Category: Worry body language

Body Language of Tense Face

Body Language of Tense Face

No picCue: Tense Face.

Synonym(s): Stressed Face, Uneasy Face.

Description: A face that is compressed or contorted by various muscles such as the one between the eyebrows. This muscle will force the eyebrows together creating a wrinkle. The eyes are squinted and the lips are compressed or pursed.

In One Sentence: A tense face indicates stress, worry, and discomfort.

How To Use it: Use a tense face to show that you are not content in the situation. You can signal others that you are in emotional or physical pain by flexing muscles in the face. You may show a tense face when receiving negative news, when presented an unfavourable offer such as in negotiation, when seeing something visually distressing, and so forth. In other words, use a tense face when you want to show others your discomfort and dislike.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m full of stress or worry and am uncomfortable, I hold some degree of negative thoughts which is shown through various muscular contractions in my face.”

Variant: See Eyebrows Knit or Oblique Eyebrows Of Grief, Relaxed Face.

Cue In Action: As the details of the contract became clear, his face began to show signs of disagreement. When the split was offered at 40/60, his eyes squinted. When there was an additional royalty added, his lips compressed. The deal breaker came when he stated the he would be completely bought out of the company at the five year mark. This caused his forehead to furrowed in anger. His body language clearly signaled that had enough with the contract and he wouldn’t sign it.

Meaning and/or Motivation: A tense face is one that shows discomfort and discomfort is a cue that delineates a lack of honesty and that the body is concerned with negative thoughts.

Bodies show additional discomfort through an increased heart rate, breath rate, sweating, a change in normal colour in the face or neck, trembling or shaking in the hands lips, or elsewhere, compressing the lips, fidgeting, drumming the fingers and other repetitive behaviours. Voices often crack when under stress, mouths might dry up producing noticeable swallowing, “hard swallows”, or frequent throat clearing.

Cue Cluster: The eyes are compressed, tense and focused, the arms and legs will cross, the lips purse and licked frequently, people will tighten their bodies up, they might stop speaking, legs and toes may face away from the negative stimuli and toward the door, breathing might be shallow or exaggerated as if ready for action, hands might be rubbed against one other or against the thighs, the face might be touched and the skin pinched, plucked or scratched.

Body Language Category: Confused body language, Closed body language, Closed facial gestures, Dislike (nonverbal), Disapproval cues, Emotional body language, Evaluative body language, Negative body language, Stressful body language, Worry 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.

Aviezer H, Trope Y, Todorov A. Body cues, not facial expressions, discriminate between intense positive and negative emotions. Science 2012;338:1225–9.

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/

App, Betsy; Catherine L. Reed and Daniel N. McIntosh. Relative Contributions Of Face And Body Configurations: Perceiving Emotional State And Motion Intention. Cognition and Emotion. 2012. 26(4): 690-698.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/facial-expressions-versus-bodily-expressions-nonverbal-communication/

Aaron, Sell; Cosmides, Leda and Tooby, John. The Human Anger Face Evolved to Enhance Cues of Strength. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2014. 35(5): 425-429.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/the-universal-anger-face/

Ben-Zeev, Avi; Tara C. Dennehy; Rachel Sackman; Andres Olide and Christopher C. Berger. Flirting With Threat: Social Identity and the Perils of the Female Communality Prescription. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2011. 47: 1308-1311.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/flirting-with-danger-women-flirt-to-avoid-conflict/

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.

Burton, Keith W. Habitual emotion regulation and the facial grimace. Psychological reports. 2011. 109(2): 521-32.

Burton, K. W., Hargrave, K., Myers, S., Warren, A., Wolsfeld, S., Tompkins, D., Qualls, M., & Reminger, S. (2008) Habitual emotion regulation and increased zygomaticus major activity evoked by negative images (or “grimacing”). Psychophysiology,
45, S118.

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

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.

Daniele Marzoli, Mariagrazia Custodero, Alessandra Pagliara, and Luca Tommasi. Sun-Induced Frowning Fosters Aggressive Feelings. Cognition And Emotion. 2013; 27 (8): 1513-1521.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/the-sun-can-produce-feelings-of-anger-and-aggression-it-makes-us-frown/

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. (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.

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.

Grezes, Julie; Le´onor Philip; Michele Chadwick; Guillaume Dezecache; Robert Soussignan and Laurence Conty. Self-Relevance Appraisal Influences Facial Reactions to Emotional Body Expressions. PLoS ONE. 2013. 8(2): e55885. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055885
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/face-reacts-body-anger-brains-wired-process-emotional-body-language

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/

Hatz, Jessica L. and Martin J. Bourgeois. Anger as a Cue to Truthfulness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2010. 46: 680-683.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/anger-nonverbal-cue-truth-telling/

Hareli, Shlomo; Noga Shomrat and Ursula Hess. Emotional Versus Neutral Expressions and Perceptions of Social Dominance and Submissiveness. Emotion. 2009 9(3): 378-384. DOI: 10.1037/a0015958
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/dominance-expression-conveyed-different-facial-expressions-men-women/

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/

Kret, Mariska Esther and Beatrice de Gelder. Social Context Influences Recognition of Bodily Expressions. Exp Brain Res. 2010. 203:169-180. DOI 10.1007/s00221-010-2220-8
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/context-matters-judging-body-language/

Kret, M. E. and B. de Gelder. When a Smile Becomes a Fist: The Perception of Facial and Bodily Expressions of Emotion in Violent Offenders. Exp Brain Res. 2013. 228: 399-410. DOI 10.1007/s00221-013-3557-6.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/reading-bodily-postures-facial-expressions-incorrectly-can-disastrous-just-ask-violent-offenders/

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.

Lang, P. J., Greenwald, M. K., Bradley, M. M., & Hamm, A. O. (1993) Looking at pictures: affective, facial, visceral, and behavioral reactions. Psychophysiology, 30,
261-273.

Larsen, J. T., Norris, C. J., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2003) Effects of positive affect and negative affect on electromyographic activity over zygomaticus major and corrugator supercilii. Psychophysiology, 40, 776-785.

Mori, K., & Mori, H. (2010) Examination of the passive facial feedback hypothesis using an implicit measure: with a furrowed brow, neutral objects with pleasant primes look less appealing. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 111, 785-789.
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.

Marzoli, Daniele; Mariagrazia Custodero; Alessandra Pagliara and Luca Tommasi. Sun-Induced Frowning Fosters Aggressive Feelings. Cognition And Emotion. 2013; 27 (8): 1513-1521.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/avoid-anger-sunny-days/

Mondloch, Catherine J.; Nicole L. Nelson and Matthew Horner. Asymmetries of Influence: Differential Effects of Body Postures on Perceptions of Emotional Facial Expressions. PLOS one. September 2013. 8(9): e73605.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/facial-expressions-versus-bodily-expressions-nonverbal-communication-2

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.

