Category: Rejection body language

Amplifier, Confused body language, Defensive body language, Dislike (nonverbal), Distancing or moving away, Escape movements, Intention movements, Rejection body language

Body Language of Head Away

by Chris • October 22, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Head Away

Cue: Head Away

Synonym(s): Head Pulled Back, Head Turned Away, Tilting Head Away.

Description: When the head is moved away rather than toward a person. This may be away from a person, object or even an idea.

In One Sentence: Moving the head away is a signal that a person is trying to escape an idea or another person.

How To Use it: Use the direction of your head (head language) to show other people that you don’t like their ideas. This is a low risk body language cue because it avoids using potentially volatile words. By moving the head away, it tells others that you do not like what they have to say. This can work in business, dating and amongst friends.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: a) “I don’t like what I’m hearing, but my feet can not be moved away, lest I seem rude, so instead my head will be doing the escaping by moving away to create more distance between me and the thing I don’t like.” b) “I think you are too close to me so I’m leaning back to create more space between the two of us.” c) “I hate you, but feel like I shouldn’t just bolt away so I’m creating a space buffer by titling my head away.” d) “You have bad breath.”

Variant: Can happen sharply as if being taken aback or gradually as if being encroached upon. Conversely the head can move toward or be bowed down submissively showing agreement. See Blading Body Language, Body Angling or Ventral Displays, Toe Pointing or Pointed Toe.

Cue In Action: While engaged in conversation Jill shirked and pulled her chin in and turned her head to the side. She disagreed with her friend’s strong political assertion.

Meaning and/or Motivation: The head will be moved away when there is disagreement but also when the person is not able or permitted to escape entirely from a situation. Thus, it shows a desire for more space. A person might move their head back when someone is speaking with them too closely and violating their personal space, they have bad breath, are speaking too loudly, or they don’t like them for personal reasons.

This is a form of body withdrawal similar to ventral denial, or orienting the shoulders away from things people dislike and toward things they like. When someone wants to exit, the head might look toward the door or to another person.

Cue Cluster: The cue might be accompanied by a grimace facial expression, eye and mouth constriction, torso denial, stepping backward if possible and palm up expression as if wanting a better explanation.

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Confused, Defensive, Dislike (nonverbal), Distancing or moving away, Escape movements, Intention movements, Rejection body language.

Resources:

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

Beall, Alec and Jessica L. Tracy. The Puzzling Attractiveness of Male Shame. Manuscript submitted to Evolutionary Psychology. www.epjournal.net – 2014. 12(x): 1-39
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/male-nonverbal-shame-attractive/

Costa, M., Menzani, M., & Ricci Bitti, P. E. Head canting in paintings: An historical study. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2001. 25: 63–73.
Costa, M., & Ricci Bitti, P. E. Face-ism effect and head canting in one’s own and others’ photographs. European Psychologist. 2000. 5: 293–301.

Chance RMA (1962) An interpretation of some agonistic postures: the role of “cut-off” acts and postures. Symp Zool Soc Lond 8: 71–89.

Furley, Philip and Geoffrey Schweizer. “I’m Pretty Sure That We Will Win!”: The Influence of Score-Related Nonverbal Behavioral Changes on the Confidence in Winning a Basketball Game Journal of Sport & Exercise Psychology. 2013. 35:316-320. http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2013-0199
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/losers-nonverbal-behavior-boosts-confidence-winners-study/

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/

Hehman, Eric; Jordan B. Leitner and Samuel L. Gaertner. Enhancing Static Facial Features Increases Intimidation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2013; 49: 747-754.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/tilting-the-head-is-display-of-intimidation-study/

Hietanen, Jari. Social attention orienting integrates visual information from head and body orientation. Psychological Research.2002 66(3): 174-179.

Hietanen, J. K. (1999). Does your gaze direction and head orientation shift my visual attention? Neuroreport, 10, 3443–3447.

Hietanen, Jari. Social attention orienting integrates visual information from head and body orientation. Psychological Research.2002 66(3): 174-179.

Hwang, Hyisung C. and David Matsumoto. Cultural Differences in Victory Signals of
Triumph Cross-Cultural Research. SAGE Publications 2014. 48(2):177– 191.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/culture-nonverbal-triumph/

Harrigan J. and Rosenthal R. Physicians’ head and body positions as determinants of perceived rapport. J. appl. Sot. Psychol. 13, 496, 1983.

Hillel, Aviezer, Yaacov Trope, Alexander Todorov. Body Cues, Not Facial Expressions, Discriminate Between Intense Positive and Negative Emotions. Science 338, 1225 (2012).
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-language-trumps-facial-expressions-read-my-body-not-my-lips/

Horley K, Williams LM, Gonsalvez C, Gordon E (2003) Social phobics do not see eye to eye: a visual scanpath study of emotional expression processing. J Anxiety Disord 17:33–44

Jenkins, R., Beaver, J.D., & Calder, A.J. (2006). I thought you were looking at me: Direction-specific aftereffects in gaze perception. Psychological Science, 17, 506–513.

Jenkins, R., Keane, J., & Calder, A.J. (2007, August). From your eyes only: Gaze adaptation from averted eyes and averted heads. Paper presented at the Thirtieth European Conference on Visual Perception, Arezzo, Italy.

Kaminski, Juliane ; Call, Josep ; Tomasello, Michael. Body orientation and face orientation: two factors controlling apes’ begging behavior from humans
Animal Cognition. 2004. 7(4): 216-223.

Keltner, D. The signs of appeasement: Evidence for the distinct displays of embarrassment, amusement, and shame. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1995. 68: 441–454.

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

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

Kaminski, Juliane ; Call, Josep ; Tomasello, Michael. Body orientation and face orientation: two factors controlling apes’ begging behavior from humans
Animal Cognition. 2004. 7(4): 216-223.

