Category: Audible signals

*No Photo, Aggressive body language, Amplifier, Audible signals, Disapproval cues, Hostile body language, Pseudo-infantile gestures

Body Language of Whining Voice or Whine

by Chris • October 30, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Whining Voice or Whine

Cue: Whining Voice or Whine

Synonym(s): Nagging.

Description: Nagging can be sign-song-like, high pitched, grating, continuous, and meant to annoy.

In One Sentence: A whining voice is a form of punishment used to manipulate other people into doing something they’d rather not do.

How To Use it: Whining can only be used effectively when there is a sympathetic listener. Therefore, the cue is generally reserved for women and children. While men can sometimes use whining, it is likely to result in a poor reflection of him and also yield poor results overall. That is not to say that women and children do not receive negative judgment when whining, however, the negative impression is usually short-lived and the pay-out in terms of results, therefore, worth it. Whining works as a “negative reinforcement” as the whiner promises to eliminate her whine once she has received her currency.

Context: a) General b) Dating.

Verbal Translation: “I’m incapable of solving my own problems so I punish people around me with a shrill, continuous, and annoying voice, in hopes that someone else will pick up the slack for me and serve my needs.”

Variant: See Voice Pitch.

Cue In Action: a) She whined incessantly – through the entire car ride. She wanted mom and dad to stop for ice-cream. Finally, dad had enough, pulled the car over at the nearest chain restaurant and bought her a cone just to make it stop. b) She whined incessantly – daily. She wanted a diamond ring and she wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer. Finally he broke down, pulled her into the ring store and bought her a ring just to make it stop.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Whining is a childlike voice trait aimed specifically at manipulating other people without using forceful words. Whining is a form of punishment to those who hear it. The whiner assumes that their annoying speaking patterns will motivation someone to action on their behalf, with the reward being whine cessation. In other words, the whine pushes those around him or her into action “just to make the whining stop.” Often, this only encourages the whine to return in the future as whining has been rewarded. Whining is considered a passive aggressive form of non-physical violence.

Those who use whining voices are usually followers by nature and often prefer to complain rather than take action themselves. The whiner is hoping others will take care of them. When suggestions to take charge of their own fate are suggested they are quickly rejected, then the person will often withdraw and pout. Whiners often surround themselves with people who are sympathetic to their complaints and help them.

Those who whine are often infantile in their character traits when they aren’t actually infants themselves. Toddlers habitually manipulate adults through whining, but adults, frequently female, will maintain the trait in effort to coax men around them perform favours for them. When grown men whine, it is particularly off-putting.

Cue Cluster: Whining is often coupled with submissive postures and infantile or eratic behaviour such as flailing arms, pouting, downcast eyes, crying, holding the breath, kicking and screaming, flopping on the floor or self harm and breaking things.

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Aggressive body language, Audible signals, Disapproval cues, Hostile body language, Pseudo-infantile gestures.

Resources:

Bachorowski, J., & Owren, M. J. (1995). Vocal expression of emotion: Acoustic properties of speech are associated with emotional intensity and context. Psychological Science, 6, 219–224.

Chang, Rosemarie Sokol and Thompson, Nicholas S. Whines, cries, and motherese: Their relative power to distract. Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology.2011. 5(2): 131-141.

Herold, Debora S. ; Nygaard, Lynne C. ; Namy, Laura L. Say It like You Mean It: Mothers’ Use of Prosody to Convey Word Meaning. Language and Speech. 2012. 55(3): 423-436.

Kowalski, Robin M. Whining, griping, and complaining: Positivity in the negativity. Journal of Clinical Psychology. 2002. 58(9): 1023-1035.

Nygaard, L. C., & Queen, J. S. (2008). Communicating emotion: Linking affective prosody and word meaning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 34, 1017–1030.

Scherer, K., Banse, R., Wallbott, H., & Goldbeck, T. (1991). Vocal cues in emotion encoding and decoding. Motivation and Emotion, 15, 123–148.

Singh, L., Morgan, J. L., & Best, C. T. (2002). Infants’ listening preferences: Baby talk or happy talk? Infancy, 3, 365–394.

Scherer, Klaus R. Personality inference from voice quality: The loud voice of extroversion. European Journal of Social Psychology. 1978 8(4): 467-487.

Trainor, L. J., Austin, C. M., & Desjardins, R. N. (2000). Is infant-directed speech prosody a result of the vocal expression of emotion? Psychological Science, 11, 188–195.

