Category: Nervous Body Language

*No Photo, Amplifier, Arousal, Autonomic signal, Boredom body language, Energy Displacement, Escape movements, Metronomic signals, Nervous Body Language, Pacifying body language, Stressful body language, Worry body language

Body Language of Rocking The Body

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Body Language of Rocking The Body

No picCue: Rocking The Body.

Synonym(s): Rocking Back and Forth, Swaying Back and Forth, Body Rocking, Body Shifting.

Description: a) A rhythmic motion of the torso from side to side or from front to back. b) The body is rocked from weight forward to weight back, from side to side usually while standing but can also be done while sitting.

In One Sentence: Rocking the body indicates emotional or body discomfort.

How To Use it: Body rocking is generally seen as a negative cue, but it can be used to signal to others that you are discomforted and wish to leave. Simply rock the body back and forth to show others that you want to leave. Rocking the body is also a way to prepare the body for action. This is useful in sports where people need to stay loose and ready for quick action such as in sprinting. Similarly, rocking is useful in keeping the blood flowing in other contexts too which can stimulate thinking.

Context: General, Dating.

Verbal Translation: “I’m rocking back and forth from side to side because I’m mentally ill (unlikely), ready to take action in a stressful event, or really need to move and burn off some of this pent up energy.” “I’m firing my engine and getting ready to take off – it’s time to wrap things up.” “I’m too cool so I’m rocking off by peeling my body away as if I’m about to leave, it’s time for you to do a little bit of the chasing.”

Variant: See Foot Kicking, Foot Fidgeting, Pacing, Blading Body Language, Body Angling or Ventral Displays, Buttress Stance or Foot Forward Leg Stance.

Cue In Action: a) Betsy was elderly and would rock constantly from side-to-side with a blank, empty expression. b) The sprinter rocked back and forth, kicked out his feet and jumped up and down readying to put in his best effort. c) You could tell the toddler needed to get outdoors after watching television for far too long, as he began to rock back and forth on the sofa. d) Danny rocked away slightly to his back foot as he needed to get to a meeting. e) After talking with a girl for some time, Danny body rocked to show that he was about to leave forcing her to do a little bit of the chasing to keep him interested.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Usually rocking signifies a negative thought and based on its intensity and persistence spells to what degree it is felt. High intensity rocking is found in the mentally ill such as those with schizophrenia, those with obsessive compulsive disorder, or hyperactivity disorder. Low grade rocking can be found in toddlers (and others) who are bored or who don’t get enough physical activity in efforts to release some of their pent up energy.

Rocking also indicates nervousness and can be found in people preparing for sporting events such as sprinting, or taking the stage such for a presentation, or even while waiting to engage in a stressful event such as a school test. In this case, rocking is a substitute for pacing and burning off positive energy in a controlled fashion in order to prepare for the constructive action that is to follow. Rocking can also mean that someone is agitated or upset and is ready to take action or self sooth so they can inhibit themselves from lashing out.

Body rocking is also a technique used to show a desire to leave a conversation. It is a body language expression done by design to show others that one must be someplace else in order to appear more important. It is meant to indicate a nonverbal “time constraint” and has been presented in a dating context to raise status in the eyes of women.

It is the associated clues coupled with the context that will determine the accurate message.

Cue Cluster: Watch for context over associated clue clusters to decipher the true meaning of body rocking. An empty, expressionless face in the elderly might indicate mental illness. Waiting outside a lecture room for an examination indicates nervous rocking while a toddler that rocks while watching television is almost a sure indication that he needs exercise. It is used in accompaniment with eye aversion, head lowered, reduced gestures, body angled away and toes pointed toward an exit, all of which signifies a desire to leave.

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Arousal, Autonomic signal, Boredom body language, Energy Displacement, Escape movements, Impatience, Intention movements, intension postures or intension cues, Metronomic signals, Nervous body language, Pacifying body language, Stressful body language, Worry body language.

Resources:

Broth, Mathias and Lorenza Mondada. Walking Away: The Embodied Achievement of Activity Closings in Mobile Interaction. Journal of Pragmatics. 2013. 47: 41-58.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/nonverbally-negotiate-conversation-walking-away/

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

Dube, Ashlynn ; Marjanne Kameka ; Stacy M. Lopresti-Goodman. Stereotypical Behaviors in Chimpanzees Rescued from the African Bushmeat and Pet Trade. Behavioral Sciences. 2012. 3(1): 1-20.

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/

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

Leete, Esso. How I Perceive and Manage My Illness. Schizophrenia Bulletin. 1989. 15(2): 197-200.

Mason, G.J. Stereotypies and suffering. Behavioural Processes. 1991. 25(2): 103-115.

Mendez, Mario F. ; Mirea, Adrian. Adult head-banging and stereotypic movement disorders. Movement Disorders. 1998. 13(5): 825-828.

Pederson, David R. Davidson, Park O. (editor). The soothing effect of rocking as determined by the direction and frequency of movement. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue canadienne des Sciences du comportement. 1975. 7(3): 237-243.

Perkins, M. ; Wolkind, S. N. Asperger’s syndrome: who is being abused? Archives of Disease in Childhood. 1991. 66(6): 693(3)

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/

Shimooka, Yukiko ; Nakagawa, Naofumi. Functions of an unreported “rocking-embrace” gesture between female Japanese Macaques ( Macaca fuscata ) in Kinkazan Island, Japan. Primates. 2014. 55(2): 327-335.