Lawson, Rebecca P. ; Clifford, Colin W. G. ; Calder, Andrew J. About Turn: The Visual Representation of Human Body Orientation Revealed by Adaptation. Psychological Science. 2009. 20(3): 363(9).

Langton, S. R. H., & Bruce, V. (1999). Reflexive visual orienting in response to the social attention of others. Visual Cognition, 6, 541–567.

Langton, S.R.H. (2000). The mutual influence of gaze and head orientation in the analysis of social attention direction. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology A: Human Experimental Psychology, 53, 825–845.

Martina Mara and Markus Appel. Effects of Lateral Head Tilt on User Perceptions of Humanoid and Android Robots. Computers in Human Behavior. 2015. 44: 326-334
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/nonverbal-head-tilt-says-robot/

Martens, Jason P.; Jessica L. Tracy and Azim F. Shariff. Status signals: Adaptive
benefits of displaying and observing the nonverbal expressions of pride and shame, Cognition & Emotion. 2012. 26(3): 390-406. DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2011.645281
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/significant-nonverbal-expression-pride-shame-body-language-detailed-examination-origin-function/

Mehrabian, Albert Holzberg, Jules D. (editor). Inference of Attitudes From the Posture, Orientation and Distance of a Communicator. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1968. 32(3): 296-308.

Mehrabian, Albert Deese, James (editor). Significance of posture and position in the communication of attitude and status relationships. Psychological Bulletin. 1969. 71(5): 359-372.

Nelson, Nicole L and James A. Russell. Children’s Understanding Of Nonverbal Expressions Of Pride. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2012; 111: 379-385.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/can-children-read-pride-body-language/

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

Ponari, Marta ; Trojano, Luigi ; Grossi, Dario ; Conson, Massimiliano. “Avoiding or approaching eyes”? Introversion/extraversion affects the gaze-cueing effect. Cognitive Processing. 2013. 14(3): 293-299.

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
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/people-can-read-dominance-split-second

Robinson, Jeffrey David. Getting Down to Business Talk, Gaze, and Body Orientation During Openings of Doctor-Patient Consultations. Human Communication Research. 1998. 25(1): 97-123.

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/

Shariff, Azim F. and Jessica L. Tracy. Knowing Who’s Boss: Implicit Perceptions of Status From the Nonverbal Expression of Pride. Emotion. 2009.9(5): 631-639.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/can-you-tell-whos-boss-by-the-nonverbal-expression-of-pride/

Schouwstra SJ, Hoogstraten J (1995) Head position and spinal position as determinants of perceived emotional state. Percept Mot Skills 81: 673–674. doi: 10.2466/pms.1995.81.2.673.

Straube, Thomas ; Langohr, Bernd ; Schmidt, Stephanie ; Mentzel, Hans-Joachim ; Miltner, Wolfgang H.R. Increased amygdala activation to averted versus direct gaze in humans is independent of valence of facial expression. NeuroImage. 2010 49(3): 2680-2686.

Tracy, Jessica L. and Richard W. Robins. The Nonverbal Expression of Pride: Evidence for Cross-Cultural Recognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2008. 94(3): 516–530. DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.94.3.516

http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/nonverbal-expression-pride-recognized-cross-culturally/

Tracy, Jessica L. and Alec T. Beall. Happy Guys Finish Last: The Impact of Emotion Expressions on Sexual Attraction Emotion. American Psychological Association. 2011; 11(6): 1379–1387
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/happy-guys-finish-last-happy-women-finish-first-says-new-study-on-sexual-attractiveness/

Tracy, Jessica L. and David Matsumoto. The Spontaneous Expression Of Pride And Shame: Evidence For Biologically Innate Nonverbal Displays. 2008; 105 (33) 11655-11660.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/universal-expressions-of-pride-and-shame/

Underwood, M. K.. Glares of Contempt, Eye Rolls of Disgust and Turning Away to Exclude: Non-Verbal Forms of Social Aggression among Girls. Feminism & Psychology. 2004 14(3): 371-375

Pablo Briñol; Richard E. Petty and Benjamin Wagner. Body Posture Effects on Self-Evaluation: A Self-Validation Approach. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009. 39(6): 1099-0992. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.607. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.607
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/fix-posture-fix-confidence/

Wirth, James H ; Sacco, Donald F ; Hugenberg, Kurt ; Williams, Kipling D. Eye gaze as relational evaluation: averted eye gaze leads to feelings of ostracism and relational devaluation. Personality & social psychology bulletin. 2010 36(7): 869-82.

Zeinstra, Gertrude G.; M.A. Koelen; D. Colindres ; F.J. Kok; C de Graaf. Facial Expressions in School-Aged Children are a Good Indicator of ‘Dislikes’, but not of ‘Likes.’ Food Quality and Preference. 2009. 20: 620-624.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/read-kids-dislike-food-facial-expressions-accurate-detecting-dislike-not-like-children/

Anger body language, Closed facial gestures, Depressive body language, Dislike (nonverbal), Negative body language, Rejection body language, Stressful body language, Suppressed facial expression

Body Language of The Frown or Downturned Smile

by Chris • October 22, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of The Frown or Downturned Smile

Cue: The Frown or Downturned Smile

Synonym(s): Reverse Smile, Upside Down Smile, Inverted Smile, Downturned Smile.

Description: Happens when the mouth is inverted into a down-facing “u” shape. It is a downward pull of the corners of the mouth and eyelids.

In One Sentence: The downturned smile signals high stress, unhappiness, anger, displeasure, grief, sadness and other negative thoughts such as disapproval.

How To Use it: Use the downturned smile to show others that you are not happy with the situation you find yourself. When done to a receptive audience, the downturned smile can evoke protective feelings by signaling grief or sadness. This can help you by motivating them to resolve your displeasure.

