Category: Disapproval cues

*No Photo, Aggressive body language, Amplifier, Audible signals, Disapproval cues, Hostile body language, Pseudo-infantile gestures

Body Language of Whining Voice or Whine

by Chris • October 30, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Whining Voice or Whine

Cue: Whining Voice or Whine

Synonym(s): Nagging.

Description: Nagging can be sign-song-like, high pitched, grating, continuous, and meant to annoy.

In One Sentence: A whining voice is a form of punishment used to manipulate other people into doing something they’d rather not do.

How To Use it: Whining can only be used effectively when there is a sympathetic listener. Therefore, the cue is generally reserved for women and children. While men can sometimes use whining, it is likely to result in a poor reflection of him and also yield poor results overall. That is not to say that women and children do not receive negative judgment when whining, however, the negative impression is usually short-lived and the pay-out in terms of results, therefore, worth it. Whining works as a “negative reinforcement” as the whiner promises to eliminate her whine once she has received her currency.

Context: a) General b) Dating.

Verbal Translation: “I’m incapable of solving my own problems so I punish people around me with a shrill, continuous, and annoying voice, in hopes that someone else will pick up the slack for me and serve my needs.”

Variant: See Voice Pitch.

Cue In Action: a) She whined incessantly – through the entire car ride. She wanted mom and dad to stop for ice-cream. Finally, dad had enough, pulled the car over at the nearest chain restaurant and bought her a cone just to make it stop. b) She whined incessantly – daily. She wanted a diamond ring and she wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer. Finally he broke down, pulled her into the ring store and bought her a ring just to make it stop.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Whining is a childlike voice trait aimed specifically at manipulating other people without using forceful words. Whining is a form of punishment to those who hear it. The whiner assumes that their annoying speaking patterns will motivation someone to action on their behalf, with the reward being whine cessation. In other words, the whine pushes those around him or her into action “just to make the whining stop.” Often, this only encourages the whine to return in the future as whining has been rewarded. Whining is considered a passive aggressive form of non-physical violence.

Those who use whining voices are usually followers by nature and often prefer to complain rather than take action themselves. The whiner is hoping others will take care of them. When suggestions to take charge of their own fate are suggested they are quickly rejected, then the person will often withdraw and pout. Whiners often surround themselves with people who are sympathetic to their complaints and help them.

Those who whine are often infantile in their character traits when they aren’t actually infants themselves. Toddlers habitually manipulate adults through whining, but adults, frequently female, will maintain the trait in effort to coax men around them perform favours for them. When grown men whine, it is particularly off-putting.

Cue Cluster: Whining is often coupled with submissive postures and infantile or eratic behaviour such as flailing arms, pouting, downcast eyes, crying, holding the breath, kicking and screaming, flopping on the floor or self harm and breaking things.

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Aggressive body language, Audible signals, Disapproval cues, Hostile body language, Pseudo-infantile gestures.

Resources:

Bachorowski, J., & Owren, M. J. (1995). Vocal expression of emotion: Acoustic properties of speech are associated with emotional intensity and context. Psychological Science, 6, 219–224.

Chang, Rosemarie Sokol and Thompson, Nicholas S. Whines, cries, and motherese: Their relative power to distract. Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology.2011. 5(2): 131-141.

Herold, Debora S. ; Nygaard, Lynne C. ; Namy, Laura L. Say It like You Mean It: Mothers’ Use of Prosody to Convey Word Meaning. Language and Speech. 2012. 55(3): 423-436.

Kowalski, Robin M. Whining, griping, and complaining: Positivity in the negativity. Journal of Clinical Psychology. 2002. 58(9): 1023-1035.

Nygaard, L. C., & Queen, J. S. (2008). Communicating emotion: Linking affective prosody and word meaning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 34, 1017–1030.

Scherer, K., Banse, R., Wallbott, H., & Goldbeck, T. (1991). Vocal cues in emotion encoding and decoding. Motivation and Emotion, 15, 123–148.

Singh, L., Morgan, J. L., & Best, C. T. (2002). Infants’ listening preferences: Baby talk or happy talk? Infancy, 3, 365–394.

Scherer, Klaus R. Personality inference from voice quality: The loud voice of extroversion. European Journal of Social Psychology. 1978 8(4): 467-487.

Trainor, L. J., Austin, C. M., & Desjardins, R. N. (2000). Is infant-directed speech prosody a result of the vocal expression of emotion? Psychological Science, 11, 188–195.

Siegman, Aron Wolfe ; Boyle and Stephen Mineka. Voices of Fear and Anxiety and Sadness and Depression: The Effects of Speech Rate and Loudness on Fear and Anxiety and Sadness and Depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 1993. 102(3): 430-437.

Sokol, Rosemarie I. ; Webster, Karen L. ; Thompson, Nicholas S. ; Stevens, David A. Whining as mother‐directed speech. Infant and Child Development. 2005. 14(5): 478-490.

Walker-Andrews, A., & Grolnick, W. (1983). Discrimination of vocal expressions by young infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 6, 491–498.

Amplifier, Anger body language, Disapproval cues, Disengagement body language, Dislike (nonverbal), Distancing or moving away, Emotional body language, Indicators of disinterest (IOD)

Body Language of Touch Reduction

by Chris • October 29, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Touch Reduction

Cue: Touch Reduction.

Synonym(s): Reduced Touching.