Nao, Misako Sawada and Motonobu Ishii. Development of the Movements Impressions Emotions Model: Evaluation of Movements and Impressions Related to the Perception of Emotions in Dance. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2013. 37:107-121.
DOI 10.1007/s10919-013-0148-y
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/convey-emotion-nonverbally-dance-study/

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.

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.

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.

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

Reed, Lawrence, Ian; Peter DeScioli and Steven A. Pinker. The Commitment Function of Angry Facial Expressions. Psychological Science. 2014 DOI: 10.1177/0956797614531027
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/anger-facial-expression-gets-people-to-do-what-you-want/

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/

Sell, A., Cosmides, L. and Tooby, J., The Human Anger Face Evolved to Enhance Cues of Strength. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2014, doi: 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2014.05.008
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/human-anger-face-signal-strength

Sinke, C.B, Sorger, B, Goebel, R, and de Gelder, B. Tease or Threat? Judging Social Interactions From Bodily Expressions. Neuroimage. A Journal of Brain Function. 2009. 49:1717-1727. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/friend-foe-let-body-language-decide

Stienen, Bernard M. C.; Akihiro Tanaka and Beatrice de Gelder. Emotional Voice and Emotional Body Postures Influence Each Other Independently of Visual Awareness. PLoS ONE. 2011. 6(10): e25517. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0025517.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-language-read-quickly-subconsciously-study/

Schubert, Thomas W. The Power In Your Hand: Gender Differences In Bodily Feedback
From Making a Fist. Society for Personality and Social Psychology. 2004. 30(6): 757-769. DOI: 10.1177/0146167204263780
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/men-view-power-body-language-different-women-bodily-feedback-making-fist/

Sell, A., Tooby, J., and Cosmides, L. Formidability and the Logic of Human Anger. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. 2009. 106(35), 15073-78.

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/

Thompson, Erin H. and James A. Hampton. The Effect of Relationship Status on Communicating Emotions Through Touch,. Cognition and Emotion. 2011. 25(2): 295-306. DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2010.492957.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/using-touch-convey-emotion/

Wilkowski, Benjamin M. and Brian P. Meier. Bring It On: Angry Facial Expressions Potentiate Approach-Motivated Motor Behavior. 2010. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 98(2): 201-210.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/anger-facial-expression-elicits-approach-not-avoidance-study/

Zieber, Nicole; Ashley Kangas; Alyson Hock; and Ramesh S. Bhatt. Infants’ Perception of Emotion From Body Movements. Child Development. 2014. 85(2): 675-684.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/careful-infants-perceptive-reading-body-language/

Zhao, Ke; Wen-Jing Yan; Yu-Hsin Chen; Xi-Nian Zuo and Xiaolan Fu. Amygdala Volume Predicts Inter-Individual Differences in Fearful Face Recognition. PLOS one. August 2013. (8): 8: e74096. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074096.g001
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/fear-amygdala

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/

Body Language of Suckling

Body Language of Suckling

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Suckling 1Cue: Suckling.

Synonym(s): Mouthing An Object, Chewing On A Pen, Pen Sucking, Sucking On A Pen (or other), Oral Fixation.

Description: When any object including pens or fingers are brought to the lips and chewed or sucked on.

In One Sentence: Suckling indicates a need for self-soothing due to negative feelings.

How To Use it: While suckling can help produce comfort, it is not considered a cue that should be used in full view of others as it is unlikely to produce a desirable impression.

Context: a) General. b) Dating.

Verbal Translation: “I’m in need of an oral fixation to calm my nerves so I’m suckling – on my finger or pen, as I did when I was a baby.”

Variant: See Hand to Mouth, Lip Chewing or Chewing The Lips, Hair Play, Nail Biting.

Cue In Action: a) Debbie was a shy, timid person, she kept her gaze low, easily blushed, and was quiet around strangers. This was especially so when put on the spot or questioned. At her desk, she habitually mouthed pens, paper clips, or chewed on her fingers. a) During the exam, the student mouthed her pen as she suffered through a question she wasn’t familiar with. b) Debbie was thinking about Mark and subconsciously tapped the end of her pen against her lower lip. The pen was a phallic replacement.

Meaning and/or Motivation: The mouth and lips are full of nerve endings which, when stimulated, provides tactile gratification and comfort. However, anytime the fingers go to the mouth such as playing with the side of the mouth or lip, it’s a retrogressive action indicating insecurity. These types of gestures are called “pacifying behaviours” because they are designed to reduce anxiety when someone is exposed to something distressing. Pacifying language tells us that the mind is not at ease, and it is attempting to restore the body’ natural state.

Suckling body language essentially turns us back into babies or at least indicates to others our need for self-soothing due to emotional stress.

Adults that are tense or anxious will play with their mouth or lip. Mouthing a pen, cigarette, hair, and even a piece of gum during emotional distress are substitutes for the mother’s breast. They remind us of early childhood mouthing. Sucking, like plucking, picking or chewing the lips or rubbing them with a finger or thumb are all forms of auto touching. Confident individuals would never consider using these types of security blankets.

Alternatively, an object to the mouth can represent a phallic purpose. Subconscious controls can lead one to bring an object to the mouth during sexual thoughts. The pen for example, can be a substitute for a penis during arousal.

Cue Cluster: Watch for other negative emotional cues such as pinching the skin, scratching, smoothing clothing, eye aversion, head lowered, blushing, trembling, attempt to exit (escape movements), ventral denial, turning the body away, sweating and so forth.

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Auto contact or self touching, Boredom body language, Courtship displays, Displacement behaviour, Embarrassment (nonverbal), Emotional body language, Idiosyncratic body language, Indicators of sexual interest (IOsI), Low confidence body language, Oral displacement activities, Pensive displays, Pseudo-infantile gestures, Pacifying body language, Security blankets, Shy nonberbal, Worry body language.

Resources:

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

Argo, J. J., Dahl, D. W., & Morales, A. C. (2006). Consumer contamination: How consumers react to products touched by others. Journal of Marketing, 70(April), 81–94.

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

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

Caplovitz Barrett, Karen. The origins of social emotions and self-regulation in toddlerhood: New evidence. Cognition & Emotion. 2005. 19(7): 953-979.