Wolff, Sula. Childhood autism: its diagnosis, nature, and treatment. Archives of Disease in Childhood. 1991. 66(6): 737(5).

*No Photo, Aggressive body language, Amplifier, Anger body language, Arousal, Emotional body language, Enthusiasm (nonverbal), Excited body language, Fearful body language, Low confidence body language, Lying or deceptive body language, Negative body language, Nervous Body Language, Stressful body language

Body Language of Rapid Speech

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Body Language of Rapid Speech

No picCue: Rapid Speech.

Synonym(s): Fast Talking, Speed Talking.

Description: A voice trait when the rate of speaking occurs at an above average rate. It makes understanding what is being said difficult to follow.

In One Sentence: Rapid speech is a sign of excitement, nervousness, and generally, a heightened emotional state.

How To Use it: Rapid speech is generally not viewed as a positive nonverbal signal. However, it will show others that you are in good spirits when done in the right contexts. Amongst friends for example, rapid speech can show giddiness and therefore a zest for life. In front of a large audience, however, a slower more controlled rate of speech is considered more appropriate.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m talking fast and it might be due to any number of reasons, none of which will be viewed particularly positively. I could be nervous, excited, insecure, anxious, scared, angry or have low self esteem,”

Variant: See Slow Speech or Talking Slowly.

Cue In Action: Her giddiness to present her case made her ramble. Her sentences ran-on and her argument became impossible to decipher. After just a few minutes the audience discounted her completely and sided with the more clam and rational presenter.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Talking fast can be due to lying (fast talking salesman), a reaction to growing up in a house where it was hard to get a word in, a basic insecurity, poor self-esteem, efforts to gain attention, nervousness, impatience, anxiety, insecurity, excitement, fear, drugs or alcohol use, anger, desire to persuade or being caught in a lie.

Visual learners are habitually fast talkers as they race to keep up with the images that they are seeing in their mind.

Cue Cluster: Fast talking is usually accompanied by erratic gesticulation and body movements, pacing and face touching,

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Arousal, Aggressive body language, Anger body language, Emotional body language, Enthusiasm (nonverbal), Excited, Fearful body language, Low confidence body language, Lying or deceptive body language, Negative body language, Nervous body language, Stressful body language.

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.

Redwine, Laura ; Jenkins, Frank ; Baum, Andrew. Relation between beta-adrenergic receptor density and lymphocyte proliferation associated with acute stress. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine. 1996. 3(4): 337-353.

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

Reiss, S., Peterson, R. A., Gursky, D. M., &McNally, R. J. (1986). Anxiety sensitivity, anxiety frequency, and the prediction of fearfulness. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 24, 1–8.

Schmidt, N. B., Miller, J., Lerew, D. R., Woolaway-Bickel, K., & Fitzpatrick, K. (2002). Imaginal provocation of panic in patients with panic disorder. Behavior Therapy, 33, 149–162.

Simonds, Brentk. ; Meyer, Kevinr. ; Quinlan, Margaretm. ; Hunt, Stephenk. Effects of Instructor Speech Rate on Student Affective Learning, Recall, and Perceptions of Nonverbal Immediacy, Credibility, and Clarity. Communication Research Reports. 2006. 23(3): 187-197.

Takeharuseno ; Takeharuseno ; Takeharuseno ; Keikoihaya ; Yukiyamada. I speak fast when I move fast: The speed of illusory self-motion (vection) modulates the speed of utterance. Frontiers in Psychology. 2013.

Townsend, Howardw. Factors of influence in radio speech. Quarterly Journal of Speech. 1944. 30(2): 187-190.

Vrij, A., Edward, K., Roberts, K., & Bull, R. (2000) Detecting deceit via analysis of verbal and nonverbal behavior. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 24(4).

Vrij, A., Harden, E, Terry, J., Edward, K., & Bull, R. (2000). The influence of personal characteristics, stakes and lie complexity on the accuracy and confidence to detect deceit, in R. Roesch, R.R. Corrado, & R. J. Dempster (Eds.), Psychology in the courts: International advances in knowledge. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic.

Barriers, Blocking or Shielding, Body cross, Clenching and gripping, Closed body language, Defensive body language, Embarrassment (nonverbal), Low confidence body language, Nervous Body Language, Shy nonverbal

Body Language of Partial Arm Cross or Incomplete Arm Cross

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Body Language of Partial Arm Cross or Incomplete Arm Cross

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Partial Arm Cross or Incomplete Arm Cross 4 BodyLanguageProjectCom - Partial Arm Cross or Incomplete Arm Cross 1 BodyLanguageProjectCom - Partial Arm Cross or Incomplete Arm Cross 2 Cue: Partial Arm Cross or Incomplete Arm Cross

Synonym(s): Incomplete Arm Cross, Elbow Grab, Shoulder Grab, Hand to Elbow, Hand to Shoulder, Half-Hug.

Description: Where one arm crosses over the body to clasp the other arm or elbow. It can also happen by reaching across to grab the opposite shoulder.

In One Sentence: A partial arm cross is a sign of insecurity.

