimes the cue is barely detectable where the lips only press together slightly. b) A facial gesture done by pressing the lips together and pushing them forward and crunching the eyebrows downward and inward as if in grief. A childlike facial expression where the bottom lip is pushed out.

In One Sentence: Pouting lips signals a negative though or the desire to kiss.

How To Use it: In dating, eyes to the lips of another coupled with lip pouting signals that one is ready to kiss. Women can use this gesture with good results at the end of a date to signal to their partner that they are ready for intimacy.

Pouting can also be used to manipulate the emotions of others. Children, like adults, can use the expression to show sadness. When viewed, others are likely to offer a caring response which can help you get what you want.

Context: a) Dating b) General.

Verbal Translation: a) “I really want to kiss someone, and I’m puckering in anticipation.” b) “I’m upset and it’s causing me grief forcing me to press my lips together.”

Variant: See Compressed Lips.

Cue In Action: a) She was aroused by Dave and found herself subconsciously pressing her lips together as if she was already kissing him – the anticipation was driving her mad. b) She was only 3 years old, but knew full well that if she pouted for long enough with sad eyes, Dad would do anything she wanted.

Meaning and/or Motivation: a) Lip puckering is a sexual cue, or desire to kiss, when in context.

b) Bottom lip jut is a negative thought indicator or that disagreement is present especially if accompanied by frowning, scrunched eyebrows, or other negative cues. This gesture is usually done by small children or by adults resorting to juvenile characteristics trying to secure affection, privilege, resource, or reward of some kind from another person. The lip jut is also called pouting and shows helplessness and lack of agency. This is the case when done by adults or children.

Cue Cluster: Lip puckering is usually associated with a) Other sexual cues of interest such as strong eye contact or eye to mouth, neck titled to the side and neck displays, lip licking and self touching or b) With hung or hunched shoulders, sad droopy eyes, scrunched up eyebrows, head down, verbal sighs and other helpless and dejected body language.

Body Language Category: Arousal, Courtship display, Indicators of sexual interest (IOsI), Leaked or involuntary body language, Masked emotions, Microexpressions, Intention movements.

Resources:

Darwin, Charles (1872). The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, third editionn (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998).

Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Irenaus (1973). “The Expressive Behaviour of the Deaf-and-Blind-Born.” In Mario von Cranach and Ian Vine (Eds.), Social Communication and Movement (European Monographs in Social Psychology 4, New York: Academic Press), pp. 163-94.

Gaarder, Emily ; Rodriguez, Nancy ; Zatz, Marjories. Criers, liars, and manipulators: Probation officers’ views of girls. Justice Quarterly. 2004. 21(3): 547-578.

Izard, Carroll E. (1971). The Face of Emotion (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts).

Morris, Desmond (1994). Bodytalk: The Meaning of Human Gestures (New York: Crown Publishers).

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/

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.

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

Negriff, Sonya ; Noll, Jennie G ; Shenk, Chad E ; Putnam, Frank W ; Trickett, Penelope K. Associations between nonverbal behaviors and subsequent sexual attitudes and behaviors of sexually abused and comparison girls. Child maltreatment. 2010. 15(2): 180-9.

Nam, Kyoungtae ; Lee, Guiohk ; Hwang, Jang-Sun. Gender Stereotypes Depicted by Western and Korean Advertising Models in Korean Adolescent Girls’ Magazines. Sex Roles. 2011. 64(3): 223-237.

Rudd, Jille. ; Burant, Patriciaa. ; Beatty, Michaelj. Battered women’s compliance-gaining strategies as a function of argumentativeness and verbal aggression. Communication Research Reports. 1994. 11(1): 13-22.

Umiker, William O. How to neutralize manipulators. (manipulation in the healthcare environment). Medical Laboratory Observer. 1997. 29(8): 90(5).

*No Photo, Arousal, Displacement behaviour, Emotional body language, Energy Displacement, Nervous Body Language, Pacifying body language, Worry body language

Body Language of Pacing

by Chris • October 27, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Pacing

Cue: Pacing.

