Category: Frustration or frustrated body language

Auto contact or self touching, Automatic gesture, Frustration or frustrated body language, Leaked or involuntary body language, Surprised body language

Body Language of Self-Slapping

by Chris • October 28, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Self-Slapping

Cue: Self-Slapping.

Synonym(s): Slapping The Self, Hand To The Forehead Slap, Forehead Slap.

Description: When the open palm is quickly slapped against the self, usually the forehead or thigh.

In One Sentence: Self-slapping indicates that one is punishing themselves for not recalling something quickly enough (but that they finally have).

How To Use it: Self-slapping is a playful way to point out to others that you feel you should recall important details quicker. Self-slapping is a form of self-punishing as one inflicts a small amount of pain. This tells others that they don’t need to give you any extra grief and that you understand your mistake.

The cue also tells others that you have forgotten something important, and that there may be a crisis that they can help you resolve. Thus, self-slapping can signal the desire for sympathy and assistance.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “Oh darn, I really messed that up by not thinking that through, but you don’t need to punish me, I’ll do it myself.”

Variant: See Neck Rubbing (back of neck) or Holding The Back Of The Neck.

Cue In Action: Something didn’t feel right. Mary knew she had forgotten something, but what? She looked around the room and couldn’t put her finger on it. What had she forgotten to do? What was it? Just then, her hand came up and slapped her forehead. She had forgotten to pick up the dry cleaning on her way home from work!

Meaning and/or Motivation: A self slap to the forehead implies that a person realizes they’ve made a mistake and is admonishing themselves for it. Thus, it is a form of self-punishment and meant to indicate to others that they have had a momentary lapse of judgment. It is an attempt to prove to others that they aren’t as stupid as the mistake would indicate and that it won’t happen again.

A slap to the thigh usually indicates that a person has had an important thought or has remembered something that had slipped their mind. In this case, they will slap their thigh with open palm and then proceed to vocalize their recalled thought.

A hand slapping the back of the neck indicates that they feel someone else is being a pain (See Neck Rubbing).

Cue Cluster: The self-slap is usually accompanied by open or surprised facial expressions, eye widening, and eyebrows up. People who self-slap may also take in a breath so as to prepare to speak or leave their mouth open as if exasperated by their mistake.

Body Language Category: Auto contact or self-touching, Automatic gesture, Frustration or frustrated body language, Leaked or involuntary body language, Surprised body language.

Resources:

Arsenio, W. F., Cooperman, S., & Lover, A. Affective Predictors of Preschooler’s Aggression and Peer Acceptance: Direct and Indirect Effects. Developmental Psychology. 2000. 36: 438-448.

Breau, Lynn M. ; Camfield, Carol S. ; Symons, Frank J. ; Bodfish, James W. ; MacKay, Alison ; Finley, G.Allen ; McGrath, Patrick J. Relation between pain and self-injurious behavior in nonverbal children with severe cognitive impairments. The Journal of Pediatrics. 2003 142(5): 498-503.

Croyle, Kristin L. ; Waltz, Jennifer. Subclinical Self-Harm: Range of Behaviors, Extent, and Associated Characteristics. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 2007. 77(2): 332-342.

De Jonghe-Rouleau, Adrienne P ; Pot, Anne Margriet ; De Jonghe, Jos F M. Self-injurious behaviour in nursing home residents with dementia. International journal of geriatric psychiatry. 2005. 20(7): 651-657.

Garnefski N 2004) Cognitive emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms: differences between males and female. Personal Indiv Diff 36: 267–76.

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.

Harriss, Louise ; Hawton, Keith. Deliberate self-harm in rural and urban regions: A comparative study of prevalence and patient characteristics. Social Science & Medicine. 2011. 73(2): 274-281.

Jaquier, Véronique ; Hellmuth, Julianne C. ; Sullivan, Tami P.. Posttraumatic stress and depression symptoms as correlates of deliberate self-harm among community women experiencing intimate partnerviolence. Psychiatry Research. 2013. 206(1): 37-42.

Jacobson, Colleenm. ; Muehlenkamp, Jenniferj. ; Miller, Alecl. ; Turner, J. Blake. Psychiatric Impairment Among Adolescents Engaging in Different Types of Deliberate Self-Harm. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology. 2008. 37(2): 363-375.