How To Use it: Use this gesture to create comfort where escape is impractical. Unlike a full arm cross which tells others that you are not ready to receive additional information, a partial arm cross can be used to tell others that you are not totally at ease. This can be used to signal to others the desire to be protected.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m feeling awkward and insecure. I need to feel protected so I’m going to reach across my body making a shield and cut off access while also feeling like mom or dad is holding me and protecting me.”

Variant: See Arm Crossing.

Cue In Action: Her mom brought her to a busy mall where they met up with friends. A particularly cute boy was also there with his family and they began to chat. Her mom was busy looking at clothing and she was left by herself. She enjoyed talking with him, but felt awkward which was evident because she grabber her elbow across her body tightly.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Reaching across the body and grabbing the opposite elbow or shoulder is mainly a female posture. While the double arm hug is a defensive postures, the partial arm cross is a subtle posture that indicates fear, timidity, shyness and lack of self confidence. Both are barrier type postures which protect the core of the body like a shield to signals to others that we don’t wish for them to come close.

The origins of the partial arm cross likely stems from the comfort felt by a child who’s hand was held or who’s shoulder was grasped by a parent when in novel situations. The posture feels natural and comfortable when in fearful situations because it provides the sensation of being hugged and protected, like having our hand held.

Women are the most common users of this posture. While men can be seen in the partial arm cross, although it is much more rare. It may have to do with trying not to appear as timid or that men simply experience the emotions far less. Men will use other postures such as the fig leaf posture or play with the cufflink or watch instead. They may also seek other displacement activities to help self sooth.

Cue Cluster: Expect to see other gestures like child-like swaying, biting the lower lip or inside of the cheek, blushing, touching the face when fingers are not crossed, shortness of breath, eyes fixated, worried or wandering to seek an exit, feet and torso pointed away.

Body Language Category: Barriers, Body cross, Blocking or Shielding, Clenching and gripping, Closed body language, Defensive body language, Embarrassment (nonverbal), Low confidence body language, Nervous body language, Shy nonverbal.

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.

Bohns, Vanessa K. and Scott S. Wiltermuth. It Hurts When I Do This (Or You Do That): Posture And Pain tolerance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2012. 48: 341-345.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/dominant-and-submissive-postures-affects-more-than-public-perception-it-also-affects-felt-pain-and-physical-strength/

Balzarotti, Stefania ; Piccini, Luca ; Andreoni, Giuseppe ; Ciceri, Rita “I Know That You Know How I Feel”: Behavioral and Physiological Signals Demonstrate Emotional Attunement While Interacting with a Computer Simulating Emotional Intelligence. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2014. 38(3): 283-299.

Bernstein, Constance. Winning trials nonverbally: six ways to establish control in the courtroom. Trial. 1994. 30(1).61(5)

Brownell, Judi. Communicating with credibility: The gender gap. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly. 1993. 34(2): 52-61.

Baxter, James C., and Richard M. Rozelle (1975). “Nonverbal Expression as a Function of Crowding During a Simulated Police-Citizen Encounter.” In Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Vol. 32, No. 1), pp. 40-54.

Cacioppo, J. T., Priester, J. R., & Berntson, G. G. (1993). Rudimentary determinants of attitudes: II. Arm flexion and extension have differential effects on attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 5–17.

Cuddy, Amy J.C. ; Glick, Peter ; Beninger, Anna. The dynamics of warmth and competence judgments, and their outcomes in organizations. Research in Organizational Behavior. 2011. 31: 73-98.

Desteno, David ; Breazeal, Cynthia ; Frank, Robert H ; Pizarro, David ; Baumann, Jolie ; Dickens, Leah ; Lee, Jin Joo. Detecting the Trustworthiness of Novel Partners in Economic Exchange. Psychological Science. 2012. 23(12): 1549-1556.

Dolphin, Carol Zinner. Beyond hall: Variables in the use of personal space in intercultural transactions. Howard Journal of Communications. 1988. 1(1): 23-38.

Edinger, Joyce A. ; Patterson, Miles L. Zeaman, David (editor). Nonverbal involvement and social control. Psychological Bulletin. 1983. 93(1): 30-56.

Fatt, James P. T. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.(nonverbal communication). Communication World. 1999. 16(6): 37(4).

Fo¨rster, J. (2004). How body feedback influences consumer’s evaluation of products. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 14, 415–425.

Friedman, R. S., & Fo¨rster, J. (2000). The effects of approach and avoidance motor actions on the elements of creative insight. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 477–492.

Friedman, Ron and Andrew J. Elliot. The Effect Of Arm Crossing On Persistence And Performance. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2008; 38, 449–461 (2008). http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/arm-crossing-effect-on-persistence-and-performance/

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/

Greenberg, Carl I. ; Firestone, Ira J. Greenwald, Anthony G. (editor). Compensatory responses to crowding: Effects of personal space intrusion and privacy reduction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1977. 35(9): 637-644.

Graziano, Michael S.A. and Cooke, Dylan F. Parieto-frontal interactions, personal space, and defensive behavior. Neuropsychologia. 2006. 44(6): 845-859.

Holt, Daphne J ; Cassidy, Brittany S ; Yue, Xiaomin ; Rauch, Scott L ; Boeke, Emily A ; Nasr, Shahin ; Tootell, Roger B H ; Coombs, Garth. Neural correlates of personal space intrusion. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 2014. 34(12): 4123-34.

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

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.

Leigh, Thomas W. ; Summers, John O. An initial evaluation of industrial buyers’ impressions of salespersons’ nonverbal cues. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. 2002. 22(1): 41(13).