Synonym(s): Walking Back And Forth.

Description: Walking back and forth for the sake of burning off excess energy.

In One Sentence: Pacing is a sign of anxiety.

How To Use it: Use pacing to help burn off excess energy when one is not able to fix the actual issue. Pacing will release pain killing hormones and help simulate real productive action in your mind thus helping you overcome the negative thoughts.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m uneasy and full of stress so I’m walking back and forth to burn off some of my excess energy and provide a self soothing feeling.”

Variant: See Fidgeting or Fidget and Foot Kicking.

Cue In Action: He paced back and forth while waiting for news about the surgery.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Pacing is a classic full-blown signal of anxiety, and falls into the energy displacement category because it gives us something to do and burns extra calories in a slight, but controlled fashion to make us feel more relaxed. It is the burning of energy that provides a release of soothing neurochemicals.

When pacing occurs, it is an indication that physiological factors are occurring. The body is likely producing stress hormone which creates the desire and capability to sustain action. In an evolutionary sense, this surge of adrenaline and cortisol would have pushed us from our inactivity in order to get things done. The action would then result in a soothing effect.

Cue Cluster: Watch for face touching, rubbing the back of the neck, blushing or blanching of the face, clenching and gripping, jerky movements, eyes alert, head up or down in thought, a worried facial expression, excess perspiration.

Body Language Category: Arousal, Displacement behaviour, Emotional body language, Energy Displacement, Nervous body language, Pacifying body language, Worry body language.

Resources:

Arduino, P. J., & Gould, J. L. (1984). Is tonic immobility adaptive? Animal Behavior, 32, 921–923.

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

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.

Bracha, H. S. (2004). Freeze, flight, fight, fright, faint: Adaptionist perspectives on the acute stress response spectrum. CNS Spectrums, 9, 679–685.

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

Everly, Jr., G. S. & Lating, J. M. (2002). A clinical guide to the treatment of the human stress response (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers

Estes, Zachary Estes and Michelle Verges. Freeze or flee? Negative stimuli elicit selective responding. Cognition. 2008. 108(2): 557-565.

Fyer, M. R., Uy, J., Martinez, J., & Goetz, R. (1987). CO2 challenge of patients with panic disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 1080–1082.

Farley, James; Risko, Evan F; Kingstone, Alan. Everyday Attention And Lecture Retention: The Effects Of Time, Fidgeting, And Mind Wandering. Frontiers In Psychology, 2013; 4: 619
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/mind-wandering-fidgeting-and-attention/

Kalin, N. H., Shelton, S. E., Rickman, M., & Davidson, R. J. (1998). Individual differences in freezing and cortisol in infant and mother rhesus monkeys. Behavioral Neuroscience, 112, 251–254.

Karin Roelofs; Muriel A. Hagenaars; and John Stins. Facing Freeze: Social Threat Induces Bodily Freeze in Humans. Psychological Science. 2010 21(11): 1575-1581.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/angry-faces-elicit-freeze-response-in-people-research/

Heidt, J. M., Marx, B. P., & Forsyth, J. P. (2005). Tonic immobility and childhood sexual abuse: A preliminary report evaluating the sequela of rape-induced paralysis. Behavior Research and Therapy, 43, 1157–1171.

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.

Mohiyeddini, C., & Semple, S. (2013). Displacement behaviour regulates the experience of stress in men. Stress, 16, 163–171.

Maestripieri D, Schino G, Aureli F, Troisi A. 1992. A modest proposal: displacement activities as an indicator of emotions in primates. Anim Behav 44:967–979.

Porter, S., & ten Brinke, L. (2010). The truth about lies: What works in detecting high-stakes deception? Legal and Criminological Psychology, 15(1), 57.

Szamado, S. (2008). How threat displays work: species-specific fighting techniques, weaponry and proximity risk. Anim. Behav. 76, 1455-1463.

