Category: Surprised body language

Body Language of Surprised Facial Expression

Body Language of Surprised Facial Expression

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Surprised Facial Expression 2Cue: Surprised Facial Expression.

Synonym(s): N/A

Description: The eyebrows curve upwards, wrinkles form in the forehead and the whites of the eyes become visible through eye widening. The jaw becomes slack and opens.

In One Sentence: The surprised facial expression is one of the six main universal facial expressions.

How To Use it: Use the surprised facial expression to show others that they have taken you by surprise. This may be in a shared joke, to show your amazement for their accomplishments or other good or novel news. Facial expressions are a way that we can bond with other people either in positive or negative ways. Suiting our expression with our underlying attitude or conversely feigning an attitude can help create desired relationships and outcomes.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m surprised so my face is shooting open and everything is widening.”

Variant: See Anger Facial Expression, Happiness and Joy, Sadness Facial Expression, Fearful Facial Expression, Disgust Facial Expression.

Cue In Action: The prank team set up shop in a street garbage pail while the camera was hidden around the corner. As the man sprung up, the action was captured on film. Faces shot open, mouth agape, eyebrows up – surprise!

Meaning and/or Motivation: Surprise is one of the six main facial expressions that are found throughout the world. They are happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger and disgust.

Each expression involves three independent parts of the face, the forehead and eyebrows, the eyes, eyelids and upper part of the nose called the “root” and the lower part of the face including the lower part of the nose, cheeks, chin and mouth.

Surprise is motivated by a fear response. Surprise implies that one is not expecting something to occur. Thus, the body and limbic system reach overdrive to open the face up to prepare it for action.

Cue Cluster: Arms usually shoot up or out, an audible squeal, scream, or “ahhh”, or gasp, is heard and the person might jump, step back, duck and head cover. Sometimes the head drops as does the jaw especially if coupled with disbelief.

Body Language Category: Arousal, Automatic gesture, Emotional body language, Excited body language, Inborn behaviours, Leaked or involuntary body language, Surprised body language, Universal facial expressions.

Resources:

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.

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

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/

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.

Duan, Xujun ; Dai, Qian ; Gong, Qiyong ; Chen, Huafu. Neural mechanism of unconscious perception of surprised facial expression. NeuroImage. 2010. 52(1): 401-407.

e Charlesworth, W. R. (1964). Instigation and maintenance of curiosity behavior as a function of surprise versus novel and familiar stimuli. Child Development, 35, 1169–1186.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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/

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.

Ludden, G. D. S., Schifferstein, H. N. J., & Hekkert, P. (2009). Visual–tactual incongruities in products as sources of surprise. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 27, 63–89.

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.

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.

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.

Reisenzein, R. (2000). Exploring the strength of association between the components of emotion syndromes: the case of surprise. Cognition and Emotion, 14, 1–38.

Parzuchowski, Michal ; Szymkow-Sudziarska, Aleksandra. Well, slap my thigh: expression of surprise facilitates memory of surprising material. Emotion. 2008. 8(3): 430-4.

Reisenzein, R., Bördgen, S., Holtbernd, T., & Matz, D. (2006). Evidence for strong dissociation between emotion and facial displays: the case of surprise. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 295–315.

Reisenzein, R., & Studtmann, M. (2007). On the expression and experience of surprise: no evidence for facial feedback, but evidence for a reverse self-inference effect. Emotion, 7, 612–627.

Scherer, K. R., Zentner, M. R., & Stern, D. (2004). Beyond surprise: the puzzle of infants’ expressive reactions to expectancy violation. Emotion, 4, 389–402.

Schützwohl, Achim ; Reisenzein, Rainer. Facial expressions in response to a highly surprising event exceeding the field of vision: a test of Darwin’s theory of surprise. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2012. 33(6): 657-664.

Vrticka, Pascal ; Lordier, Lara ; Bediou, Benoît ; Sander, David Desteno, David (editor). Human Amygdala Response to Dynamic Facial Expressions of Positive and Negative Surprise. Emotion. 2014. 14(1): 161-169.

Vanhamme, J. (2000). The link between surprise and satisfaction: an exploratory research on how to best measure surprise. Journal of Marketing Management, 16, 565–582.