Context: General

Verbal Translation: “I’m so stressed and unhappy that my smiling face has been turned upside down.”

Variant: Lip compression (See Compressed Lips) is a close relative to the down-turned smile. While smiling the corners of the mouth curl downwards momentarily displaying a caught/suppressed frown. See Smiling, Fear Smile, Friendly Smile, Frown (the) or Downturned Smile, Honest Smile or Duchenne Smile, Jaw Drop Smile, Nervous Smile, Polite Smile (the), Uneven Smile Or Lopsided Smile, Upper Lip Smile, Artificial Smile or Fake Smile, Nervous Smile, Honest Smile or Duchenne Smile, Contempt Facial Expression.

Cue In Action: When confronted with bad news, his lips turned from a smile to the complete opposite as his lips moved into an inverted u-shape.

Meaning and/or Motivation: It indicates high stress, unhappiness, anger, displeasure, grief, sadness and other negative thoughts as well as disapproval. Additionally, the down-turned smile can show unhappiness, anger, and depression when held for any permanent length of time. When it flashes quickly as a micro expression, it usually signifies stress.

It has been shown that frowning requires more muscles and effort than does smiling and so naturally our default facial expression is the smile, but when frowning does happen, it has true meaning due to its required effort.

Cue Cluster: The relative negativity of the cue is amplified or minimized by associated cues. Dominant people will use disapproving frowns, snarls or pursed lips to control other people. They might squint while in conversation, or avoid eye contact altogether, or even hold prolonged unblinking eye contact. When people are truly sad, they will hunch or slump over, sooth themselves by stroking various parts of their body and will orient away from people.

Body Language Category: Anger, Closed facial gestures, Depressive body language, Dislike (nonverbal), Negative body language, Rejection body language, Stressful body language, Suppressed facial expression.

Resources:

Aviezer, Hillel; Ran R. Hassin; Jennifer Ryan; Cheryl Grady; Josh Susskind; Adam Anderson; Morris Moscovitch and Shlomo Bentin. Angry, Disgusted, or Afraid? Studies on the Malleability of Emotion Perception. Psychological Science. 2008. 19(7): 724-732.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/emotions-read-context-study/

Bard, K. A. (2003). Development of emotional expressions in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). In P. Ekman, J. Campos, R. J. Davidson & F. B. M. De Waal (Eds.), Emotions inside out: 130 years after Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (Vol. 1000, pp. 88-90). New York: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51(6), 1173-1882.

Biehl, M., Matsumoto, D., Ekman, P., Hearn, V., Heider, K., Kudoh, T., et al. (1997). Matsumoto and Ekman’s Japanese and Caucasian Facial Expressions of Emotion (JACFEE): Reliability Data and Cross-National Differences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 21, 3-21.

de Waal, F. B. M. (2003). Darwin’s legacy and the study of primate visual communication. In P. Ekman, J. Campos, R. J. Davidson & F. B. M. De Waal (Eds.), Emotions inside out: 130 years after Darwin’s The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals (pp. 7-31). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.

Dosmukhambetova, Dina and Antony S. R. Manstead. Fear Attenuated and Affection Augmented: Male Self-Presentation in a Romantic Context. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2012. 36:135–147. DOI 10.1007/s10919-011-0126-1.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/stifle-frown-expression-hot-chick-watching/

De Morree, Helma M ; Marcora, Samuele M. The face of effort: frowning muscle activity reflects effort during a physical task. Biological psychology. 2010. 85(3): 377-82.

Edward R. Morrison; Paul H. Morris and Kim A. Bard. The Stability of Facial Attractiveness: Is It What You’ve Got or What You Do with It? Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2013; 37:59–67 DOI 10.1007/s10919-013-0145-1.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/got-use-studying-facial-attractiveness-emotional-expression/

Ekman, P. (1994). Strong evidence for universals in facial expressions: A reply to Russell’s mistaken critique. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 268-287.

Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V., O’Sullivan, M., Chan, A., Diacoyanni-Tarlatzis, I., Heider, K., et al. (1987). Universals and cultural differences in the judgments of facial expressions of emotion. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 53(4), 712-717.

Ekman, P., Levenson, R. W., & Friesen, W. V. (1983). Autonomic nervous system activity distinguishes among emotions. Science, 221(4616), 1208-1210.

Ekman, P., O’Sullivan, M., & Matsumoto, D. (1991a). Confusions about context in the judgment of facial expression: A reply to “The contempt expression and the relativity thesis.”. Motivation & Emotion, 15(2), 169-176.

Ekman, P., O’Sullivan, M., & Matsumoto, D. (1991b). Contradictions in the study of contempt: What’s it all about? Reply to Russell. Motivation & Emotion, 15(4), 293-296.

Elfenbein, H. A., & Ambady, N. (2002). On the universality and cultural specificity of emotion recognition: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 128(2), 205-235.

Fernandez-Dols, Jose-Miguel; Pilar Carrera and Carlos Crivelli. Facial Behavior While Experiencing Sexual Excitement. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2011. 35: 63–71
DOI 10.1007/s10919-010-0097-7.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-language-orgasm-face-pained-face/

Gehricke, Jean-Guido ; Fridlund, Alan J. Smiling, frowning, and autonomic activity in mildly depressed and nondepressed men in response to emotional imagery of social contexts. Perceptual and motor skills. 2002. 94(1): 141-51.

Humphries, Courtney. Not raving but frowning.(Viewpoint essay). New Scientist. 2012. 215(2874): 42(4).