Li Huang, Adam D. Galinsky, Deborah H Gruenfeld and Lucia E. Guillory. Powerful Postures Versus Powerful Roles: Which Is the Proximate Correlate of Thought and Behavior? 2011, Psychological Science; 22(1): 95–102.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/whats-more-powerful-nonverbal-power-or-real-power/

Laird, J. D., Wagener, J. J., Halal, M., & Szegda, M. (1982). Remembering what you feel: Effects of emotion on memory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 646–657.

Mehrabian, Albert ; Williams, Martin Mcguire, William J. (editor). Nonverbal concomitants of perceived and intended persuasiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1969. 13(1): 37-58.

Marsh, Abigail A; Henry H. Yu; Julia C. Schechter and R. J. R. Blair. Larger than Life: Humans’ Nonverbal Status Cues Alter Perceived Size. PLoS ONE. 2009. 4(5): e5707. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005707.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/large-life-nonverbal-dominance-affects-perception-size/

McManus, I.C. and Masw-Taylok, C. G. N. Hand-clasping and arm-folding: a review and a genetic model. Ann. Hum. Biol. 6, 527 558, 1979.

Mohr, Christine ; Thut, Gregor ; Landis, Theodor ; Brugger, Peter. Hands, arms, and minds: interactions between posture and thought. Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology. 2003. 25(7): 1000-10.

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.

Neumann, R., & Strack, F. (2000). Approach and avoidance: The influence of proprioceptive and exteroceptive cues on encoding of affective information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 39–48.

Newman, Robert C. ; Pollack, Donald Holzberg, Jules D. (editor). Proxemics in deviant adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1973 40(1): 6-8.

Plato, C. C., Fox, K. M. and Gakruto, R. M. Measures of lateral functional dominance: Foot preference. digital interlocking, arm-folding and fool overlapping. Hum. Biol. 57, 327-334, 1985.

Riskind, J. H., & Gotay, C. C. (1982). Physical posture: Could it have regulatory or feedback effects upon motivation and emotion? Motivation and Emotion, 6, 273–296.

Roll, William V. ; Schmidt, Lyle D. ; Kaul, Theodore J. Berdie, Ralph F. (editor). Perceived interviewer trustworthiness among black and white convicts. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 1972. 19(6): 537-541.

Ryan, Mary E. Good nonverbal communication skills can reduce stress. (Law Office Management). Trial. 1995. 31(1): 70(5).

Richmond, Virginia P., James C. McCroskey and Steven K. Payne (1991). Nonverbal Behavior in Interpersonal Relations (2nd Ed., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall).

Stepper, S., & Strack, F. (1993). Proprioceptive determinants of emotional and nonemotional feelings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 211–220.

Sakano, N., & Pickenhain, L. (1985). Japanese and German data on the correlation between handedness, arm folding, and hand clasping. Studia Psychologica, 27, 107–116.

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Tamir, M., Robinson, M. D., Clore, G. L., Martin, L. L., & Whitaker, D. J. (2004). Are we puppets on a string? The contextual meaning of unconscious expressive cues. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 237–249.

Vrugt, Anneke, and Ada Kerkstra (1984). “Sex Differences in Nonverbal Communication.” In Semiotica (50-1/2), pp. 1-41.

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Yuksel, Atila. Nonverbal Service Behavior and Customer’s Affective Assessment. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism. 2008. 9(1): 57-77.

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

Body Language of Pacing

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Body Language of Pacing

No picCue: 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.

Doubt or disbelief body language, Embarrassment (nonverbal), Emotional body language, Fearful body language, Low confidence body language, Microexpression, Nervous Body Language, Stressful body language

Body Language of the Nervous Smile

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Body Language of the Nervous Smile

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Nervous Smile 1Cue: Nervous Smile

Synonym(s): N/A

Description: A fleeting smile that quickly shows and disappears, the eyes are tensed and darting and the lips may quiver in fear. Other times the smile is long-lasting – more than ordinary.

In One Sentence: A smile that flashes suddenly and then disappears signals nervousness.

How To Use it: It is usually not advised to demonstrate nervousness when one wishes to present as confident and in control. However, a nervously flashes smile can tell others that you are pushing your limits and are struggling emotionally. If a sympathetic viewer catches on to your body language, they may work to help resolve your negative emotions. This is why it’s important to use body language accurately, rather than suppress it. A person seeing a nervous smile, such as before a presentation, in a friend, should be motivated to offer a hug, pat on the back and words of encouragement. Therefore, a nervous smile can be used to attract sympathy, care, and encouragement.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: I’m scared and feel awkward but I’m going to smile and try to put on a good face to mask my unpleasant feelings.

Variant: A nervous smile often appears like a smirk but they are not to be confused. The smirk has accompanying dominant body language such as head back, shoulders back, open postures along with dialogue riddle with exuberant pride. The smirk will happen too when someone is under direct verbal attack. It’s the sort of face that makes you want to say “Wipe that grin off your face”. Sometimes though, the smirk is due to the stress of being put under fire and isn’t always an attempt at questioning authority.

See Smiling, Fear Smile, Friendly Smile, Frown (the) or Downturned Smile, Honest Smile or Duchenne Smile, Jaw Drop Smile, Nervous Smile, Polite Smile (the), Uneven Smile Or Lopsided Smile, Upper Lip Smile, Artificial Smile or Fake Smile, Nervous Smile, Honest Smile or Duchenne Smile, Contempt Facial Expression.