Body Language of Self-Slapping

Body Language of Self-Slapping

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Self Slapping 3Cue: Self-Slapping.

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

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

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

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

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

Context: General.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Resources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Katza, Carmit; Irit Hershkowitz; Lindsay C. Malloya; Michael E. Lamba; Armita Atabakia and Sabine Spindlera. Non-Verbal Behavior of Children Who Disclose or do not Disclose Child Abuse in Investigative Interviews. Child Abuse & Neglect. 2012. 36: 12-20.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/reading-nonverbal-behaviour-child-abuse-cases-encourage-children-divulge-information-truth-telling

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

Mohiyeddini, Changiz ; Semple, Stuart. Displacement behaviour regulates the experience of stress in men. Stress. 2013. 16(2): 163-171.

Mohiyeddini, C., Bauer, S., & Semple, S. (2013a). Displacement behaviour is associated with reduced stress levels among men but not women. PLoS One, 8, e56355.

Mohiyeddini, C., Bauer, S., & Semple, S. (2013b). Public self-consciousness moderates the link between displacement behaviour and experience of stress in women. Stress, 16, 384–392.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Body Language of Laughter

Body Language of Laughter

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Laughter 1 BodyLanguageProjectCom - Laughter 2Cue: Laughter

Synonym(s): Laughing.

Description: Laughs follow a “ha-ha-ha” or “ho-ho-ho” pattern, but never “ha-ho-ha-ho”. We can see other variations though like “cha-ha-ha” or “ha-ha-ho.”

In One Sentence: Laughing is a sign of joy, happiness, and sometimes discomfort or awkwardness.

How To Use it: Laughing is well research. It has proven to be an effective way to keep the body in good spirits and even boost healing and immunity. Laughing is encouraged to build friendships and finds a welcome place in all contexts from dating, to business, and amongst friends. Use laughing to create lasting bonds and break tension.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m so happy and surprised by what you said that I’m showing my primitive panting vocalization.”

Resources:

Bachorowski, J A ; Owren, M J. Not all laughs are alike: voiced but not unvoiced laughter readily elicits positive affect. Psychological science. 2001. 12(3): 252-7.

Dunbar, R I M ; Baron, Rebecca ; Frangou, Anna ; Pearce, Eiluned ; Van Leeuwen, Edwin J C ; Stow, Julie ; Partridge, Giselle ; Macdonald, Ian ; Barra, Vincent ; Van Vugt, Mark. Social laughter is correlated with an elevated pain threshold. Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society. 2012. 279(1731): 1161-7.

Foley, Erin ; Matheis, Robert ; Schaefer, Charles. Effect of forced laughter on mood.(Abstract). Psychological Reports. 2002 90(1): 184(1).

Grammer, K., and Eibl-Eibesfeldt, I. 1990. The ritualisation of laughter. In W. Koch (Ed.), Naturalichkeit der Sprache un der Kultur: Acta colloquii 192–214.

Grammer, Karl. Strangers meet: Laughter and nonverbal signs of interest in opposite-sex encounters. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1990. 14(4): 209-236.

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/

Kawakami, Kiyobumi; Takai-Kawakami, Kiyoko; Tomonaga, Masaki; Suzuki, Juri; Kusaka, Tomiyo; Okai, Takashi. 2006. Origins of smile and laughter: a preliminary study. Early Human Development. 82 (1): 61.

Keltner, Dacher; Bonanno, George A. 1997. A study of laughter and dissociation: Distinct correlates of laughter and smiling during bereavement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 73(4): 687-702.

Kipper, Silke ; Todt, Dietmar. The Role of Rhythm and Pitch in the Evaluation of Human Laughter. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2003. 27(4): 255-272.

MacDonald, C., 2004. A Chuckle a Day Keeps the Doctor Away: Therapeutic Humor & Laughter. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services 42(3):18-25.

Martin, Rod A. 2001. Humor, laughter, and physical health: Methodological issues and research findings Psychological Bulletin. 127(4): 504-519.