Castles, Duncan L. ; Whiten, Andrew ; Aureli, Filippo. Social anxiety, relationships and self-directed behaviour among wild female olive baboons. Animal Behaviour. 1999. 58(6): 1207-1215.

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

Dimond, Stuart ; Harries, Rashida. Face touching in monkeys, apes and man: Evolutionary origins and cerebral asymmetry. Neuropsychologia. 1984. 22(2): 227-233.

Erkolahti, R., & Nystro¨m, M. (2009). The prevalence of transitional object use in adolescence: is there a connection between the existence of a transitional object and depressive symptoms? European Child Adolescence Psychiatry, 18, 400–406.

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

Festjens, Anouk; Sabrina Bruyneel and Siegfried Dewitte. What a Feeling! Touching Sexually Laden Stimuli Makes Women Seek Rewards. Journal of Consumer Psychology. 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2013.10.001
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/not-sexy-images-sexy-touch-drives-womens-purchases/

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

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

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.

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

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

Kalpidou, Maria. Sensory Processing Relates to Attachment to Childhood Comfort Objects of College Students. Early Child Development and Care. 2012. 182(12): 1563-1574.

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

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

Kirschbaum C, Pirke K-M, Hellhammer DH. 1993. The ‘Trier Social Stress Test’: a tool for investigating psychobiological stress responses in a laboratory setting. Neuropsychobiology 28: 76–81.

Kammers, Marjolein P.M. ; de Vignemont, Frédérique ; Haggard, Patrick. Cooling the Thermal Grill Illusion through Self-Touch. Current Biology. 2010. 20(20): 1819-182.

Lastovicka, J. L., & Sirianni, N. J. (2011). Truly, madly, deeply: Consumers in the throes of material possession love. Journal of Consumer Research, 38(2), 323–341.

Lehman, E.B., Arnold, B.E., & Reeves, S.L. (1995). Attachments to blankets, teddy bears, and other nonsocial objects: A child’s perspective. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 156(4), 443–459.

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

Meier, B. P., Schnall, S., Schwarz, N., & Bargh, J. A. (2012). Embodiment in social psychology. Topics in Cognitive Science, 4(4), 705–716.

Maclaren, Kym. Touching matters: Embodiments of intimacy. Emotion, Space and Society. 2014. 13: 95-102.

Maestripieri D, Schino G, Aureli F, Troisi A. 1992. A modest proposal: displacement activities as an indicator of emotions in primates. Anim Behav 44:967–979.

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

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

Mohiyeddini, C., & Semple, S. (2013). Displacement behaviour regulates the experience of stress in men. Stress, 16, 163–171.

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

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/

Michel Desmurget; Nathalie Richard; Sylvain Harquel; Pierre Baraduc; Alexandru Szathmari; Carmine Mottolese; and Angela Sirigu. Neural representations of ethologically relevant hand/mouth synergies in the human precentral gyrus. PNAS. 2014. 111 (15).

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

Neuroscience: Why babies live hand to mouth. Nature. 2014. 508(7494). p.10.

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

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.

Peck, J., & Shu, S. B. (2009). The effect of mere touch on perceived ownership. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(Oct), 434–447.

Pless, I. B. ; Cripps, H. A. ; Davies, J. M. C. ; Wadsworth, M. E. J. Chronic physical illness in childhood: psychological and social effects in adolescence and adult life. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology. 1989. 31(6): 746(10).

Pecora, Giulia ; Addessi, Elsa ; Schino, Gabriele ; Bellagamba, Francesca. Do displacement activities help preschool children to inhibit a forbidden action? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2014. 126: 80-90.

Passman, R.H. (1987). Attachments to inanimate objects: Are children who have security blankets insecure? Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55(6), 825–830.

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

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

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.

Val-laillet, David ; Nowak, Raymond ; Giraud, Sandra ; Tallet, Céline ; Boivin, Xavier. Nonnutritive sucking: One of the major determinants of filial love. Developmental Psychobiology. 2006. 48(3): 220-232.

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.

Cue: Shallow Breathing

Body Language of Shallow Breathing

No picCue: Shallow Breathing

Synonym(s): Hyperventilating, Shallow Breathing, Panting.

Description: An unusually high and quick rate of respiration.

In One Sentence: Shallow breathing indicates a high level of physical or emotional arousal.

How To Use it: Use shallow breathing to prepare for the flight or fight response. It will help oxygenate the blood in preparation for battle. Hyperventilating is an emergency response signal and if perceived by others will offer medical assistance and emotional support. If this sort of sympathy is desired, then shallow breathing can help garner that sort of attention. Use the signal with care so as not to appear overly dramatic or emotionally unstable.

Context: a) Dating, b) General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m getting so excited I need to consume more and more oxygen in order to get the job done.” “

Variant: See Deep Breathing.

Cue In Action: a) She panted with excitement as their lips met – her lust was obvious b) He was left alone in the woods and didn’t know where he was. The more he moved, the more he panicked. He nearly hyperventilated from fear.

Meaning and/or Motivation: a) When sexually aroused, women (usually) will breath with an excited pace as if hyperventilating. This is thought to function as a way to take in more of the aroma of her partner. b) During a state of elation, panic or fear, people will often take frequent, but shallower breaths.

Cue Cluster: a) Various other sexual cues such as increased proximity, eye contact, removing clothing to be more comfortable, preening, and so forth. b) The winning sports team will often be seen with their arms extended, their heads thrown back and their mouths and eyes opened wide in a state of ecstasy.

Body Language Category: Arousal, Autonomic signal, Courtship display, Indicators of sexual interest (IOsI), Nervous body language, Physiological signals, Physiological signals, Stressful body language, Worry body language.

Resources:

Allen, Ben ; Friedman, Bruce H. Positive emotion reduces dyspnea during slow paced breathing. Psychophysiology. 2012 49(5): 690-696.

Brown, Richard P ; Gerbarg, Patricia L. Sudarshan Kriya yogic breathing in the treatment of stress, anxiety, and depression: part I-neurophysiologic model. Journal of alternative and complementary medicine . 2005. 11(1): 189-201.

Bracha, H. S. (2004). Freeze, flight, fight, fright, faint: Adaptionist perspectives on the acute stress response spectrum. CNS Spectrums, 9, 679–685.

Boiten, Frans A. The effects of emotional behaviour on components of the respiratory cycle. Biological Psychology. 1998. 49(1): 29-51.

Cannon, W. B. (1929). Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear and rage (2nd ed.). New York: Appleton, Century, Crofts.

Estes, Zachary Estes and Michelle Verges. Freeze or flee? Negative stimuli elicit selective responding. Cognition. 2008. 108(2): 557-565.

