Category: Nervous Body Language

Body Language of Foot Fidgeting

Body Language of Foot Fidgeting

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Foot Fidgeting 1Cue: Foot Fidgeting

Synonym(s): Fidgeting Feet, Foot Bouncing, Bouncing Feet, Leg Bounce, Foot Jiggling

Description: Foot fidgeting is a repetitive motion of the foot. It will move up and down, back and forth, or in a circular manner usually while seated with the legs crossed. The feet might also cause the leg to bump up and down while seated with the legs uncrossed. Feet can also tap up and down while standing, or move in, out, and away, while seated.

In One Sentence: Foot jiggling signifies that a person has extra energy that they need to burn off.

How To Use it: Use foot jiggling to relieve the tension of being nervous and also to help deal with the discomfort of being sessile for long periods of time. Women can also jiggle their feet while wearing high heel shoes and a skirt to draw attention to sexy legs that are crossed tightly. Putting the body in motion draws attention to the parts which are moving.

Context: a) General b) Dating.

Verbal Translation: a) “I’m jiggling my leg because I have so much extra energy and you are boring me and I want to leave.” b) “I’m bouncing my leg up and down to draw attention to my sexy legs and capture your attention.”

Variant: See Cooperative Feet, Toe Pointing or Pointed Toe, Frozen Hands or Frozen Feet, Happy Feet.

Cue In Action: The lecture just kept dragging on and on. You could tell by the amount of leg jiggling that the students were ready to get out of there.

Meaning and/or Motivation: a) Feet kick when escape is not possible as a way the body prepares for action. Women have been known to do the same thing, even bouncing a leg up and down and squeeze their upper thighs tightly together which can even result in orgasm. Not every leg bounce with tight leg crossing produces orgasm though, yet this form of soothing still produces comfort, and quite likely a dose of oxytocin to boot!

b) Other times, a woman will bounce her foot up and down with legs crossed to draw attention to her sexuality. Legs in motion draw the eyes in and captures the attention of men. The foot fidgeting, in this case, is due to sexual excitement and the readiness to take action.

Cue Cluster: Foot fidgeting is usually coupled with face touching, arm touching, smoothing clothing, eyes averted, chin supported by the hand, tapping the pen to the mouth, fidgeting with papers, looking at watches and other boredom signals. To read leg bounce as sexual energy, watch for additional sexual cues in cluster.

Body Language Category: Autoerotic touching, Boredom, Closed body language, Courtship displays, Disengagement, Energy Displacement, Indicators of disinterest (IOD), Indicators of sexual interest (IOsI), Intention movements, Metronomic signals, Microgestures, Nervous body language.

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/

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.

Clifford, Ruth. Development of masturbation in college women. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 1978. 7(6): 559-573.

de Bruijn G. From masturbation to orgasm with a partner: how some women bridge the gap–and why others don’t. J Sex Marital Ther. 1982. 8(2):151-67.

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/

Gregersen, Tammy S. Nonverbal Cues: Clues to the Detection of Foreign Language Anxiety. Foreign Language Annals. 2005. 38(3): 388-400
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Hatz, Jessica L. and Martin J. Bourgeois. Anger as a Cue to Truthfulness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2010. 46: 680-683.
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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
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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.
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Navarro, Joe. 2008. What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People. William Morrow Paperbacks.

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http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/fidgeting-body-language-really-mean-fidget-bored-mentally-taxed/

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.
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Body Language of The Fig Leaf Posture

Body Language of The Fig Leaf Posture

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Fig Leaf Posture (The) 1Cue: Fig Leaf Posture (The)

Synonym(s): Fig Leaf Position, Loin Clothe Posture, Broken Zipper Posture.

Description: This posture occurs by placing one or both hands in front of the midsection.

In One Sentence: The fig leaf posture is a signal that one wishes to hide the genitals from exposure because one is feeling emotionally overexposed.

How To Use it: Use the fig leaf in front of an audience to provide more privacy and the feeling of security. A podium makes a nice replacement to the fig leaf as does holding sheets of paper or notes in a clipboard, which can be placed over the mid-section. As these items appear to have a legitimate function, they will not make it appear as though you are discomforted.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m feeling overexposed and therefore uncomfortable so I’m going to block my private areas from view with my hands to preserve some of my modesty.”

Variant: The standing leg cross is another way people will try to hide their private areas and sometimes this posture is coupled with the fig leaf posture to show additional insecurity.

Cue In Action: a) Sally and Jim were new to the firm and decided to introduce themselves. While standing and conversing each interlocked their fingers and rested them over their private areas. b) While presenting, the candidate moved away from the podium and quickly coupled his hands together and rested them just below his belt. c) While listening in class, the student clasped his hands and rested them on his lap when the conversation moved to a topic that made him uncomfortable.

Meaning and/or Motivation: The fig leaf posture shows insecurity, shyness and lack of confidence and occurs when we find ourselves in novel environments or around people we aren’t familiar with.

We will often see this from less confident speakers who find themselves exposed to large audiences or when a presenter requires a participant (victim) to demonstrate a concept.

The fig leaf by either sex is a closed body position. It blocks the private mid section from view even when clothed. It takes its ‘fig leaf’ name from Adam and Eve’s traditionally portrayed posture in the Garden of Eden artwork where a leaf was used as a covering to provide privacy.

Modest men and women who find themselves accidentally disrobed will instinctively clasp their hands over their private areas. Naked women will split their attention from both breasts with one arm and hand, with the other hand over their genitals. Men will exclusively protect their genitals from view with both hands.

In real life however, we will rarely find ourselves nude and exposed in public, but our minds are still hardwired to harbour feelings of insecurity from overexposure. In day-to-day situations, women won’t be found covering their breasts by clasping them and men won’t grab their genitals a-la Micheal Jackson, but they will clasp both hands together either tightly by interlocking their fingers, or loosely with hand in hand and then casually placing them over their mid-section. Standing is the most obvious and common way that the fig leaf position shows itself, but it can also find its way in a seated position as the hands are rested on the lap.

Cue Cluster: The fig leaf is a stand alone posture and does not require additional cues for support, but we expect to see it clustered with leg crossing (usually at the ankle) and various pacifying behaviours such as self touching, stroking, blushing and nervousness.

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

Resources:

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Body Language of Fidgeting or Fidget

Body Language of Fidgeting or Fidget

No picCue: Fidgeting or Fidget

Synonym(s): Swaying Back And Forth, Shifting, Squirming, Dancing In The Chair.

Description: Fidgeting includes repetitive behaviours such as tapping the toes, swinging the feet with one crossed over the other, drumming the fingers, swaying back and forth, shifting the body, squirming or dancing in the chair.

In One Sentence: Fidgeting signals that the mind is not at ease or that the body has excess energy which it needs to burn.

How To Use it: Fidgeting is usually viewed negatively. However, fidgeting can provide the body with a release of energy which can help sooth nerves. When fidgeting is desired, one might replace this with action to resolve the underlying discomfort. A full workout, going for a run, or lifting weights, or as mentioned actually putting the body into constructive action can help reduce fidgeting. Moving the body in a constructive way, is a better way to release stress relieving hormones than is fidgeting.

