Category: Pacifying body language

Body Language of Lip Picking

Body Language of Lip Picking

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Lip Picking 2Cue: Lip Picking.

Synonym(s): Picking The Lip.

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

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

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

Context: General.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Resources:

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Huflejt-Łukasik M, Czarnota-Bojarska J (2006) Short Communication: Selffocused attention and self-monitoring influence on health and coping with stress. Stress Health 22: 153–59.

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.

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

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

Mohiyeddini, 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/

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Body Language of Lip Licking

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.

Butzen, Nathan David ; Bissonnette, Victor ; Mcbrayer, Dan. Effects of modeling and topic stimulus on self-referent touching. Perceptual and motor skills. 2005. 101(2): 413-20.

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

Bornstein, Marc H. ; Tamis-Lemonda, Catherine S. Maternal responsiveness and infant mental abilities: Specific predictive relations. Infant Behavior and Development. 1997. 20(3): 283-296.

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

Bernal, Gilda Rios ; Wortham, Suec. How to Calm Children through Massage. Childhood Education. 1997. 74(1): 9-14.

Bouhuys, A.L. ; 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.

Kochanska, G., Coy, K. C., & Murray, K. T. (2001). The development of self-regulation in the first four years of life. Child Development, 72, 1091–1111.

Kochanska, G., Murray, K. T., & Harlan, E. T. (2000). Effortful control in early childhood: Continuity and change, antecedents, and implications for social development. Developmental Psychology, 36, 220–232.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Body Language of Lip Chewing or Chewing The Lips

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.

Body Language of Lip Biting or Biting The Lip

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:

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

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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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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.

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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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Body Language of Leg Cleansing or Leg Pacifying Behaviour

Body Language of Leg Cleansing or Leg Pacifying Behaviour

No picCue: Leg Cleansing or Leg Pacifying Behaviour

Synonym(s): Wiping The Hands On The Thigh, Rubbing the Thighs, Hand Rubbing Thigh, Thigh Stroke, Palm Cleansing.

Description: The hands are wiped or rubbed up and down against the thighs palm down.

In One Sentence: Rubbing the hands on the legs is a pacifying behaviour which is the result of nervousness.

How To Use it: Rubbing the hands on the lap can help sooth nerves as it stimulate the release of positive hormones. Use the gesture to remove perspiration from the hands, but do many sure it is done out the sight from viewers, as others will clue into your discomfort and stress and may capitalize on it. This is especially so in a business context.

Generally, however, due to its negative origins, the cue should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m stressed, nervous or anxious and I’m wiping my hands on my thighs to sooth and calm my nerves by burning some calories and wipe the sweat from my hands.”

Variant: Hands can be rubbed against the chest or the sleeves of the arms.

Cue In Action: a) Just before shaking hands he wiped his hands on his thighs so his hands didn’t appear clammy. b) It was a big purchase and he was stressed. Below the table, he was rubbing his hands anxiously against his thighs over and over again.

Meaning and/or Motivation: In response to stress and sweating, the hands are rubbed against the thigh. It serves three purposes. One, it wipes sweat off the palms; two, it burns off nervous energy; and three, it pacifies. The friction between the hands helps to produce comforting feelings, a tactic soothing to help calm a person down. When someone is caught doing the leg cleanse, we know that they are nervous or anxious.

Cue Cluster: The hands might touch the back of the neck, pull at the skin under the throat or cover the neck dimple, massage the temples, the fingers might interlock to try to appear calm and collected, the eyes might wince or grimace, and the lips might purse or stretch across the face. A general uneasiness will accompany leg pacifying behaviour.

Body Language Category: Auto contact or self touching, Displacement behaviour, Energy Displacement, Stroking body language, Fearful body language, Low confidence body language, Nervous body language, Pacifying body language, Stressful body language.

Resources:

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How To Beat Airport Security With Body Language Thanks To Leaked CIA WikiLeaks:

http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/how-to-beat-airport-security-with-body-language/

Surviving Secondary: https://wikileaks.org/cia-travel/secondary-screening/WikiLeaks_CIA_Assessment_on_Surviving_Secondary_Screening.pdf

Infiltrating Schengen: https://wikileaks.org/cia-travel/infiltrating-schengen/WikiLeaks_CIA_Advice_for_Operatives_Infiltrating_Schengen.pdf

Body Language of Interlaced Fingers

Body Language of Interlaced Fingers

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Interlaced Fingers 5 BodyLanguageProjectCom - Interlaced Fingers 7Cue: Interlaced Fingers

Synonym(s): Entwined Fingers, Interlocking Fingers.