Johnson, Bret K. ; Kenkel, Mary Beth. Stress, coping, and adjustment in female adolescent incest victims. Child Abuse & Neglect. 1991. 15(3): 293-305.

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

Laye – Gindhu, Aviva ; Schonert – Reichl, Kimberly A.. Nonsuicidal Self-Harm among Community Adolescents: Understanding the “Whats” and “Whys” of Self-Harm. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 2005. 34(5): 447-457.

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.

Nolen-Hoeksema S, Aldao A (2011) Gender and age differences in emotion regulation strategies and their relationship to depressive symptoms. Personal Indiv Diff 51: 704–8.

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

Nock, Matthew K. Actions speak louder than words: An elaborated theoretical model of the social functions of self-injury and other harmful behaviors. Applied and Preventive Psychology. 2008. 12(4): 159-168.

Ross, Shana ; Heath, Nancy. A Study of the Frequency of Self-Mutilation in a Community Sample of Adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 2002. 31(1):.67-77.

Seekles, Wike ; van Straten, Annemieke ; Beekman, Aartjan ; van Marwijk, Harm ; Cuijpers, Pim. Effectiveness of guided self-help for depression and anxiety disorders in primary care: A pragmatic randomized controlled trial. Psychiatry Research. 2011. 187(1): 113-120.

Straker, Gillian. Signing with a Scar: Understanding Self-Harm. Psychoanalytic Dialogues. 2006. 16(1): 93-112

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.

Tureck, Kim ; Matson, Johnny L. ; Beighley, Jennifer S. An investigation of self-injurious behaviors in adults with severe intellectual disabilities. Research in Developmental Disabilities. 2013. 34(9): 2469-2474.

von Hippel W, von Hippel C, Conway L, Preacher KJ, Schooler JW, et al. (2005) Coping with stereotype threat: denial as an impression management strategy. J Personal Soc Psychol 89: 22–35.

Yu, Yawen ; Bardy, Benoit G ; Stoffregen, Thomas A. Influences of head and torso movement before and during affordance perception. Journal of motor behavior. 2011. 43(1): 45-54.

Adaptors, Amplifier, Arousal, Auto contact or self touching, Comfort body language, Frustration or frustrated body language, Hostile body language, Idiosyncratic body language, Low confidence body language, Lying or deceptive body language, Nervous Body Language, Pacifying body language, Stressful body language, Stroking body language

Body Language of Scratching

by Chris • October 28, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Scratching

Cue: Scratching.

Synonym(s): Itching.

Description: The fingers are flexed and turned into a claw shape with the nails pointing to the skin. They move in a back and forth motion over a specific area in effort to provide comfort.

In One Sentence: Scratching can be due to negative emotions, or due to an actual itch, and therefore, have no meaning at all.

How To Use it: Scratching is not a cue that is beneficial in using necessarily, however, it can help resolve some of the discomfort due to negative thoughts. Scratching serves as a distraction to negative emotions and can help alleviate the sensation caused by stress. When scratching is done vigorously or, conversely, gently, it may reduce stress by releasing painkilling hormones or comforting hormones respectively. When stress due to lying or otherwise, is the cause of scratching, one should be careful to make it appear that one is simply using scratching to reduce normal skin discomfort. This will avoid being perceived in a negative light.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: a) “I’m nervous and stressed causing an increase in blood flow and sweating. I can comfort through scratching as a distraction to the underlying cause.” B) “Conversely, I’m scratching to alleviate a legitimate itch which has no emotional meaning at all.”

Variant: See Neck Scratching or Neck Massaging, Ear Grab, Hand Behind Head or Head Pacifying, Hand To Nose, Neck Rubbing (back of neck) or Holding The Back Of The Neck.

Cue In Action: The pressure was really getting to him, but he tried to remain calm. His palms began to perspire and his forehead began to bead with sweat. As the heat increased, his shirt chaffed against his skin. He scratched at his torso and pawed at his face. His partners knew he wouldn’t make the deadline.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Scratching the neck is a stress related behaviour aimed at pacifying because it diverts attention away from the true source of pain. Scratching when no itch is present is a way to displace some of the nervous energy created by the situation.