Schino G, Perretta G, Taglioni AM, Monaco V, Troisi A. 1996. Primate displacement activities as an ethopharmacological model of anxiety. Anxiety 2:186–191.

Tamres L, Janicki D, Helgeson VS (2002) Sex differences in coping behaviour: a
meta-analytic review. Personal Soc Psychol Rev 6: 2–30.

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

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

Troisi A, Moles A (1999) Gender differences in depression: an ethological study of nonverbal behaviour during interviews. J Psychiatr Res 33: 243–250.

Zvolensky, M. J., & Eifert, G. H. (2001). A review of psychological factors/processes affecting anxious responding during voluntary hyperventilation and inhalations of carbon dioxide-enriched air. Clinical Psychology Review,
21, 375–400.

*No Photo, Arousal, Automatic gesture, Energy Displacement, Excited body language, Metronomic signals, Nervous Body Language, Stressful body language, Worry body language

Body Language of Nervous Feet or Nervous Hands

by Chris • October 24, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Nervous Feet or Nervous Hands

Cue: Nervous Feet or Nervous Hands

Synonym(s): N/A

Description: Nervous feet are more jarring with heel bumps, kicks, and grinding. Angry feet can be even more aggressive and stomp. Hands that shake, quiver, or fidget indicate stress through a surge of adrenaline.

In One Sentence: Feet that bump and kick indicate nervousness and excitement – a heightened emotional state.

How To Use it: Bouncing the feet around can give us something to do when we are not feeling particularly relaxed. When actually fixing the problem is out of the question, any movement, even if not productive, can help the body release pent up energy. This can help produce a calming effect.

However, rather than ruminate, it’s advisable to actually take action to fix the problem, or if not possible, engage in a full blown exercise session. This can help really calm the body.

Context: a) General b) Business.

Verbal Translation: “I’m full of adrenaline so my body needs to burn off this energy by kicking or shaking, without fleeing or escape. However, I’m fully prepared to take action if necessary.”

Variant: Related to happy feet or feet that are excited that bounce with joy. Sometimes nervous hands are disguised through clasping or tucked into pockets to prevent them from being noticed by others. See Happy Feet, Fidgeting or Fidget.

Cue In Action: a) The storm was closing in on the shore and Dave’s house wasn’t yet boarded up. His feet bounced up and down as he listened to the forecast. Before the meteorologist had completed the segment, he was up and on his feet – out the door. He converted his nervous energy into action.

b) While waiting to be interviewed, Dave’s feet bounced excitedly in the waiting room. He was confident, but nervous about his prospects – nevertheless, was ready to get going.

Meaning and/or Motivation: When a person is excited, their body produces adrenaline making them feel uncomfortable. In order to mitigate the effects of the hormone, the body begins to move to replace these negative, yet motivating, hormones with soothing hormones produced by movement – endorphins. The body, through movement, can placate itself by burning up some of the excess energy it has stored.

Through our evolution times of stress would have required movement in order to escape or otherwise solve a pertinent issue.

Cue Cluster: Nervous hands and feet are often accompanied by blanching of the face or conversely blushing. The body often moves around uncomfortably accompanied by a deadpan face or one that lacks much affect. A person can be seen soothing themselves such as biting the nails or picking the skin, smoothing clothing, playing with hair, and other pacifying behaviour.

Body Language Category: Arousal, Automatic gesture, Energy Displacement, Excited body language, Metronomic signals, Nervous body language, Stressful body language, Worry body language or worry.

Resources:

Almerigogna, Jehanne; James Ost; Lucy Akehurst and Mike Fluck. How Interviewers’ Nonverbal Behaviors Can Affect Children’s Perceptions And Suggestibility. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2008. 100:17-39.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/get-children-tell-truth-using-body-language/

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.

Burba, Nathan ; Bolas, Mark ; Krum, David M. ; Suma, Evan A.. Unobtrusive measurement of subtle nonverbal behaviors with the Microsoft Kinect. 2012 IEEE Virtual Reality. 2012. 1-4.