Everly, Jr., G. S. & Lating, J. M. (2002). A clinical guide to the treatment of the human stress response (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers

Ekerholt, Kirsten Bergland. Breathing: a sign of life and a unique area for reflection and action. Astrid Physical therapy. 2008 88(7): 832-40.

Geronemus, Hillary. Breathe Through It. Women’s Health. 2010. 7(3): 068

Hunter, Virginia. Clinical clues in the breathing behaviors of patient and therapist. Clinical Social Work Journal. Summer. 1993 21(2):161-118

Sand-Jecklin, Kari. Patient Anxiety Levels Related to Gynecologic Examinations: Use of the Color Breathwork Relaxation Method. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing. 2008. 22(4): 240-242.

Schmidt, N. B., & Joiner, T., Jr. (2002). Structure of the anxiety sensitivity index: Psychometrics and factor structure in a community sample. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 16, 33–49.

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

Schmidt, Norman B. ; Richey, J. Anthony ; Zvolensky, Michael J. ; Maner, Jon K. Exploring human freeze responses to a threat stressor. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. 2008. 39(3): 292-304.

Tainsky, Al. Calm, cool, collected: a meditation primer. Inside MS, Wntr. 2002. 20(1): 24(4).

Zvolensky, M. J., & Eifert, G. H. (2001). A review of psychological factors/processes affecting anxious responding during voluntary hyperventilation and inhalations of carbon dioxide-enriched air. Clinical Psychology Review, 21, 375–400.

Body Language of Self Stroking or Auto Contact

Body Language of Self Stroking or Auto Contact

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Self Stroking or Auto Contact 3 BodyLanguageProjectCom - Self Stroking or Auto Contact 2 BodyLanguageProjectCom - Self Stroking or Auto Contact 5 BodyLanguageProjectCom - Self Stroking or Auto Contact 6Cue: Self Stroking or Auto Contact.

Synonym(s): Auto Contact, AutoErotic Touching, Stroking The Self, Petting The Self, Self-Soothing, Touching The Self, Self-Touching.

Description: When the body is stroked or petted or touching in a way to produce a soothing effect as a mother would sooth her child.

In One Sentence: Self stroking is a sign of anxiety, nervousness, and need for reassurance.

How To Use it: Self stroking is a common form of self-soothing. Using it makes us feel comforted as we remind ourselves of the type of touching we received as infants by our parents. Self soothing helps release positive hormones when we need them the most. The context in which self stroking works is limitless, however, one should generally avoid self stroking if one wishes to appear dominant, confident, and in control. Touching the back of the head or stroking the arm are a couple ways that help produce a calming feeling.

In dating, women can use self stroking to create desire in men. Women should touch themselves in ways that simulate how they would like their partner to touch them (within reason or course). Lightly touching the upper chest area by playing with a necklace draws attention to the breast area. This serves to arouse a companion. Another area women can emphasis is the outside of the thigh or if one really wishes to arouse, the inside of the upper thigh with legs crossed. Lightly stroking the neck with hair moved to one side shows vulnerability. This is read as alluring and submissive.

Context: a) General b) Dating.

Verbal Translation: a) “I’m anxious, nervous, and in need of reassurance so I’m replicating the touch patterns my parents used to comfort me in their stead.” b) I’m aroused and am subconsciously stroking my body in response to the positive sexual feelings I’m experiencing.”

Variant: See Chin Stroking, Hand To Cheek, Hand to Mouth, Slow Stroking Of Upper Thigh.

Cue In Action: a) He was stressed out. While pondering his next move, his hand reached back and stroked the back of his head. a) Her breast momentarily rose as she crossed her arms tightly underneath them. It went unnoticed and even out of her consciousness, but the slight touch of her breast released oxytocin and helped calm her excited nerves. b) She stroked her neck with her fingers drawing attention to the most vulnerable part of her body.

Meaning and/or Motivation: a) “Auto contact” is a term used to describe any gesture such as rubbing the hands, tugging the ear, massaging the throat, pulling the fingers, rubbing the back of the neck and so forth, which is meant to sooth the body and create comfort. These gestures are also used to eliminate internal tensions and provide reassurance. Self-soothing is linked to insecurity since they attempt to provide reassurance.

It is believed that these mannerisms stem from childhood sources when our parents would comfort us with touch. Social touching has been shown to increase oxytocin which is a natural chemical messenger released by the brain. Oxytocin also helps in reducing anxiety, and creates feelings of contentment, calmness and creates trust.

Self-touching serves to fight the underlying stress associated with the negative stimulus so as to recreate the feelings of having someone sooth you. This reminds people of more pleasurable situations. In short, it takes the mind to a better place.

b) Conversely, self-touching can have a positive connotation, as is the case during a dating context. Here, a person, usually a woman will touch herself because she is experiencing sexual feelings. She strokes her neck, wrists, or a bare shoulder as a subconscious act which in turn has the effect of drawing male attention to her features.

Self-touching in a dating context is as if a person is doing the type of touching they are seeking to be performed on them, by someone else. Thus, the self-touch is a touch invitation, or touch prelude and a touch replacement.

Cue Cluster: Watch for stroking the beard, rubbing the hands, tugging the ear, massaging the throat, pulling the fingers, rubbing the back of the neck, wringing the hands or rubbing the legs, rubbing the temples, hair touches and grooming or stroking the sides of the arms. When in a dating context watch for the cue to be anchored to a specific person through eye contact and at least three other independent sexual cues of interest.

Body Language Category: Auto contact or self touching, Comfort body language, Emotional body language, Stroking body language, Low confidence body language, Pacifying body language, Stressful body language, Worry body language.

Resources:

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

Bouras, N. ; Dykens, E. M. ; Smith, A. C. M. Distinctiveness and correlates of maladaptive behaviour in children and adolescents with Smith–Magenis syndrome. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research. 1998. 42(6): 481-489.

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

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

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

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

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

Bouhuys, A.L. ; Jansen, C.J. ; van den Hoofdakker, R.H. Analysis of observed behaviors displayed by depressed patients during a clinical interview: relationships between behavioral factors and clinical concepts of activation. Journal of Affective Disorders. 1991. 21(2): 79-88.

Bouhuys, A.L. ; Beersma, Domien G.M. ; van den Hoofdakker, Rutger H. Observed behavior as a predictor of the response to sleep deprivation in depressed patients. Psychiatry Research. 1989. 28(1): 47-61.

Berridge CW,Mitton E, ClarkW, Roth RH. 1999. Engagement in a non-escape (displacement) behavior elicits a selective and lateralized suppression of frontal cortical dopaminergic utilization in stress. Synapse 32:187–197.