Research has shown that fidgeting is associated with lack of attention, but in reality, is simply an indication of physical duress from sitting too still. In other words, fidgeting is your body’s way to ask you to do some exercise or play. Use that information as incentive to break fidgeting and actually move the body in a more dramatic and constructive way.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I have excess energy but am not permitted to get up and use it so instead I’m trying to burn it off while sitting in one place.”

Variant: See Tapping The Fingers or Metronomic Signals, Foot Kicking, Foot Fidgeting, Rocking The Body.

Cue In Action: a) The instructor was to call on him next and he knew it. He began to fidget in his chair as his body excitedly prepared itself to perform his speech in front of the other students. b) It was a long study session and the students where beginning to shift back and forth in their chairs. Finally, they broke down and gave up for the afternoon and played some Frisbee to burn off some energy before getting back down to work.

Meaning and/or Motivation: In adults, fidgeting can be a sign that a person has excess energy or even hyperactivity disorder. It can also signal boredom or even nervousness. As the body releases the stress hormone adrenaline, the body is induced to movement to try to burn it off. In an evolutionary sense, movement was required to solve problems and our hormone adrenaline and other stress hormones such as cortisol were the body’s way to shove it into action to resolve matters. This is why today we see fidgeting during high stress events where people seem to squirm in their chairs under pressure.

Fidgeting is often an indication of boredom or under-stimulation. The body is given internal cues to get up and leave the conversation. It’s like the body revving its engine. Fidgeting is therefore a substitute to walking or running where neither is socially acceptable or the situation warrants otherwise.

Other times fidgeting is an expression that the body requires exercise and movement to burn off pent up energy. This is common in small children who are not accustomed to sit still for long periods of time. Fidgeting was commonly associated with hyperactivity disorder in children, but more recently, it has been understood to be overstated. Many recent accommodations for children have been made permitting them liberty to move about in classroom settings to release the “excess energy” they possess. Boys, due to higher levels of the hormone testosterone habitually fidget when movement is not permitted.

Cue Cluster: Fidgeting can include touching the face or other parts of the body frequently, smoothing clothing, shifting back and forth, rocking back and forth, checking pockets, standing up and then sitting back down again, pacing, and so forth.

Body Language Category: Arousal, Boredom, Energy Displacement, Escape movements, Nervous body language, Ready posture, Stressful body language.

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.
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Body Language of The Fetal Position

Body Language of The Fetal Position

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Fetal Position (The)Cue: Fetal Position (The)

Synonym(s): Hugging The Knees, Pulling The Knees In, Balling Up.

Description: The knees are pulled into the body and hugged.

In One Sentence: Pulling the knees into the body is akin to the fetal position and is a protective posture signaling the need for emotional comfort.

How To Use it: Use this cue to signal that you are under distress and wish for others to offer care and support. Balling the body in this way can produce a smaller profile making the body feel like a smaller, less noticeable target. Hugging the knees also simulates the sensation of being hugged, thus activating the embodiment of being comforted. The sensation is not unlike being hugged by parents. Thus, the fetal position is a way we can self-sooth when parents or friends are not nearby.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I need to feel the comfort of being held to remind me of the protection I felt in my mom’s womb or when she snuggled me, as I am suffering extreme discomfort and stress.”

Variant: See Bow and Body Bend, Crouching, Self-Hugging or The Double Arm Hug.

Cue In Action: a) She was alone for the first time at camp and hugged her knees while the other girls read scary books and fooled around. b) When she found out about a death in the family, she balled herself up on the couch and a grief filled expression came across her face.

Meaning and/or Motivation: It is a child-like posture because it reminds us of being protected by our mothers. It signifies grief, fear, timidity, shyness, discomfort and pain. The body shows that it needs to take on a smaller profile and seek comfort at the same time. As adults, we must provide comfort for ourselves so we are forced to use our own arms and legs to self-hug. With age, we learn that taking up the fetal position, like thumb sucking, is not an acceptable way of dealing with our insecurity so we drop the extreme form of the gesture in favour of more subtle cues.

In mild forms, it can be simply a posture one uses for comfort. When it appears in public it signifies that a person has an underlying motivation for pacifying and feels insecure. When done at home, can simply be a way to feel embraced and cared for.

While it might seem far-fetched to expect someone in your company to have this posture, it does occur although in more abbreviated adult acceptable ways. While at an informal party, for example, a woman might find herself hugging her knees at the end of a couch. To her, this feels comfortable, which is why she does it, but it reveals her true emotions.

The abbreviated form of this position, of course, and one that is more acceptable in public is to pull the limbs in closer to the body and across the centerline as in the “self hug”.

Cue Cluster: The fetal position is commonly associated with averted or wandering eyes, head turned away or down, being quiet, reading a book, wearing headphones or other ways to escape coupled with an expressionless, worry or pensive facial expression.

Body Language Category: Auto contact or self touching, Barriers, Body cross, Body size reduction, Blocking or Shielding, Defensive, Low confidence body language, Negative body language, Nervous body language, Pseudo-infantile gestures, Protective reflexes, Shy nonverbal.

Resources:

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Body Language of Eye Blink Rate (Rapid)

Body Language of Eye Blink Rate (Rapid)

No picCue: Eye Blink Rate (Rapid)

Synonym(s): Rapid Eye, Blink Rate, Eyes Multiblink

Description: An increase in the rate of blinking.

In One Sentence: Rapid eye blinking is a sign of high stress.

How To Use it: Rapid eye blinking is not useful as a signal as it carries mostly negative connotations. However, the actual act should not be avoided should you require quick action as blinking prepares the eyes for taking in important visual information.

Avoid rapid blinking when you think you will be judged on your honesty as many people attribute a high blink rate to stress, and stress, to lying.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m getting ready for action as I have detected some level of stress that requires me to do something or think of something that does not easily come to mind, my eyes are blinking fast to keep them moist and alert.”

Variant: See Eye Flutter or Batting Eyes for a related cue as well as other Eye Language (category). Eyes that blink too slowly (See Eye Blink Rate Less) are usually referred to as Staring or The Evil Eye.

Cue In Action: When asked if she would marry him, her eyes began to blink rapidly – she was stressed and didn’t know how to answer the question since they had only been dating for 3 months.

Meaning and/or Motivation: A high blink rate is often the result of excitement, arousal and stress.

Blinking is the body’s way of preparing us for action as we keep our eyes moist and alert. The normal blink rate is between six and eight times per minute but it can increase by four or five times while under pressure.

Pronounced eye blinking can also happen during sexual arousal and attraction.

A rapid series of eye blinks can also indicate an inner struggle or distress, nervousness and concern.