Cue In Action: She was about to give her big presentation, her eyes seemed as though she was a deer in the headlights. The edges of her mouth curled upwards trying to mask her fear.

Meaning and/or Motivation: The nervous smile indicates that a degree of fear or awkward feelings are present, but that a person feels the need to put on a positive face to avoid drawing attention to themselves.

Cue Cluster: A nervous smile is usually accompanied by fidgeting, pale or blushing face, sweating, shortness of breath, voice cracking or inability to speak fluently, tucking the hands in pockets, turning the body away and lowering the head.

Body Language Category: Doubt or disbelief body language, Embarrassment (nonverbal), Emotional body language, Fearful body language, Low confidence body language, Microexpressions, Nervous body language, Stressful body language.

Resources:

Abel, Ernest L. and Michael L. Kruger. Smile Intensity in Photographs Predicts Longevity. Psychological Science. 2010. 21(4): 542-544.
Seder, J. Patrick and Shigehiro Oishi. Intensity of Smiling in Facebook Photos Predicts Future Life Satisfaction. Social Psychological and Personality Science. 2012. 3(4): 407-413.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/facebook-smile-predicts-life-satisfaction/

Colonnesi, Cristina; Susan M. Bogels; Wieke de Vente and Mirjana Majdandzic. What Coy Smiles Say About Positive Shyness in Early Infancy. Infancy. 2013. 18(2): 202–220. ISSN: 1525-0008 print / 1532-7078 online
DOI: 10.1111/j.1532-7078.2012.00117.x
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/nonverbal-meaning-coy-smiles-infants/

Drummond, P. D., & Lance, J. W. (1987). Facial flushing and sweating mediated by
the sympathetic nervous system. Brain, 110(Pt. 3), 793–803.

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

Fairbairn, Catharine E.; Michael A. Sayette; Odd O. Aalen and Arnoldo Frigessi. Alcohol and Emotional Contagion: An Examination of the Spreading of Smiles in Male and Female Drinking Groups. Clinical Psychological Science. 2014. DOI: 2167702614548892
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/alcohol-social-lubricant-male-smiles/

Gosselin, Pierre; Reem Maassarani; Alastair Younger and Mélanie Perron. Children’s Deliberate Control of Facial Action Units Involved in Sad and Happy Expressions. Journal of Nonverbal Behaviour. 2011. 35:225–242. DOI 10.1007/s10919-011-0110-9.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/childrens-control-facial-actions-improve-age-create-accurate-emotional-expressions/

Gunnery, Sarah D.; Judith A. Hall and Mollie A. Ruben. The Deliberate Duchenne Smile: Individual Differences in Expressive Control. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2013. 37:29–41. DOI 10.1007/s10919-012-0139-4
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/can-probably-fake-honest-smile-deliberate-duchenne-smile/

Gueguen, Nicolas. Weather and Smiling Contagion: A Quasi Experiment With the Smiling Sunshine. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2013. 37:51–55. DOI 10.1007/s10919-012-0140-y
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/weather-smile-not-contagion-smile-linked-weather-conditions/

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/

Golle, Jessika; Fred W.; Mast and Janek S. Lobmaier. Something to Smile About: The Interrelationship Between Attractiveness and Emotional Expression. Cognition and Emotion, 2014. 28:2: 298-310. DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2013.817383.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/smiles-arent-just-cameras/

Guéguen, N. The Effect Of A Woman’s Smile On Men’s Courtship Behavior. Social Behavior and Personality. 2008. 36(9): 1233-1236.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/how-women-can-use-a-simple-smile-to-attract-men/

Guéguen, N., & Fischer-Lokou, J. (2004). Hitchhiker’s Smiles And Receipt Of Help. Psychological Reports. 94: 756-760.

Hertenstein, Matthew J.; Carrie A. Hansel; Alissa M. Butts and Sarah N. Hile. Smile Intensity In Photographs Predicts Divorce Later In Life. Motiv Emot. 2009; 33:99-105
DOI 10.1007/s11031-009-9124-6
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/small-smiles-predicts-divorce/

Harker, L., & Keltner, D. (2001). Expressions Of Positive Emotion In Women’s College Yearbook Pictures And Their Relationship To Personality And Life Outcomes Across Adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80(1), 112–124. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.80.1.112.

Krumhuber, Eva; Antony S. R.; Manstead; and Arvid Kappas. Temporal Aspects of Facial Displays in Person and Expression Perception: The Effects of Smile Dynamics, Head-tilt, and Gender. Journal Nonverbal Behavior. 2007; 31: 39-56.
DOI 10.1007/s10919-006-0019-x
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/head-tilt-and-slow-onset-smile-nonverbals-trust-attraction-dominance-and-flirting-a-brief-report/

Krumhuber, E., Manstead, A., & Kappas, A. Temporal Aspects of Facial Displays in Person and Expression Perception: The Effects of Smile Dynamics, Head-tilt, and Gender. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2007. 31(1), 39-56.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/slow-onset-smile-best/

Krause, Michael W. and Teh-Way David Chen. A Winning Smile? Smile Intensity, Physical Dominance, and Fighter Performance. Emotion. 2013. 13 (2): 270–279. DOI: 10.1037/a0030745
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/smile-lose-smile-intensity-predicts-fighting-ability

Krumhuber, Eva G.; Manstead and Antony S. R. Can Duchenne smiles be feigned? New evidence on felt and false smiles. Emotion. 2009. 9 (6): 807-820.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/can-fake-real-smile-practice/

Labroo, Aparna A.; Anirban Mukhopadhyay; Ping Dong. Not Always the Best Medicine: Why Frequent Smiling Can Reduce Wellbeing. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2014. 53:156-162.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/why-too-much-smiling-can-be-bad-for-you/

Lockard, J. S., McVittie, R. I., & Isaac, L. M. (1977). Functional Significance Of The Affiliative Smile. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 9, 367-370.