Siegman, Aron Wolfe ; Boyle and Stephen Mineka. Voices of Fear and Anxiety and Sadness and Depression: The Effects of Speech Rate and Loudness on Fear and Anxiety and Sadness and Depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 1993. 102(3): 430-437.

Sokol, Rosemarie I. ; Webster, Karen L. ; Thompson, Nicholas S. ; Stevens, David A. Whining as mother‐directed speech. Infant and Child Development. 2005. 14(5): 478-490.

Walker-Andrews, A., & Grolnick, W. (1983). Discrimination of vocal expressions by young infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 6, 491–498.

*No Photo, Amplifier, Audible signals, Authoritative body language, Submissive body language

Body Language of Voice Pitch

by Chris • October 30, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Voice Pitch

Cue: Voice Pitch

Synonym(s): N/A

Description: Pitch is a voice quality describing the number of vibrations emitted from the vocal cords in a unit of time. We detect pitch is the highness or lowness of the voice.

In One Sentence: The depth of the voice indicates dominance and submissiveness.

How To Use it: To appear more dominant lower the voice, to appear more submissive, raise the pitch of the voice. Both voice pitches, high and low, have a place for both men and women.

Men and women should lower their voice pitch when trying to appear in control, assertive and dominant. This will work in any context, but is especially crucial when leadership is required. While a high pitched female voice can be used to create obedience and fear, it will most likely be attributed to loss of control. When voices become high pitched they come across as emotional and this is then ascribed to the person. Lowering the voice, on the other hand, signals dominance which is a more natural way to create obedience.

In dating, men with deep voices are seen as more attractive as it signals higher dominance. Therefore, men should deepen their voices in a dating context. Research has also found that women can artificially make their voices sexier by deepening them. In fact, women were much better at making their voices sexy than men.

Conversely, when men and women wish to create a caring impression, they should use a higher pitched voice. A high pitched voice is best used with babies and small children. The aim is to mirror their voice pitch so as to create a likeness. This will facilitate trust.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “My voice is either highly pitched or deeply pitched and this depends on my level of dominance and authority and provides you with cues to how you should treat me and with how much respect I deserve.”

Variant: See Becoming Loud, Becoming Quiet or Whispering.

Cue In Action: Mom’s voice was soothing and calming, but when it came to getting her child to listen, she could raise her voice to a screech. Dad’s voice, on the other hand, was baritone. His voice boomed and put his little boy into action. When Dad talked, the 4-year-old knew the games were over and it was time for bed. His low deep voice resonated with dominance, striking fear in him.

Meaning and/or Motivation: The rate of vibration is controlled by the length and thickness of the vocal cords as well as how they are contracted or relaxed. The greater the vibrations, the higher the pitch, and therefore the higher the note achieved. In most cases, men’s voices are of lower pitch than women’s, but even men can tighten their vocal cords enough to achieve comparable pitch. Therefore, voice pitch is partly under conscious control. The highness and lowness of natural voices is affected by the body chemical androgen, which is the male sex hormone. The same hormone is tied to physical prowess and aggressiveness and also loosely tied to a competitor’s health and vigor making a low voice attractive to females when it is found in men.

To the nonverbal world, meaning is conveyed through pitch. When emotions run high, the voice can raise. A high voice pitch with a high volume is a scream which indicates heightened emotion such as anger, frustration, fear or excitement. A low voice has the reverse effect. It is often calming and authoritarian. Pitch also tells us what kind of person we are dealing with, be they subordinate with a higher pitch or dominant with lower pitch.

While we are all born with a certain natural voice pitch, it is possible to raise or lower our pitch to yield desired results. A woman may raise her voice pitch to gain favour from others, or she may lower it to command respect from colleagues. Generally, a high pitch tells others that we are ineffectual no matter how capable the person might really be. A low pitch with no inflection, showing no emotion, can also signal depression and weariness.

Cue Cluster: This cue coupled with other cues, can strengthen its meaning. A dominant voice with dominant body language increases the chances that a person is perceived that way. However, you might imagine a burley man with a weak, high pitched voice. This will likely confuse the body language reader as it is a mixed message. Voice pitch is just one cue so it must be read alongside other cues in the cluster.

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Authoritative body language, Audible signals, Submissive body language.