A high eye blink rate is also associated with lying but it can also be a signal that they are worried about being perceived as liar – so really a high blink rate is only a sign of arousal. One must find the source of the arousal to uncover lying. Eyes that multi-blink where there are a quick succession of rapid eye movement usually signifies high stress and that a person is on the verge of tears. Other times a high eye blink rate means the eyes are dry or that something is stuck in the eye.

Cue Cluster: Watch for a freeze type response, the deer in the headlights where the head freezes in place, the arms and legs seize up, the torso remains still and the face becomes blank or flushes with emotion as a person decides on a course of action.

Body Language Category: Arousal, Autonomic signal, Confused, Eye Language, Fearful body language, Lying or deceptive body language, Nervous body language, Stressful body language.

Resources:

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Goldstein, R., Bauer, L. O., & Stern, J. A. (1992). Effect of task difficulty and interstimulus interval on blink parameters. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 13, 111–118.

Holland, M. K., & Tarlow, G. (1972). Blinking and mental load. Psychological Reports, 31, 119–127.

Holland, M. K., & Tarlow, G. (1975). Blinking and thinking. Psychological Reports, 41, 403–406. READ

Huang, Zhinjin ; Stanford, Matthew S. ; Barratt, Ernest S.. Blink rate related to impulsiveness and task demands during performance of event-related potential tasks.
Personality and Individual Differences. 1994. 16(4): 645-648.

Hocking. 1985. Eye contact contrast effects in the employment interview. Communication research reports 2(1): 5-10.

Kinsbourne, M., 1972. Eye and Head Turning Indicates Cerebral Lateralization; Science, 179: 539-541.

Kocel, K., et al.,1972. Lateral Eye Movement and Cognitive Mode; Psychon Sci. 27: 223-224.

Knackstedt, G., & Kleinke, C. L. (1991). Eye contact, gender, and personality judgments. Journal of Social Psychology, 131: 303-304.

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Karson, Craig N. ; Berman, Karen Faith ; Donnelly, Edward F. ; Mendelson, Wallace B. ; Kleinman, Joel E. ; Wyatt, Richard Jed. Speaking, thinking, and blinking Psychiatry Research. 1981. 5(3): 243-246.

Leal, Sharon ; Vrij, Aldert. Blinking During and After Lying. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2008. 32(4): 187-194.

Mobbs, N.A. 1968. Eye-contact in Relation to Social Introversion-Extraversion. British Journal of Social Clinical Psychology 7: 305-306.

Mann, Samantha ; Ewens, Sarah ; Shaw, Dominic ; Vrij, Aldert ; Leal, Sharon ; Hillman, Jackie. Lying Eyes: Why Liars Seek Deliberate Eye Contact. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law. 2013. 20(3): 452-461.

Mann, Samantha ; Ewens, Sarah ; Shaw, Dominic ; Vrij, Aldert ; Leal, Sharon ; Hillman, Jackie. Eye contact while lying during an interview. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society. 1976. 7(1): 87-89.

Mann, Samantha ; Ewens, Sarah ; Shaw, Dominic ; Vrij, Aldert ; Leal, Sharon ; Hillman, Jackie. Children’s Knowledge of Deceptive Gaze Cues and Its Relation to Their Actual Lying Behavior. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2009. 103(2): 117-134.

Mann, Samantha ; Ewens, Sarah ; Shaw, Dominic ; Vrij, Aldert ; Leal, Sharon ; Hillman, Jackie. The Lying Chicken and the Gaze Avoidant Egg: Eye Contact, Deception, and Causal Order. Southern Communication Journal. 2006. 71(4): 401-411.

Mann, Samantha ; Ewens, Sarah ; Shaw, Dominic ; Vrij, Aldert ; Leal, Sharon ; Hillman, Jackie. Tell-tale eyes: children’s attribution of gaze aversion as a lying cue.(Author abstract). Developmental Psychology. 2008. 44(6): 1655(13).

Mann, Samantha ; Ewens, Sarah ; Shaw, Dominic ; Vrij, Aldert ; Leal, Sharon ; Hillman, Jackie. ‘Look into my eyes’: can an instruction to maintain eye contact facilitate lie detection? Psychology Crime & Law. 2010. 16(4): 327-348.

Mann, Samantha ; Ewens, Sarah ; Shaw, Dominic ; Vrij, Aldert ; Leal, Sharon ; Hillman, Jackie. Legal Interviewers Use Children’s Affect and Eye Contact Cues to Assess Credibility of Their Testimony. Early Child Development and Care. 2010. 180(3): 397-404.

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

Porter, Stephen ; Brinke, Leanne. The truth about lies: What works in detecting high-stakes deception? Legal and Criminological Psychology. 2010. 15(1): 57-75.

Rutter, D.C; D. C. Pennington, M. E. Dewey and J. Swain. 1984. Eye-contact as a chance product of individual looking: Implications for the intimacy model of Argyle and Dean. Source: Journal of nonverbal behavior. 8(4): 250-258.

Richard Tessler and Lisa Sushelsky. 1978. Effects of eye contact and social status on the perception of a job applicant in an employment interviewing situation. Journal of Vocational Behavior 13(3): 338-347.

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Siegle, Greg J ; Ichikawa, Naho ; Steinhauer, Stuart. Blink before and after you think: blinks occur prior to and following cognitive load indexed by pupillary responses.
Psychophysiology. 2008. 45(5): 679-87.

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Body Language of Eye Aversion, Gaze Avoidance and Wandering Eyes

Body Language of Eye Aversion, Gaze Avoidance and Wandering Eyes

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Eye Aversion and Wandering Eyes 1Cue: Eye Aversion and Wandering Eyes

Synonym(s): Eye Avoidance, Eye Withdrawal, Gaze Avoidance, Averting Eyes, Roving Eyes.

Description: When eyes avoid making contact with other eyes on purpose.

In One Sentence: Avoiding eye contact signals that a person wants to avoid being called upon or that they want to create an air of superiority.

How To Use it: Eye contact can be powerful especially when it is avoided. You can show your disdain for someone by simply ignoring their presence on purpose. Likewise, avoiding eye contact can have the effect of making you disappear as well. For example, if you want to avoid being called upon by the teacher or your boss, simply avert your eyes. This tells them that you’re not prepared to interact with them and nonverbally suggests that they move along and pick on someone else.

In a dating context, women should avoid eye contact with potential suitors they do not find agreeable. Even a small amount of eye contact can be seen to be an invitation to solicit especially when combined with a smile. Thus, if possible, keep eyes only for the types of men you wish would approach. This isn’t to say, however, that women should be unfriendly, but women should realize that with friendliness, comes the responsibility of having to acknowledge and interact. If you (accidentally) make eye contact, follow through with a polite verbal decline. Here is an example: “Hi, I’m sorry, I have to leave, I’m supposed to meet with someone.”

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: a) “I don’t want to cause any more problems for myself so I’m going to avoid making eye contact with other more dominant people so I don’t draw attention and provoke people into attacking.” b) “I’m superior to you and so I’m withdrawing my eye contact and affection, and pretending you are an object not worthy of my attention or acknowledgment.”