Crane, Elizabeth ; Gross, M. Effort-Shape Characteristics of Emotion-Related Body Movement. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2013. 37(2): 91-105.

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

Ekman, P. & O’Sullivan, M. (1991). Who can catch a liar? American Psychologist. 46, 913-920.

Everly, Jr., G. S. & Lating, J. M. (2002). A clinical guide to the treatment of the human stress response (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers

Fisch, Hans-ulrich ; Frey, Siegfried ; Hirsbrunner, Hans-peter Buchwald, Alexander M. (editor). Analyzing nonverbal behavior in depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 1983. 92(3): 307-318.

Graves, James R. ; Robinson, John D. Osipow, Samuel H. (editor). Proxemic behavior as a function of inconsistent verbal and nonverbal messages. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 1976. 23(4): 333-338.

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/

Gross, M Melissa ; Crane, Elizabeth A ; Fredrickson, Barbara L. Effort-Shape and kinematic assessment of bodily expression of emotion during gait. Human movement science. 2012. 31(1): 202-21.

Harrison, Cathie. Watching the children watching Play School: indicators of engagement, play and learning. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. 2012. 37(4): 44(7).

Hatz, Jessica L. and Martin J. Bourgeois. Anger as a Cue to Truthfulness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2010. 46: 680-683.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/anger-nonverbal-cue-truth-telling/

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/

Hill, Clara E. ; Stephany, Alicia Harmon, Lenore W. (editor). Relation of Nonverbal Behavior to Client Reactions. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 1990. 37(1): 22-26.

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.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/to-spot-a-liar-trust-your-gut-not-your-eyes/

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.

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Adaptors, Arousal, Auto contact or self touching, Emotional body language, Lying or deceptive body language, Stressful body language, Stroking body language

Body Language of Neck Scratching or Neck Massaging

by Chris • October 24, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Neck Scratching or Neck Massaging

Cue: Neck Scratching or Neck Massaging

Synonym(s): Scratching The Neck, Massaging The Neck, Neck Massage, Neck Touching, Hand To The Front Of The Neck.

Description: The finger, usually the index, comes up to the neck and scratches. The front of the neck might also be massaged – sometimes vigorously. Sometimes the skin just above the Adam’s apple will be pulled. This is usually a male cue whereas women will usually cover the suprasternal notch rather than massage (see Covering The Neck Dimple or Hand to Lower Neck).

In One Sentence: Scratching the neck is a sign of nervousness or serves to alleviate an itch.

How To Use it: Certain relief from stress can be had by bringing the hand to the back of the neck. Massaging the neck will help relieve tension and create a soothing feeling. Use the gesture when you need to pacify.

Caution however, must be used since others will may read the signal as a stress indicator. If this is an honest portrayal of your emotions, however, and you wish for others to know about it, it can serve to attract sympathy and even assistance.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: a) “I’m nervous and stressed and this is causing blood flow to increase in my neck causing it to tingle slightly, which in turn causes me to scratch.” b) “I’m under stress, discomfort, or I am insecure, and I am pacifying myself by massaging my neck which is full of nerve endings.” c) He had no idea how to solve the math problem. As he worked through the equation he pulled at the soft skin at the front of his neck just above his Adam’s apple.

Variant: See Neck Rubbing (back of neck) or Holding The Back Of The Neck, Covering The Neck Dimple or Hand to Lower Neck.

Cue In Action: The salesman was adamant that the mattress was a good deal, but he punctuated his sentence with a neck scratch.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Scratching the neck is a stress related behaviour aimed at pacifying and also protecting since the neck is a vulnerable part of the body. Scratching the front of the neck is done when under stress and when faced with uncertainty. When someone utters words such as “I completely agree with you, that sentiment is bang-on” but then punctuates the sentence with a neck scratch, it might mean that they in fact believe the opposite. Even a brief touch of the neck can produce and indicate the need for soothing.