As blood flow increases to various parts of our body it stimulates nerves that 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, scratching can be due to high stress or anxiety.

In proper context itching indicates uncertainty and a lack of knowledge such as when being asked a question. The scratching behaviour is a pain inducer that causes painkilling hormones to be released to create relaxation in the face of emotional discomfort.

Scratching often has no meaning at all. In normal circumstances it is used to reduce discomfort as a result of tight or dry skin, clothing that causes tickling, or chafing and so forth. It is the motivation, method, and context that will help the body language reader decide its underlying meaning or lack thereof.

Cue Cluster: Coupled with stress scratching we might find pulling at the sleeves, blushing or flushing of the face, perspiration, touching or scratching of the face and cheeks, front and back of the neck and ear, eyebrows of grief combined with other close facial expressions such as lip pursing, squinted eyes and grimacing.

Body Language Category: Adaptors, Amplifier, Arousal, Auto contact or self touching, Comfort body language, Stroking body language, Frustration or frustrated body language, Hostile body language, Idiosyncratic body language, Low confidence body language, Lying or deceptive body language, Nervous body, Pacifying body language, Stressful body language.

Resources:

Arsenio, W. F., Cooperman, S., & Lover, A. Affective Predictors of Preschooler’s Aggression and Peer Acceptance: Direct and Indirect Effects. Developmental Psychology. 2000. 36: 438-448.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Croyle, Kristin L. ; Waltz, Jennifer. Subclinical Self-Harm: Range of Behaviors, Extent, and Associated Characteristics. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 2007. 77(2): 332-342.

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

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

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/

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

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.

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.

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.

Harriss, Louise ; Hawton, Keith. Deliberate self-harm in rural and urban regions: A comparative study of prevalence and patient characteristics. Social Science & Medicine. 2011. 73(2): 274-281.

Kenner, Andrew N. (1993). “A Cross-Cultural Study of Body-Focused Hand Movement.” In Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (Vol. 17, No. 4, Winter), pp. 263-79.

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.

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

McGrew, W. C. (1972). “Aspects of Social Development in Nursery School Children with Emphasis on Introduction to the Group.” In N. G. Blurton Jones, ed., Ethological Studies of Child Behaviour (Cambridge: University Press), pp. 129-56.

Pecora, Giulia ; Addessi, Elsa ; Schino, Gabriele ; Bellagamba, Francesca. Do displacement activities help preschool children to inhibit a forbidden action? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2014. 126: 80-90.

Pugh, George E. (1977). The Biological Origin of Human Values (New York: Basic Books).

Rosenfeld, Howard (1973). “Nonverbal Reciprocation of Approval: An Experimental Analysis.” In Argyle *, pp. 163-72.

Ross, Shana ; Heath, Nancy. A Study of the Frequency of Self-Mutilation in a Community Sample of Adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 2002. 31(1):.67-77.

Sommer, Robert (1969). Personal Space: The Behavioral Basis of Design (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall).

Straker, Gillian. Signing with a Scar: Understanding Self-Harm. Psychoanalytic Dialogues. 2006. 16(1): 93-112

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

Supplee, Lauren H ; Skuban, Emily Moye ; Shaw, Daniel S ; Prout, Joanna. Emotion regulation strategies and later externalizing behavior among European American and African American children. Development and Psychopathology. 2009. 21(2): 393-415

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.

Doubt or disbelief body language, Evaluative body language, Frustration or frustrated body language, Pensive displays, Stressful body language

Body Language of Pinching The Bridge Of The Nose

by Chris • October 27, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Pinching The Bridge Of The Nose

Cue: Pinching The Bridge Of The Nose.

Synonym(s): Nose Pinching.

Description: The index and thumb pinch the upper part of the nose.

In One Sentence: Pinching the bridge of the nose indicates emotional discomfort.

How To Use it: Pinch the bridge of the nose when you want to show others that you are struggling with a decision. Pinching the nose is also a tactile release which can help release negative stress energy. It works because blood flows to the nose during arousal – while pinching it reduces the flow thereby making us feel better.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m pinching the bridge of my nose because I’m experiencing discomfort over having to make an important decision.”

