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<\/a>Cue<\/strong>: Hand Covering or Cupping The Mouth.<\/p>\nSynonym(s)<\/strong>: Cupping The Mouth, Mouth Slap, Slapping The Mouth, Hand Slapping The Mouth.<\/p>\n Description<\/strong>: a) One or both hands quickly come up to the mouth covering with both palms. b) One hand quickly comes to the mouth palm open against the mouth in a slapping motion.<\/p>\n In One Sentence<\/strong>: Hand to the mouth is a signal of disbelief, shock, mischief, or the desire to reclaim misspoken or damning words by jamming them back in.<\/p>\n How To Use it<\/strong>: Bring the hand to the mouth to show shock or surprise. It is useful to show others that you can\u2019t believe what you just heard or saw. When you say something inappropriate, bringing the hand to the mouth shows other people that you wish to take the words back and wish to prevent any other hurtful words from coming out and doing more damage.<\/p>\n Context<\/strong>: General.<\/p>\n Verbal Translation<\/strong>: a) \u201cI\u2019m scared or surprised by what I\u2019m seeing so I\u2019m covering up my surprised gaping mouth.\u201d b) \u201cI can\u2019t believe what I said or what I heard you say and am covering my mouth in effort to jam the words back in or prevent any more offensive words from coming out.\u201d \u201cMy hand is slapping my mouth to prevent me from saying things I shouldn\u2019t and to jam the things I already said, back in.\u201d<\/p>\n Variant<\/strong>: See Hand To Mouth<\/a>, Hand To Nose<\/a>, Hand To Eye Gesture<\/a>, Hand To Cheek<\/a>. Other variants to the mouth slap include a closed fist against the mouth, a single finger over the mouth in a shh-ing gesture (self silencing), finger in the mouth (sucking for soothing), or the hand-to-mouth in a fake cough.<\/p>\n Cue In Action<\/strong>: a) A bicyclist darted through the intersection and ran head-on into oncoming traffic smashing into the hood of a car. The bystanders were stunned. One of the women was covering her mouth in horror. b) The six year old accidentally let out a cuss word in front of her parents. She quickly slapped her mouth in shame. c) Wendy was a chatter box, and the worst at keeping secrets. She was talking away at the cafeteria when she blurted out that she had an outfit all set out for the special occasion on Friday night. Realizing what she had done, she slapped her mouth with her hand. The birthday party was to be a surprise and the birthday girl was right there at the table.<\/p>\n Meaning and\/or Motivation<\/strong>: Mouth covering is a way to reduce the pain of telling a lie. In this case, it is so as to \u201cspeak no evil.\u201d<\/p>\n Small children perform a full cover and even slap their mouths when they say something they shouldn\u2019t. However, the mouth slap usually becomes a vestige to other minimized gesture such as the hand to the chin, or the hand coming to the corner of the mouth, or several fingers seemingly busy playing in front of the mouth.<\/p>\n When in the right context, hands to mouth or mouth slapping is a clue to deception and a desire to prevent being detected or revealing too much information. Grown adults will sometimes cup their hands to their mouths like children in effort to \u201cjam the words back in their mouths\u201d but usually use more subtle gestures such as \u201ctalking through their hand\u201d which is a gesture done by placing a finger softly over their lips.<\/p>\n Talking with one\u2019s hand covering the mouth, \u201ctalking through the hand,\u201d or resting the hand around the mouth by wrapping the fingers around the top, are significant clues indicating insecurity.<\/p>\n Subconsciously, hand-to-mouth gestures leads people to distrust others, and see them as less honest overall. The gesture can be done with a fist, a finger, or a \u2018shushing\u2019 motion with the index finger vertically placed over the lips. Other times the subconscious mind is so powerful that the hand comes up and slaps the mouth, but to cover this \u2018tell\u2019 up, a fake cough is added.<\/p>\n What starts off as a quick mouth slap movement to the mouth when lying (or swearing) in children, slowly becomes a touch to the corner of the mouth. Later, restraint forces the finger to the side even further and then instead of touching the mouth it touches the side of the nose instead. As people age, they become much more difficult to read. By logical progression, the hardest to read of all are sixty-year-old politicians!<\/p>\n Cue Cluster<\/strong>: The mouth usually gaps open with eyes widening or the mouth jams shut with the head tilted down or away, depending if shock is experienced or words have accidentally spilled out. Sometimes the hands come to the head rather than the mouth during shock. Usually the facial expression is one of surprise. When someone says something regrettable they might blanche or blush, avert their eyes, slink down in embarrassment, seek exits and become quiet. When the hand comes to the mouth in more abbreviated forms, the eyes will also avert, a person may begin to fidget or squirm, touch the neck or nose as well as additional emotional cues of discomfort.<\/p>\n Body Language Category<\/strong>: Adaptors, Disguised gestures, Embarrassment (nonverbal), Leaked or involuntary body language, Lying or deceptive body language, Masked emotions, Surprised body language.<\/p>\n Resources: <\/strong><\/p>\n Charles v. Ford, Lies! Lies! Lies!: The Psychology of Deceit (Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Press, Inc., 1996), 200.<\/p>\n Costa, Marco ; Dinsbach, Wies ; Manstead, Antony ; Bitti, Pio. Social Presence, Embarrassment, and Nonverbal Behavior. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2001. 25(4): 225-240.<\/p>\n Dimond, Stuart ; Harries, Rashida. Face touching in monkeys, apes and man: Evolutionary origins and cerebral asymmetry. Neuropsychologia. 1984. 22(2): 227-233.<\/p>\n DeSteno, D.; Breazeal, C.; Frank, R. H.; Pizarro, D.; Baumann, J.; Dickens, L, and Lee, J. Detecting the Trustworthiness of Novel Partners in Economic Exchange. Psychological Science. 2012. 23, 1549-1556.<\/p>\n How We Use Body Language Cues To Create Trust<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n