Variant: Many other variants in eye language exist.  See Eye Language category.

Cue In Action: a) The pupil didn’t want to draw any more attention to himself after throwing the paper air plane so he ducked his head down and averted his eyes in shame. His teacher knew that he was embarrassed for what he had done so she went easier on him. b) They went to bed angry at each other and instead of talking it out the next morning; they avoided each other – pretending that they didn’t exist. c) The seducer had eyes for her, but she wasn’t game. Instead of acknowledging him, she chose to avert her eyes by looking at the ground instead.

Meaning and/or Motivation: The general meaning of eyes avoiding is to show submission or discomfort. Averting the eyes has two primary purposes. One is to avoid conflict and other to power play. Eye avoidance might mean defensiveness, submission, defeat, or negative feelings. It may be done to tease and allure.

People who avert their eyes might also do so because of uncomfortable feelings such as sadness, shame or embarrassment.

Eye aversion is used to prevent others from resorting to an attack response and prevents others from seeing us as a threat. Subordinates commonly avoid eye contact with dominant individuals to indicate submission and respect. Eyes might wander to avoid being reprimanded. Eyes that avoid can serve to “flee” from an encounter, a protective response, as a person subconsciously tries to make distance between himself and his aggressor.

This is the case even if an argument is minor – the eyes will withdraw first showing that a person does not wish to pursue the debate. Eyes can also avoid eye contact thus demonstrating submission. For example, a pupil will look away from his teacher to avoid reprimand. As such, avoidant eyes can be used to reduce conflict, and at the same time, search for possible escape routes to vacate the threat.

Alternatively, eyes can show other people that they aren’t worthy of being acknowledged. We see this when people act passive aggressive. They will avoid eye contact with another person at all costs. When women walk down the street, they will purposely avoid eye contact with men so as to avoid initiating conversation, and their nonverbal message says “I don’t see you as a person worthy of my gaze, so don’t bother me.”

Other times eye contact withdrawal is a way to tease and play such as the peek-a-boo game where the absence of eye contact is part of the allure and so is a signal of interest.

Cue Cluster: When eye aversion is linked to negative thoughts it will be coupled with head dropping, shoulders turned inward and down, cowering, slouching, arm withdrawal and other protective and shrinking body language

During a power play we will see signs of both dominance and apathy. For example, a person might ignore personal space by brushing up against the other person or bumping into them, orient their bodies away, talk over or around them. Likewise, they may purposely show affection to someone else thereby creating discomfort in another.

Body Language Category: Appease, Arrogance or arrogant body language, Anger, Authoritative body language, Body size reduction, Courtship displays, Closed body language, Defensive, Disengagement, Dislike (nonverbal), Distancing or moving away, Embarrassment (nonverbal), Escape movements, Eye Language, Fearful body language, Indicators of sexual interest (IOsI), Nervous body language, Negative body language, Nonthreatening body language, Power play, Rejection body language, Readiness to submit postures, Shy nonverbal, Submissive body language.

Resources:

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Argyle, M., and Ingham, R. 1972. Gaze, mutual gaze, and proximity. Semiotica, 1, 32–49.

Argyle, M. and Cook, M. Gaze and Mutual Gaze. London: Cambridge University Press, 1976.

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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.

Breed, G., Christiansen, E., & Larson, D. 1972. Effect of lecturer’s gaze direction upon
teaching effectiveness. Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 2: 115.

Barbato, Giuseppe ; De Padova, Vittoria ; Paolillo, Antonella Raffaella ; Arpaia, Laura ; Russo, Eleonora ; Ficca, Gianluca. Increased spontaneous eye blink rate following prolonged wakefulness. Physiology & Behavior. 2007. 90(1): 151-154.

Chen, Yi-Chia ; Yeh, Su-Ling. Look into my eyes and I will see you: Unconscious processing of human gaze. Consciousness and Cognition. 2012 21(4): 1703-1710.

Davis, Flora (1971). Inside Intuition: What We Know About Nonverbal Communication (San Francisco: McGraw-Hill).

Dawson, Michael E. ; Hazlett, Erin A. ; Filion, Diane L. ; Nuechterlein, Keith H. ; Schell, Anne M. Mineka, Susan (editor). Attention and Schizophrenia: Impaired Modulation of the Startle Reflex. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 1993. 102(4): 633-641.

Drew, G. C. (1951). Variations in reflex blink-rate during visual motor tasks. Quaterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 3, 73–88.

Ellsworth, Phoebe; Carlsmith, J Merrill. 1973. Eye contact and gaze aversion in an aggressive encounter. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 28(2): 280-292.

Foddy, Margaret 1978. Patterns of Gaze in Cooperative and Competitive Negotiation
Human Relations. 31(11):925-938.

Goodboy, Alan, K. and Maria Brann. Flirtation Rejection Strategies: Towards an Understanding of Communicative Disinterest in Flirting. The Quantitative Report. 2010. 15(2): 268-278.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/how-to-reject-flirting-using-nonverbal-and-verbal-tactics/

Gregersen, Tammy S. Nonverbal Cues: Clues to the Detection of Foreign Language Anxiety. Foreign Language Annals. 2005. 38(3): 388-400
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Goldstein, R., Bauer, L. O., & Stern, J. A. (1992). Effect of task difficulty and interstimulus interval on blink parameters. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 13, 111–118.

Holland, M. K., & Tarlow, G. (1972). Blinking and mental load. Psychological Reports, 31, 119–127.

Holland, M. K., & Tarlow, G. (1975). Blinking and thinking. Psychological Reports, 41, 403–406. READ

Huang, Zhinjin ; Stanford, Matthew S. ; Barratt, Ernest S.. Blink rate related to impulsiveness and task demands during performance of event-related potential tasks.
Personality and Individual Differences. 1994. 16(4): 645-648.

Kampe, K.K.W. ; Frith, C.D. ; Dolan, R.J. ; Frith, U. Direct eye contact with attractive faces activates brain areas associated with ‘reward’ and ‘reward expectation’ Neuroimage. 2001. 13(6): 425-425.

Karson, Craig N. ; Berman, Karen Faith ; Donnelly, Edward F. ; Mendelson, Wallace B. ; Kleinman, Joel E. ; Wyatt, Richard Jed. Speaking, thinking, and blinking Psychiatry Research. 1981. 5(3): 243-246.

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.
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Leeb. 2004. Here’s Looking at You, Kid! A Longitudinal Study of Perceived Gender Differences in Mutual Gaze Behavior in Young Infants Source: Sex Roles. 50(1-2): 1-14.

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and mixed-sex dyads. Human Communication Research. 13: 323-343.

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Phelps, F., Doherty-Sneddon, G., & Warnock Educational Psychology., 27, 91-107. (2006). Functional benefits of children’s gaze aversion during questioning. British Journal Developmental Psychology. 24: 577-588.

Rosenfeld, H., Breck, B., Smith, S., & Kehoe, S. 1984. Intimacy-mediators of the proximity-gaze compensation effect: Movement, conversational role, acquaintance, and gender. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 8: 235-249.