Variant: The hand may come up to the side of the face rather than pinch the nose. The corner of the eye next to the nose is also an important target point for scratching during high stress or anxiety. See Hand To Nose, Chin Stroking.

Cue In Action: It was a long day but nearing an end. Suddenly, the boss came over and asked if he could put in another couple of hours to restack the shelves. He pinched nose, hung his head, sighed and after much internal debate, reluctantly agreed.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Pinching the nose is an evaluative gesture. It indicates deep thought or a negative emotion.

The nose has many blood vessels which when stressed fill and engorge with blood. Pinching the nose is a way to cut off or reduce the swelling of the nose which is why it feels natural to pinch it.

Interestingly, some women and men sneeze before or just after sexual stimulation. This is because the nose engorges during any form of arousal, not just arousal due to stress. As the nose receives extra stimulation from blood flow, it triggers a sneeze response. Thus, it may also signal sexual arousal!

Cue Cluster: Watch for other evaluative gestures such as chin stroking, flared nostrils, rubbing the back of the neck, looking upwards and looking around the room.

Body Language Category: Doubt or disbelief body language, Evaluative, Frustration or frustrated body language, Pensive displays, Stressful body language.

Resources: NONE

Adaptors, Auto contact or self touching, Clenching and gripping, Closed body language, Disengagement body language, Dislike (nonverbal), Emotional body language, Frustration or frustrated body language, Negative body language, Stressful body language

Body Language of Neck Rubbing (back of neck) or Holding The Back Of The Neck

by Chris • October 24, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Neck Rubbing (back of neck) or Holding The Back Of The Neck

Cue: Neck Rubbing (back of neck) or Holding The Back Of The Neck

Synonym(s): Hand To The Back Of The Neck, Neck Hold, Pain In The Neck Posture.

Description: The hand goes to the back of the neck and is held there, either still, as if covering, massaging or scratching.

In One Sentence: Rubbing the back of the neck is a negative thought indicator.

How To Use it: Massaging the back of the neck while working to solve a problem shows others that you are having a hard time coming up with a solution, but that you are otherwise, actively thinking.

In extreme contexts, you can show your held aggression with the posture. This will tell other people to back off which will give you more space to contemplate your situation.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m wild, angry and carrying negative feelings, so I’m holding myself back, by the scruff of my neck, so I won’t speak out.”

Variant: See Collar Pull (the).

Cue In Action: His boss was furious over the TPS reports as they were improperly filled out once again – this, even after having a lengthy meeting last week to go over the procedure. He paced back and forth across the room holding the back of his neck trying to prevent himself from acting out at his employees.

Meaning and/or Motivation: The neck hold, scratch or rub is a response to negative feelings and is a restraint posture as in “holding one’s self back” as one might do to a wily cat or dog by grabbing them by the scruff of the neck. Only in this case, it is done to one’s self. Grabbing the back of the neck shows that a person doesn’t like what is being proposed so they feel it’s necessary to bottle up their thoughts so they avoid confrontation or aggression.

Touching the back of the neck is not the same as touching any other part of the neck such as the side, which can be used as a filler gesture to pause for thought, or the front which can be used to show sexual interest in a dating context.

Scratching the back of the neck, rather, is a primitive gesture, that is a response to erector pili muscles in the scruff that our body uses to make our hair stand on end. The erector pili are microscopic bands of muscle tissue that connect hair follicles to the skin. When stimulated, the muscles contract and cause the hair to turn upward and perpendicular to the skin surface, or stand on end. While the purpose of the muscles in humans is vestigial, meaning they are an evolutionary throwaway, they were once used to trap air next to the skin to help keep the body warm. Other uses are for display and competition to make the body appear larger and more threatening. You have probably seen a domestic cat put its hair up when challenged by another cat. In porcupines, the muscles contract to bring the quills up as a defense.

As a defense, and for heat retention for people, the purpose of the arrector pili is laughable at best, but our bodies still react to cold and fear, even aggression by stimulating the muscles. A cold chill down the spine and “goose bumps” or “goose pimples” is a reference to the same thing. When we reach for our scruff, we are showing an evolutionary throwaway to a time when our hair would have stood on end!