Huang, Ding-Hau; Shih-Wei Chou; Yi-Lang Chen and Wen-Ko Chiou. Frowning and Jaw Clenching Muscle Activity Reflects the Perception of Effort During Incremental Workload Cycling. Journal of Sports Science and Medicine. 2014. 13: 921-928.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/physical-strain-leads-jaw-clenching-frowning-body-language/

Ichikawa, Hiroko ; Makino, Junshiro. Function of congruent facial responses to smiling and frowning. Perceptual and motor skills. 2007. 105(3 Pt 1): 838-51.

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

Levenson, R. W., Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1990). Voluntary facial action generates emotion-specific autonomic nervous system activity. Psychophysiology, 27(4), 363-384.

Levenson, R. W., Ekman, P., Heider, K., & Friesen, W. V. (1992). Emotion and autonomic nervous system activity in the Minangkabau of West Sumatra. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 62(6), 972-988.

Leanne Brinke, Sarah MacDonald, Stephen Porter, Brian O’Connor. Crocodile Tears: Facial, Verbal and Body Language Behaviours Associated with Genuine and Fabricated Remorse. Law and Human Behavior, 2012; 36(1): 51-59.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/crocodile-tears-humans-show-greater-range-of-emotions-and-speech-hesitation-during-fake-remorse/

Marzoli, Daniele; Mariagrazia Custodero, Alessandra Pagliara, and Luca Tommasi. Sun-Induced Frowning Fosters Aggressive Feelings. Cognition And Emotion. 2013; 27 (8): 1513-1521.
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Morree, Helma ; Marcora, Samuele. Frowning muscle activity and perception of effort during constant-workload cycling. European Journal of Applied Physiology. 2012. 112(5): 1967-1972.

Matsumoto, D. (1989). Cultural influences on the perception of emotion. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 20(1), 92-105.

Matsumoto, D. (1992). American-Japanese cultural differences in the recognition of universal facial expressions. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 23(1), 72-84.

Matsumoto, D. (2001). Culture and Emotion. In D. Matsumoto (Ed.), The Handbook of Culture and Psychology (pp. 171-194). New York: Oxford University Press.

Matsumoto, D., & Ekman, P. (1989). American-Japanese cultural differences in intensity ratings of facial expressions of emotion. Motivation & Emotion, 13(2), 143-157.

Matsumoto, D., Keltner, D., Shiota, M. N., Frank, M. G., & O’Sullivan, M. (2008). What’s in a face? Facial expressions as signals of discrete emotions. In M. Lewis, J. M. Haviland & L. Feldman Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 211-234). New York:
Guilford Press.

Matsumoto, D., & Willingham, B. (2009). Spontaneous Facial Expressions of Emotion of Congenitally and Non-Congenitally Blind Individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(1), 1-10.

Mesquita, B., & Frijda, N. H. (1992). Cultural variations in emotions: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 197-204.

Peleg, G., Katzir, G., Peleg, O., Kamara, M., Brodsky, L., Hel-Or, H., et al. (2006). Heriditary family signature of facial expression. Proceedings from the National Academy of Sciences, 103(43), 15921-15926.

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http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/retraining-brain-for-smiles-lowers-aggression/

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

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/

Closed facial gestures, Disinterest body language, Dislike (nonverbal), Doubt or disbelief body language, Escape movements, Eye Language, Indicators of disinterest (IOD), Micromessaging, Negative body language, Rejection body language, Stubborn body language

Body Language of Eye Rolling or Eye Shrug

by Chris • October 21, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Eye Rolling or Eye Shrug

Cue: Eye Rolling or Eye Shrug

Synonym(s): Eye Shrug, Shrugging The Eyes, Rolling The Eyes.

Description: This cue is done by rolling the eyes around in a semi-circle from bottom to top, or looking straight up.

In One Sentence: Rolling the eyes says disbelief, contempt, sarcasm and lack of respect.

How To Use it: Use eye rolling when you want to show others that you think that they are fools. When someone says something ridiculous, you can tell them your think their idea is weak or unconstructive or not very funny simply by rolling your eyes. When done between friends, eye rolling can be a shared joke, but when done when someone is trying to make a serious point, can be used to show contempt.

Often, eye rolling is directional, meaning that you can use it to offend someone in particular. When done out of their sight, others can pick up on the insult and you can build a case against them without using words. As such, use eye rolling to ridicule and make fun of others.

As a micro-expression, the gesture can be used to signal to others that you simply do not agree with what is being said and therefore, nonverbally express your disapproval.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I can’t believe you just said that, you are a fool.”

Variant: See other Eye Language (category) for ways the eyes convey meaning.

Cue In Action: Dave suggested that instead of taking a romantic vacation in the sun, they hire a lodge and take a 5-day fishing expedition. Mary rolled her eyes.

Meaning and/or Motivation: It says disbelief, contempt, sarcasm, and a lack of respect. Sometimes eye rolls appear as micromessages and are barely visible. They exist, however, and are cues to underlying contempt, especially in a business or dating context.

Cue Cluster: Can be coupled with an audible sigh, followed by a look of contempt or eye avoidance. Eyes might also wander to the eyes of others seeking approval and verifying their views on what was suggested.

Body Language Category: Closed facial gestures, Dislike (nonverbal), Disinterest, Doubt or disbelief body language, Escape movements, Eye Language, Indicators of disinterest (IOD), Micromessaging, Negative body language, Rejection body language, Stubborn or stubbornness.

Resources:

Bjorkqvist, K., Osterrnan, K. and Lagerspetz, K.M.I. (1994) ‘Sex Differences in Covert
Aggression among Adults’, Aggressive Behaviour 20: 27–33.

Goodwin, Marjorie Harness ; Alim, H. Samy. “Whatever (Neck Roll, Eye Roll, Teeth Suck)”: The Situated Coproduction of Social Categories and Identities through Stancetaking and Transmodal Stylization. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology. 2010. 20(1): 179-194.