Description: When the fingers are interlocked or interlaced together. They are sometimes rubbed together in order to provide a pacifying effect.

In One Sentence: Interlaced fingers are an indication of frustration, hostility, self-restraint and other negative thoughts.

How To Use it: Interlaced fingers can be used to help steady nervous hands. By locking them together, it will provide security and comfort. This sign goes mostly unnoticed by others so it is unlikely that they will read your frustration, instead confusing it with self-control.

If possible, however, one should try to keep the fingers unlocked to demonstrate confidence.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “My fingers are interlaced together because I’m holding frustration, hostility and other negative thoughts. I need to entwine my fingers so I keep them under careful restrained control.”

Variant: See Hand Clasping.

Cue In Action: a) The defendant waited patiently on stand as he was cross-examined. His fingers interlaced neatly on his lap. On closer inspection, one could see his fingers moving up and down and his knuckles tightly pressed together.

b) The junior associate made sure he was obedient while the senior ranking member said his piece. He interlocked his hands on his lap and sat quietly so as not to disturb the presentation. Once the floor was opened up to the rest of the associates, the junior associate unlocked his fingers and began to gesticulate as he showed the various shortcomings in the plan.

Meaning and/or Motivation: This gesture is commonly thought as a contained and controlled posture, but this is not so. This gesture reveals frustration, hostility and that a person is harbouring negative thoughts.

When the fingers massage the palm or the fingers are interlaced then gently rub up and down as the fingers stroke the inside of the other, it indicates a person who is in doubt, has low confidence, or is experiencing stress. As tension escalates, the gesture will move from palm stroking into more rigorous interlaced finger stroking making the two a progression of intensity. Thus while palm stroking is due to mild doubt or slight confidence issues, interlaced fingers that rub up and down is to do a higher level of anxiety.

As conversations intensify watch for increases in soothing body language revealing the underlying anxiety. The gesture feels comfortable to do because it closes up the body from the outside world preventing the hands from speaking (gesturing).

If the thumbs dart up while the fingers are interlaced it can turn a timid interlaced fingers gesture into a positive cue. Thumbs-out is a representation of ego, dominance, confidence, comfort, assertiveness and sometimes even aggressiveness.

At times the fingers may become interlaced appearing as if in prayer, which might even be the case. Pressure can be so great that the fingers can even blanch as blood flow is impeded.

Cue Cluster: Watch for adjoining cues to amplify the level of stress, anxiety or discomfort. For example, compressed lips, neck scratching and fidgeting might signal a desire to interject. Thumbs up gestures while sitting back might signal dominance through a relaxed stance. There can be many motivations behind interlaced fingers and the associated cues will help the body language reader decide the true meaning.

Body Language Category: Clenching and gripping, Masked emotions, Pacifying body language.

Resources:

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Body Language of Head Clasping or Head Cradling

Body Language of Head Clasping or Head Cradling

No picCue: Head Clasping or Head Cradling

Synonym(s): Hands Clasping The Head, Head Cradling, Cradling The Head.

Description: Occurs as the hands come up and cup the back of the neck or head. The hand can lightly brush the back of the head. The hands may also come to the back of the neck as if being cradled.

In One Sentence: Clasping the head signals deep despair and high stress.

How To Use it: Clasping the back of the head is a way to manage bad feelings as it reminds us of being cradled by our parents. Use the gesture when you are experiencing high stress and discomfort. Others may see your emotional pain and come to your rescue and help you overcome hardship. While displaying weakness is generally not advised, it can serve a useful purpose in gaining sympathy from others which may come in handy if grief should become overwhelming.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m feeling pain and discomfort either emotional or due to physical pain and so I’m using my hands as a helmet to protect my head from harm.”

Variant: See Hooding or The Catapult, Hand Behind Head or Head Pacifying.