Cue Cluster: Hand to the back of the neck is usually accompanied by the head down, pacing to burn off negative energy, worried or angry facial expression, eyes wincing, narrowed, blank, or staring intently in a rage. A person might alternate between the neck hold and massaging their entire face with their palms, clenching the fists, erratic movements and gestures and so forth.

Body Language Category: Adaptors, Auto contact or self touching, Clenching and gripping, Closed body language, Disengagement, Dislike (nonverbal), Emotional body language, Frustration or frustrated body language, Negative body language, Stressful body language.

Resources:

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. ; 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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).

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

Garnefski N 2004) Cognitive emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms: differences between males and female. Personal Indiv Diff 36: 267–76.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Kirschbaum C, Pirke K-M, Hellhammer DH. 1993. The ‘Trier Social Stress Test’: a tool for investigating psychobiological stress responses in a laboratory setting. Neuropsychobiology 28: 76–81.

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.

Kenner, Andrew N. (1993). “A Cross-Cultural Study of Body-Focused Hand Movement.” In Journal of Nonverbal Behavior (Vol. 17, No. 4, Winter), pp. 263-79.

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.

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.

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.

Marcus-Newhall A, Pedersen WC, Carlson M, Miller N. 2000. Displaced aggression is alive and well: a meta-analytic review. J Pers Soc Psychol 78:670–689. Ingram GIC. 1960. Displacement activity in human behavior. Am Anthropol. 62:994–1003.

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

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

Nolen-Hoeksema S, Aldao A (2011) Gender and age differences in emotion regulation strategies and their relationship to depressive symptoms. Personal Indiv Diff 51: 704–8.

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

Pugh, George E. (1977). The Biological Origin of Human Values (New York: Basic Books).

Rosenfeld, Howard (1973). “Nonverbal Reciprocation of Approval: An Experimental Analysis.” In Argyle *, pp. 163-72.

Sommer, Robert (1969). Personal Space: The Behavioral Basis of Design (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall).

Schaafsma, Juliette ; Krahmer, Emiel ; Postma, Marie ; Swerts, Marc ; Balsters, Martijn ; Vingerhoets, Ad. Comfortably Numb? Nonverbal Reactions to Social Exclusion. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2015. 39(1): 25-39.

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

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.

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

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.

von Hippel W, von Hippel C, Conway L, Preacher KJ, Schooler JW, et al. (2005) Coping with stereotype threat: denial as an impression management strategy. J Personal Soc Psychol 89: 22–35.

Aggressive body language, Amplifier, Anger body language, Authoritative body language, Dominant body language, Emotional body language, Frustration or frustrated body language, Hostile body language, Threat displays

Body Language of Loud Voice

by Chris • October 24, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Loud Voice

Cue: Loud Voice

Synonym(s): Shrill Voice, Screaming, Yelling, Booming Voice.

Description: A voice that is forceful and overtakes a room or conversation. It can be booming and baritone or a high pitched soprano shrill.

In One Sentence: A loud voice is a sign of dominance and signals a passion to be heard.

How To Use it: Men benefit best by using a booming voice as it comes across as more dominant. Men can use their loud and deep voice to command respect and be heard. A loud voice is best used to show passion, but it can also be used to demand respect and authority. However, while the loudest voice is most likely to be heard, it is not always the one that is most likely to be listened to. Thus, one should use a loud voice with care so as not to appear belligerent. A loud voice, in the right context shows others that you are passionate, but used incorrectly is taken negatively.

Women should use a loud voice to encourage, but when angry should lower their voices to mirror that of men’s voices. A high pitched shrill voice is rarely seen as positive – though will often command temporary obedience.

How a loud voice is used depends largely on the context. One can use a loud voice to be silly and show amusement but also to scold and dish out punishment. In either case, one should use a loud voice with care so that it does not result in a poor result.

Context: a) General b) Business.

Verbal Translation: “I’m in charge, passionate, and want to be heard or the center of everyone’s attention. I use a loud booming, or shrill voice, so people pay me attention.”

Variant: See Becoming Quiet or Whispering for the opposite cue.

Cue In Action: a) She was the life of the party, laughing, talking loudly, carrying on and telling jokes that every enjoyed. b) When he spoke everyone listened. His voice boomed and controlled a room, he was passionate and dominant and he really loved his work. His enthusiasm was overwhelming. c) They both raised their volume to try to drown the other out with all the noise. Neither person made any valid argument – at least ones that could be properly understood.