Rule, Nicholas, O.; Reginald B. Adams Jr.; Nalini Ambady and Jonathan B. Freeman. Perceptions Of Dominance Following Glimpses Of Faces And Bodies. Perception. 2012; 41: 687-706 doi:10.1068/p7023
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Stern, Daniel and Estelle Bender (1974). “An Ethological Study of Children Approaching a Strange Adult.” In Richard Friedman et al. (Eds.), Sex Differences in Behavior (New York: John Wiley and Sons), pp. 233-58.

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
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Siegle, Greg J ; Ichikawa, Naho ; Steinhauer, Stuart. Blink before and after you think: blinks occur prior to and following cognitive load indexed by pupillary responses.
Psychophysiology. 2008. 45(5): 679-87.

Strick, Madelijn ; Holland, Rob W. ; Van Knippenberg, Ad. Seductive Eyes: Attractiveness and Direct Gaze Increase Desire for Associated Objects Cognition. 2008. 106(3): 1487-1496.

Williams. 1993. Effects of Mutual Gaze and Touch on Attraction, Mood, and Cardiovascular Reactivity Source: Journal of Research in Personality. 27(2): 170-183.

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Wang, Yin ; Newport, Roger ; Hamilton, Antonia F De C. Eye contact enhances mimicry of intransitive hand movements. Biology letters. 2011. 7(1): 7-10.

Body Language of Ear Blushing

Body Language of Ear Blushing

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Ear Blushing 1Cue: Ear Blushing

Synonym(s): Ear Flushing

Description: Reddening of the ears.

In One Sentence: Ear reddening is a sign that someone is experiencing nervousness, stress, embarrassment, excitement, or is being physically active.

How To Use it: Ear reddening is not a cue that is usefully used and happens autonomically.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m getting worked up and blood is rushing to the periphery of my body in effort to produce a cooling effect.”

Variant: See Blanching.

Cue In Action: a) It was Stacey’s turn to present next, her heart began to race and her ears turned a bright shade of red, she was nervous. b) The marathon caused the runner to flush in the face, ears, neck and chest.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Blushing usually appears in the chest and cheeks, but it also occurs in the ears. Blushing signifies stress, excitement, embarrassment and nervousness.

Other times people are prone to blushing with relatively low stress levels as a physiological condition. Blushing can also be the result of high activity levels where blood is pumped all over the body and outer skin so it can give off heat and cool the body off.

Blushing is linked to the release of adrenaline and cortisol which courses through the body. The hormone also diverts blood flow from the digestive system and shunts it to major muscle groups giving them a burst of energy. As a side effect, our blood vessels that deliver blood to our faces dilate, meaning they relax or open, allowing more blood to reach the surface of our ears causing them to turn red.

Cue Cluster: We usually see other nervous body language with blushing such as trembling hands, head lowering, shoulder shrugging, body turned away, eye contact avoidance, shaking the head, overall freezing, and lowered voice volume.

Body Language Category: Arousal, Autonomic signal, Emotional body language, Nervous body language, Embarrassment (nonverbal), Shy nonverbal, Stressful body language, Physiological signals.

Resources:

Allen, J.A., Armstrong, J.E. and Roddie, I.C. The regional distribution of emotional
sweating in man. J. Physiol. 235, 749–759 (1973).

Altman, R.S. and Schwartz, R.A. Emotionally induced hyperhidrosis. Cutis 69, 336–338
(2002).

Bögels, Susan M. ; Alberts, Maurice ; de Jong, Peter J.. Self-consciousness, self-focused attention, blushing propensity and fear of blushing. Personality and Individual Differences. 1996. 21(4): 573-581.

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

Chaker, S., Hofmann, S. G., & Hoyer, J. (2010). Can a one-weekend group therapy
reduce fear of blushing? Results of an open trial. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 23(3),
303–318.

Chalmers, T.M. and Keele, C.A. The nervous and chemical control of sweating. Br. J. Dermatol. 64, 43–54 (1952).

Dijk, C., Voncken, M. J., & de Jong, P. J. (2009). I blush, therefore I will be judged
negatively: influence of false blush feedback on anticipated others’ judgments
and facial coloration in high and low blushing-fearfuls. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47(7), 541–547.

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

Drummond, Peter D and Tahnee Bailey. Eye Contact Evokes Blushing Independently of Negative Affect. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2013. 37:207-216. DOI 10.1007/s10919-013-0155-z
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/flushed-flattered-nonverbal-truth-blushing/

Drummond, P. D. (1994). The effect of anger and pleasure on facial blood flow.
Australian Journal of Psychology, 46, 95–99.

Drummond, P. D. (1999). Facial flushing during provocation in women. Psychophysiology, 36(3), 325–332.

Drummond, P. D. (2001). The effect of true and false feedback on blushing in women.
Personality and Individual Differences, 30(8), 1329–1343.

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

Drummond, P. D., & Quah, S. H. (2001). The effect of expressing anger on cardiovascular reactivity and facial blood flow in Chinese and Caucasians. Psychophysiology, 38, 190–196.

Drummond, Peterd. ; Su, Daphne. The relationship between blushing propensity, social anxiety and facial blood flow during embarrassment. Cognition & Emotion. 2012. 26(3): 561-567.

Drummond, Peter D. and Lazaroo, Daniel. The effect of facial blood flow on ratings of blushing and negative affect during an embarrassing task: Preliminary findings. Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 2012. 26(2): 305-310.

Drummond, Peter D. ; Back, Kate ; Harrison, Jennifer ; Dogg Helgadottir, Fjola ; Lange, Brooke ; Lee, Chris ; Leavy, Kate ; Novatscou, Caroline ; Orner, Azalia ; Pham, Han ; Prance, Jacquie ; Radford, Danielle ; Wheatley, Lauren. Blushing during social interactions in people with a fear of blushing. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 2007. 45(7): 1601-1608.

de Jong, Peter J. ; Peters, Madelon L. Do blushing phobics overestimate the undesirable communicative effects of their blushing? Behaviour Research and Therapy, 2005. 43(6): 747-758.

Dijk, Corine ; De Jong, Peter J. Blushing-fearful individuals overestimate the costs and probability of their blushing. Behaviour research and therapy. 2012. 50(2): 158-62.

Gregson, Kim D ; Tu, Kelly M ; Erath, Stephen A. Sweating under pressure: skin conductance level reactivity moderates the association between peer victimization and externalizing behavior. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines. 2014 55(1): 22-30.

Gross, Katharina M ; Schote, Andrea B ; Schneider, Katja Kerstin ; Schulz, André. Elevated social stress levels and depressive symptoms in primary hyperhidrosis
Meyer, Jobst. PloS one. 2014 9(3): e92412

Licht, Peter B. ; Pilegaard, Hans K. ; Ladegaard, Lars. Sympathicotomy for Isolated Facial Blushing: A Randomized Clinical Trial. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 2012. 94(2): 401-405.