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/

Neuhoff, Charles C ; Schaefer, Charles. Effects of laughing, smiling, and howling on mood. Psychological reports. 2002 91(3 Pt 2): 1079-80.

Owren, Michael J.; Bachorowski, Jo-Anne 2003. Reconsidering the evolution of nonlinguistic communication: the case of laughter Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 27(3): 183-200.

Panksepp, J., Burgdorf, J., “Laughing” rats and the evolutionary antecedents of human joy? Physiology & Behavior (2003) 79: 533-547.

Provine, Robert R.. 2000. The laughing species. Natural History. 109(10): 72-76.

Provine, Robert R. 2000. Laugh and the world laughs with you. Scientific American. 283(6): 108-110.

Provine, Robert R. Laughing, grooming, and pub science. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 2013. 17(1): 9-10.

Provine, R. R. 1992. Contagious laughter: Laughter is a sufficient stimulus for laughs and smiles. Bulletin of the Psychonomic Society 30: 1- 4.

Provine, R. R. 1993. Laughter punctuates speech: Linguistic, social and gender contexts of laughter. Ethology 95: 291-298.

Provine, R. R., and K. R. Fischer. 1989. Laughing, smiling, and talking: Relation to sleeping and social context in humans. Ethology 83: 295-305.

Provine, R. R., and Y. L. Yong. 1991. Laughter: A stereotyped human vocalization. Ethology 89: 115-124.

Provine, R.R. Contagious yawning and laughing: Everyday imitation and mirror-like behavior. Behavioral and Brain Science. 28: 142.

Priest, RF; Thein, MT. 2003. Humor appreciation in marriage: Spousal similarity, assortative mating, and disaffection. Humor-international journal of humor research, 16(1): 63-78.

Ritter, Jan ; Brück, Carolin ; Jacob, Heike ; Wildgruber, Dirk ; Kreifelts, Benjamin. Laughter perception in social anxiety. Journal of Psychiatric Research. 2015. 60: 178-184.

Szameitat, Diana P. ; Kreifelts, Benjamin ; Alter, Kai ; Szameitat, André J. ; Sterr, Annette ; Grodd, Wolfgang ; Wildgruber, Dirk. It is not always tickling: Distinct cerebral responses during perception of different laughter types. NeuroImage. 2010. 53(4): 1264-1271.

Szameitat, Diana P. ; Alter, Kai ; Szameitat, André J. ; Darwin, Chris J. ; Wildgruber, Dirk ; Dietrich, Susanne ; Sterr, Annette Phelps, Elizabeth A. (editor). Differentiation of Emotions in Laughter at the Behavioral Level. Emotion. 2009. 9(3): 397-405.

Szameitat, Dianap. ; Darwin, Chrisj. ; Wildgruber, Dirk ; Alter, Kai ; Szameitat, Andréj. Acoustic correlates of emotional dimensions in laughter: Arousal, dominance, and valence. Cognition & Emotion. 2011. 25(4): 599-611.

Sturman, Edward D. Invluntary Subordination and Its Relation to Personality, Mood,
and Submissive Behavior. Psychological Assessment. 2011. 23(1): 262-276 DOI: 10.1037/a0021499
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Vettin, Julia ; Todt, Dietmar. Laughter in Conversation: Features of Occurrence and Acoustic Structure. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2004. 28(2): 93-115.

Variant: Giggling is another form of laughter that is more characteristic of children being silly.

Cue In Action: After a few beers it was all jokes and laughter at the party, most of the time no one really knew what caused the laughing spells.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Some researchers pin laughs as a modification of the fear response or as a warning that danger was near. By that same theory, we laugh because our brains are scared or frightened which is why we don’t laugh when we hear a joke for the second time and have predicted its outcome. Laughter usually comes about due to humour and helps clarify emotional context (by defining amusement) between people. Laughter is a way to heal as it releases positive hormones. It is also a way people can share and therefore bond with one another. Laughter in a nonverbal context shows that people are thinking alike and are in agreement and trying to build trust and friendship.

Subordinate people will laugh simply to appease more dominant people, and dominant people exclude themselves from the laugh so as to maintain their dominance. Controlling laugher therefore, can help control our dominance or submission to others, as well as show our acceptance or rejection of others. For example, a polite laugh shows that we are at least “onboard” with a person even though we might not totally agree that what they have said is in fact funny.