Meaning and/or Motivation: The aim of the speaker is to avoid being overlooked. The loud voice stems from a person who wishes to gain attention and control others through authority and intimidation.

The overall meaning of a loud voice is highly context specific. Sometimes people misread loud voices as confidence which is rarely the case as usually it comes from people who fear not being heard. Often, loud voices are aimed at speaking over others and show egotism and impatience. Loud voices can also be used to persuade others, but by trying to create submission in them rather than use constructive reasoning. Loud voices can be used to drown out counterpoints.

A loud voice may be used to compensate for a perceived personal flaw, a reaction to hearing loss or inebriation.

When men use a loud voice in business, it often, though not exclusively, implies passion but is often misinterpreted, especially by women, to be negative in nature. However, the cues of a passionate speaker will be directed at the objective – the desired results rather than aimed at a specific person. A loud voice sometimes means confrontation but will be coupled with adjoining cues such as physical encroachment and finger pointing.

Cue Cluster: A loud voice is associated with passionate gesticulation, batoning, fish chopping and the person will usually be standing to gain a height advantage. When passion meets aggression the loud speaker will encroach on another’s personal space, will use piercing eye contact and finger pointing.

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Aggressive body language, Anger body language, Authoritative body language, Dominant body language, Emotional body language, Frustration or frustrated body language, Hostile body language, Threat displays.

Resources:

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/

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/

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

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

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.

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.

David A. Puts, 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/

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://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2012.10.016.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/sound-little-atypical-measuring-artificial-lowering-raising-voice-pitch-men-women/

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/

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)000821.

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-sexy-bodies-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., and 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.

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.

Johnson, Richard R. and Jasmine L. Aaron. Adults’ Beliefs Regarding Nonverbal Cues Predictive of Violence. Criminal Justice and Behavior. 2013. 40 (8): 881-894. DOI: 10.1177/0093854813475347.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/wanna-fight-nonverbal-cues-believed-indicate-violence

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Puts, D.A. 2007. Men’s voices as dominance signals: Vocal fundamental and formant frequencies influence dominance attributions among men. Source: Evolution and human behavior 28(5): 340-344.

Puts, D.A. 2005. Mating context and menstrual phase affect women’s preference for male voice pitch. Evolution and Human Behavior 26: 388-397.

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

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.

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.

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.

Auto contact or self touching, Emotional body language, Energy Displacement, Frustration or frustrated body language, Hostile body language, Low confidence body language, Negative body language, Pacifying body language, Stressful body language

Body Language of Lip Picking

by Chris • October 24, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Lip Picking

Cue: Lip Picking.

Synonym(s): Picking The Lip.

Description: The skin of the lip is picked or plucked with the index and thumb.

In One Sentence: Picking the lips is a way people self harm as a way to retain perceived control over a world they see as working against them.

How To Use it: One should avoid picking the lips as it is universally perceived as a negative cue.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m anxious and can’t do anything about it or control it so instead of acting outwardly, I’ll pick my lip causing me pain, but it is at least pain that I can control.”

Variant: Sometimes the lip is rolled or squished together from corner to corner. See Lip Chewing or Chewing The Lips, Lip Biting or Biting The Lip, Lip Picking, Self Harm.

Cue In Action: Exam time coupled with missing her family was the worst for her nerves. She frequently picked her lips as a result of her discomfort and anxiety.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Picking the lips indicates hidden insecurity, anxiety, embarrassment, vulnerability and a lack of self confidence.

Lip picking is a form of self-harm that a person uses to attempt to regain the loss of control they feel surrounding their anxiety. When done out of habit and in extreme cases, it can produce visible marks on the lips such as cuts, bruising, and even bleeding. In these cases, it can indicate a pathology and even depression brought about by extreme anxiety.

The lips are highly sensitive and when they are manipulated through pain, they are a reflection of an internal battle that is being waged to which a person has no external method of resolving. Biting the lip indicates a reserved demeanor and an inability to speak up, as does lip picking, except this is more to do with negative self-judgment rather than a judgment stemming from others.