Description: Touching between two people is either stopped abruptly or stopped gradually over time.

In One Sentence: Touch reduction indicates a difference of opinion or anxiety.

How To Use it: When you wish to send the signal that you disapprove, create space between you and the person you object to. This can easily be done through touch reduction, especially if it is done suddenly. Reducing touch is especially potent between couples and family members, as touching is usually much more frequent in these close associations. During a disagreement, pulling the hands inward and away from your partner tells them that you want them to change their stance on matters. Reducing or eliminating touching is the nonverbal signal for emotional withdrawal. Therefore, the signal is considered an honest marker for your thoughts and feelings.

Context: a) General b) Dating.

Verbal Translation: “I’m not in agreement with you. I’m putting up and maintaining space between the both of us serving to demonstrate nonverbally our differences of opinion.”

Variant: See Arm Withdrawal or Leg Withdrawal, Touching or Increase In Touching.

Cue In Action: a) Mom wanted her son to stop being so rambunctious, but he wouldn’t listen. Then the inevitable happened – he fell and skinned his knee. Ordinarily she would comfort him immediately, but she refused. She displayed her disapproval nonverbally. b) Instead of sitting tightly together on the same side of the sofa and snuggle as they usually would, the couple sat at opposite ends. They had a tiff and didn’t want to be close to one another.

Meaning and/or Motivation: It should be noted that ‘touch reduction’ is also a sudden change in ‘touch frequency.’ Couples have even been shown to draw away from each other when they are generally unhappy with their relationship.

Touch reduction is usually accompanied with stressful situations therefore signaling anxiety. We may see touch reduction during intense interrogation and may accompany compelling or damning information.

Closeness can also be useful when assessing someone because it will invoke distancing desires. When talking with a spouse or child, sit as close to them as you are accustomed to. Then take up serious matters. If someone is hiding something, they will usually push away or even stand up looking for ways to exit or change the subject. Holding the hand of a child can be particularly useful when discussing matters of dishonesty. If they wish to exit the discussion, they will try to tug their hand away [note: trying to withdraw is not a signal of culpability, but it is a signal of anxiety through a desire for distance].

Liars rarely touch others when they lie to them as this is a natural part of the fight or flight response. During intense interactions the subconscious mind does not respond well to intimacy caused by touching. This can prove helpful in intimate relationships, with family members or children since touching is a normal part of everyday life. Any form of touch reduction can signal that a person is at odds with another and that they might be hiding something.

If touch isn’t normal, for example, between strangers or acquaintances, then measuring touch reduction won’t be possible. In this case, look for distancing behaviours instead such as arm withdrawal or leaning away, especially in the torso, as these are also forms of distancing.

Cue Cluster: Touch reduction is usually accompanied by leaning away, ventral denial, head back or away, eyes averted, reduction in movement or freezing behaviour, reduction in verbal communication and so forth.

Body Language Category: Amplifier, Anger body language, Disengagement body language, Dislike (nonverbal), Disapproval cues, Distancing or moving away, Emotional body language, Indicators of disinterest (IOD).

Resources:

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.

Aranguren, Martin. “Nonverbal interaction patterns in the Delhi Metro: interrogative looks and play-faces in the management of interpersonal distance.” Interaction Studies. 2016. 16(1) forthcoming.

Aranguren, Martin and Stephane Tonnelat. Emotional Transactions in the Paris Subway: Combining Naturalistic Videotaping, Objective Facial Coding and Sequential Analysis in the Study of Nonverbal Emotional Behavior. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 2014. 38:495–521. DOI 10.1007/s10919-014-0193-1
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/seriously-stop-touching-use-nonverbal-signaling-manage-unwanted-touching-busy-public

Bailenson, J.N. & Yee, N. (in press). Virtual interpersonal touch: Haptic interaction and copresence in collaborative virtual environments. International Journal of Multimedia Tools and Applications.

Bohm. 1997. Effects of interpersonal touch, degree of justification, and sex of participant on compliance with a request. The Journal of social psychology. 137: 460-469.

Crusco, A. and C. Wetzel. 1984. The midas touch: the effects of interpersonal touch on restaurant tipping, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 10: 512–517.

Dickinson, Amy. Block That Hug: The rules on touching children have changed for parents who volunteer as coaches or tutors.(Personal Time/Your Family)(Brief Article). Time. 2000. 155(14): 142.

Debrot, Anik ; Schoebi, Dominik ; Perrez, Meinrad ; Horn, Andrea B. Touch as an interpersonal emotion regulation process in couples’ daily lives: the mediating role of psychological intimacy. Personality & social psychology bulletin. 2013. 9(10): 1373-85.

Derlega, Valerian ; Lewis, Robin ; Harrison, Scott ; Winstead, Barbara ; Costanza, Robert. Gender differences in the initiation and attribution of tactile intimacy. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1989. 13(2): 83-96.

Derlega, Valerian J. ; Catanzaro, Diane ; Lewis, Robin J. Lisak, David (editor). Perceptions About Tactile Intimacy in Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Pairs Based on Research Participants’ Sexual Orientation. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 2001, Vol.2(2), pp.124-132

Fisher, J; Rytting, M and Heslin, R. 1976. Hands touching hands: affective and evaluative effects on interpersonal touch, Sociometry 39: 416–421.