Cue In Action: a) Imagine a sports athlete with his hands clasped behind his head in deep despair after missing an important penalty kick. We see the opposite in people who are happy – they are upright with a bounce in their step. b) His hands came up to the back of his head and stroked his hair due to high stress.

Meaning and/or Motivation: The head cradle provides comfort and security while the head clasp provides a shielding sensation like wearing a metaphorical helmet that protects us from emotional injury. We see head clasping when we have made a big mistake or are contemplating a serious decision.

This is also childhood throwback to where our Mom’s would have cradled or pet the back of our heads during times of distress, discomfort or pain during high stakes moments. The hands on the head in adulthood remind us of the protective feelings we would have received.

Cue Cluster: The chin usually comes down and the body becomes loose, limp and slouches, a sports athlete might drop to his knees clasp his head and look to the heavens praying.

Body Language Category: Auto contact or self touching, Barriers, Blocking or Shielding, Closed body language, Defensive, Escape movements, Low confidence body language, Pacifying, Protective reflexes, Stressful body language.

Resources:

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

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

Pitterman, Hallee ; Nowicki Jr, Stephen. A Test of the Ability to Identify Emotion in Human Standing and Sitting Postures: The Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy-2 Posture Test (DANVA2-POS). Genetic, Social, and General Psychology Monographs. 2004. 130(2): 146-162.

Riskind, John H. Manis, Melvin (editor). They stoop to conquer: Guiding and self-regulatory functions of physical posture after success and failure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1984 47(3): 479-493.

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

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

Simon D, Craig K, Gosselin F, Belin P, Rainville P. Recognition and discrimination of prototypical dynamic expressions of pain and emotions. PAIN_ 2008;135:55–64.

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/

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.

Walsh, Joseph ; Eccleston, Christopher ; Keogh, Edmund. Pain communication through body posture: The development and validation of a stimulus set. Pain. 2014. 155(11): pp.2282-2290

Welker, Keith M. ; Oberleitner, David E. ; Cain, Samantha ; Carré, Justin M. Upright and left out: Posture moderates the effects of social exclusion on mood and threats to basic needs. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2013 43(5): 355-361.

Body Language of Hand To Nose

Body Language of Hand To Nose

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Hand To Nose 3Cue: Hand To Nose

Synonym(s): Nose Touching

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

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

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

Context: General.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Resources:

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

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

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

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

Barroso, Felix ; Feld, Jason. Self-touching and attentional processes: The role of task difficulty, selection stage, and sex differences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1986. 10(1): 51-64.

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

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.

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.

Bond, Michael H., and Hiroshi Komai (1976). “Targets of Gazing and Eye Contact During Interviews: Effects on Japanese Nonverbal Behavior.” In Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Vol. 34), pp. 1276-84.

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

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

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

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

DeSteno, D.; Breazeal, C.; Frank, R. H.; Pizarro, D.; Baumann, J.; Dickens, L, and Lee, J. Detecting the Trustworthiness of Novel Partners in Economic Exchange. Psychological Science. 2012. 23, 1549-1556.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/use-body-language-cues-create-trust

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goodall, Jane (1986). The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University).

Givens, David B. (1976). An Ethological Approach to the Study of Human Nonverbal Communication (University of Washington Ph.D. dissertation in Anthropology, Ann Arbor: University Microfilms).

Grand, Stanley (1977). “On Hand Movements During Speech: Studies of the Role of Self-Stimulation in Communication Under Conditions of Psychopathology, Sensory Deficit, and Bilingualism.” In Norbert Freedman and Stanley Grand, eds., Communicative Structures and Psychic Structures: A Psycholanalytic Interpretation of Communication (New York: Plenum Press), pp. 199-221.

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.

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/

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.

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.

Honzik, Marjorie P. ; McKee, John P. The sex difference in thumb-sucking. The Journal of Pediatrics. 1962. 61(5): 726-732.

Juni, Samuel ; Cohen, Phyllis. Partial impulse erogeneity as a function of fixation and object relations. Journal of Sex Research. 1985. 21(3): 275-291.

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

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

Lehman, E.B., Holtz, B.A., & Aikey, K.L. (1995). Temperament and self-soothing behaviour in children: Object attachment, thumbsucking, and pacifier use. Early Education and Development, 6(1), 53–72.

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.