Hines, N.J. and Fry, D.P. (1994) ‘Indirect Modes of Aggression among Women of Buenos Aires, Argentina’, Sex Roles 30: 213–24.

LaFrance, M. (2002) ‘Smile Boycotts and other Body Politics’, Feminism & Psychology
12: 319–23.

Latvala, Charlotte. Stopping the back talk: if your child is dishing out the eye rolling and “what-evers,” here’s how to respond–for both your sakes.(good family: FROM KIDS TO MONEY, WHAT TO KNOW NOW). Good Housekeeping. 2009. 248(4): 99(3).

Lagerspetz, K.M.J., Bjorkqvist, K. and Peltonen, T. (1988) ‘Is Indirect Aggression Typical of Females? Gender Differences in Aggressiveness in 11- to 12-year-old Children’, Aggressive Behavior 14: 403–14.

Merten, D. E. (1997) ‘The Meaning of Meanness: Popularity, Competition, and Conflict
among Junior High School Girls’, Sociology of Education 40: 175–91.

Underwood, M. K.. Glares of Contempt, Eye Rolls of Disgust and Turning Away to Exclude: Non-Verbal Forms of Social Aggression among Girls. Feminism & Psychology. 2004 14(3): 371-375.

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

Underwood, M. K.. Glares of Contempt, Eye Rolls of Disgust and Turning Away to Exclude: Non-Verbal Forms of Social Aggression among Girls. Feminism & Psychology. 2004 14(3): 371-375.

Appease, Arrogance or arrogant body language, Authoritative body language, Body size reduction, Closed body language, Courtship display, Defensive body language, Disengagement body language, Dislike (nonverbal), Distancing or moving away, Embarrassment (nonverbal), Escape movements, Eye Language, Fearful body language, Indicator Of Sexual Interest (IOsI), Negative body language, Nervous Body Language, Nonthreatening body language, Power play, Readiness to submit postures, Rejection body language, Shy nonverbal, Submissive body language

Body Language of Eye Aversion, Gaze Avoidance and Wandering Eyes

by Chris • October 21, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Eye Aversion, Gaze Avoidance and Wandering Eyes

Cue: 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:

Argyle, Michael; Lefebvre, Luc; Cook, Mark 1974. The meaning of five patterns of gaze. European Journal of Social Psychology. 4(2): 125-136.

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.

Allan Mazur; Eugene Rosa; Mark Faupel; Joshua Heller; Russell Leen; Blake Thurman. Physiological Aspects of Communication Via Mutual Gaze. The American Journal of Sociology. 1980; 86(1): 50-74.

Aguinis, Herman ; Simonsen, Melissam. ; Pierce, Charlesa. Effects of Nonverbal Behavior on Perceptions of Power Bases. The Journal of Social Psychology. 1998. 138(4): 455-469.

Aguinis, Herman ; Henle, Christinea. Effects of Nonverbal Behavior on Perceptions of a Female Employee’s Power Bases. The Journal of Social Psychology. 2001 141(4): 537-549.

Beausoleil, Ngaio J. ; Stafford, Kevin J. ; Mellor, David J. Burghardt, Gordon M. (editor). Does Direct Human Eye Contact Function as a Warning Cue for Domestic Sheep (Ovis aries)? Journal of Comparative Psychology. 2006. 120(3): 269-279.

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.

Gregersen, Tammy S. Nonverbal Cues: Clues to the Detection of Foreign Language Anxiety. Foreign Language Annals. 2005. 38(3): 388-400
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/what-anxious-learners-can-tell-us-about-anxious-body-language-how-to-read-nonverbal-behavior/

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.

Kellerman. 1989. Looking and loving: The effects of mutual gaze on feelings of romantic love. Journal of Research in Personality. 23(2): 145-161.

Kendon, A. Some Functions of Gaze Direction in Social Interaction. Acta Psychologica. 1967. 32: 1-25.

Kleinke, C. L. 1980. Interaction between gaze and legitimacy of request on compliance in a field setting. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 5(1): 3-12.

Langer, Julia and Rodebaugh, Thomas. Social Anxiety and Gaze Avoidance: Averting Gaze but not Anxiety. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 2013, Vol.37(6): 1110-1120.

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.

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

McAndrew. 1986. Arousal seeking and the maintenance of mutual gaze in same and mixed sex dyads Source: Journal of nonverbal behavior. 10(3):168-172.

Mulac, A., Studley, L., Wiemann, J., & Bradac, J. 1987. Male/female gaze in same-sex
and mixed-sex dyads. Human Communication Research. 13: 323-343.

Natale, Michael. 1976. A Markovian model of adult gaze behavior. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research. 5(1): 53-63.

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

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.

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.

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.

Weisfeld, Glenn E. and Jody M. Beresford. Erectness of Posture as an Indicator of Dominance or Success in Humans. Motivation and Emotion. 1982. 6(2): 113-130.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-language-cues-dominance-submission-children/

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

*No Photo, Amplifier, Anger body language, Closed body language, Closed facial gestures, Doubt or disbelief body language, Eye Language, Frustration or frustrated body language, Negative body language, Rejection body language

Body Language of The Extended Eye Blink or Double Wink

by Chris • October 21, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of The Extended Eye Blink or Double Wink

Cue: Extended Blink or Double Wink

Synonym(s): Extended Eye Closure, Double Wink, Lengthy Eye Closure, Eyes Super-Blink, Super Blinking Eyes, Eye Blink Hold, Blink Hold, Prolonged Blinking.

Description: The extended wink is done by blinking both eyes at the same time and holding them closed for a slightly longer period of time than that which is found in a natural blink. An exaggerated closing of the eyelids that is slow in speed but high in amplitude. The eyes will seem to close tightly together and spring open.

In One Sentence: The extended eye blink is a signal of disbelief.