Feldman, R., Singer, M.,& Zagoory, O. (2010). Touch attenuates infants’ physiological reactivity to stress. Developmental Science, 13(2), 271–278.

Fromme, Donald ; Jaynes, William ; Taylor, Deborah ; Hanold, Elaine ; Daniell, Jennifer ; Rountree, J. ; Fromme, Marie. Nonverbal behavior and attitudes toward touch. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1989. 13(1): 3-14.

Floyd, Kory. All Touches are not Created Equal: Effects of Form and Duration on Observers’ Interpretations of an Embrace. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1999. 23(4): 283-299.

Guéguen, Nicolas. Nonverbal encouragement of participation in a course: the effect of touching Social Psychology of Education. 2004. 7: 89–98.

A Touching Way To Encourage

Gueguen, Nicolas; Sebastien Meineri and Virginie Charles-Sire. Improving Medication Adherence by Using Practitioner Nonverbal Techniques: A Field Experiment on the Effect of Touch. Journal of Behavioral Medice. 2010. 33:466–473
DOI 10.1007/s10865-010-9277-5

Touching Boosts Compliance – Improving Medical Compliance Using Nonverbal Communication

Guéguen, N. (2001a). Toucher et soumission a` une requeˆte: Re´plications expe´rimentales en situation naturelle et e´valuation de l’impact du statut. Revue Internationale de Psychologie Sociale. 2001(a). 14(3):113-158.

Guéguen, N. (2001b). L’effet d’influence du toucher sur le comportement du consommateur: 2 illustrations expe´rimentales en exte´rieur. Direction et Gestion: La Revue des Sciences de Gestion. 2001(b). 190–191, 123–132.

Guéguen, N and C. Jacob 2006, Touch and consumer behavior: A new experimental evidence in a field setting, International Journal of Management 23: 24–33.

Guéguen, N., & Jacob, C. The effect of touch on tipping: An evaluation in a French’s bar. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 2005. 24(2): 295-299.
Gueguen, Nicolas; Celine Jacob; Gaelle Boulbry. The Effect of Touch on Compliance With a Restaurant’s Employee Suggestion. Hospitality Management. 2007. 26: 1019-1023.

Touching Leads To Compliance, Study

Guéguen, N. (2007). Courtship compliance: The effect of touch on women’s behavior. Social Influence, 2, 81-97.

Gueguen, Nicolas. The effect of a woman’s incidental tactile contact on men’s later behavior.(Report). Social Behavior and Personality: an international journal. 2010. 38(2): 257(10).

Guéguen, Nicolas. Nonverbal encouragement of participation in a course: the effect of touching Social Psychology of Education. 2004. 7: 89–98.

A Touching Way To Encourage

Gulledge, Andrew K ; Stahmann, Robert F ; Wilson, Colwick M. Seven types of nonsexual romantic physical affection among Brigham young university students
Psychological reports 2004, Vol.95(2), pp.609-14

Gulledge, Andrewk. ; Gulledge, Michelleh. ; Stahmannn, Robertf. Romantic Physical Affection Types and Relationship Satisfaction. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 2003, Vol.31(4), p.233-242

Gurevitch, Z. D. The Embrace: On the Element of Non-Distance in Human Relations. The Sociological Quarterly. 1990. 31(2): 187-201.

Greenbaum, Paul ; Rosenfeld, Howard. Varieties of touching in greetings: Sequential structure and sex-related differences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1980. 5(1): 13-25.

Heino, William J. Perfect Timing for Parental Hugs.(to comfort children following medical treatment)(Brief Article). Consultant. 2000. 40(13): 2173.

Hadi, Rhonda ; Valenzuela, Ana. A meaningful embrace: Contingent effects of embodied cues of affection. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2014, Vol.24(4), pp.520-532

Hugs help protect against stress and infection, say Carnegie Mellon researchers.(Report)
Health & Medicine Week, Jan 2, p.1341

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

The First 12 Minutes Of Flirting Using Nonverbal Communication – Study Reveals 26 Body Language Cues Of Attraction

Hadi, R., and Valenzuela, A., A meaningful embrace: Contingent effects of embodied cues of affection. Journal of Consumer Psychology. 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2014.02.001

What’s In A NonVerbal Object Caress?

Hertenstein, Matthew J; Keltner, Dacher; App, Betsy; Bulleit, Brittany A; Jaskolka, Ariane R 2006. Touch Communicates Distinct Emotions. Emotion. 6(3): 528-533

Hazan, C., & Shaver, P. (1987). Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 511–524.

Jeffrey D. Fisher; Marvin Rytting; Richard Heslin. 1976. Hands Touching Hands: Affective and Evaluative Effects of an Interpersonal Touch. Sociometry, 39(4): 416-421.

Krishna, A., & Morrin, M. (2008). Does touch affect taste? The perceptual transfer of product container haptic cues. Journal of Consumer Research, 34(6), 807–818.

Kleinke, C. Compliance to Requests Made by Gazing and Touching Experimenters in Field Settings. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 1977. 13: 218–223.

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

Kaufman, D. and J. Mahoney. 1999 The effect of waitresses’ touch on alcohol consumption in dyads, The Journal of Social Psychology 139: 261–267.

Kneidinger, L. M.; Maple, T. L.; Tross, S. A. 2001. Touching behavior in sport: functional components, analysis of sex differences, and ethological considerations. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 25(1): 43-62.

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.