Okubo, Matia; Akihiro, Kobayashi and Kenta Ishikawa. A Fake Smile Thwarts Cheater Detection. Journal of Nonverbal Behaviour. 2012. 36:217–225. DOI 10.1007/s10919-012-0134-9
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/fake-till-make-cheaters-fake-smile-make-lies-difficult-detect/

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

Reissland, Nadja; Brian Francis, James Mason, Karen Lincoln. Do Facial Expressions Develop before Birth? August 2011. 6(8): e24081. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0024081.g001
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/the-cry-and-laugh-face-in-the-human-fetus/

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/facial-expressions-honest-signals-smiling-contempt-predict-cooperation-defection/

Samuele Centorrino, Elodie Djemai, Astrid Hopfensitz, Manfred Milinski, Paul Seabright. Honest Signaling in Trust Interactions: Smiles Rated as Genuine Induce Trust and Signal Higher Earning Opportunities. Evolution and Human Behavior DOI:
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.08.001.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/smile-great-gain-smiling-key-negotiation/

Tidd, K., & Lockard, J. (1978). Monetary Significance Of The Affiliative Smile: A Case For Reciprocal Altruism. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society, 11, 344-346.

Vazire, S., Naumann, L.P., Rentfrow, P. J., and Gosling, S. D. (2009). Smiling reflects different emotions in men and women. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32:5, 403–405.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/smiling-reflects-different-emotions-men-women/

Vigil, J. M. (2009). A socio-relational framework of sex differences in the expression of emotion. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 32, 375–428.

Walsh, D. G., & Hewitt, J. (1985). Giving Men The Come-On: Effect Of Eye Contact And Smiling In A Bar Environment. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 61, 873-874.

Wolf K, Mass R, Ingenbleek T, Kiefer F, Naber D et al. (2005) The facial pattern of disgust, appetence, excited joy and relaxed joy: an improved facial EMG study. Scand J Psychol 46: 403-409. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9450.2005.00471.x. PubMed: 16179022.

*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

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Body Language of Nervous Feet or Nervous Hands

No picCue: 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

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/

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.

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/

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

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.

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.

Moore, M. M. and D. L. Butler. 1989. Predictive aspects of nonverbal courtship behavior in women. Semiotica 76(3/4): 205-215.

Moore, M. M. 2001. Flirting. In C. G. Waugh (Ed.) Let’s talk: A cognitive skills approach to interpersonal communication. Newark, Kendall-Hunt.

Moore, M. M. 1985. Nonverbal courtship patterns in women: context and consequences. Ethology and Sociobiology 64: 237-247.

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

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

Rothman, Naomi B. Steering Sheep: How Expressed Emotional Ambivalence Elicits Dominance in Interdependent Decision Making Contexts. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 2011. 116: 66-82.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/ambivalent-facial-expression-form-dominance-study/

Ricard, Nathalie C. ; Beaudry, Simon G. ; Pelletier, Luc G. Lovers With Happy Feet: The Interdependence of Relationship and Activity Factors for Individuals Dancing With a Romantic Partner.(Report). Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 2012. 42(4): 939(25).

Roether, C. L., Omlor, L., Christensen, A., & Giese, M. A. (2009). Critical features for the perception of emotion from gait. Journal of Vision, 9(6), 1–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1167/9.6.15.

Sporer, Siegfried L. ; Schwandt, Barbara Penrod, Steven D. (editor). Moderators of Nonverbal Indicators of Deception: A Meta-Analytic Synthesis. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law. 2007. 13(1): 1-34.

Smith-hanen, Sandra S. Osipow, Samuel H. (editor). Effects of nonverbal behaviors on judged levels of counselor warmth and empathy. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 1977. 24(2): 87-91.

Whittock, Trevor. The role of metaphor in dance. The British Journal of Aesthetics. 1992. 32(3): 242(8).

Van Der Zee, Sophie; Ronald Poppe; Paul J. Taylor; and Ross Anderson. To Freeze or Not to Freeze A Motion-Capture Approach to Detecting Deceit.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/detect-lies-whole-body-nonverbals-new-lie-detector-successful-using-body-language-70/

Blocking or Shielding, Displacement behaviour, Emotional body language, Idiosyncratic body language, Leaked or involuntary body language, Low confidence body language, Negative body language, Nervous Body Language, Pacifying body language, Pseudo-infantile gestures, Security blankets, Stressful body language, Suspicious body language, Worry body language

Body Language of Nail Biting

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Body Language of Nail Biting

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Nail Biting 2Cue: Nail Biting

Synonym(s): Fingernail Biting, Cuticle Biting, Nail Picking, Biting Fingernails.