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

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

Caplovitz Barrett, Karen. The origins of social emotions and self-regulation in toddlerhood: New evidence. Cognition & Emotion. 2005. 19(7): 953-979.

Castles, Duncan L. ; Whiten, Andrew ; Aureli, Filippo. Social anxiety, relationships and self-directed behaviour among wild female olive baboons. Animal Behaviour. 1999. 58(6): 1207-1215.

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

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

Karagozoglu, Serife ; Kahve, Emine. Effects of back massage on chemotherapy-related fatigue and anxiety: Supportive care and therapeutic touch in cancer nursing. Applied Nursing Research. 2013. 26(4): 210-217.

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Hernandez-Reif, Maria ; Diego, Miguel ; Field, Tiffany. Preterm infants show reduced stress behaviors and activity after 5 days of massage therapy. Infant Behavior and Development. 2007. 30(4): 557-561.

Harrison, Lynda Law. The use of comforting touch and massage to reduce stress for preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews. 2001. 1(4): 235-241.

Hennessy, Michael B ; T. Williams, Michael ; Miller, Deborah D ; Douglas, Chet W ; Voith, Victoria L. Influence of male and female petters on plasma cortisol and behaviour: can human interaction reduce the stress of dogs in a public animal shelter? Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 1998. 61(1): 63-77.

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

Harrigan, Jinni A.; Karen S. Lucic; Denise Kay; Anne McLaney and Robert Rosenthal. Effect of Expresser Role and Type of Self-Touching on Observers’ Perceptions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 1991. 21(7): 585-609.

Heaven, Laura ; Mcbrayer, Dan ; Prince, Bob. Role of sex in externally motivated self-touching gestures. Perceptual and motor skills. 2002. 95(1): 289-94.

Heaven, L ; Mcbrayer, D. External motivators of self-touching behavior. Perceptual and motor skills. 2000. 90(1): 338-42.

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/

Hall, Judith ; LeBeau, Lavonia ; Reinoso, Jeannette ; Thayer, Frank. Status, Gender, and Nonverbal Behavior in Candid and Posed Photographs: A Study of Conversations Between University Employees. Sex Roles. 2001 44(11): 677-692.

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

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

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

Kirschbaum C, Pirke K-M, Hellhammer DH. 1993. The ‘Trier Social Stress Test’: a tool for investigating psychobiological stress responses in a laboratory setting. Neuropsychobiology 28: 76–81.

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

Lee Ann Renninger, T. Joel Wade, Karl Grammer. Getting that female glance: Patterns and consequences of male nonverbal behavior in courtship contexts. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2004; 25: 416–431.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/part-i-how-to-read-male-sexual-body-language-a-study-for-women-and-the-men-who-wish-to-cheat-the-system/

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/

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

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

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

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

Moszkowski, Robin J. ; Stack, Dale M. ; Chiarella, Sabrina S. Infant touch with gaze and affective behaviors during mother–infant still-face interactions: Co-occurrence and functions of touch. Infant Behavior and Development. 2009. 32(4): 392-403.

Maestripieri D, Schino G, Aureli F, Troisi A. 1992. A modest proposal: displacement activities as an indicator of emotions in primates. Anim Behav 44:967–979.

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

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

Mohiyeddini, C., & Semple, S. (2013). Displacement behaviour regulates the experience of stress in men. Stress, 16, 163–171.

Marcus-Newhall A, Pedersen WC, Carlson M, Miller N. 2000. Displaced aggression is alive and well: a meta-analytic review. J Pers Soc Psychol 78:670–689. Ingram GIC. 1960. Displacement activity in human behavior. Am Anthropol. 62:994–1003.

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

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

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

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.

Pecora, Giulia ; Addessi, Elsa ; Schino, Gabriele ; Bellagamba, Francesca. Do displacement activities help preschool children to inhibit a forbidden action? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2014. 126: 80-90.

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

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

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

Schaafsma, Juliette ; Krahmer, Emiel ; Postma, Marie ; Swerts, Marc ; Balsters, Martijn ; Vingerhoets, Ad. Comfortably Numb? Nonverbal Reactions to Social Exclusion. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2015. 39(1): 25-39.

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

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

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.

Vannorsdall, Tracy ; Dahlquist, Lynnda ; Shroff Pendley, Jennifer ; Power, Thomas. The Relation Between Nonessential Touch and Children’s Distress During Lumbar Punctures. Children’s Health Care. 2004. 33(4): 299-315.

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

Body Language of Self-Harm

Body Language of Self-Harm

No picCue: Self-Harm.

Synonym(s): Pinching The Skin, Squeezing Pimples, Scratching The Skin, Cracking Knuckles, Plucking Hair, Hair Pulling (self), Pulling At The Skin, Cracking Knuckles.

Description: A particularly aggressive scratch, pinch, or clawing at the body during emotional stress.

In One Sentence: Self harm is a sign of emotional stress.

How To Use it: While self harming can produce feelings of control and emotional release, it only masks underlying emotional issues. If you are a self-harmer, find someone you trust and work through your problems in a more constructive way.

Even mild self harming such as self-pinching, jaw clenching, body gripping and wringing, and so forth, are not positive signals. By identifying these patterns and discover the cause it will help move you in a more constructive direction.

Simply eliminating the body language can, at times, and in mid cases, reduce negative emotions by eliminating the outer symptoms, however, they will not deal with the true root. Talk to someone you trust if you are a habitual self-harmer. Build the courage to vocalize the real issue.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m losing control of the situation and my emotions, and am using self pain to re-establish my ability to influence things that are happening to me.”

Variant: Self-harm can take many forms, but all forms are motivated by the need to control the source of emotional pain by taking it in one’s own hands. A person might pinch the skin, scratch the skin, squeeze pimples, crack the knuckles, pluck or pull hair and so forth. See Hand Clenching or Fist Clenching.

Cue In Action: a) As the teenager suffered, she cut herself on the wrist and abdomen. While it didn’t resolve her underlying emotional issues, it provided a way that she could control the pain she was experiencing. b) The stress caused him to pick and pull at his pimples. c) Running the fingers through her knotted hair felt nice as she dealt with the loss of her grandmother. d) He plucked nose hair while thinking of how his boss had refused a raise.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Self-harm is linked to clenching and gripping body language as both are ways people show that they harbour negative feelings and emotions. Pinching the skin, scratching and pulling are ways a person regains control over the root of their pain. When a person self-harms, they are showing others that they are insecure, have negative feelings, low self-esteem, or are in immediate distress.