PART I – How To Read Male Sexual Body Language, A Study For Women – And The Men Who Wish To Cheat The System

Lynn et al., 1998 M. Lynn, J.M. Le and D. Sherwyn. 1998. Reach out and touch your customers, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quaterly 39: 60-65

Larsen, Knuds. ; Leroux, Jeff. A study of same sex touching attitudes: Scale development and personality predictors. Journal of Sex Research. 1984. 20(3): 264-278.

Moszkowski, Robin J. ; Stack, Dale M. ; Girouard, Nadine ; Field, Tiffany M. ; Hernandez-Reif, Maria ; Diego, Miguel. Touching behaviors of infants of depressed mothers during normal and perturbed interactions. Infant Behavior and Development. 2009. 32(2): 183-194.

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

Madden, Myron. Meaningful pastoral intimacy. Pastoral Psychology. 1976. 25(1): 34-38.

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

Moore, Monica. Courtship Signaling and Adolescents: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Journal of Sex Research. 1995. 32(4): 319-328.

Girls Just Want To Have Fun – The Origins Of Courtship Cues In Girls And Women

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.

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

Nelson, Holly ; Geher, Glenn. Mutual Grooming in Human Dyadic Relationships: An Ethological Perspective. Current Psychology. 2007. 26(2): 121-140.

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

Nannberg, J., & Hansen, C. Post-compliance touch: An incentive for task performance. The Journal of Social Psychology. 1994.134, 301–307.

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

Peck, J., & Wiggins, J. (2006). It just feels good: Consumers’ affective response to touch and its influence on persuasion. Journal of Marketing, 70(Oct), 56–69.

Paulsell, Shari ; Goldman, Morton. The Effect of Touching Different Body Areas on Prosocial Behavior. The Journal of Social Psychology. 1984. 122(2): 269-273.

Remland, Martins. ; Jones, Tricias. ; Brinkman, Heidi. Interpersonal Distance, Body Orientation, and Touch: Effects of Culture, Gender, and Age. The Journal of Social Psychology. 1995 135(3): 281-297.

Rabinowitz, Fredric E. The male-to-male embrace: breaking the touch taboo in a men’s therapy group. Journal of Counseling and Development. 1991. 69(6): 574(3).

R. Stephen and R. Zweigenhaft. 1986. The effect on tipping of a waitress touching male and female customers. The Journal of Social Psychology 126 pp. 141–142.

Smith, D. E., Gier, J. A., & Willis, F. N. 1982. Interpersonal touch and compliance with a marketing request. Basic and Applied Social Psychology. 3: 35-38.

Toronto, Ellen L.K. A clinician’s response to physical touch in the psychoanalytic setting. International Journal of Psychotherapy. 2002 7(1): 69-81.

Tracy, R. L., & Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1981). Maternal affectionate behavior and infant-mother attachment patterns. Child Development, 52, 1341-1343.

Taavoni, S ; Shahali, S ; Haghani, H. Infant Vaccination Pain Management: Comparing the Effect of Mother’s Hug and Breast Feeding, Tehran, 2009-2010. Pediatric Research. 2011. 70: 738-738.

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.

Using Touch To Convey Emotion

Takeuchi, Mika ; Miyaoka, Hitoshi ; Tomoda, Atsuko ; Suzuki, Masao ; Liu, Qingbo ; Kitamura, Toshinori. The Effect of Interpersonal Touch During Childhood on Adult Attachment and Depression: A Neglected Area of Family and Developmental Psychology? Journal of Child and Family Studies. 2010. 19(1): 109-117.

Williams. 1993. Effects of Mutual Gaze and Touch on Attraction, Mood, and Cardiovascular Reactivity Source: Journal of Research in Personality. 27(2): 170-183.

Williams, L. E., Huang, J. Y., & Bargh, J. A. (2009). The scaffolded mind: Higher mental processes are grounded in early experience of the physical world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 1257–1267.

Willis, F. N., & Hamm, H. K. 1980. The use of interpersonal touch in securing compliance. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 5: 49-55.

Willis, Frank N. , Jr. ; Dodds, Rebecca A. Age, relationship, and touch initiation. The Journal of Social Psychology. 1998. 138(1). 115(9).

Werner, Carol ; Brown, Barbara ; Damron, Gary Steiner, Ivan D. (editor). Territorial marking in a game arcade. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1981. 41(6): 1094-1104.

Body pointing, Disapproval cues, Disengagement body language, Dislike (nonverbal), Distancing or moving away, Escape movements, Indicator of interest (IoI), Indicators of disinterest (IOD), Intention movements, Orienting reflex or orienting response, Ready posture, Rejection body language

Body Language of Toe Pointing or Pointed Toe

by Chris • October 29, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Toe Pointing or Pointed Toe

Cue: Toe Pointing or Pointed Toe.

Synonym(s): Pointed Toe, Foot Pointing, Feet Indicating, Feet Toward, Feet Away, Goodbye Feet, Honest Feet, Foot Pointing Language.

Description: When the feet point toward the direction they wish to travel.

In One Sentence: Toes are believed to subconsciously signal the direction in which people wish to travel, or in the direction in which they are thinking.

How To Use it: Foot pointing usually goes unnoticed, however, to show intimacy and focus, orient the entire body toward the person who you wish to express your undivided attention. This works well in business, dating, as well as other relationships. Showing others that they have your nonverbal attention is much more powerful than simply lending an ear or an eye. Despite the cue being out of usual awareness, it is quite likely that others will pick up on your cue and ascribe to you positive attributes. See Meaning and/or Motivation for more ideas about constructive uses for foot pointing.