Scratching the neck when no itch is present is a way to displace some of the nervous energy created by the lie. It helps distracts them from the pain of their dishonesty. Massaging the neck can also stimulate the many nerves including the vagus nerve which can provide a soothing effect and slow the heart rate.

When stress increases, our face and necks flush with blood and we pull our collar away as an unconscious indication of this process. As blood flow increases to our neck, it stimulates nerves which in turn cause irritation and discomfort. It is the tingling sensation due to an increase in blood flow that gives clues to the underlying meaning. Thus, neck scratching is really due to high stress or anxiety.

Naturally, neck touching can be due to nothing at all and only serve to eliminate a legitimate itch.

Cue Cluster: Neck scratching is accompanied by other nervous body language such as face touching, adjusting the clothing, licking the lips, high blink rate, avoiding eye contact, or persistent predatory eye contact..

Body Language Category: Adaptors, Arousal, Auto contact or self touching, Emotional body language, Stroking body language, Lying or deceptive body language, Stressful body language.

Resources:

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Aggressive body language, Amplifier, Anger body language, Arousal, Emotional body language, Hostile body language, Microexpression, Microgestures, Negative body language, Threat displays

Body Language of Nasal Wing Dilation or Nose Flaring

by Chris • October 24, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Nasal Wing Dilation or Nose Flaring

Cue: Nasal Wing Dilation or Nose Flaring

Synonym(s): Nose Flaring, Flared Nostrils.

Description: The wings of the nose flexes and flares as if taking in a big breath of air. However, they often remain fixed in place in a more permanent fashion.

In One Sentence: Flared nostrils signals a negative thought pattern and aggression.

How To Use it: Use flared nostrils to show others that you disapprove of them or their ideas. By responding to someone with flared nostrils you can tell them that what they have said is not appropriate or that you disagree. As it is close to disdain, it can be potent. When done at the sight of someone, will tell them that you don’t like them and they are on your bad list.

Flaring the nostrils is a great way to tell others that your aggression is rising. Thus, use the signal to tell others to correct their behaviour before you lash out at them.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “We’ve probably got a problem on our hands, time to load up on oxygen as we might need to fight or take flight!”

Variant: N/A

Cue In Action: His boss came down hard on him and prodded him until he neared his breaking point. His nose flared and his fist balled up. One wrong step and he was fully prepared to act out his aggression.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Nasal wing dilation is part of the fight and flight response because it tells us that someone is actively oxygenating their bodies in preparation to do something important. Our bodies consume oxygen during work, and we can get our bodies ready by loading up hemoglobin which is the carrier of the oxygen molecule, just in case it’s needed for an intense bout of work. As people get ready to fight, their chests can be seen rapidly expanding and contracting as if panting.

Sometimes though, nasal wing dilation is actually in response to doing something physical, be it to move a heavy sofa or taking to a flight of stairs. Other times, nostrils flare when aroused by a potential mate who is seeking to take up an alluring scent laced with sexual pheromones.

However, as mentioned this cue can be very important in certain context as it may provide clues to potential aggression. School aged children should learn this nonverbal cue early on so as to diffuse aggression by bullies.

Cue Cluster: Aggressive body language can happen by clenching the fists, finger pointing, loose or tense body, jaw clenching, quivering lips, frowning, furrowing, lowered eyebrows, dilated pupils, squinting of the eyes, crotch displays, sneering, hands on hips, leaning in or shrinking the distance, flushing,

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Arousal, Aggressive body language, Anger body language, Emotional body language, Hostile body language, Microexpressions, Microgestures, Negative body language, Threat displays.