Laughter is a form of mirroring and communicates mutual liking and well-being. It can also be used to reduce the harshness of comments or even to take comments back. Humour is an innate vocalization that fosters a sense of community and can help in learning and in creativity. It helps break down walls between different people and can act like a social lubricant to bind people together. Laughter is thirty times more likely to happen in a social setting rather than alone and studies have shown that people don’t really seem to care if the laugh is fake or real, they still tend to like people more when they laugh. Laughing helps us build bonds. Even fake laughs help because at least it shows that a person is trying to fit in.

Cue Cluster: Laughter might be accompanied by social touching, smiling, loose body that lacks negative tension, plenty of “up” non-verbal cues such as arms up, shoulders and head up, toes pointed up, bodies leaning in with engagement and so forth.

Body Language Category: Appease, Enthusiasm (nonverbal), Excited, Fearful body language, Happiness body language, Indicator of interest (IoI), Masked emotions, Nervous body language, Open body language, Nonthreatening body language, Rapport or rapport building, Stressful body language, Surprised body language, Universal gestures.

Body Language of Jaw Drop or Jaw Droop

Body Language of Jaw Drop or Jaw Droop

No picCue: Jaw Drop or Jaw Droop

Synonym(s): Dropping The Jaw.

Description: A facial expression where the mouth or jaw seems to unhinge and drop down.

In One Sentence: The jaw drop indicates shock or awe.

How To Use it: Drop the jaw when you want to show others that you are surprised by what you have heard or seen.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “My jaw is dropping because I can’t believe what I’m seeing – oh my god!”

Variant: See the Surprised Facial Expression.

Cue In Action: The two sisters were calling each other bad names back and forth when out of nowhere one of the girls dropped the f-bomb cuss. Her mom had been passively listening until then, but when the nasty word came out, she dropped her jaw in shock.

Meaning and/or Motivation: It signifies surprise, uncertainty or puzzlement.

To visualize the expression imagine a child lost in a crowd or a person entering an unfamiliar and threatening setting such as a dark alley – their jaws drop and a worried expression comes across their face.

Cue Cluster: The eyes often pop out or flash along with the eyes and the head sometimes drops slack forward.

Body Language Category: Confused, Microexpressions, Surprised body language.

Body Language of Hand Covering or Cupping The Mouth

Body Language of Hand Covering or Cupping The Mouth

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Hand Covering or Cupping The Mouth 2Cue: Hand Covering or Cupping The Mouth.

Synonym(s): Cupping The Mouth, Mouth Slap, Slapping The Mouth, Hand Slapping The Mouth.

Description: a) One or both hands quickly come up to the mouth covering with both palms. b) One hand quickly comes to the mouth palm open against the mouth in a slapping motion.

In One Sentence: Hand to the mouth is a signal of disbelief, shock, mischief, or the desire to reclaim misspoken or damning words by jamming them back in.

How To Use it: Bring the hand to the mouth to show shock or surprise. It is useful to show others that you can’t believe what you just heard or saw. When you say something inappropriate, bringing the hand to the mouth shows other people that you wish to take the words back and wish to prevent any other hurtful words from coming out and doing more damage.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: a) “I’m scared or surprised by what I’m seeing so I’m covering up my surprised gaping mouth.” b) “I can’t believe what I said or what I heard you say and am covering my mouth in effort to jam the words back in or prevent any more offensive words from coming out.” “My hand is slapping my mouth to prevent me from saying things I shouldn’t and to jam the things I already said, back in.”

Variant: See Hand To Mouth, Hand To Nose, Hand To Eye Gesture, Hand To Cheek. Other variants to the mouth slap include a closed fist against the mouth, a single finger over the mouth in a shh-ing gesture (self silencing), finger in the mouth (sucking for soothing), or the hand-to-mouth in a fake cough.