Resources:

Apicella C. L.; D. R. Feinberg and F. W. Marlowe. Voice Pitch Predicts Reproductive Success in Male Hunter-Gatherers. Biology Letters. 2007. 3:682–684. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2007.0410
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/hes-got-deep-voice-larger-family-tree-voice-pitch-predictor-reproductive-success-men/

Apicella, Coren L. and David R. Feinberg. Voice Pitch Alters Mate-Choice-Relevant Perception in Hunter–Gatherers. Proc. R. Soc. B. 2009. 276: 1077–1082
doi:10.1098/rspb.2008.1542
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/impress-higher-pitched-voice/

Abitbol, J., Abitbol, P., & Abitbol, B. (1999). Sex hormones and the female voice. Journal of Voice, 13, 424–446.

Bachorowski, J., & Owren, M. J. (1995). Vocal expression of emotion: Acoustic properties of speech are associated with emotional intensity and context. Psychological Science, 6, 219–224.

Brück, Carolin ; Kreifelts, Benjamin ; Wildgruber, Dirk. Emotional voices in context: A neurobiological model of multimodal affective information processing. Physics of Life Reviews. 2011 8(4): 383-403.

Cartei, Valentina and David Reby. Acting Gay: Male Actors Shift the Frequency Components of Their Voices Towards Female Values When Playing Homosexual Characters. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2012. 36:79–93
DOI 10.1007/s10919-011-0123-4
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/purposely-gay-voice-pitch-male-actors-use-effeminate-voices-feign-homosexuality/

Fraccaro, Paul J.; Benedict C. Jones; Jovana Vukovic; Finlay G. Smith; Christopher D. Watkins; David R. Feinberg; Anthony C. Little and Lisa M. Debruine. Experimental Evidence That Women Speak in a Higher Voice Pitch to Men They Find Attractive. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology. 2011. 9(1): 57-67.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/women-raise-voice-pitch-men-find-attractive/

Fraccaro, Paul J.; Jillian J. M. O’Connor; Daniel E. Re; Benedict C. Jones; Lisa M. DeBruine and David R. Feinberg. Faking it: Deliberately Altered Voice Pitch and Vocal Attractiveness. Animal Behaviour. 2013. 85: 127e136.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/sound-little-atypical-measuring-artificial-lowering-raising-voice-pitch-men-women/

Gobl C, Nı´ Chasaide A (2003) The role of voice quality in communicating emotion, mood and attitude. Speech Commun 40: 189–212. doi: 10.1016/ S0167-6393(02)00082-1.
Hughes, S. M., & Gallup Jr., G. G. (2003). Sex differences in morphological predictors of sexual behavior: shoulder to hip and waist to hip ratios. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24, 173–178.

Hughes, S. M., Harrison, M. A., & Gallup Jr., G. G. (2002). The sound of symmetry: voice as a marker of developmental instability. Evolution and Human Behavior, 23, 173–180.

Hughes, Susan M.; Franco Dispenza and Gordon G. Gallup Jr.. Ratings of voice attractiveness predict sexual behavior and body configuration. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2004; 25: 295–304.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/sexy-voices-linked-to-sexy-bodies-and-sexual-success/

Hughes, S. M., & Gallup Jr., G. G. (2003). Sex differences in morphological predictors of sexual behavior: shoulder to hip and waist to hip ratios. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24, 173–178.

Hughes, S. M., Harrison, M. A., & Gallup Jr., G. G. (2002). The sound of symmetry: voice as a marker of developmental instability. Evolution and Human Behavior, 23, 173–180.

Herold, Debora S. ; Nygaard, Lynne C. ; Namy, Laura L. Say It like You Mean It: Mothers’ Use of Prosody to Convey Word Meaning. Language and Speech. 2012. 55(3): 423-436.

Krauss, R. M., Freyberg, R., & Morsella, E. (2002). Inferring speakers’ physical attributes from their voices. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 618–625.

Lass, N. J., & Colt, E. G. (1980). A comparative study of the effect of visual and auditory cues on speaker height and weight identification. Journal of Phonetics, 8, 277–285.

Lass, N. J., & Davis, M. (1976). An investigation of speaker height and weight identification. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 60, 700–704.

Leongómez, Juan David; Jakub Binter; Lydie Kubicová; Petra Stolarová; Katerina Klapilová and Jan Havlícek, S. Craig Roberts. Vocal Modulation During Courtship Increases Proceptivity Even in Naive Listeners. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2014. doi: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.06.008.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/voice-pitching-courtship-competition/

Lass, N. J., & Colt, E. G. (1980). A comparative study of the effect of visual and auditory cues on speaker height and weight identification. Journal of Phonetics, 8, 277–285.

Lass, N. J., & Davis, M. (1976). An investigation of speaker height and weight identification. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 60, 700–704.