Resources:

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Wilkowski, Benjamin M. and Brian P. Meier. Bring It On: Angry Facial Expressions Potentiate Approach-Motivated Motor Behavior. 2010. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 98(2): 201-210.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/anger-facial-expression-elicits-approach-not-avoidance-study/

Zhao, Ke; Wen-Jing Yan; Yu-Hsin Chen; Xi-Nian Zuo and Xiaolan Fu. Amygdala Volume Predicts Inter-Individual Differences in Fearful Face Recognition. PLOS one. August 2013. (8): 8: e74096. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074096.g001
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/fear-amygdala

*No Photo, Amplifier, Arousal, Autonomic signal, Fearful body language, Leaked or involuntary body language, Low confidence body language, Lying or deceptive body language, Microgestures, Nervous Body Language, Suspicious body language, Worry body language

Body Language of Hard Swallow or Swallowing Hard

by Chris • October 22, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Hard Swallow or Swallowing Hard

Cue: Hard Swallow or Swallowing Hard

Synonym(s): Swallowing Hard

Description: When the throat swallows harder than normal, possibly even gulping air along with saliva. Sometimes it is audible, but usually only barely.

In One Sentence: A hard swallow indicates stress.

How To Use it: Avoid using the hard swallow unless you want others to see that you are suffering from stressors.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m stressed and my swallowing has become conscious and controlled. I do a poor job of it due to stress induced dryness.”

Variant: N/A.

Cue In Action: While presenting his throat dried up. No matter how much water he drank, his mouth still went dry. When it was time to decide over the investment, his financiers were contemplating, and he was audibly gulping as he hard swallowed.

Meaning and/or Motivation: The hard swallow is a high stress or embarrassment indicator due to low saliva production as the fear response of a person is activated. It is usually involuntary.

In the right context, the hard swallow sometimes indicates that a lie is being told, but it is more reliably, a general signal of high stress.

Cue Cluster: Watch for touching the face and neck, pacing, eyes darting and blushing or blanching.

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Arousal, Autonomic signal, Fearful body language, Low confidence body language, Leaked or involuntary body language, Lying or deceptive body language, Microgestures, Nervous body language, Suspicious body language or suspicion, Worry body language.

Resources:

Beidel, D. C., Turner, S. M., & Dancu, C. V. (1985). Physiological, cognitive and behavioral aspects of social anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 23, 109–117.

Birdwhistell, Ray (1952). An Introduction to Kinesics (Louisville: University of Louisville).

Grant, Ewan (1969). “Human Facial Expressions.” In Man (Vol. 4), pp. 525-36.

Guyton, Arthur C. (1996). Textbook of Medical Physiology, 9th edition (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders).

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

Adaptors, Amplifier, Arousal, Auto contact or self touching, Disguised gestures, Lying or deceptive body language, Masked body language, Microgestures, Pacifying body language, Stressful body language

Body Language of Hand To Nose

by Chris • October 22, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Hand To Nose

Cue: Hand To Nose

Synonym(s): Nose Touching

Description: Touching the nose, usually with the index finger or pinching it with the webbing of the thumb and index finger.

In One Sentence: Touching the nose indicates discomfort, or serves to alleviate an itch.

How To Use it: When possible make touches to the nose and other parts of the face brief and directed, as persistent nose touching is often misread as dishonesty. At worst, touching the nose is read as insecurity.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m stressed, and the blood if flowing to my nose, making me want to scratch it.”

Variant: Nose touching can happen as a quick but purposeful touch, the finger might graze the side of the nose, or it can be a persistent rubbing. Sometimes the touch is quick and dirty in an up and down motion, other times it is a brief almost unnoticeable touch to the base of the nose or its side. A person might wipe the nose with the back of their hand or come up and touch it lightly with their index finger. See Hand To Eye Gesture.

Cue In Action: During the Grand Jury testimony over Monica Lewinsky, Bill Clinton touched his nose 26 times when answering highly emotional questions. When he answered questions he found easy, his hands were nowhere near his face.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Touching the nose with the hand is a discomfort gesture linked to anxiety and therefore serves as a pacifier. Other times touching the nose provides clues that a person is lying as it indicates stress.

Face touching can come in two forms, one that serves a real function, to alleviate an itch, and one that is the result of negative feelings such as being uncomfortable and stressed. Face touching that is due to an emotion is meant as a fix behind the sensation, the emotion, and not due to any physical need.