Mann, S., A. Vrij, and R. Bull. 2002. Suspects, lies, and videotape: an analysis of authentic high-stake liars. Law and Human Behavior 26 (3): 365-376.

Mann, S., A. Vrij, and R. Bull. 2004. Detecting true lies: police officers’ ability to detect suspects’ lies. Journal of Applied Psychology 89(1): 137-149.

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.

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

Mahalski, P. (1983). The incidence of attachment objects and oral habits at bedtime in two longitudinal samples of children aged 1.5–7 years. Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, 24(2), 283–295.

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.

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

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

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.

Park, H. S., T. R. Levine, S. A. McCornack, K. Morrison, and M. Ferrara. How people really detect lies. Communication Monographs. 2002. 69: 144-157.

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.

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

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

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

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

Stromwell, L. A., P. A. Granhag, and S. Landstrom. 2007. Children’s prepared and unprepared lies: can adults see through their strategies? Applied Cognitive Psychology 21 (4): 457-471.

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.

Teixeira Fiquer, Juliana; Paulo Sérgio Boggio and Clarice Gorenstein. Talking Bodies: Nonverbal Behavior in the Assessment of Depression Severity. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2013. 150: 1114-1119.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/using-nonverbal-behaviour-to-assess-depression-severity/

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vrij, A. and G. R. Semin. 1996. Lie experts’ beliefs about nonverbal indicators of deception. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 20: 65-80.

Vrij, A. 1997. Individual differences in hand movements during deception. Source: Journal of nonverbal behavior. 21: 87-102.

Vrij, A.. 2004. Why professionals fail to catch liars and how they can improve Source: Legal and Criminological Psychology. 9:159-181.

Vrij, A., S. Mann, and S. Kristen. 2007. Cues to deception and ability to detect lies as a function of police interview styles. Law and Human Behavior 31 (5): 499-518.

Body Language of Hand To Mouth

Body Language of Hand To Mouth

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Hand To Mouth 1Cue: Hand to Mouth

Synonym(s): Mouth Covering, Lip Playing, Lip Touching, Talking Through The Hand, Fingers To The Mouth.

Description: Hands that cover the mouth while speaking or wrap around the lips. Hands may also play with, or pluck the lips.
In One Sentence: Hands to the mouth signals lack of confidence and insecurity.

How To Use it: Touching the mouth with hands can make one feel more comfortable, however, this self soothing gesture is not seen as positive by others. Therefore, it should be avoided when possible.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m timid, shy, lack self confidence. I’m going to play with my mouth or talk through my hand to hide my mouth. This will make me feel more secure because my mouth will be hidden.”

Variant: See Hidden Mouth or Mouth Conceal, Lip Picking, Lip Chewing or Chewing The Lips.

Cue In Action: Dave was on a date but it wasn’t going well as he was really nervous. He felt awkward and it showed. He spent most of the date talking through his hand and mumbling. She could barely hear what he was saying.

Meaning and/or Motivation: A gesture pattern that indicates timidity, insecurity, shyness or lack of self confidence.

Hand-to-face and hand-to-mouth are also sometimes attributed to lying body language although this is only sometimes the case. Hand-to-mouth actions are the most common target for auto touching. It might stem from the concern of giving up too much information, or letting a lie slip, or due to the need for reassurance.

Covering the mouth is a natural reaction children do when they tell a secret or inadvertently say a word they know they shouldn’t. Talking with ones hand covering the mouth “talking through the hand” or resting the hand around the mouth by wrapping the fingers around the top, are significant clues indicating insecurity.

Other times hand-to-mouth indicates female sexual tension such as when the index finger softly rubs against the lips. This is a form of pacifying due to the perceived inability to act on a sexual desire to kiss or be kissed.

Adults that are tense or anxious will play with their mouth or lip. Mouthing a pen, cigarette, piece of their own hair, and even gum when used as a comfort device, are a substitute for the mother’s breast and early childhood mouthing. 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 security blanket, let alone be seen touching their faces out of insecurity.

Mouth covering is another way to reduce the pain of telling a lie. In this case, it is so as to “speak no evil.” Small children perform a full cover and even slap their mouths when they say something they shouldn’t. Grown adults will sometimes cup their hands to their mouths like children in effort to “jam the words back in their mouths” but usually use more subtle gestures such as talking through their hand or placing a finger softly over their lips. Subconsciously, hand-to-mouth gestures leads people to distrust others, and see them as less honest overall.