Context: a) General b) Dating.

Verbal Translation: “My feet are honest and point in the direction I wish to travel.”

Variant: See Arm Withdrawal or Leg Withdrawal.

Cue In Action: a) In his excitement, he failed to realize that his buddy really needed to get going. His buddy’s head began to drag backwards, his torso faced away, and his feet were aimed away from him and toward his car. His body language really said that he needed to get going. b) He wasn’t interested and wanted to leave – his feet slowly inched toward the doorway rather than toward her. On the other hand, her feet were directly facing, and extended, in his direction. The affection was not mutual.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Feet are intension cues because they are the earliest indicators of where the mind wishes to go. Feet point to doorways when someone wants to leave and away from people they do not agree with. If feet are pointed away from you, it’s a strong indicator that a person wishes to be elsewhere.

It has been said that the feet are the most honest part of the body as it applies to the language they emit. Millions of years ago, we gave up quadrupedalism to walk upright, leaving our feet to the dirt. While our hands busied themselves with other complex tasks like fire building, making clothing, shelters and throwing spears, our legs were relegated to more primitive activities like locomotion.

The feet have always carried out more traditional tasks like escaping predators, avoiding hot sand or coals from a fire, leaping from slithering snakes or poisonous spiders, or navigating rough rocking river bottoms. The feet were therefore connected more to the reptilian brain that reacts to stimuli directly. The feet don’t contemplate higher order tasks that require planning.

Feet, therefore, make great predictors of behaviour. For example, we know that children are interested in play rather then eating when their legs bounce at the dinner table. Their feet bounce up and down as they quickly gobble their food so they don’t miss the action. Even if feet don’t fidget they will still point, or inch toward the door in effort to prepare for escape. Therefore, the feet of adults reveal true emotions by pointing away from boring conversations and towards things they find attractive or stimulating.

Cue Cluster: Usually the torso also tends to aim in the direction of desired travel, along with the head. Conversations will begin to dry up, agreement indicators either speed up to quicken the conversation or slow down if there is little more to say. Barriers like arm crossing or partial arm crossing will accompany the foot indication.

Body Language Category: Body pointing, Disengagement body language, Dislike (nonverbal), Disapproval cues, Distancing or moving away, Escape movements, Indicators of disinterest (IOD), Indicator of interest (IoI), Intention movements, Orienting reflex or orienting response (a), Rejection body language, Ready language.

Resources:

Astrom, Jan. Introductory greeting behavior: a laboratory investigation of approaching and closing salutation phases. Perceptual and Motor Skills. 1994. 79(2): 863(35).

Aiello, J. 1977. A further look at equilibrium theory. Visual interaction as a function of
interpersonal distance. Environmental Psychology & Nonverbal Behavior, 1: 122-140.

Argyle, M., & Dean, I. Eye contact, distance and affiliation. Sociometry, 1965, 28, 289-304.

Boucher, Michael L. Holzberg, Jules D. (editor). Effect of seating distance on interpersonal attraction in an interview situation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1972 38(1): 15-19.

Broth, Mathias and Lorenza Mondada. Walking Away: The Embodied Achievement of Activity Closings in Mobile Interaction. Journal of Pragmatics. 2013. 47: 41-58.

How We Nonverbally Negotiate A Conversation By Walking Away

Bania, Amanda E. ; Stromberg, Erin E. Call, Joseph (editor). The Effect of Body Orientation on Judgments of Human Visual Attention in Western Lowland Gorillas.
Journal of Comparative Psychology. 2013. 127(1): 82-90.

Belhiah, Hassan. Tutoring as an embodied activity: How speech, gaze and body orientation are coordinated to conduct ESL tutorial business. Journal of Pragmatics. 2009. 41(4): 829-841.

Beaulieu, Catherine. Intercultural Study of Personal Space: A Case Study. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 2004 34(4):794-805.

Baxter, James C. ; Rozelle, Richard M. Lanzetta, John T. (editor). Nonverbal expression as a function of crowding during a simulated police-citizen encounter. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1975. 32(1): 40-54.

Cook, M. Experiments on orientation and proxemics. Human Relations, 1970, 23, 61-67.

Clack, B., Dixon, J., & Tredoux, C. (2005). Eating together apart: Patterns of segregation in a multi-ethnic cafeteria. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 15, 1-16. doi:10.1002/casp.787

Castelli, Luigi ; Carraro, Luciana ; Pavan, Giulia ; Murelli, Elisa ; Carraro, Alessia. The Power of the Unsaid: The Influence of Nonverbal Cues on Implicit Attitudes. Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 2012 42(6): 1376-1393.

Coutts, Larrym. ; Ledden, Maribeth. Nonverbal Compensatory Reactions to Changes in Interpersonal Proximity. The Journal of Social Psychology. 1977 102(2): 283-290.

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

Cacioppo, J. T., Hawkley, L. C., Crawford, L. E., Ernst, J. M., Burleson, M. H., Kowalewski, R. B., et al. (2002). Loneliness and health: Potential mechanisms. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2002; 64: 407-417.