Touching the nose has been linked to lying, but like most lie-detection cues, they aren’t absolute or reliable. We can tell when something is out of the ordinary when someone touches their nose for no reason or touches their nose while delivering critical information. The astute will find it obvious when someone is touching their nose for the purpose of alleviating an itch instead of alleviating a lie (or negative thought). Scratching is directed, specific, deep and vigorous, showing that some amount of waiting was done before the gesture was performed. Thus more relief is present when the itch is real. Itching due to negative emotions is general, shallow or glancing. This type of itch is done by bringing the index finger up, by example, and lightly touching the side of the nose where the nail is not used at all. That is, no real scratching is taking place.

When nose touching is not due to itching, then it’s due to a negative or dishonest thought from either lying, being terrified, pretending to be brave or just feeling self doubt.

Chemical known as catecholamine triggers nasal tissue to swell, but that it only induces the nose to increase in size below the level of perception. This is the real life Pinocchio effect. Even though most people will not be able to detect it, the increase in blood flow and pressure often causes a tingle in the nose, which in most people, triggers an itch response.

Some people touch their nose at the end of every sentence – it’s their idiosyncrasy. Does this mean that every word that comes from their mouth is a lie? It could be, but it is not likely. Once we’ve caught someone in a lie we can backtrack and look at the clues that preceded the lie and those that followed the lie to pick up on cues that might have given him away.

Cue Cluster: Touching the nose coupled with wiping the mouth in a down-stroke, avoiding eye contact, and fidgeting, tells us that something dishonest is probably going on.

Body Language Category: Adaptors, Amplifier, Arousal, Auto contact or self touching, Disguised gestures, Lying or deceptive body language, Masked body language, Microgestures, Pacifying, Stressful body language.

Resources:

Akehurst, L., G. Kohnken, A. Vrij, and R. Bull. 1996. Lay persons’ and police officers’
beliefs regarding deceptive behaviour. Applied Cognitive Psychology 10: 461-471.

Appelbaum, P.S. The new lie detectors: Neuroscience, deception, and the courts. Psychiatric Services. 2007. 58: 460-462.

Azrin, N.H. ; Nunn, R.G. ; Frantz-Renshaw, S. Habit reversal treatment of thumbsucking. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 1980. 18(5): 395-399.

Bakwin, Harry. Thumb- and finger-sucking in children. The Journal of Pediatrics. 1948. 32(1): 99-101.

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.

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

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

Cohen, Keith N. ; Clark, James A. Hogan, Robert (editor). Transitional object attachments in early childhood and personality characteristics in later life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1984. 46(1): 106-111.

Caso, L., A. Gnisci, A. Vrij, and S. Mann. 2005. Processes underlying deception: an empirical analysis of truth and lies when manipulating the stakes. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling 2 (3): 195-202.

Costa, Marco ; Dinsbach, Wies ; Manstead, Antony ; Bitti, Pio. Social Presence, Embarrassment, and Nonverbal Behavior. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2001. 25(4): 225-240.

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

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

Elaad, E. 2003. Effects of feedback on the overestimated capacity to detect lies and the underestimated ability to tell lies. Applied Cognitive Psychology 17(3): 349-363.

Edelstein, R. S., T. L. Luten, P. Ekman, and G. S. Goodman. 2006. Detecting lies in children and adults. Law and Human Behavior 30(1): 1-10.

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

Frank M.G. and Ekman P. 1997. The ability to detect deceit generalizes across different types of high-stake lies. Source: Journal of personality and social psychology. 72: 1429 -39

Foster, Laura Gutermuth. Nervous Habits and Stereotyped Behaviors in Preschool Children. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. 1998. 37(7): 711-717.

Friman, P C ; Mcpherson, K M ; Warzak, W J ; Evans, J. Influence of thumb sucking on peer social acceptance in first-grade children. Pediatrics. 1993. 91(4): 784-6.

Gordon, A. K. and A. G. Miller. 2000. Perspective differences in the construal of lies: is deception in the eye of the beholder? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 26 (1): 46-55.