Laukkanen A-M, Vilkman E, Alku P, Oksanen H (1997) On the perception of emotions in speech: The role of voice quality. Logoped Phoniatr Vocol 22: 157– 168. doi: 10.3109/14015439709075330.

Mikach, S. M., & Bailey, M. (1999). What distinguishes women with unusually high numbers of sex partners? Evolution and Human Behavior, 20, 141–150.

Nygaard, L. C., & Queen, J. S. (2008). Communicating emotion: Linking affective prosody and word meaning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 34, 1017–1030.

Puts, David A.; Julia L. Barnd; Lisa L.M.; Welling, Khytam Dawood; and Robert P. Burriss. Intrasexual Competition Among Women: Vocal Femininity Affects Perceptions of Attractiveness And Flirtatiousness. Personality and Individual Differences. 2011; 50: 111-115.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/women-use-voice-pitch-flirt-compete-men

Puts, David A.; Coren L. Apicella and Rodrigo A. Cárdenas. Masculine Voices Signal Men’s Threat Potential in Forager and Industrial Societies. Proceedings of the Royal Society. 2011. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2011.0829
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/deep-voice-signals-potential-threat-use-body-language-dominance/

Scherer KR (2003) Vocal communication of emotion: A review of research paradigms. Speech Commun 40: 227–256. doi: 10.1016/S0167-6393(02)00084-5.

Sally D. Farley, Susan M. Hughes, Jack N. LaFayette. People Will Know We Are in Love: Evidence of Differences Between Vocal Samples Directed Toward Lovers and Friends. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 2013; 37 (3): 123.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/are-they-cheating-research-says-voice-may-betray-them/

Susan Hughes, Justin Mogilski, Marissa Harrison. The Perception and Parameters of Intentional Voice Manipulation. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 2014 DOI: 10.1007/s10919-013-0163
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/her-voice-is-hot-his-is-not/

Sturman, Edward D. Invluntary Subordination and Its Relation to Personality, Mood,
and Submissive Behavior. Psychological Assessment. 2011. 23(1): 262-276 DOI: 10.1037/a0021499
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/nonverbal-submission-men-women-depression-critical-examination-use-disuse-submission/

Sei Jin Ko; Melody S. Sadler and Adam D. Galinsky. The Sound of Power Conveying and Detecting Hierarchical Rank Through Voice. Psychological Science. 2014. DOI: 956797614553009
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/power-produces-dominance-voice-study/

Scherer, K., Banse, R., Wallbott, H., & Goldbeck, T. (1991). Vocal cues in emotion encoding and decoding. Motivation and Emotion, 15, 123–148.

Singh, L., Morgan, J. L., & Best, C. T. (2002). Infants’ listening preferences: Baby talk or happy talk? Infancy, 3, 365–394.

Scherer, Klaus R. Personality inference from voice quality: The loud voice of extroversion. European Journal of Social Psychology. 1978 8(4): 467-487.

Trainor, L. J., Austin, C. M., & Desjardins, R. N. (2000). Is infant-directed speech prosody a result of the vocal expression of
emotion? Psychological Science, 11, 188–195.

Walker-Andrews, A., & Grolnick, W. (1983). Discrimination of vocal expressions by young infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 6, 491–498.

Zuckerman, M., & Driver, R. (1989). What sounds beautiful is good: the vocal attractiveness stereotype. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 13, 67–82.

*No Photo, Amplifier, Arousal, Audible signals, Fearful body language, Low confidence body language, Lying or deceptive body language, Negative body language, Nervous Body Language, Regulators, Stressful body language

Body Language of Speech Hesitation

by Chris • October 28, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Speech Hesitation

Cue: Speech Hesitation.

Synonym(s): Stuttering, Silent Pauses, Filled Pauses, Delayed Responses.

Description: During speech hesitation a person will usually use filler words such as “hmms” and “ahhs” or “like” that do not offer any use besides filling gaps in speech. Other times, no words are uttered, but there is a noticeable gap in dialogue that is often awkward.

In One Sentence: Speech hesitation is a sign of nervousness.

How To Use it: Speech hesitation, aside from purposefully pausing during a speech does not have a positive application. Its use should therefore be avoided.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: a) “I’m stuttering because I have a speech related pathology. I don’t have any issue at all, but my speech hesitation makes me look nervous and awkward.” b) “I’m hesitating in my speech because I’m carefully selecting my words as I fabricate a lie.” c) “I’m nervous and awkward and I can’t think straight which is causing me to lose my words and cloud my thinking.” d) “I’m pausing because I don’t really know what I’m talking about and I need to buy myself some time to think.”