Cue Cluster: Lip picking is accompanied by eyes turned downward and glazed over, head down, the shoulders slumped and body turned away.

Body Language Category: Auto contact or self touching, Emotional body language, Energy Displacement, Frustration or frustrated body language, Hostile body language, Low confidence body language, Negative body language, Nervous body language, Pacifying body language, Stressful body language.

Resources:

Croyle, Kristin L. ; Waltz, Jennifer. Subclinical Self-Harm: Range of Behaviors, Extent, and Associated Characteristics. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 2007. 77(2): 332-342.

Christenson, Gary A. ; Mackenzie, Thomas B. ; Mitchell, James E. Characteristics of 60 adult chronic hair pullers. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1991. 148(3): 365(6).

Colville, G A; Mok, Q. Psychological management of two cases of self injury on the paediatric intensive care unit. Archives of Disease in Childhood. 2003. 88(4): 335.

Feteih RM: Signs and Symptoms of Temporomandibular Disorders and Oral Parafunctions in Urban Saudi Arabian Adolescents: A Research Report. Head Face Med. 2006. 2: 25.

Ghanizadeh, Ahmad and Hajar Shekoohi. Prevalence of Nail Biting and its Association With Mental Health in a Community Sample of Children. BMC Research Notes. 4 (Apr. 11, 2011): p116. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1756-0500-4-116.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-language-nail-biting/

Gavish A, Halachmi M, Winocur E, Gazit E: Oral Habits and Their Association With Signs and Symptoms of Temporomandibular Disorders in Adolescent Girls. Journal of Oral Rehabilation. 2000, 27(1): 22-32.

Ghanizadeh A: Association of Nail Biting and Psychiatric Disorders in Children and Their Parents in a Psychiatrically Referred Sample of Children. Child Adolescents
Psychiatry Mental Health. 2008. 2(1):13.

Ghanizadeh, Ahmad. Association of nail biting and psychiatric disorders in children and their parents in a psychiatrically referred sample of children.(Research)(Clinical report). Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health. 2008. 2(13): 13.

Garnefski N 2004) Cognitive emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms: differences between males and female. Personal Indiv Diff 36: 267–76.

Harriss, Louise ; Hawton, Keith. Deliberate self-harm in rural and urban regions: A comparative study of prevalence and patient characteristics. Social Science & Medicine. 2011. 73(2): 274-281.

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.

Kravitz, Harvey. Lip biting in infancy. The Journal of Pediatrics. 1964. 65(1): 136-138.

Lyon, Lionel Sasson. A behavioral treatment of compulsive lip-biting. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. 1983. 14(3): 275-276.

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.

Nolen-Hoeksema S, Aldao A (2011) Gender and age differences in emotion regulation strategies and their relationship to depressive symptoms. Personal Indiv Diff 51: 704–8.

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

Pelc AW, Jaworek AK: Interdisciplinary Approach to Onychophagia. Przegl Lek. 2003. 60(11): 737-739.

Ross, Shana ; Heath, Nancy. A Study of the Frequency of Self-Mutilation in a Community Sample of Adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 2002. 31(1):.67-77.

Straker, Gillian. Signing with a Scar: Understanding Self-Harm. Psychoanalytic Dialogues. 2006. 16(1): 93-112

Tanaka OM, Vitral RW, Tanaka GY, Guerrero AP, Camargo ES: Nailbiting, or Onychophagia: A Special Habit. American Journal of Orthod Dentofacial Orthop. 2008. 134(2): 305-308.

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.

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

von Hippel W, von Hippel C, Conway L, Preacher KJ, Schooler JW, et al. (2005) Coping with stereotype threat: denial as an impression management strategy. J Personal Soc Psychol 89: 22–35.

*No Photo, Anxious body language, Clenching and gripping, Depressive body language, Energy Displacement, Frustration or frustrated body language, Hostile body language, Intention movements, Leaked or involuntary body language, Low confidence body language, Masked emotions, Microgestures, Negative body language, Nervous Body Language, Oral displacement activities, Pacifying body language, Pseudo-infantile gestures, Stressful body language, Threat displays

Body Language of Lip Chewing or Chewing The Lips

by Chris • October 23, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Lip Chewing or Chewing The Lips

Cue: Lip Chewing or Chewing The Lips

Synonym(s): Chewing The Lips, Biting The Lip, Lip Nibble, Cheek Biting, Lip-to-Lip Bite, Lip Chewing.