Machado-Moreira, C.A. and Taylor, N.A. Psychological sweating from glabrous and
nonglabrous skin surfaces under thermoneutral conditions. Psychophysiology 49, 369–374 (2012).

Machado-Moreira, C.A. and Taylor, N.A. Sudomotor responses from glabrous and non-glabrous skin during cognitive and painful stimulations following passive heating. Acta Physiol. (Oxf) 204, 571–581 (2012).

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

Pelissolo, Antoine ; Moukheiber, Albert ; Lobjoie, Corine ; Valla, Jean ; Lambrey, Simon. Is there a place for fear of blushing in social anxiety spectrum? Depression and Anxiety. 2012. 29(1): 62-70.

Ruchinskas RA, Narayan RK, Meagher RJ, Furukawa S (2002) The relationship of psychopathology and hyperhidrosis. Br. J. Dermatol. 147(4): 733–735.

Ruchinskas R (2007) Hyperhidrosis and anxiety: chicken or egg? Dermatology (Basel) 214(3): 195–196.

Smidfelt, K. ; Drott, C.. Late results of endoscopic thoracic sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis and facial blushing. British Journal of Surgery. 2011. 98(12): 1719-1724

Shearn, D., Bergman, E., Hill, K., Abel, A., & Hinds, L. (1990). Facial coloration and
temperature responses in blushing. Psychophysiology, 27(6), 687–693.

Body Language of The Dart

Body Language of The Dart

No picCue: Dart (The)

Synonym(s): Darting, Erratic Movement.

Description: A type of gait characterized by short, seemingly indecisive bursts.

In One Sentence: Erratic movement signals to others that one is either, busy, indecisive, or nervous

How To Use it: This is not the sort of cue that can be used in a helpful way although erratic movement can signal to others that one needs outside assistance in resolving matters. This may prove to be beneficial in soliciting help.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m going here, there and everywhere because I don’t know exactly where to be, but whatever it is that I feel I need to do, I should do it quickly.”

Variant: See Shifty Eyes.

Cue In Action: a) There were only a few hours left before she would have to walk down the isle and she couldn’t find her veil. She looked everywhere and paced back in forth trying to recall where she had left it. b) His thoughts were scattered, he walked to and fro as if lost.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Darting and erratic behaviour signifies indecision and lack of direction, stress, and nervousness. At times it signifies hyperactivity and a need to burn off excessive energy. Some people habitually suffer from the dart due to a scattered mind that seeks out order and direction from the environment rather than order that is internal.

Cue Cluster: Darting is coupled with erratic hand movements and pacifying behaviour such as rubbing the back of the neck, touching the face, pinching and scratching, nail and lip biting, smoothing clothing, eyes darting about the room and general uneasiness.

Body Language Category: Displacement behaviour, Energy Displacement, Emotional body language, Frustration or frustrated body language, Negative body language, Nervous body language.

Resources:

Angela Book, Kimberly Costello and Joseph A. Camilleri Psychopathy and Victim Selection: The Use of Gait as a Cue to Vulnerability. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. 2013. 28(11): 2368-2383. DOI: 10.1177/0886260512475315jiv.sagepub.com
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/dont-walk-like-youre-watched-avoid-victimization-nonverbal-behavior/

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

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.

Davis, Martha. Movement characteristics of hospitalized psychiatric patients. American Journal of Dance Therapy. 1981. 4(1): 52-71.

Eisenberg, Philip ; Reichline, Philipb. Judging Expressive Movement: II. Judgments of Dominance-Feeling from Motion Pictures of Gait. The Journal of Social Psychology. 1939. 10(3): 345-357.

Fink, Bernhard; Nadine Hugill and Benjamin P. Lange. Women’s Body Movements Are a Potential Cue to Ovulation. Personality and Individual Differences. 2012. 53: 759-763.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/women-use-sexier-body-language-indicate-ovulation-fertility-women-dance-walk-sexier/

Gunns, Rebekah E; Lucy Johnston; and Stephen M. Hudson. Victim Selection And Kinematics: A Point-Light Investigation Of Vulnerability To Attack. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2002. 26(3): 129-158.
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Guéguen N. Gait and menstrual cycle: ovulating women use sexier gaits and walk slowly ahead of men. Gait Posture. 2012; 35(4): 621-4.
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Hasegawa, T. and K. Sakaguchi. 2006. Person perception through gait information and target choice for sexual advances: comparison of likely targets in experiments and real life. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 30(2): 63-85.

Johnson, Kerri L.; Gill, Simone; Reichman, Victoria and Tassinary, Louis G. Swagger, Sway, and Sexuality: Judging Sexual Orientation from Body Motion and Morphology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2007. 93(3): 321-334. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.93.3.321
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/heterosexual-vs-homosexual-swagger-can-you-spot-the-difference/

Janssen, Daniel ; Schöllhorn, Wolfgang ; Lubienetzki, Jessica ; Fölling, Karina ; Kokenge, Henrike ; Davids, Keith. Recognition of Emotions in Gait Patterns by Means of Artificial Neural Nets. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2008. 32(2): 79-92.

Johnson, Kerri L ; Gill, Simone ; Reichman, Victoria ; Tassinary, Louis G. Swagger, sway, and sexuality: Judging sexual orientation from body motion and morphology. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2007. 93(3): 321-34.

Johnson, Kerri L ; Tassinary, Louis G. Perceiving sex directly and indirectly: meaning in motion and morphology. Psychological science. 2005. 16(11): 890-7.

Kito, Tomonori ; Yoneda, Tsugutake. Dominance of gait cycle duration in casual walking. Human Movement Science. 2006. 25(3): 383-392.

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Moore, Monica. Courtship Signaling and Adolescents: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Journal of Sex Research. 1995. 32(4): 319-328.
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Montepare, J. M., Goldstien, S. B., & Clausen, A. (1987). The identification of emotions from gait information. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 11, 33–42.

Montepare, Joann ; Zebrowitz, Leslie. A cross-cultural comparison of impressions created by age-related variations in gait. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1993. 17(1): 55-68.

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Montepare, J. M., & Zebrowitz-McArthur, L. (1988). Impressions of people created by age-related qualities of their gaits. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55(4), 547–556. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ 0022-3514.55.4.547.

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Wilder, Vicky. Effects of antipsychotic medication on the movement pathologies of chronic schizophrenics. American Journal of Dance Therapy. 1987. 10(1): 77-94.

Body Language of The Collar Pull

Body Language of The Collar Pull

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Collar Pull (the) 2Cue: Collar Pull

Synonym(s): Venting, Ventilator (the), Pulling At The Collar.

Description: The collar is pulled away from the neck as if ventilating. Other times, the tie may be adjusted or loosened.

In One Sentence: Pulling on the collar is a signal that a person is experiencing discomfort due to high body temperature or nervousness.

How To Use it: One should generally avoid this gesture as it shows that one is experiencing discomfort. However, if one wishes to show others to back off, and that one is tense, then it can be useful.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m getting a little bit stressed and hot under the collar so I’m pulling my collar away from my neck to let some of the heat escape.”