How To Use it: Use the extended blink to show others that you can’t believe what you just heard. Reacting nonverbally is a great way to show others how you really feel without having to put it into words. When someone says something shocking, hold your eyes closed for a long second, then open them brightly. This says “I can’t believe what I just heard!”

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I seriously can’t believe what I’m seeing and I’m showing my displeasure by shutting my eyes for longer then normal in hopes that when I re-open them, the offensive stimuli will have disappeared.”

Variant: Eyes can be closed cheekily in a more playful way to show less severe disbelief or even flirtation – a double wink. Also see Wink.

Cue In Action: a) It was time for 3-year-old Charlie to change out of his pajamas and into his shirt and pants. He hated doing this more than anything because the shirt would always catch on his ears and cause him pain. When his Mom approached, he ran away, but she quickly cornered him and calmed him down. She told him it was time to change and he closed his eyes and held them closed for a second before reopening them. He didn’t like what he was seeing. b) It was yet another superfluous TPS report meeting, she closed her eyes, held them closed for a second and popped them open. Her colleagues laughed.

Meaning and/or Motivation: It signifies negative emotions, displeasure, disbelief or feigned surprise. Imagine the eyes as if they are trying to change the channel (or the scene) by forcing them close and popping them open quickly.

The extended blink is a form of eye blocking which protects a person from distasteful images and ideas.

If the extended eye blink is performed routinely, then we can assume that the person is arrogant as they seek to repeatedly shut off the outside world due to their belief of their superior thought process. They are sending a message to others that they feel they are irrelevant, boring and a waste of time.

Cue Cluster: The extended blink is usually a stand-alone cue and needs no other cues in cluster to have a negative disbelief meaning.

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Anger, Closed body language, Closed facial gestures, Doubt or disbelief body language, Eye Language, Frustration or frustrated body language, Negative body language, Rejection body language.

Resources:

Brooks, C. I., Church, M. A., & Fraser, L. 1986. Effects of duration of eye contact on judgments of personality characteristics. Journal of Social Psychology. 126: 71–78

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

Davis 1978. Camera Eye-Contact by the Candidates in the Presidential Debates of 1976 Source: The journalism quarterly. 55 (3): 431 -437.

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.

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.

Gilliam, Harold V. B.; Van Den Berg, Sjef. 1980. Different Levels of Eye Contact: Effects on Black and White College Students. Urban Education. 15 (1): 83-92.

Goldman. 1980. Effect of Eye Contact and Distance on the Verbal Reinforcement of Attitude. The Journal of social psychology 111(1): 73 -78.

Greene 1979. Title: Need-Fulfillment and Consistency Theory: Relationships Between Self-Esteem and Eye Contact. Source: Western journal of speech communication. 43(2): 123 -133.

Galin, D. and Ornstein, R., 1974. Individual Differences in Cognitive Style – Reflective Eye Movements; Neuropsychologia, 12: 376-397.

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

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.

Konopacki 1987. Eye Movement Betrays a Prospect’s Inner Feelings Source: Marketing news 21(10): 4.

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.

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

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.

Sitton, Sarah C; Griffin, Susan T. 1981. Detection of deception from clients’ eye contact patterns. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 28(3): 269-271.

Closed facial gestures, Dislike (nonverbal), Emotional body language, Microexpression, Negative body language, Rejection body language, Universal facial expressions

Body Language of The Disgusted Facial Expressions

by Chris • October 20, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of The Disgusted Facial Expressions

Cue: Disgust Facial Expression

Synonym(s): N/A

Description: One of the six main universal facial expressions characterized by eyebrows that are turned inward, raised upper lip, winkled nose and a rise in cheek muscles.
Here, the lower eyelids rise and lines appear in the skin below them.

In One Sentence: Raising the upper lip in disgust signals a negative visceral reaction to a person, idea, or situation.

How To Use it: The disgust expression can be done quickly as a microexpression in order to convey detest for an idea or person. Disgust usually registers just below the conscious radar of the people seeing it. While brief, however, disgust can send a strong negative nonverbal message.

Conversely, the disgust expression can be held for a longer period of time to send a highly potent message that one is not on board with an idea, policy or even a person. One might use this in a negotiation to influence the offers presented. When viewed, others will see the need to ratify the offer to make it more palatable.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m so turned off by what I’m seeing and hearing that my face is tightening and contracting due to a sickening discomfort.”

Variant: See Contempt Facial Expression, Scorn, Sneering.

Cue In Action: During an office meeting, Debbie, a long time employee would frequently sneer in disdain when the new girl would make particularly intelligent additions to the dialogue. Her jealousy was obvious.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Disgust is one of the six main universal facial expressions: happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger and disgust.

Disgust is a throwback expression to the visceral reaction to eating food that is particularly unpalatable. This is why we see the nose sneer. To replicate this facial expression, just imagine taking a deep breath of rotted flesh that has been plated for a meal!

When disgust is directed to a person with eye contact, its motivation is raw and rooted in deep anger. This person feels repulsed by the situation.

Cue Cluster: Usually coupled with a downward gaze to strengthen the cue and in extreme cases the head comes up making the disgust expression very powerful. If eye contact is added to the disgusted facial expression, it is a salient message that others will find difficult to ignore.

Body Language Category: Closed facial gestures, Dislike (nonverbal), Emotional body language, Microexpressions, Negative body language, Rejection body language, Universal facial expressions.