Description: Biting or picking at the fingernails. Can be so sever that it results in bleeding, disfigurement, or unsightly nails down to the quick.

In One Sentence: Nail biting is a sign of insecurity, anxiety, discomfort and lack of self-confidence.

How To Use it: Nail biting is a negative nonverbal cue. It is not advised that one should do it unless one wishes to feign anxiety.

Context: General

Verbal Translation: “I’m suffering from extreme inner turmoil and anxiety. I need to pacify myself by reverting to childlike suckling or mouthing of my fingers, as a substitute for my mother’s breast.”

Variant: Any object to the mouth indicates a need for to pacify including, thumb sucking, sucking on pens, chewing on the arms of the glasses and sucking on a cigarette. Other tension relieving activities include adjusting clothing when it’s not needed, playing with an object, running fingers through the hair and shaking a shoe.

Cue In Action: Gordon Brown, the UK Prime Minister, has the look of a frequent nail bitter. He likely suffers a great deal of internal stress.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Nail biting is a form of emotional body language, and when present, is usually habitual because of its origins. The habit which is highly unsightly screams “I am insecure.” These types of gestures are called “pacifying behaviours” because they are designed to reduce anxiety when exposed to something distressing.

Nail biting signals apprehension, anxiety, discomfort and a lack of self-confidence. Putting any object in the mouth is a signal of inner turmoil and negative feelings. The mouth is utilized as a source of pacifying as the breast was during infancy and indicates a need to be reassured. Biting the nails also serves as a mouth cover which blocks the mouth from the sightline of others creating additional security and secretiveness, but also creates suspicion in others.

The astute nonverbal reader will carefully observe a person for their unique mannerisms as they are difficult for people to control and hide. This makes a quick check of the nails and fingers for excessive chewing particularly important in gaining insight into a body language target. Nails that appear wider than they are long, called ‘brachyonychia’ is a sure sign that a person doesn’t feel at ease and regularly suffers from extreme tension. A thumb that is frequently sucked might appear worn or have chew marks or indentations.

Cue Cluster: Generally, nail biting is a stand-alone cue that needs no additional reinforcement to have true meaning – though one should watch for additional cues of discomfort and desire to pacify.

Body Language Category: Blocking or Shielding, Displacement behaviour, Emotional body language, Idiosyncratic body language, Leaked or involuntary body language, Low confidence body language, Negative body language, Nervous body language, Pseudo-infantile gestures, Pacifying body language, Security blankets, Stressful body language, Suspicious body language, Worry body language or worry.

Resources:

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.

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 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://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcresnotes/
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-language-nail-biting/

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.

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
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.

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

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.

Auto contact or self touching, Autoerotic touching, Courtship display, Emotional body language, Indicator Of Sexual Interest (IOsI), Intention movements, Microgestures, Nervous Body Language, Pacifying body language, Stressful body language

Body Language of Lip Licking

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Body Language of Lip Licking

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Lip Licking 1Cue: Lip Licking

Synonym(s): Moistening The Lips, Wetting The Lips, Frequent Lip Licking, Excessive Lick Licking.

Description: The tongue is run over the lips usually repeatedly or in succession.

In One Sentence: Lip licking demonstrates a need for pacifying or, in the right context, sexual interest.

How To Use it: While habitual lip licking should be avoided since it shows anxiety, women can use obvious lip licking coupled with eye contact to show sexual interest. The cue must be done in context, with focus gaze, eyes should make eye contact or be looking squarely to body parts they find arousing. When done correctly, the signal can tell men that there is unequivocal sexual interest. This will cause men to pursue if the feeling is reciprocal.

Lip licking can also be used to show others that you are getting ready to speak. This is made obvious as we often moisten the lips to facilitate communication.

Context: a) General b) Dating.

Verbal Translation: “I’m licking my lips to moisten them, to prepare for speaking or kissing, or to sooth myself.”

Variant: When pacifying, the tongue can be run over the teeth to pacify. The tongue sometimes pokes out of the mouth during periods of high concentration and focus. See Running The Tongue Over The Teeth or Lips.

Cue In Action: a) She wanted to interject. Just before speaking, she wet her lips and parted them slightly. a) He was getting ready for the exam and repeatedly licked his lips in anticipation. He needed to sooth his excited nerves. b) She was hot for the guy in the suite. Subconsciously, she licked her lips while her eyes darted toward his mouth.

Meaning and/or Motivation: An increase in lip licking is due to a decrease in saliva production which is in turn caused by high stress. Conversely, high blood flow to the lips is due to sexual arousal in a dating context. Alternatively, licking the lips is in effort to moisten them to speak.

When done by women in courtship lip licking indicates sexual interest especially if done frequently, with eye contact and in the proper context. Lips are said to imitate the female labia and licking them draws attention by both making them shiny, and also by movement – of the tongue. Lips are also licked just before kissing and can be a kiss indicator if the lips are licked while looking at the lips of another.

Repeated or excessive licking serves to pacify and sooth negative feelings. In this gesture, the tongue can be seen darting out of the mouth, swiping the top lip on the way and curling under to swipe the bottom lip as it reenters. A person that licks as part of his idiosyncratic behaviour is usually one that has underlying emotional turmoil.

The lips can sometimes be licked as a prelude before speaking to make communication easier. Other times, lip licking has no emotional meaning at all and only serves a practical purpose – to moisten dry or chapped lips.