We should be particularly attuned to self harm that happens suddenly as this can predict a change in emotional state. Also carefully watch for the amplitude, frequency and force behind the self harm to monitor the underlying emotional state.

Clenching and gripping can have many other forms as well, including clenching the jaws tight or even talking through the teeth, cracking knuckles, pulling the hair or even plucking it, pinching one’s self, and clenching the fists by turning them into a ball.

In my observations of other people, I have noticed some peculiar emotional behaviour that includes the grotesque such as squeezing pimples to plucking nose hairs to more damaging and extreme behaviours such as hitting the head and scratching called “self harm” but can include any other painful and repetitive behaviours serving to sooth emotional stress.

Cue Cluster: Watch for multiple cues of self-harm. We often see fidgeting, pacing, blushing or blanching, tug at their skin such as their ears, nose or hair.

Body Language Category: Auto contact or self touching, Aggressive body language, Clenching and gripping, Emotional body language, Energy Displacement, Hostile body language, Idiosyncratic body language, Low confidence body language, Negative body language, Stressful body language, Worry 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 Running The Tongue Over The Teeth or Lips

Body Language of Running The Tongue Over The Teeth or Lips

No picCue: Running The Tongue Over The Teeth or Lips.

Synonym(s): Tongue To teeth, Licking The Teeth.

Description: When the tongue is run back and forth over the teeth or lips either with the mouth closed or mouth opened (rare). When the tongue is run back and forth across the teeth with the mouth closed, it shows up as only a bulge passing under the lips as the skin is forced out.

In One Sentence: Running the tongue over the teeth is a sign of the need for pacifying due to negative emotions.

How To Use it: Running the tongue over the teeth produces a comforting feeling. This cue generally goes unnoticed by most people so can be covertly used to pacify the mind.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m running my tongue over my teeth or lips in order to creating a soothing sensation because I’m in need of pacifying due to anxiety.”

Variant: See Lip Licking, Leg Cleansing or Leg Pacifying Behaviour, Neck Rubbing (back of neck) or Holding The Back Of The Neck.

Cue In Action: a) His tongue darted in and out, sweeping left and right during his daily tasks inciting his underlying obsessive-compulsive disorder. b) A bulge formed under his front lips indicating that his tongue was sweeping his teeth. The salesman knew his final price wasn’t going to cut it.

Meaning and/or Motivation: At times, lip licking is a sexual cue, but when it is absent of other sexual cues in cluster, it signifies a need to pacify. When done to pacify, it is usually done repeatedly and rhythmically without eye contact. The tongue on teeth provides a soothing tactile stimuli aimed at reducing anxiety.

Often the cue happens just out of perception to a casual observer, but when watched for, can be quite pronounced. A person might sweep their teeth and enjoy the soft surface they provide while dealing with distress.

Habitual teeth lickers provide evidence that they harbor hidden underlying discomfort. The same can be said for habitual lip lickers who sweep their lips over and over again. As the tongue sweeps, it serves the same purpose as running the palms over the thighs, or rubbing the back of the neck, stroking the hands, rubbing the back of the head and so forth. These are all ways we pacify and sooth ourselves throughout the day as stress presents itself.

Cue Cluster: Watch for other pacifying behaviours such as rubbing the face, playing with the hair, stroking the arm or thighs, or hand or an object to the mouth.

Body Language Category: Auto contact or self touching, Autoerotic touching, Courtship display, Stroking body language, Indicators of sexual interest (IOsI), Pacifying body language, Stressful body language, Worry body language.

Resources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bouhuys, A.L. ; Jansen, C.J. ; van den Hoofdakker, R.H. Analysis of observed behaviors displayed by depressed patients during a clinical interview: relationships between behavioral factors and clinical concepts of activation. Journal of Affective Disorders. 1991. 21(2): 79-88.

Bouhuys, A.L. ; Beersma, Domien G.M. ; van den Hoofdakker, Rutger H. Observed behavior as a predictor of the response to sleep deprivation in depressed patients. Psychiatry Research. 1989. 28(1): 47-61.

Berridge CW,Mitton E, ClarkW, Roth RH. 1999. Engagement in a non-escape (displacement) behavior elicits a selective and lateralized suppression of frontal cortical dopaminergic utilization in stress. Synapse 32:187–197.

Caplovitz Barrett, Karen. The origins of social emotions and self-regulation in toddlerhood: New evidence. Cognition & Emotion. 2005. 19(7): 953-979.

Castles, Duncan L. ; Whiten, Andrew ; Aureli, Filippo. Social anxiety, relationships and self-directed behaviour among wild female olive baboons. Animal Behaviour. 1999. 58(6): 1207-1215.

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

Everly, Jr., G. S. & Lating, J. M. (2002). A clinical guide to the treatment of the human stress response (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers

Karagozoglu, Serife ; Kahve, Emine. Effects of back massage on chemotherapy-related fatigue and anxiety: Supportive care and therapeutic touch in cancer nursing. Applied Nursing Research. 2013. 26(4): 210-217.

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

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.

Hernandez-Reif, Maria ; Diego, Miguel ; Field, Tiffany. Preterm infants show reduced stress behaviors and activity after 5 days of massage therapy. Infant Behavior and Development. 2007. 30(4): 557-561.

Harrison, Lynda Law. The use of comforting touch and massage to reduce stress for preterm infants in the neonatal intensive care unit. Newborn and Infant Nursing Reviews. 2001. 1(4): 235-241.

Hennessy, Michael B ; T. Williams, Michael ; Miller, Deborah D ; Douglas, Chet W ; Voith, Victoria L. Influence of male and female petters on plasma cortisol and behaviour: can human interaction reduce the stress of dogs in a public animal shelter?
Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 1998. 61(1): 63-77.

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

Harrigan, Jinni A.; Karen S. Lucic; Denise Kay; Anne McLaney and Robert Rosenthal. Effect of Expresser Role and Type of Self-Touching on Observers’ Perceptions. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 1991. 21(7): 585-609.

Heaven, Laura ; Mcbrayer, Dan ; Prince, Bob. Role of sex in externally motivated self-touching gestures. Perceptual and motor skills. 2002. 95(1): 289-94.

Heaven, L ; Mcbrayer, D. External motivators of self-touching behavior. Perceptual and motor skills. 2000. 90(1): 338-42.

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

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

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

Moszkowski, Robin J. ; Stack, Dale M. ; Chiarella, Sabrina S. Infant touch with gaze and affective behaviors during mother–infant still-face interactions: Co-occurrence and functions of touch. Infant Behavior and Development. 2009. 32(4): 392-403.