Resources:

Aranguren, Martin. “Nonverbal interaction patterns in the Delhi Metro: interrogative looks and play-faces in the management of interpersonal distance.” Interaction Studies. 2016. 16(1) forthcoming.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/seriously-stop-touching-use-nonverbal-signaling-manage-unwanted-touching-busy-public-areas/

Aranguren, Martin and Stephane Tonnelat. Emotional Transactions in the Paris Subway: Combining Naturalistic Videotaping, Objective Facial Coding and Sequential Analysis in the Study of Nonverbal Emotional Behavior. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2014. 38:495–521. DOI 10.1007/s10919-014-0193-1

Carroll E. 1994. Innate and universal facial expressions: Evidence from developmental and cross-cultural research Izard, Psychological Bulletin. 115(2): 288-299.

Curtis, V., & Biran, A. (2001). Dirt, disgust, and disease: Is hygiene in our genes? Perspectives in biology and medicine, 44(1), 17–31.

Curtis V, Aunger R, Rabie T (2004) Evidence that disgust evolved to protect from risk of disease. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 271: S131–S133. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2003.0144. PubMed: 15252963.

Carroll JM, Russell JA (1996) Do facial expressions signal specific emotions? Judging emotion from the face in context. J Pers Soc Psychol 70: 205–218. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.70.2.205. PubMed: 8636880.

Daniel H. Lee, Reza Mirza, John G. Flanagan and Adam K. Anderson. Optical Origins of Opposing Facial Expression Actions. Psychological Science published online 24 January 2014 DOI: 10.1177/0956797613514451
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/eyes-and-facial-expressions-may-be-biologically-controlled-serve-a-real-non-emotional-purpose-says-research/

Ekman, P. & O’Sullivan, M. (1991). Who can catch a liar? American Psychologist. 46, 913-920.

Ekman, Paul. 1994. Strong evidence for universals in facial expressions: A reply to Russell’s mistaken critique Psychological Bulletin. 115(2): 268-287.

Ekman, Paul. 1986. A new pan-cultural facial expression of emotion. Source: Motivation and Emotion Ekman. 10(2): 159-168.

Ekman, Paul and Friesen, W. V. 1987. Universals and cultural differences in the judgments of facial expressions of emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 53(4): 712-717.

Ekman, Paul; Friesen, Wallace V. 1971. Constants across cultures in the face and emotion. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 17(2): 124-129.

Ekman, Paul. 1972. Universals and cultural differences in facial expressions of emotion. In J. Cole (Ed.), Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, 1971. 19: 207-282. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Fulcher, J. S. “Voluntary” facial expression in blind and seeing children. Archives of Psychology, 1942. 38: 272.

Friesen, W. V. 1972. Cultural differences in facial expressions in a social situation: An experimental test of the concept of display rules. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of California, San Francisco.

Gagnon, Mathieu ; Gosselin, Pierre ; Hudon-ven der Buhs, Isabelle ; Larocque, Karine ; Milliard, Karine. Children’s Recognition and Discrimination of Fear and Disgust Facial Expressions. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2010. 34(1): 27-42.

Inbar, Y., & Pizarro, D. Disgust, politics, and responses to threat [commentary]. The Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 2014. 37: 315-316.

Inbar, Y., Pizarro, D.A., Iyer, R., and Haidt, J. (2012). Disgust sensitivity, political conservatism, and voting. Social Psychological and Personality Science. 2012. 3: 537-544.

Inbar, Y., Pizarro, D.A., and Bloom Disgusting smells cause decreased liking of gay men. Emotion. 2012. 12: 23-27.

Inbar, Y., Pizarro, D.A., & Bloom, P. Conservatives are more easily disgusted than liberals. Cognition and Emotion. 2009. 23, 714-725.

James A. Russell, Naoto Suzuki and Noriko Ishida. 1993. Canadian, Greek, and Japanese freely produced emotion labels for facial expressions. Motivation and Emotion. 17(4): 337 -351

Kunz, Miriam ; Peter, Jessica ; Huster, Sonja ; Lautenbacher, Stefan Gray, Marcus (Editor). Pain and Disgust: The Facial Signaling of Two Aversive Bodily Experiences (Comparing Facial Expressions of Pain and Disgust). 2013. 8(12): p.e83277

McClure, Erin B 2000. A meta-analytic review of sex differences in facial expression processing and their development in infants, children, and adolescents
Psychological Bulletin. 126(3): 424-453.

Mead, M. 1975. Review of “Darwin and facial expression.” Journal of Communication, 25: 209-213.

Pizarro, D.A., Inbar, Y., and Helion, C.. On disgust and moral judgment. Emotion Revie2. 2011. 3: 267–268.

David Pizarro (video) talk about the possible evolution of the disgust facial expression: http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/evolution-politics-disgust-ted-talk-david-pizarro/

Russell, James A. 1995. Facial Expressions of Emotion: What Lies Beyond Minimal Universality? Psychological bulletin. 118(3): 379-391.

Russell, James A. 1994. Is There Universal Recognition of Emotion From Facial Expression? A Review of the Cross-Cultural Studies. Psychological Bulletin. 115(1): 102-141.

Schnall, S., Haidt, J., Clore, G. L., & Jordan, A. H. (2008). Disgust as embodied moral judgment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, 1096–1109. doi:10.1177/0146167208317771.

Susskind, Joshua M and Adam K Anderson. Facial Expression Form and Function. Communicative Integrative Biology. 2008. 1(2): 148–149. PMCID: PMC2686004
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/emotional-facial-expressions-evolve/

Underwood, M. K.. Glares of Contempt, Eye Rolls of Disgust and Turning Away to Exclude: Non-Verbal Forms of Social Aggression among Girls. Feminism & Psychology. 2004 14(3): 371-375

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

Dislike (nonverbal), Indicators of disinterest (IOD), Microexpression, Negative body language, Rejection body language, Suspicious body language, Universal facial expressions

Body Language of The Contempt Facial Expression and Contempt Smile

by Chris • October 20, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of The Contempt Facial Expression and Contempt Smile

Cue: Contempt Facial Expression and Contempt Smile

Synonym(s): Contempt Smile.

