Body Language of Arm Freezing Behaviour or Leg Freezing Behaviour
Cue: Arm Freezing Behaviour or Leg Freezing Behaviour.
Synonym(s): Flight or Fight Response, Leg Freezing Behaviour.
Description: Arm freezing refers to the sudden reduction or elimination of movement in the arms or hands such as gesticulation, due to stress or fear.
When hands or arms freeze, the hands can be stuffed into the pockets, be hidden under the table or be placed palm down on the table or held tightly on the lap in order to reduce gesticulation. Additionally, the hands may be coupled hand-in-hand on the lap, fingers entwined and placed on the table, or seem to be praying near chest level.
The cue is especially salient when they seem to freeze suddenly – especially when something particularly damning or incriminating, or something that can be the source of discomfort has occurred.
In One Sentence: Hand freezing is to “hide in plain sight” and indicates that one is fearful.
How To Use it: Use arm freezing behaviour to show others that you are in disagreement with what they are saying. The hands can also be frozen to feign fear. This can be effective in bluffing in poker.
Context: General.
Verbal Translation: “I’m scared and I’m going to stop moving so I can try to escape detection and hide in plain sight.”
Variant: See Hands In Pockets, Feet Wrapped Around Legs Of Chair.
Cue In Action: a) A child happily plays on the kitchen floor with a truck set when a close relative suddenly appears – the child freezes. In children, a sudden freeze response can indicate the presence of abusive parents or relatives. b) The boss suddenly walks in the room and sees you playing video games on company time – your hands lock up and you can’t click to a new screen.
Meaning and/or Motivation: A fear driven or high stress response.
Hands can suddenly change in terms of use as illustrators and seem to pause, stop or slow in their rate of use. Sudden cessation of gesticulation can indicate a freeze response due to being caught in a lie, especially when the context warrants it. This is part of the flight or flight response as liars are trying to seem less noticeable. They are “hiding in plain sight” and to do this it is necessary to move less as movement attracts attention.
Reducing expressiveness means fewer “tells” or so the lying mind thinks. When hands or feet that are usually busy, suddenly begin to slow, or become less expressive, it can signal a lack of enthusiasm or confidence for the topic. Whatever happens to the hands, when they suddenly change, we know that something internal has changed and it is usually tied directly to whatever is happening in the moment.
Cue Cluster: Arm and leg freezing is accompanied by other minimizing cues such as head lowered, ducked or down, erection of barriers as well as escape movements such as moving feet toward the door.
Body Language Category: Fearful body language, Stressful body language, Defensive, Escape movements, Negative body language.
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