Variant: N/A.

Cue In Action: a) Bill has always stuttered and should really consult with a speech pathologist to get some help – people really think he has low self-confidence. b) Bill was caught in a lie, but rather than trip on his words, he began to “umm” and “aww” – it was clear that he was fabricating a lie. c) Bill was put on the spot and didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t lying, he just felt awkward retelling his story in front of everyone. d) During the oral exam, Bill slowed noticeably when he reached the questions about the essay – it was clear he hadn’t studied for that element.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Speech hesitation is read by others as a lack of self-confidence because it makes the speaker appear to be at a loss for words. It is also often correlated to lying although it only truly makes its appearance under extreme situations. Only when lies get very complicated do we see effects such as stuttering, pauses, speech errors or corrections. At times, speech hesitation is due to stuttering and is a medical and speech related pathology.

Other times speech hesitation is actually due to nervousness that causes a person to lose the ability to think clearly and coherently. We can verify this cue by establishing a baseline. That is, if a person suddenly begins to stutter or show speech hesitation we can rightly attribute it to the context and conclude that new emotions have arisen causing the person to lose their ability to speak smoothly. Pauses can also sometimes indicate that a person doesn’t really know what they are talking about or that they are taking their time to carefully select their words.

Although the cue itself might outline nervousness or lack of confidence in some cases, it’s actually a poor indicator in and of itself. Rather, it is the stigma surrounding speech pauses that creates a negative impression instead of it being an indicator in and of itself. In other words, if one stutters, one is perceived by others to have low confidence. This is what makes the awareness of the speech pauses much more important if we wish to appear confident and competent in front of others.

Cue Cluster: To have a true meaning as a negative cue indicating nervousness or awkwardness, we should look for other cues in cluster. These include higher pitch, faster and louder speech, speech errors, blushing of the face, neck or ears, an increase in blink rate, fidgeting, dilation of the pupils or sweating, fidgeting, appearing unfriendly or tense, facial fidgeting, shaking, postural shifts or uncomfortable/reserved postures, twitches, shrugs, head movements, playing with objects, sneering, scowling, frowning, smiling, biting the lower lip, pressing the lips together, wrinkling of the nose, increase in perspiration, blushing or turning pale, and increases in swallowing.

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Arousal, Audible signals, Fearful body language, Low confidence body language, Lying or deceptive body language, Negative body language, Nervous body language, Regulators, Stressful body language.

Resources:

Alm, Per A.. Stuttering, Emotions, and Heart Rate during Anticipatory Anxiety: A Critical Review. Journal of Fluency Disorders. 2004. 29(2): 123-133.

Ardila, Alfredo ; Bateman, JoséRicardo ; Niño, Carmen Rosa ; Pulido, Elizabeth ; Rivera, Dora Beatriz ; Vanegas, Claudia Janeth. An epidemiologic study of stuttering. Journal of Communication Disorders. 1994. 27(1): 37-48.

Alibali, M.W., Heath, D.C., and Myers,H.J. (2001). Effects of visibility between speaker and listener on gesture production: Some gestures are meant to be seen. Journal of Memory and Language, 44, 169–188.

Butler, Clare. Identity and stammering: negotiating hesitation, side‐stepping repetition, and sometimes avoiding deviation. Sociology of Health & Illness. 2013. 35(7): 1113-1127.

Collard, Philip ; Corley, Martin ; Macgregor, Lucy J. ; Donaldson, David I. Attention Orienting Effects of Hesitations in Speech: Evidence from ERPs. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. 2008. 34(3): 696-702.

Friedman, Ernest H. Speech hesitation pauses as a measure of neuronal activity. Archives of internal medicine. 2002. 162(19): 2251.

Guntupalli, Vijaya K. ; Kalinowski, Joseph ; Saltuklaroglu, Tim. The need for self-report data in the assessment of stuttering therapy efficacy: repetitions and prolongations of speech. The stuttering syndrome. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders. 2006. 41(1): 1-18.

Howell, Richardw. ; Vetter, Haroldj. Hesitation in the Production of Speech. The Journal of General Psychology. 1969. 81(2): 261-276.

Koppensteiner, Markus ; Grammer, Karl. Body movements of male and female speakers and their influence on perceptions of personality. Personality and Individual Differences. 2011. 51(6): 743-747.