Description: In the contempt facial expression, wrinkles appear on the nose with one lip often raised to form a sneer. The eyes narrow. Lips are frequently pushed forward with a tight mouth raised slightly at the corners. The chin usually drops, or lifts and the head turns to the side.

The contempt smile happens when the corners of the lips are tightened unevenly and one side is lifted slightly higher than the other. In this case, the eyebrows are slightly raised. The smile might also push the lower lip up by the chin muscle and pull the corners of the mouth down. This is often coupled with lowered brows.

In One Sentence: The contempt facial expression is a tensing around the nose with one lip raised and serves to demonstrate disagreement.

How To Use it: Use the expression to show others that you are not in agreement but do not wish to do so overtly in a verbal fashion. A micro-sneer can be sent when you want to give a subtle hint of disapproval. The cue works in any context as it permits one to tow the line of confrontation with a subtle nonverbal expression. In this capacity, people will understand that you are not in agreement, but will not be able to hold you to it as the cue is fleeting and barely noticeable. Therefore, the cue is useful for expressing disapproval and disagreement without being overt.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I really don’t like what you’re saying or doing and so my face is scrunching up as if there is a malodor.”

Variant: Variants exist of high and low contempt smiles. These are demonstrated through degrees of stress across the face.

As high contempt is reached, the cues become more obvious. Disgust is close to Contempt and usually causes people to look downward on other people. Lint picking, avoiding eye contact, turning the body away can all show various degrees of contempt. Contempt can also be a microexpression and flash so quickly that it is barely noticed. Watch for the microexpression of the nose sneer or the eyes narrowing quickly.

Cue In Action: The conversation turned from bad to worse as it shifted onto politics. When they couldn’t see eye-to-eye on the matter, he wrinkled his nose, narrowed his eyes and tightened his lips while shaking his head in disgust. The message was clear.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Contempt is an emotion designed to show disagreement and an inability to see eye-to-eye on matters. Some contempt runs deeper than others and can be amplified with additional cues that come across as attacks. Contempt can be high or low, delivered by the relative strength of the associated cues.

Cue Cluster: Contempt is accompanied by looking downward, palms up in a “what are you doing posture,” sneering, pulled up nose, pursed lips, and head turned away.

Body Language Category: Dislike (nonverbal), Indicators of disinterest (IOD), Microexpressions, Negative body language, Rejection body language, Suspicious body language or suspicion, Universal facial expressions.

Resources:

Ekman, P. (1994). Strong evidence for universals in facial expressions: A reply to Russell’s mistaken critique. Psychological Bulletin, 115, 268-287.

Ekman, P., Levenson, R. W., & Friesen, W. V. (1983). Autonomic nervous system activity distinguishes among emotions. Science, 221(4616), 1208-1210.

Ekman, P., O’Sullivan, M., & Matsumoto, D. (1991b). Contradictions in the study of contempt: What’s it all about? Reply to Russell. Motivation & Emotion, 15(4), 293-296.

Elfenbein, H. A., & Ambady, N. (2002). On the universality and cultural specificity of emotion recognition: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 128(2), 205-235.

Ekman, P., O’Sullivan, M., & Matsumoto, D. (1991b). Contradictions in the study of contempt: What’s it all about? Reply to Russell. Motivation & Emotion, 15(4), 293-296.

Girard, Jeffrey M.; Jeffrey F. Cohna; Mohammad H.Mahoor S.; Mohammad Mavadati;
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Reed, Lawrence Ian; Katharine N. Zeglen and Karen L. Schmidt. Facial Expressions as Honest Signals of Cooperative Intent in a One-Shot Anonymous Prisoner’s Dilemma Game. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2012. 33: 200-209. http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-language-signals-withdrawal-depression/

Kahlbaugh, Patricia ; Haviland, Jeannette. Nonverbal communication between parents and adolescents: A study of approach and avoidance behaviors. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1994 18(1): 91-113.

Levenson, R. W., Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1990). Voluntary facial action generates emotion-specific autonomic nervous system activity. Psychophysiology, 27(4), 363-384.

Matsumoto, David. Scalar Ratings Of Contempt Expressions Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2005. 29(2): 91-104.

Matsumoto, D. (1989). Cultural influences on the perception of emotion. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 20(1), 92-105.

Matsumoto, D. (1992). American-Japanese cultural differences in the recognition of universal facial expressions. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 23(1), 72-84.

Matsumoto, D. (2001). Culture and Emotion. In D. Matsumoto (Ed.), The Handbook of Culture and Psychology (pp. 171-194). New York: Oxford University Press.

Matsumoto, D., & Ekman, P. (1989). American-Japanese cultural differences in intensity ratings of facial expressions of emotion. Motivation & Emotion, 13(2), 143-157.

Matsumoto, D., Keltner, D., Shiota, M. N., Frank, M. G., & O’Sullivan, M. (2008). What’s in a face? Facial expressions as signals of discrete emotions. In M. Lewis, J. M.
Haviland & L. Feldman Barrett (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 211-234). New York: Guilford Press.

Matsumoto, D., & Willingham, B. (2009). Spontaneous Facial Expressions of Emotion of Congenitally and Non-Congenitally Blind Individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(1), 1-10.

Mesquita, B., & Frijda, N. H. (1992). Cultural variations in emotions: A review. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 197-204.

Underwood, M. K.. Glares of Contempt, Eye Rolls of Disgust and Turning Away to Exclude: Non-Verbal Forms of Social Aggression among Girls. Feminism & Psychology. 2004 14(3): 371-375.

Weisfeld, Glenn E. and Jody M. Beresford. Erectness of Posture as an Indicator of
Dominance or Success in Humans. Motivation and Emotion. 1982. 6(2): 113-130.
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