Cook, Mark. 1970. Experiments on orientation and proxemics. Human Relations 23 (1): 61-76.
Dowell, Nia M. and Jeffrey S. Berman. Therapist Nonverbal Behavior and Perceptions of Empathy, Alliance, and Treatment Credibility. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. 2013. 23(2): 158-165. DOI: 10.1037/a0031421. http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/lean-make-eye-contact-create-impressions-empathy-leaning-body-language-creates-greater-credibility
Dolphin, Carol Zinner. Beyond hall: Variables in the use of personal space in intercultural transactions. Howard Journal of Communications. 1988. 1(1): 23-38.

Eerland, Anita; Tulio M. Guadalupe; Ingmar H. A. Franken and Rolf A. Zwaan. Posture as Index for Approach-Avoidance Behavior. PLOS one. February 2012. 7(2): e31291.

Approach Versus Avoidance Posture In Nonverbal Body Language

Felipe, N. Interpersonal distance and small group interaction. Cornell Journal of Social Relations, 1966, 1, 59-64.

Felipe, N. Connotations of seating arrangements. Cornell Journal of Social Relations, 1967, 2, 37-44.

Gifford, Robert ; O’Connor, Brian. Nonverbal intimacy: Clarifying the role of seating distance and orientation. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1986 10(4): 207-214.

Gardin, Hershel ; Kaplan, Kalman J. ; Firestone, Ira J. ; Cowan, Gloria A. Lanzetta, John T. (editor). Proxemic effects on cooperation, attitude, and approach-avoidance in a Prisoner’s Dilemma game. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1973. 27(1): 13-18.

Gregersen, Tammy S. Nonverbal Cues: Clues to the Detection of Foreign Language Anxiety. Foreign Language Annals. 2005. 38(3): 388-400

What Anxious Learners Can Tell Us About Anxious Body Language– How To Read Nonverbal Behavior

Girard, Jeffrey M.; Jeffrey F. Cohna; Mohammad H.Mahoor S.; Mohammad Mavadati;
Zakia Hammal; and Dean P. Rosenwalda. Nonverbal Social Withdrawal In Depression: Evidence From Manual And Automatic Analyses. Image and Vision Computing. 2013.

Body Language Signals Of Withdrawal In Depression

Goodboy, Alan, K. and Maria Brann. Flirtation Rejection Strategies: Towards an Understanding of Communicative Disinterest in Flirting. The Quantitative Report. 2010. 15(2): 268-278.

How To Reject Flirting Using Nonverbal And Verbal Tactics

Gunderson, Virginia M. ; Lockard, Joan S. Human postural signals as intention movements to depart: African data. Animal Behaviour. 1980 28(3): 966-967.

Greenberg, Carl I. ; Firestone, Ira J. Greenwald, Anthony G. (editor). Compensatory responses to crowding: Effects of personal space intrusion and privacy reduction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1977. 35(9): 637-644.

Graziano, Michael S.A. and Cooke, Dylan F. Parieto-frontal interactions, personal space, and defensive behavior. Neuropsychologia. 2006. 44(6): 845-859.

Holt, Daphne J ; Cassidy, Brittany S ; Yue, Xiaomin ; Rauch, Scott L ; Boeke, Emily A ; Nasr, Shahin ; Tootell, Roger B H ; Coombs, Garth. Neural correlates of personal space intrusion. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. 2014. 34(12): 4123-34.

Harrigan, Jinni ; Oxman, Thomas ; Rosenthal, Robert. Rapport expressed through nonverbal behavior. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1985 9(2): 95-110.

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

The First 12 Minutes Of Flirting Using Nonverbal Communication – Study Reveals 26 Body Language Cues Of Attraction

Haase, Richard F. ; Dimattia, Dominic J. Berdie, Ralph F. (editor). Proxemic behavior: Counselor, administrator, and client preference for seating arrangement in dyadic interaction. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 1970 17(4): 319-325.

IJzerman, Hans; Marcello Gallucci; Wim T.J.L. Pouw; Sophia C. Weigerber; Niels J. Van Doesum and Kipling D. Williams. Cold-Blooded Loneliness: Social Exclusion Leads To Lower Skin Temperatures. Acta Psychologica. 2012. 140:283-288. http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-temperature-actually-drops-during-social-exclusion/

Kenner, Andrew N. ; Katsimaglis, George. Gender differences in proxemics: taxi-seat choice. Psychological Reports. 1993 72(2): 625(2).

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.

Reading Nonverbal Behaviour In Child Abuse Cases – How To Encourage Children To Divulge Information In Truth Telling

Moore, Monica. Courtship Signaling and Adolescents: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. Journal of Sex Research. 1995. 32(4): 319-328.

Girls Just Want To Have Fun – The Origins Of Courtship Cues In Girls And Women

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

Remland, M. S. and T. S. Jones 1995. Interpersonal Distance, Body Orientation, and Touch: Effects of Culture, Gender, and Age. Journal of Social Psychology 135(3): 281-297.

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

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

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

Langton, S. R. H., & Bruce, V. (2000). You must see the point: Automatic processing of cues to the direction of social attention. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 26, 747–757.

Lockard, J.S. ; Allen, D.J. ; Schiele, B.J. ; Wiemer, M.J. Human postural signals: Stance, weight-shifts and social distance as intention movements to depart. Animal Behaviour. 1978 26: 219-224.