Cue In Action: a) A bicyclist darted through the intersection and ran head-on into oncoming traffic smashing into the hood of a car. The bystanders were stunned. One of the women was covering her mouth in horror. b) The six year old accidentally let out a cuss word in front of her parents. She quickly slapped her mouth in shame. c) Wendy was a chatter box, and the worst at keeping secrets. She was talking away at the cafeteria when she blurted out that she had an outfit all set out for the special occasion on Friday night. Realizing what she had done, she slapped her mouth with her hand. The birthday party was to be a surprise and the birthday girl was right there at the table.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Mouth covering is a 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. However, the mouth slap usually becomes a vestige to other minimized gesture such as the hand to the chin, or the hand coming to the corner of the mouth, or several fingers seemingly busy playing in front of the mouth.

When in the right context, hands to mouth or mouth slapping is a clue to deception and a desire to prevent being detected or revealing too much information. 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” which is a gesture done by placing a finger softly over their lips.

Talking with one’s 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.

Subconsciously, hand-to-mouth gestures leads people to distrust others, and see them as less honest overall. The gesture can be done with a fist, a finger, or a ‘shushing’ motion with the index finger vertically placed over the lips. Other times the subconscious mind is so powerful that the hand comes up and slaps the mouth, but to cover this ‘tell’ up, a fake cough is added.

What starts off as a quick mouth slap movement to the mouth when lying (or swearing) in children, slowly becomes a touch to the corner of the mouth. Later, restraint forces the finger to the side even further and then instead of touching the mouth it touches the side of the nose instead. As people age, they become much more difficult to read. By logical progression, the hardest to read of all are sixty-year-old politicians!

Cue Cluster: The mouth usually gaps open with eyes widening or the mouth jams shut with the head tilted down or away, depending if shock is experienced or words have accidentally spilled out. Sometimes the hands come to the head rather than the mouth during shock. Usually the facial expression is one of surprise. When someone says something regrettable they might blanche or blush, avert their eyes, slink down in embarrassment, seek exits and become quiet. When the hand comes to the mouth in more abbreviated forms, the eyes will also avert, a person may begin to fidget or squirm, touch the neck or nose as well as additional emotional cues of discomfort.

Body Language Category: Adaptors, Disguised gestures, Embarrassment (nonverbal), Leaked or involuntary body language, Lying or deceptive body language, Masked emotions, Surprised body language.

Resources:

Charles v. Ford, Lies! Lies! Lies!: The Psychology of Deceit (Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc., 1996), 200.

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Body Language of Eyebrow Raise

Body Language of Eyebrow Raise

No picCue: Eyebrow Raise

Synonym(s): Raising The Eyebrows, Lifting The Eyebrows.

Description: Raising both eyebrows in unison.

In One Sentence: When the eyebrows rise in unison it signals excitement and surprise.

How To Use it: Raise your eyebrows when you want to tell other people that you find what they have said, or what you have said, surprising, shocking or exciting. A more expressive face helps people connect with you more easily as it helps build your personality. Women usually have a far easier time with these sorts of facial expressions, but men can also benefit especially when they are trying to connect with other women and children.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “My eyebrows are bopping up and down in unison with my speech to emphasis points and produce emotion and expression.”

Variant: See Eyebrow Cock, Eyebrow Hold, Eyebrow Lowering, Eyebrow Flash, Eyebrows Knit or Oblique Eyebrows Of Grief.

Cue In Action: The news reporter raised her eyebrows as she punctuated each news item to show emphasis.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Eyebrows that rise are an indication of excitement. When we speak, we show our enthusiasm more frequently than a full surprise or fear expression, which also has the raises the eyebrows. If you watch closely, you will see a person’s eyebrows rise several times as they deliver their story. It is more common in woman than men.

Eyebrows can also rise to show agreement or to emphasize and punctuate points in speech. The eyebrows frequently rise at the end of questions, as if asking others to clarify. Where eyebrows lower, it signifies dominance, whereas eyebrows raised signals a mild submission and an open facial expression. When one eyebrow rises, the eye cock, it shows suspicion.

Cue Cluster: When eyebrows rise, the eyes also tend to pop open as well. This cue cluster seeks to improve vision, often accompanying surprise.

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Eye Language, Microexpressions, Open facial gestures, Submissive body language, Surprised body language.

Resources:

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