Cue Cluster: Mouth touching is often interchanged with masked arm crossing where the arm is placed across the front of the body forearm against the table. A coffee cup barrier might also be coupled where a drink is held at right angles in front of the body as a cut-off. Eye contact will also be limited, hands might touch the back of the neck, or cheeks.

Body Language Category: Auto contact or self touching, Barriers, Blocking or Shielding, Courtship displays, Low confidence body language, Low confidence hand displays, Nervous body language, Pacifying, Suspicious body language or suspicion.

Resources:

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

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

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

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

Barroso, Felix ; Feld, Jason. Self-touching and attentional processes: The role of task difficulty, selection stage, and sex differences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1986. 10(1): 51-64.

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

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.

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.

Bond, Michael H., and Hiroshi Komai (1976). “Targets of Gazing and Eye Contact During Interviews: Effects on Japanese Nonverbal Behavior.” In Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Vol. 34), pp. 1276-84.

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

Chase, Richard A. and Richard R. Rubin, eds. (1979). The First Wondrous Year (New York: Macmillan Pub. Co).

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

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

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

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

DeSteno, D.; Breazeal, C.; Frank, R. H.; Pizarro, D.; Baumann, J.; Dickens, L, and Lee, J. Detecting the Trustworthiness of Novel Partners in Economic Exchange. Psychological Science. 2012. 23, 1549-1556.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/use-body-language-cues-create-trust

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Goodall, Jane (1986). The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University).

Givens, David B. (1976). An Ethological Approach to the Study of Human Nonverbal Communication (University of Washington Ph.D. dissertation in Anthropology, Ann Arbor: University Microfilms).

Grand, Stanley (1977). “On Hand Movements During Speech: Studies of the Role of Self-Stimulation in Communication Under Conditions of Psychopathology, Sensory Deficit, and Bilingualism.” In Norbert Freedman and Stanley Grand, eds., Communicative Structures and Psychic Structures: A Psycholanalytic Interpretation of Communication (New York: Plenum Press), pp. 199-221.

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.

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/

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.

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.

Honzik, Marjorie P. ; McKee, John P. The sex difference in thumb-sucking. The Journal of Pediatrics. 1962. 61(5): 726-732.

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Body Language of Hand Behind Head or Head Pacifying

Body Language of Hand Behind Head or Head Pacifying

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Hand Behind Head or Head PacifyingCue: Hand Behind Head or Head Pacifying

Synonym(s): Head Scratching, Head Petting, Hair Stroking.

Description: A scratching, rubbing, petting, smoothing, scratching or ruffling of the hair at the back of the head. Head pacifying may also be done by holding of the back of the neck or head with the palm of the hand or hands.

In One Sentence: When the hand comes to the back of the head it shows that one is trying to self sooth due to negative emotions.

How To Use it: Stroking the back of the head or neck area can help to release positive calming hormones. One might use the gesture when other people are not nearby to help you resolve your problems. When difficult problems arise, ticking the back of the neck or just cradling the back of the neck can simulate the care we received as infants which, in turn, help dissipate the negative emotions.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m in need of comfort so I’m petting the back of my head in order to make me feel better as my parents did when I was a child.”

Variant: See Head Clasping or Head Cradling, Hooding or The Catapult.

Cue In Action: As he evaluated the business proposition, he worked his hand against the grain of his hair at the back of his head in effort to pacify himself and bring comfort.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Head pacifying through stroking the hair signifies a need to pacify during emotional discomfort, as a parent might do to a young child. Imagine Mom or Dad massaging the back of a child’s head when they are nervous or distressed. During stress or boredom, an adult uses stroking the back of the head to replicate the soothing feelings he recalls from his childhood.

Cue Cluster: The lips might purse or tense, the eyes might glaze over and contemplate, the hands might return to the face and rub the eyes, a hand might down stroke the mouth, and a person may show other signals of distress or boredom such as fidgeting.

Body Language Category: Auto contact or self touching, Stroking body language, Frustration or frustrated body language, Pensive displays, Pacifying, Pseudo-infantile gestures, Shy nonverbal, Stressful body language, Worry body language.

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