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

Montgomery, Derek ; Moran, Christy ; Bach, Leslie. The influence of nonverbal cues associated with looking behavior on young children’s mentalistic attributions.
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1996. 20(4): 229-249.

Mcelroy, James C. ; Morrow, Paula C. Personal space, personal appearance, and personal selling. Psychological Reports. 1994 74(2): 425(2).

Mcgurk, Barry J. ; Davis, John D. ; Grehan, John. Assaultive behavior personality and personal space. Aggressive Behavior. 1981. 7(4): 317-324.

Navarro, Joe. A four-domain model for detecting deception: an alternative paradigm for interviewing. The FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. 2003. 72(6): 19(6).

Newman, Robert C. ; Pollack, Donald Holzberg, Jules D. (editor). Proxemics in deviant adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1973 40(1): 6-8.

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

Straube, Benjamin ; Green, Antonia ; Jansen, Andreas ; Chatterjee, Anjan ; Kircher, Tilo. Social cues, mentalizing and the neural processing of speech accompanied by gestures. Neuropsychologia. 2010. 48(2): 382-393.

Sartori, Luisa ; Becchio, Cristina ; Castiello, Umberto. Cues to Intention: The Role of Movement Information. Cognition. 2011. 119(2): 242-252.

Scherer, S. E., & Schiff, M. R. Perceived intimacy, physical distance, and eye contact. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 1973, 36, 835-841.

Scott, J. A. Comfort and seating distance in living rooms: The relationship of interactants and topic of conversation. Environment and Behavior, 1984, 16, 35-54.

Sommer, R. Studies in personal space. Sociometry, 1959, 22,247-260.

Sommer, R. The distance for comfortable conversation: A further study. Sociometry, 1962, 25, 111-116.

Sommer, R. Personal space: The behavioral basis of design. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. 1969.

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.

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

Uchino, B. N., Cacioppo, J. T., & Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K. (1996). The Relationship Between Social Support And Psychological Processes: A Review With Emphasis On Underlying Mechanisms And Implications For Health. Psychological Bulletin. 1996; 119: 488-531.

Wicker, B., Michel, F., Henaff, M.-A., & Decety, J. (1998). Brain regions involved in the perception of gaze: A PET study. Neuroimage, 8, 221–227.

Willis, F. 1966. Initial speaking distance as a function of the speaker’s relationship. Psychonomic Science. 5: 221-222.

Weiss, M., & Keys, C. The influence of proxemic variables on dyadic interaction between peers. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association; Chicago, 1975, August.

Werner, Carol ; Brown, Barbara ; Damron, Gary Steiner, Ivan D. (editor). Territorial marking in a game arcade. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1981. 41(6): 1094-1104.

*No Photo, Closed body language, Closed facial gestures, Confused body language, Disapproval cues, Dislike (nonverbal), Emotional body language, Evaluative body language, Negative body language, Stressful body language, Worry body language

Body Language of Tense Face

by Chris • October 29, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Tense Face

Cue: 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.

Emotions Are Read In 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.

Facial Expressions Versus Bodily Expressions in 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.

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.

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.

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

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

Your Face Reacts To Body Anger – How Our Brains Are Wired To 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.

Physical Strain Leads To Jaw Clenching And 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.

Anger As A Nonverbal Cue To 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

Dominance Expression Conveyed By Different Facial Expressions In Men And 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.

Do You Wanna Fight? – Nonverbal Cues Believed To 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

Context Matters When 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.

Reading Bodily Postures And Facial Expressions Incorrectly Can Be 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.

How To Avoid Anger On 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.

Facial Expressions Versus Bodily Expressions In Nonverbal Communication

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

How To Convey Emotion Nonverbally Through Dance, A 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.

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

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

How Did 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

Human Anger Face Signal Of 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.

Friend or 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.

Body Language Is Read Quickly And 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

Men View Power Body Language Different Than Women – Bodily Feedback Of Making A 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.

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.

Using Touch To 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.

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.

Be Careful! Infants Perceptive At 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

Fear – It’s In Your 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.

How To Read Kid’s Dislike For Food – Facial Expressions Accurate For Detecting Dislike But Not Like In Children

Arrogance or arrogant body language, Authoritative body language, Barriers, Blocking or Shielding, Closed body language, Disapproval cues, Dislike (nonverbal), Dominant body language, Hostile body language, Palm power, Regulators, Rejection body language, Speech-independent gestures

Body Language of Palm Out or Talk To The Hand.

by Chris • October 27, 2014 • 0 Comments

Body Language of Palm Out or Talk To The Hand.

Cue: Palm Out or Talk To The Hand

Synonym(s): Talk To The Hand, Hand To Others, Palm Stop, Palm In Your Face.

Description: The hand comes up abruptly like a stop signal toward another person as the head and eyes turn away.

In One Sentence: Placing the palm out toward another person is a nonverbal way to tell them to stop talking.

How To Use it: Use the palm out gesture to nonverbally tell someone to ‘shut up.’ Many nonverbal signals are safer than actual words and this is no exception. A palm out can quiet a person without being forced to be overt and actually tell them to do so. Often this saves us from more dramatic confrontation.

The same gesture works on a large crowd when it would be impractical to yell over them. A flash of the palms, or persistently held palm out, tells others to heed to your dominance, as you are prepared to take over.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: a) “I’m using my hand and palm to tell you to stop talking immediately, I don’t want to hear it.” b) “Talk to the hand, because I’m not listening, that’s enough already.”