Cue Cluster: Cues associated with lip licking will depend on the context. Usually lip licking in dating signifies arousal if eye contact anchors the cue. Eyes that look toward a man’s mouth is a good indication that a kiss is welcomed. Lip licking before presenting to an audience often shows anxiety and stress due to a dry mouth, as does excessive lip licking during a stressful event.

Body Language Category: Auto contact or self touching, Autoerotic touching, Courtship displays, Emotional body language, Stroking body language, Indicators of sexual interest (IOsI), Intention movements, Microgestures, Nervous body language, Pacifying 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.

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Broome, Marion E.. Helping Parents Support Their Child In Pain. Pediatric Nursing. 2000. 26(3): 315.

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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. ; 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.

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.

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.

Clark, A. Attracting Interest: Dynamic Displays of Proceptivity Increase the Attractiveness of Men and Women. Evolutionary Psychology. 2008., 6(4), 563-574.

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

Dosmukhambetova, D., and Manstead, A. Strategic Reactions to Unfaithfulness: Female Self-Presentation in the Context of Mate Attraction is Link to Uncertainty of Paternity. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2011. 32, 106-107.

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

Guéguen, Nicolas. Does Red Lipstick Really Attract Men? An Evaluation in a Bar. International Journal of Psychological Studies. 2012. 4(2)

Guéguen, Nicolas and Céline Jacob. Lipstick And Tipping Behavior: When Red Lipstick Enhance Waitresses Tips. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 2012; 31: 1333– 1335.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/men-prefer-women-who-dress-in-red-and-wear-red-lipstick-how-to-earn-more-tips-or-favours-from-men/

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

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.

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.

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.

Harrigan, Jinni A. Self-touching as an indicator of underlying affect and language processes. Social Science & Medicine. 1985. 20(11): 1161-1168.

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.

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.

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/

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

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.

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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.

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.

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/

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

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.

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

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/

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

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Smith, John, Julia Chase, and Anna Lieblich (1974). “Tongue Showing.” In Semiotica (Vol. 11, No. 3), pp. 201-46.

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Troisi A. 2002. Displacement activities as a behavioral 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.

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

*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

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Body Language of Lip Chewing or Chewing The Lips

No picCue: 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:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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/

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.

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.

Aggressive body language, Clenching and gripping, Courtship display, Indicator Of Sexual Interest (IOsI), Masked body language, Micromessaging, Nervous Body Language, Pacifying body language, Stressful body language, Worry body language

Body Language of Lip Biting or Biting The Lip

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Body Language of Lip Biting or Biting The Lip

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Lip Biting or Biting The Lip 1Cue: Lip Biting or Biting The Lip

Synonym(s): Biting The Lip.

Description: Lightly biting the top or bottom lip with the teeth suddenly and in response to a particular stimuli or habitually and chronically.

In One Sentence: Lip biting is a sign of self restraint.

How To Use it: Women in dating can use the signal to show men that they are holding back “negative” or rather, naughty, sexually thoughts. When done properly with eye contact the signal is unmistakable. To send an even more powerful message, women should cast their eyes to the rest of the man’s body as this signals a desire for more than just friendship.

You might use lip biting in regular context to signal that you are holding back your tongue. This shows nonverbal disagreement without the risk of having to actually speak out.

Avoid chronic lip biting and chewing as this will tell others that you are self harming due to insecurity or anxiety.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m biting my lip to hold myself back because I feel that if I stop biting, my lips might be free to say something I will regret.”

Variant: As the lip bite indicates that thoughts are being held back, a woman may use it in a dating context to signal that she is holding back naughty sexual thoughts. It is particularly salient when combined with eye contact or eyes dropping to his torso, genitals, or rump. See Lip Chewing or Chewing The Lips.

Cue In Action: She was biting her lip when her boyfriend bought her some really nice flowers, but ones of which she had previously experienced an allergic reaction.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Biting the mouth indicates hidden insecurity, anxiety, embarrassment, vulnerability and a lack of self confidence. It’s main cause, however, is that an idea is being held back – “by the skin of their teeth.” It’s where the saying goes “biting one’s lip” when voicing their opinion is what someone truly desires.

However, when someone bites their lip, they feel that their idea will not be well received or they don’t feel confident enough to stand up to challenges that might raise. Other times a person bites their lip because they are carrying a negative thought they don’t want to share.

When lip biting is done chronically, it can signal persistent underlying negative feelings. In this case, lip biting is in effort to calm and pacify through energy displacement and by offering them a source of control over their pain. It is a milder version of self cutting where high anxiety individuals will use knives to scare themselves because they feel their internal world is beyond their control.

Biting the lip has also been commonly associated with female sexual seduction where the lip is bitten while observing an attractive man. The roots are similar to what is mentioned above, that is, a restraint mechanism, where the woman holds herself back from acting on her sexual impulses.

Cue Cluster: Alongside lip biting expect to see eyes averted, head down, body turned away or loose trying to blend in, hands in the pockets or hidden under a table, neck scratching or holding the back of the neck in restraint.

Body Language Category: Aggressive body language, Courtship display, Clenching and gripping, Indicators of sexual interest (IOsI), Masked emotions, Micromessaging, Nervous body language, Pacifying body language, Stressful body language, Worry body language.

Resources:

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.

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.

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