Maestripieri D, Schino G, Aureli F, Troisi A. 1992. A modest proposal: displacement activities as an indicator of emotions in primates. Anim Behav 44:967–979.

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

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

Mohiyeddini, C., & Semple, S. (2013). Displacement behaviour regulates the experience of stress in men. Stress, 16, 163–171.

Marcus-Newhall A, Pedersen WC, Carlson M, Miller N. 2000. Displaced aggression is alive and well: a meta-analytic review. J Pers Soc Psychol 78:670–689. Ingram GIC. 1960. Displacement activity in human behavior. Am Anthropol. 62:994–1003.

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/

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.

Kirschbaum C, Pirke K-M, Hellhammer DH. 1993. The ‘Trier Social Stress Test’: a tool for investigating psychobiological stress responses in a laboratory setting. Neuropsychobiology 28: 76–81.

Pecora, Giulia ; Addessi, Elsa ; Schino, Gabriele ; Bellagamba, Francesca. Do displacement activities help preschool children to inhibit a forbidden action? Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2014. 126: 80-90.

Schaafsma, Juliette ; Krahmer, Emiel ; Postma, Marie ; Swerts, Marc ; Balsters, Martijn ; Vingerhoets, Ad. Comfortably Numb? Nonverbal Reactions to Social Exclusion. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2015. 39(1): 25-39.

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

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

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

Stern, Daniel and Estelle Bender (1974). “An Ethological Study of Children Approaching a Strange Adult.” In Richard Friedman et al. (Eds.), Sex Differences in Behavior (New York: John Wiley and Sons), pp. 233-58.

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.

Vannorsdall, Tracy ; Dahlquist, Lynnda ; Shroff Pendley, Jennifer ; Power, Thomas. The Relation Between Nonessential Touch and Children’s Distress During Lumbar Punctures. Children’s Health Care. 2004. 33(4): 299-315.

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

Body Language of Rocking The Body

Body Language of Rocking The Body

No picCue: Rocking The Body.

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

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

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

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

Context: General, Dating.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Resources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sturman, Edward D. Invluntary Subordination and Its Relation to Personality, Mood,
and Submissive Behavior. Psychological Assessment. 2011. 23(1): 262-276 DOI: 10.1037/a0021499
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/nonverbal-submission-men-women-depression-critical-examination-use-disuse-submission/

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

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

Body Language of Pacing

Body Language of Pacing

No picCue: Pacing.

Synonym(s): Walking Back And Forth.

Description: Walking back and forth for the sake of burning off excess energy.

In One Sentence: Pacing is a sign of anxiety.

How To Use it: Use pacing to help burn off excess energy when one is not able to fix the actual issue. Pacing will release pain killing hormones and help simulate real productive action in your mind thus helping you overcome the negative thoughts.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m uneasy and full of stress so I’m walking back and forth to burn off some of my excess energy and provide a self soothing feeling.”

Variant: See Fidgeting or Fidget and Foot Kicking.

Cue In Action: He paced back and forth while waiting for news about the surgery.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Pacing is a classic full-blown signal of anxiety, and falls into the energy displacement category because it gives us something to do and burns extra calories in a slight, but controlled fashion to make us feel more relaxed. It is the burning of energy that provides a release of soothing neurochemicals.

When pacing occurs, it is an indication that physiological factors are occurring. The body is likely producing stress hormone which creates the desire and capability to sustain action. In an evolutionary sense, this surge of adrenaline and cortisol would have pushed us from our inactivity in order to get things done. The action would then result in a soothing effect.

Cue Cluster: Watch for face touching, rubbing the back of the neck, blushing or blanching of the face, clenching and gripping, jerky movements, eyes alert, head up or down in thought, a worried facial expression, excess perspiration.

Body Language Category: Arousal, Displacement behaviour, Emotional body language, Energy Displacement, Nervous body language, Pacifying body language, Worry body language.

Resources:

Arduino, P. J., & Gould, J. L. (1984). Is tonic immobility adaptive? Animal Behavior, 32, 921–923.

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

Bouhuys, A.L. ; Beersma, Domien G.M. ; van den Hoofdakker, Rutger H. Observed behavior as a predictor of the response to sleep deprivation in depressed patients. Psychiatry Research. 1989. 28(1): 47-61.

Berridge CW,Mitton E, ClarkW, Roth RH. 1999. Engagement in a non-escape (displacement) behavior elicits a selective and lateralized suppression of frontal cortical dopaminergic utilization in stress. Synapse 32:187–197.

Bracha, H. S. (2004). Freeze, flight, fight, fright, faint: Adaptionist perspectives on the acute stress response spectrum. CNS Spectrums, 9, 679–685.

Cannon, W. B. (1929). Bodily changes in pain, hunger, fear and rage (2nd ed.). New York: Appleton, Century, Crofts.

Everly, Jr., G. S. & Lating, J. M. (2002). A clinical guide to the treatment of the human stress response (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers

Estes, Zachary Estes and Michelle Verges. Freeze or flee? Negative stimuli elicit selective responding. Cognition. 2008. 108(2): 557-565.

Fyer, M. R., Uy, J., Martinez, J., & Goetz, R. (1987). CO2 challenge of patients with panic disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 144, 1080–1082.

Farley, James; Risko, Evan F; Kingstone, Alan. Everyday Attention And Lecture Retention: The Effects Of Time, Fidgeting, And Mind Wandering. Frontiers In Psychology, 2013; 4: 619
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/mind-wandering-fidgeting-and-attention/

Kalin, N. H., Shelton, S. E., Rickman, M., & Davidson, R. J. (1998). Individual differences in freezing and cortisol in infant and mother rhesus monkeys. Behavioral Neuroscience, 112, 251–254.

Karin Roelofs; Muriel A. Hagenaars; and John Stins. Facing Freeze: Social Threat Induces Bodily Freeze in Humans. Psychological Science. 2010 21(11): 1575-1581.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/angry-faces-elicit-freeze-response-in-people-research/

Heidt, J. M., Marx, B. P., & Forsyth, J. P. (2005). Tonic immobility and childhood sexual abuse: A preliminary report evaluating the sequela of rape-induced paralysis. Behavior Research and Therapy, 43, 1157–1171.

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

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

Mohiyeddini, C., & Semple, S. (2013). Displacement behaviour regulates the experience of stress in men. Stress, 16, 163–171.

Maestripieri D, Schino G, Aureli F, Troisi A. 1992. A modest proposal: displacement activities as an indicator of emotions in primates. Anim Behav 44:967–979.