Lukashevich, I. P. ; Machinskaya, R. I. ; Shklovskii, V. M. ; Venikova, G. P. ; Danilov, A. V. ; Ziborova, E. V. ; Fridman, T. V. Features of Autonomic Regulation and the Character of Convulsions in Stammering Children. Human Physiology. 2004. 30(4): 418(3).

Logan, Kenneth J. ; Mullins, Melody Saunders ; Jones, Kelly M. The Depiction of Stuttering in Contemporary Juvenile Fiction: Implications for Clinical Practice. Psychology in the Schools. 2008. 45(7): 609-626.

Resnick, Heidi S. ; Oltmanns, Thomas F. Buchwald, Alexander M. (editor). Hesitation patterns in the speech of thought-disordered schizophrenic and manic patients. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 1984. 93(1): 80-86.

Silverman, Ellen-Marie. Speech—Language clinicians’ and university students’ impressions of women and girls who stutter. Journal of Fluency Disorders. 1982. 7(4): 469-478.

St. Louis, Kenneth O. Male versus female attitudes toward stuttering. Journal of Communication Disorders. 2012. 45(3): 246-253.

*No Photo, Audible signals

Body Language of Slow Speech or Talking Slowly

by Chris • October 28, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Slow Speech or Talking Slowly

Cue: Slow Speech or Talking Slowly

Synonym(s): Talking Slowly.

Description: A speech trait where the speaker talks at a rate that is slower than ordinary.

In One Sentence: Talking slowly indicates a relaxed attitude or high stress and a loss for words.

How To Use it: Using speech in a slow and careful way demonstrates high control. We see Presidents use slow deliberate speech to place emphasis on the few words that they do utter, rather than see them try to rush through a longer speech. Keeping things simple and to the point with carefully chosen words, spoken slowly, will demonstrate confidence and a relaxed, leadership disposition. Adding pauses to speech also creates the impression of supreme confidence and lets the listeners process the information.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: a) “I’m selecting my words careful which is why I’m talking slowly. I don’t want to say anything I might regret.” b) “I’m inebriated and losing consciousness making my rate of speech slow.” c) “I’m anxious, confused, lying or in deep thought making me slow to think of the correct words.” d) “I want to be clear and concise so I’m taking my time coming up with the correct words.”

Variant: See Rapid Speech, Speech Hesitation.

Cue In Action: a) When the president was asked if he was involved in the boondoggle, he paused, then began his answer with carefully selected words. b) At the end of the party, Dave began to slur his speech, trail off and eventually stop talking mid-sentence. c) When he asked where she was two nights ago, his wife spoke slowly so as to recount the history exactly. She wasn’t lying, nor did she want to appear to be. This drove her to be careful about what she said she did, and with whom. d) He was caught red-handed, but figured he could slip out. He measured and delivered his words carefully so as not to trip up on the details.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Talking slowly can be due to comfort and relaxation, or discomfort. Slow speech can be due to trying to make an important point, anxiousness, confusion, lying, grief, fatigue, deep thought, illness or the influence of drugs or alcohol. For this reason, one must be careful when attributing slow speech definitively with any one diagnosis.

Watch for cues in the cluster and the context to decide the real meaning of slow talking.

Cue Cluster: Watch for associated cues to decide what slow speech really means. In lying watch for eye aversion or conversely strong eye contact, lack of detail, lack of emphasis and so forth. While being honest and accurate, watch for richness of details and palms flashing upwards. To decide if it means that a person is intoxicated or tired watch for head dropping, eyes closing, alcohol on the breath and slurred speech.

Body Language Category: Audible signals.

Resources:

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

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

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.

Buller, David, B. ; Aune, R. Kelly. The effects of speech rate similarity on compliance: Application of communication accommodation theory. Western Journal of Communication. 1992. 56(1): 37-53.

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

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

Jacob, Heike ; Kreifelts, Benjamin ; Brück, Carolin ; Erb, Michael ; Hösl, Franziska ; Wildgruber, Dirk. Cerebral integration of verbal and nonverbal emotional cues: Impact of individual nonverbal dominance. NeuroImage. 2012. 61(3): 738-747.

Koppensteiner, Markus ; Grammer, Karl. Body movements of male and female speakers and their influence on perceptions of personality. Personality and Individual Differences. 2011. 51(6): 743-747.

Koppensteiner, Markus ; Stephan, Pia ; Jäschke, Johannes Paul Michael. From body motion to cheers: Speakers’ body movements as predictors of applause. Personality and Individual Differences. 2015. 74: 182-185.

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.

Morgan, N. The kinesthetic speaker. Putting action into words. Harvard business review 2001. 79(4): 112-20, 169.

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