Variant: Sleeves are sometimes pulled away from the body or ties may be loosened or removed. See Neck Scratching or Neck Massaging, Symbolic Stripping or Removing Clothing.

Cue In Action: As the pressure from the negotiation increased, Steve removed his tie and began tugging on his collar to let some hot air escape.

Meaning and/or Motivation: The collar pull is sometimes associated with liars, but it is more reliably associated with an overall increase in temperature and blood flow to the neck which may or may not be due to an increase in stress. When the collar pull cue is caused by stress, it is an attempt to reduce the pain caused by irritated nerves located in the neck which are being compressed by a tight shirt. When stress increases, our face and necks flush with blood and we pull our collar away as an unconscious indication of this process.

Other times, the collar pull is a way to release heat created by our bodies while under pressure and discomfort from a neck that has become moist due to sweating. Sometimes, however, this too is due to an increase in stress that causes more irritation as sweat creates additional friction. Other times the collar pull has no meaning and is due to an uncomfortable shirt collar rubbing against the skin.

Cue Cluster: The collar pull is often found with tie removal or tie adjustment, 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 ears. Often the hands will pacify with auto-touching.

Body Language Category: Arousal, Lying or deceptive body language or dishonesty Nervous, Stressful body language, Nervous energy.

Resources:

Allen, J.A., Armstrong, J.E. and Roddie, I.C. The regional distribution of emotional
sweating in man. J. Physiol. 235, 749–759 (1973).

Altman, R.S. and Schwartz, R.A. Emotionally induced hyperhidrosis. Cutis 69, 336–338
(2002).

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

Chalmers, T.M. and Keele, C.A. The nervous and chemical control of sweating. Br. J. Dermatol. 64, 43–54 (1952).

Drummond PD and Lance JW (1987) Facial flushing and sweating mediated by the sympathetic nervous system. Brain 110 (Pt 3): 793–803.

Drummond, P. D., & Quah, S. H. (2001). The effect of expressing anger on cardiovascular reactivity and facial blood flow in Chinese and Caucasians. Psychophysiology, 38, 190–196.

Drummond, P. D. (1994). The effect of anger and pleasure on facial blood flow.
Australian Journal of Psychology, 46, 95–99.

Drummond, P. D. (1999). Facial flushing during provocation in women. Psychophysiology, 36(3), 325–332.

Drummond, P. D. (2001). The effect of true and false feedback on blushing in women.
Personality and Individual Differences, 30(8), 1329–1343.

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

Drummond, Peterd. ; Su, Daphne. The relationship between blushing propensity, social anxiety and facial blood flow during embarrassment. Cognition & Emotion. 2012. 26(3): 561-567.

Drummond, Peter D. and Lazaroo, Daniel. The effect of facial blood flow on ratings of blushing and negative affect during an embarrassing task: Preliminary findings. Journal of Anxiety Disorders. 2012. 26(2): 305-310.

Drummond, Peter D. ; Back, Kate ; Harrison, Jennifer ; Dogg Helgadottir, Fjola ; Lange, Brooke ; Lee, Chris ; Leavy, Kate ; Novatscou, Caroline ; Orner, Azalia ; Pham, Han ; Prance, Jacquie ; Radford, Danielle ; Wheatley, Lauren. Blushing during social interactions in people with a fear of blushing. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 2007. 45(7): 1601-1608.

Eisenach, J.H., Atkinson, J.L. and Fealey, R.D. Hyperhidrosis: evolving therapies for a well-established phenomenon. Mayo Clin. Proc. 80, 657–666 (2005).

Gregson, Kim D ; Tu, Kelly M ; Erath, Stephen A. Sweating under pressure: skin conductance level reactivity moderates the association between peer victimization and externalizing behavior. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines. 2014 55(1): 22-30.

Gross, Katharina M ; Schote, Andrea B ; Schneider, Katja Kerstin ; Schulz, André. Elevated social stress levels and depressive symptoms in primary hyperhidrosis
Meyer, Jobst. PloS one. 2014 9(3): e92412

Krogstad, A. L. ; Mork, C. ; Piechnik, S. K. Daily pattern of sweating and response to stress and exercise in patients with palmar hyperhidrosis. British Journal of Dermatology. 2006. 154(6): 1118-1122.

Machado-Moreira, C.A. and Taylor, N.A. Psychological sweating from glabrous and
nonglabrous skin surfaces under thermoneutral conditions. Psychophysiology 49, 369–374 (2012).

Machado-Moreira, C.A. and Taylor, N.A. Sudomotor responses from glabrous and non-glabrous skin during cognitive and painful stimulations following passive heating. Acta Physiol. (Oxf) 204, 571–581 (2012).

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

Ogawa T (1975) Thermal influence on palmar sweating and mental influence on generalized sweating in man. Jpn. J. Physiol. 25(4): 525–536.

Ruchinskas RA, Narayan RK, Meagher RJ, Furukawa S (2002) The relationship of psychopathology and hyperhidrosis. Br. J. Dermatol. 147(4): 733–735.

Ruchinskas R (2007) Hyperhidrosis and anxiety: chicken or egg? Dermatology (Basel) 214(3): 195–196.

Schmidt‐rose, T. ; Lehmbeck, F. ; Bürger, A. ; Windisch, B. ; Keyhani, R. ; Max, H. Efficient sweat reduction of three different antiperspirant application forms during stress‐induced sweating. International Journal of Cosmetic Science. 2013 35(6): 622-631.

Sato, K. The physiology, pharmacology and biochemistry of the eccrine sweat gland. Rev. Physiol. Biochem. Pharmacol. 79, 51–131 (1977).

Wilke K, Martin A, Terstegen L, Biel SS (2007) A short history of sweat gland biology. Int J Cosmet Sci 29(3): 169–179.

Wilson, Thad E. Sweating the details: what really drives eccrine output during exercise-heat stress.(Report). Journal of Physiology. 2013. 591: 2777(1)

Body Language of The Cold Dead Wet Fish Handshake

Body Language of The Cold Dead Wet Fish Handshake

No picCue: Cold Dead Wet Fish Handshake

Synonym(s): Clammy Handshake

Description: A particularly disgusting cold and damp handshake.

In One Sentence: The cold dead wet fish handshake signals stress and nervousness, and thus, forms a bad impression overall.

How To Use it: N/A.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: a) “I’m so stressed that I’m in a cold sweat and that shows in my hand.” b) “I have a perspiration problem making my hands sweat for no reason.” c) “I’m nervous and excited.” d) “I’ve been holding a cold drink all night that has been condensing on my hand.”

Variant: See Country Handshake (The), Cold Dead Wet Fish Handshake, Double Gripper Politician Handshake or Double Hander (The), Short Grabber/Finger Grabber Handshake, Oddball Handshake, Palm Up, Palm Down and Palm Even Handshakes, Stiff Arm And Thrust Forward Handshake, Death Grip Handshake, Wrench Forward Handshake, Undershaker Handshake, Wrist Hold Handshake, Wrist Hold Handshake and Upper Arm Grip Handshake, Limp Fish Handshake, Teacup Handshake, Arm Twister Handshake (The), Firm handshake, Fist Bumping.