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

Szamado, S. (2008). How threat displays work: species-specific fighting techniques, weaponry and proximity risk. Anim. Behav. 76, 1455-1463.

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

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

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

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

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

Zvolensky, M. J., & Eifert, G. H. (2001). A review of psychological factors/processes affecting anxious responding during voluntary hyperventilation and inhalations of carbon dioxide-enriched air. Clinical Psychology Review,
21, 375–400.

Body Language of Nervous Feet or Nervous Hands

Body Language of Nervous Feet or Nervous Hands

No picCue: Nervous Feet or Nervous Hands

Synonym(s): N/A

Description: Nervous feet are more jarring with heel bumps, kicks, and grinding. Angry feet can be even more aggressive and stomp. Hands that shake, quiver, or fidget indicate stress through a surge of adrenaline.

In One Sentence: Feet that bump and kick indicate nervousness and excitement – a heightened emotional state.

How To Use it: Bouncing the feet around can give us something to do when we are not feeling particularly relaxed. When actually fixing the problem is out of the question, any movement, even if not productive, can help the body release pent up energy. This can help produce a calming effect.

However, rather than ruminate, it’s advisable to actually take action to fix the problem, or if not possible, engage in a full blown exercise session. This can help really calm the body.

Context: a) General b) Business.

Verbal Translation: “I’m full of adrenaline so my body needs to burn off this energy by kicking or shaking, without fleeing or escape. However, I’m fully prepared to take action if necessary.”

Variant: Related to happy feet or feet that are excited that bounce with joy. Sometimes nervous hands are disguised through clasping or tucked into pockets to prevent them from being noticed by others. See Happy Feet, Fidgeting or Fidget.

Cue In Action: a) The storm was closing in on the shore and Dave’s house wasn’t yet boarded up. His feet bounced up and down as he listened to the forecast. Before the meteorologist had completed the segment, he was up and on his feet – out the door. He converted his nervous energy into action.

b) While waiting to be interviewed, Dave’s feet bounced excitedly in the waiting room. He was confident, but nervous about his prospects – nevertheless, was ready to get going.

Meaning and/or Motivation: When a person is excited, their body produces adrenaline making them feel uncomfortable. In order to mitigate the effects of the hormone, the body begins to move to replace these negative, yet motivating, hormones with soothing hormones produced by movement – endorphins. The body, through movement, can placate itself by burning up some of the excess energy it has stored.

Through our evolution times of stress would have required movement in order to escape or otherwise solve a pertinent issue.

Cue Cluster: Nervous hands and feet are often accompanied by blanching of the face or conversely blushing. The body often moves around uncomfortably accompanied by a deadpan face or one that lacks much affect. A person can be seen soothing themselves such as biting the nails or picking the skin, smoothing clothing, playing with hair, and other pacifying behaviour.

Body Language Category: Arousal, Automatic gesture, Energy Displacement, Excited body language, Metronomic signals, Nervous body language, Stressful body language, Worry body language or worry.

Resources:

Almerigogna, Jehanne; James Ost; Lucy Akehurst and Mike Fluck. How Interviewers’ Nonverbal Behaviors Can Affect Children’s Perceptions And Suggestibility. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2008. 100:17-39.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/get-children-tell-truth-using-body-language/

Bouras, N. ; Dykens, E. M. ; Smith, A. C. M. Distinctiveness and correlates of maladaptive behaviour in children and adolescents with Smith–Magenis syndrome
Journal of Intellectual Disability Research. 1998. 42(6): 481-489.

Burba, Nathan ; Bolas, Mark ; Krum, David M. ; Suma, Evan A.. Unobtrusive measurement of subtle nonverbal behaviors with the Microsoft Kinect. 2012 IEEE Virtual Reality. 2012. 1-4.

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

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

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

Everly, Jr., G. S. & Lating, J. M. (2002). A clinical guide to the treatment of the human stress response (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers

Farley, James; Risko, Evan F; Kingstone, Alan. Everyday Attention And Lecture Retention: The Effects Of Time, Fidgeting, And Mind Wandering. Frontiers In Psychology, 2013; 4: 619
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/mind-wandering-fidgeting-and-attention/

Fisch, Hans-ulrich ; Frey, Siegfried ; Hirsbrunner, Hans-peter Buchwald, Alexander M. (editor). Analyzing nonverbal behavior in depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 1983. 92(3): 307-318.

Graves, James R. ; Robinson, John D. Osipow, Samuel H. (editor). Proxemic behavior as a function of inconsistent verbal and nonverbal messages. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 1976. 23(4): 333-338.

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

Gross, M Melissa ; Crane, Elizabeth A ; Fredrickson, Barbara L. Effort-Shape and kinematic assessment of bodily expression of emotion during gait. Human movement science. 2012. 31(1): 202-21.

Harrison, Cathie. Watching the children watching Play School: indicators of engagement, play and learning. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. 2012. 37(4): 44(7).

Hatz, Jessica L. and Martin J. Bourgeois. Anger as a Cue to Truthfulness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2010. 46: 680-683.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/anger-nonverbal-cue-truth-telling/

Hall, Jeffrey A. and Chong Xing. The Verbal and Nonverbal Correlates of the Five Flirting Styles. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2015. 39:41–68. DOI 10.1007/s10919-014-0199-8
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/first-12-minutes-flirting-using-nonverbal-communication-study-reveals-26-body-language-cues-attraction/

Hill, Clara E. ; Stephany, Alicia Harmon, Lenore W. (editor). Relation of Nonverbal Behavior to Client Reactions. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 1990. 37(1): 22-26.

Karin Roelofs; Muriel A. Hagenaars; and John Stins. Facing Freeze: Social Threat Induces Bodily Freeze in Humans. Psychological Science. 2010 21(11): 1575-1581.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/angry-faces-elicit-freeze-response-in-people-research/

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

Leanne ten Brinke; Dayna Stimson and Dana R. Carney. Some Evidence For Unconscious Lie Detection. Published online before print March 21, 2014, doi: 10.1177/0956797614524421.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/to-spot-a-liar-trust-your-gut-not-your-eyes/

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Body Language of Nail Biting

Body Language of Nail Biting

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Nail Biting 2Cue: Nail Biting

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

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

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

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

Context: General

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Resources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lyon, Lionel Sasson. A behavioral treatment of compulsive lip-biting. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. 1983. 14(3): 275-276
Feteih RM: Signs and Symptoms of Temporomandibular Disorders and Oral Parafunctions in Urban Saudi Arabian Adolescents: A Research Report. Head Face Med. 2006. 2: 25.

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

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