Description: a) The lower or upper lip is bitten. b) The lips are brought tightly together against the teeth as if the lips are biting each other in a lip-to-lip bite. It is visible as the lips come inward slightly. c) The teeth bite the insides of the cheeks or the corner of the mouth visible as the mouth is contorted sideways to bring the cheek toward the teeth. The lips may purse and also bounce up and down as if chewing food.

In One Sentence: Lip chewing is a negative thought indicator.

How To Use it: One should avoid chewing on the lips as it tells others that you are suffering from negative internal emotions. Feigning or actual negative emotions, on the other hand, can incentivize others to offer care and support. Therefore, the signal has applications as an honest gesture of suffering.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m pacifying and punishing myself due to the negative thoughts and feelings I carry around with me.”

Variant: When pacifying is necessary, people find comfort in biting other objects such as pencils, their fingernails or the stems of their glasses. They may also pull and pinch at themselves. See Lip Biting or Biting The Lip, Lip Picking.

Cue In Action: She was on antidepressant medication and seeing a shrink but even in benign social situations, she would be found fretting as she chewed the insides of her cheeks.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Sucking, plucking, picking or chewing the lips, rubbing them with a finger or thumb are all forms of auto touching. Confident individuals would never consider using this type of behaviour out of insecurity.

When someone feels anxious they habitually find an outlet via chewing. Usually this is a pencil or pen, fingers or finger nails but when nothing else is available or as a default, the lips or sides of the mouth are chewed.

This is a subconscious return to the mouthing of a breast and reminds adults of the tactile pacifier which it served in infancy. The lips often serve as outlets for anxiety because they are always readily available unlike a pencil or other soother. Lip and cheek biting can also be a form of self-restraint, though usually not if it is done persistently, but rather suddenly in response to a certain message or stimuli. Alternatively, lip chewing can signify the desire to act out aggressively where the pain is turned inward rather than expressed outwardly.

Cue Cluster: When someone is anxious, expect their bodies to reflect a desire to turn inwards such as eyes turned downward and glazed over, head down and the shoulders slump. Emotional downtime, when people escape inward while in public, is characterized by pauses in breathing, subtle chewing of the lips, or very brief eye freezes or glazing over.

Body Language Category: Anxious body language, Clenching and gripping, Depressive body language, Energy Displacement, Frustration or frustrated body language, Hostile body language, Intention movements, Leaked or involuntary body language, Low confidence body language, Masked emotions, Microgestures, Negative body language, Nervous body language, Oral displacement activities, Pseudo-infantile gestures, Pacifying body language, Stressful body language, Threat displays.

Resources:

Croyle, Kristin L. ; Waltz, Jennifer. Subclinical Self-Harm: Range of Behaviors, Extent, and Associated Characteristics. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 2007. 77(2): 332-342.

Colville, G A; Mok, Q. Psychological management of two cases of self injury on the paediatric intensive care unit. Archives of Disease in Childhood. 2003. 88(4): 335.

Christenson, Gary A. ; Mackenzie, Thomas B. ; Mitchell, James E. Characteristics of 60 adult chronic hair pullers. American Journal of Psychiatry. 1991. 148(3): 365(6).

Feteih RM: Signs and Symptoms of Temporomandibular Disorders and Oral Parafunctions in Urban Saudi Arabian Adolescents: A Research Report. Head Face Med. 2006. 2: 25.

Harriss, Louise ; Hawton, Keith. Deliberate self-harm in rural and urban regions: A comparative study of prevalence and patient characteristics. Social Science & Medicine. 2011. 73(2): 274-281.

Garnefski N 2004) Cognitive emotion regulation strategies and depressive symptoms: differences between males and female. Personal Indiv Diff 36: 267–76.

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.
Jaquier, Véronique ; Hellmuth, Julianne C. ; Sullivan, Tami P.. Posttraumatic stress and depression symptoms as correlates of deliberate self-harm among community women experiencing intimate partnerviolence. Psychiatry Research. 2013. 206(1): 37-42.