Cue In Action: Bill and Jill shook hands, but a disgusted look came across Bill’s face. He noted that her hand was cold and damp and figured that she must have been pretty scared about having to present.

Meaning and/or Motivation: A cold, yet moist hand is likely due to high stress, nervousness or fear. So when people shake hands with a damp hand we attach negative feelings to them.

A cold, damp hand can be due to holding a cold drink or keeping the hands in the pockets, or having recently washed the hands. In these instances, little hidden meaning is evident.

Cue Cluster: The cold dead wet fish handshake is associated with flushing or blanching of the face, touching the face or scratching the neck, smoothing clothing such as palms over thighs to try to dry the sweat, hands in pockets to try to keep them warm, which may actually make matters worse, or be the cause of cold wet hands, as well as other pacifying and discomfort cues.

Body Language Category: Arousal, Negative body language, Nervous body language, Stressful body language.

Resources:

Allen, J.A., Armstrong, J.E. and Roddie, I.C. The regional distribution of emotional sweating in man. J. Physiol. 235, 749–759 (1973).

Altman, R.S. and Schwartz, R.A. Emotionally induced hyperhidrosis. Cutis 69, 336–338. (2002).

Aström, J ; Thorell, L H ; Holmlund, U ; D’Elia, G. Handshaking, personality, and psychopathology in psychiatric patients, a reliability and correlational study. Perceptual and motor skills 1993, Vol.77(3 Pt 2): 1171-86.

Chalmers, T.M. and Keele, C.A. The nervous and chemical control of sweating. Br. J. Dermatol. 64, 43–54 (1952).

Chaplin William F.; Phillips Jeffrey B; Brown Jonathan D.; Clanton Nancy R.; Stein Jennifer L.; 2000. Handshaking, gender, personality, and first impressions Journal of personality and social psychology. 79(1): 110-117.

Cooper, Ella A.; John Garlick; Eric Featherstone; Valerie Voon; Tania Singer; Hugo D. Critchley and Neil A. Harrison. You Turn Me Cold: Evidence for Temperature Contagion. PLoS ONE 9(12): e116126. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0116126. http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/mirror-cold-nonverbals-influence-real-body-temperate-others/

Dolcos, Sanda ; Sung, Keen ; Argo, Jennifer J ; Flor-Henry, Sophie ; Dolcos, Florin. The power of a handshake: neural correlates of evaluative judgments in observed social interactions. Journal of cognitive neuroscience. 2012 24(12): 2292-305.

Frumin, Idan; Ofer Perl; Yaara Endevelt-Shapira; Ami Eisen; Neetai Eshel; Iris Heller; Maya Shemesh; Aharon Ravia; Lee Sela; Anat Arzi and Noam Sobel. A Social Chemosignaling Function for Human Handshaking. eLife 2015. 4:e05154
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.05154.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/shake-hands-share-human-scent-curious-case-hand-sniffing-body-language/

Fisher, J; Rytting, M and Heslin, R. 1976. Hands touching hands: affective and evaluative effects on interpersonal touch, Sociometry 39: 416–421.

Fiske, S.T., Cuddy, A.J., & Glick, P. (2007). Universal Dimensions Of Social Cognition: Warmth And Competence. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11, 7-83.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/experiencing-physical-warmth-promotes-interpersonal-warmth/

Gregson, Kim D ; Tu, Kelly M ; Erath, Stephen A. Sweating under pressure: skin conductance level reactivity moderates the association between peer victimization and externalizing behavior. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines. 2014 55(1): 22-30.

Gross, Katharina M ; Schote, Andrea B ; Schneider, Katja Kerstin ; Schulz, André. Elevated social stress levels and depressive symptoms in primary hyperhidrosis Meyer, Jobst. PloS one. 2014 9(3): e92412

Gueguen, Nicolas. Handshaking and Compliance With a Request – A Door-to-door Setting. Social Behavior and Personality. 2013. 41(10): 1585-1588.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/handshakes-lead-compliance-study/

Greenbaum, Paul ; Rosenfeld, Howard. Varieties of touching in greetings: Sequential structure and sex-related differences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1980. 5(1): 13-25.

Hiemstra, Kathleen M. Shake My Hand: Making the Right First Impression in Business With Nonverbal Communications.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included). Business Communication Quarterly. 1999. 62(4): 71.

Jeffrey D. Fisher; Marvin Rytting; Richard Heslin. 1976. Hands Touching Hands: Affective and Evaluative Effects of an Interpersonal Touch. Sociometry, 39(4): 416-421.

Krogstad, A. L. ; Mork, C. ; Piechnik, S. K. Daily pattern of sweating and response to stress and exercise in patients with palmar hyperhidrosis. British Journal of Dermatology. 2006. 154(6): 1118-1122.

Lipsitz, Rebecca (2000). “A Gripping Start.” In Scientific American (September), p. 32.

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

Ogawa T (1975) Thermal influence on palmar sweating and mental influence on generalized sweating in man. Jpn. J. Physiol. 25(4): 525–536.

Pease, Barbara and Allan Pease. 2006. The Definitive Book of Body Language Hardcover. Bantam.

Ruchinskas RA, Narayan RK, Meagher RJ, Furukawa S (2002) The relationship of psychopathology and hyperhidrosis. Br. J. Dermatol. 147(4): 733–735.

Ruchinskas R (2007) Hyperhidrosis and anxiety: chicken or egg? Dermatology (Basel) 214(3): 195–196.

Sanda Dolcos; Keen Sung; Jennifer J. Argo; Sophie Flor-Henry and Florin Dolcos. The Power of a Handshake: Neural Correlates of Evaluative Judgments in Observed Social Interactions. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 24; 12: 2292–2305.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/handshake-open-body-language-powerful-nonverbal-effect-brain/

Stewart, Greg L. ; Dustin, Susan L. ; Barrick, Murray R. ; Darnold, Todd C. Zedeck, Sheldon (editor). Exploring the Handshake in Employment Interviews. Journal of Applied Psychology. 2008 93(5): 1139-1146.

Spezialetti, Brian D. Do’s and don’ts for winning the job interview. (laboratory technicians). Medical Laboratory Observer. 1995. 27(7): 51-53.

Wesson, David A. The handshake as non-verbal communication in business. (marketing technique). Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 1992. 10(9): 61(6).

Williams, L.E., & Bargh, J.A. (2008). Experiencing Physical Warmth Promotes Interpersonal Warmth. Science, 322, 606-607.

Zhong, Chen-Bo and Geoffrey J. Leonardelli. Cold and Lonely Does Social Exclusion Literally Feel Cold? Association for Psychological Science. 2008. 19(9): 838-842.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/social-exclusion-literally-feels-cold-study/