Variant: See Palm Down Displays or Palm Power, Palm Up Displays or The Rogatory Posture.

Cue In Action: She had enough, the conversation had gone on long enough. The personal insults were going too far. She put her hand up in her face and turned her head away. It was clear she didn’t want to hear another word from her.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Palms carry important power. This palm out, or palm-in-your-face-gesture, is a conversation ender. It is a way for people to say that they do not wish to entertain any more thoughts and have a strong unwillingness to speak. The combination of palms as power and insisting that someone speak to them implies that we wish to offer our disrespect.

Palms carry very significant power and whereas palms up are accepting or offering, palms out or down, signify power and dominance. The intent of palms in someone else’s face is one of high authority and to send message of disagreement and that they are disgraceful and deserve no respect.

Cue Cluster: Watch for the head to quickly turn away and down, eyes averted.

Body Language Category: Arrogance or arrogant body language, Authoritative body language, Barriers, Blocking or Shielding, Closed body language, Dislike (nonverbal), Disapproval cues, Dominant body language, Hostile body language, Palm power, Regulators, Rejection body language, Speech-independent gestures.

Resources:

Alibali, M.W., Heath, D.C., and Myers,H.J. (2001). Effects of visibility between speaker and listener on gesture production: Some gestures are meant to be seen. Journal of Memory and Language, 44, 169–188.

Blurton Jones, N. G. (1967). “An Ethological Study of Some Aspects of Social Behaviour of Children in Nursery School.” In Desmond Morris (Ed.), Primate Ethology (Chicago: Aldine), pp. 347-68.

Bass, Andrew & Boris P. Chagnaud. 2013. Shared developmental and evolutionary origins for neural basis of vocal–acoustic and pectoral–gestural signaling. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Birdwhistell, Ray. 1952. An introduction to kinesics. Louisville: University of Louisville.

Birdwhistell, Ray. 1970. Kinesics and context. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania.

Brannigan, Christopher, and David Humphries (1972). “Human Non-Verbal Behaviour, A Means of Communication.” In N. G. Blurton-Jones, ed., Ethological Studies of Child Behaviour (Cambridge: University Press), pp. 37-64.

Chaikin, Alan L. ; Gillen, Barry ; Derlega, Valerian J. ; Heinen, James R. K. ; Wilson, Midge. Students’ reactions to teachers’ physical attractiveness and nonverbal behavior: Two exploratory studies. Psychology in the Schools. 1978. 15(4): 588-595.

Carney, Dana R.; Amy J.C. Cuddy; Andy J. Yap. Power Posing: Brief Nonverbal Displays Affect Neuroendocrine Levels and Risk Tolerance. Psychological Science, 2010; 21 (10): 1363-1368.

Cuddy, Amy J.C., Caroline A. Wilmuth, and Dana R. Carney. The Benefit of Power Posing Before a High-Stakes Social Evaluation. Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 13-027, September 2012.

Ekman, Paul & Wallace V. Friesen. 1972. Hand movements. Journal of Communication. Vol. 22, Dec. 1, pp. 353-374.

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

Ferre, Gaelle. 2011. Functions of three open-palm hand gestures. Multimodal Communication, 2011, 1 (1), pp.5-20.
http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/66/60/25/PDF/Multimodal-com-Ferre_final_.pdf

Friesen, Wallace ; Ekman, Paul ; Wallbott, Harald. Measuring hand movements. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1979. 4(2): 97-112.

Engel, George. 1978. Clinical value of gestures, postures, and facial expressions. Public lecture. University of Washington. Seattle. December 5.

Fabrega, Horatio Jr. 1973. Begging in a southeastern Mexican city.” In Romney, A. K. & I. DeVore (eds.). You and others. Cambridge, Mass.: Winthrop, pp. 162-173.

Genthner, Robert W. ; Moughan, James Osipow, Samuel H. (editor). Introverts’ and extraverts’ responses to nonverbal attending behavior. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 1977. 24(2): 144-146.

Gorkan Ahmetoglu, Viren Swami. Do Women Prefer “Nice Guys?” The Effect Of Male Dominance Behavior On Women’s Ratings. Social Behavior And Personality, 2012; 40(4), 667-672.

How To Significantly Increase Male Attractiveness With Simple Body Language – “Nice Guys” Finish Last Once Again

Goffman, Erving. The Nature of Deference and Demeanor. American Anthropologist. 1956. 58(3): 473-502.

Givens, David B. (1978C). “Social Expressivity During the First Year of Life.” In Sign Language Studies (20), pp. 251-274.

Givens, David B. (1978D). “Greeting a Stranger: Some Commonly Used Nonverbal Signals of Aversiveness.” In Semiotica (Vol. 22), pp. 351-67.
Grant, Ewan (1969). “Human Facial Expressions.” In Man (Vol. 4), pp. 525-36.

Givens, David B. 1977. Shoulder shrugging: A densely communicative expressive behavior. Semiotica. Vol. 19:1/2, pp. 13-28.

Givens, David B. 1982. An ethological approach to the study of human nonverbal communication. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms.

Givens, David B. 1986. The big and the small: Toward a paleontology of gesture. Sign Language Studies. No. 51. Summer, pp. 145-167.

Givens, David B. 2005. Love signals: A practical field guide to the body language of courtship. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

Givens, David B. 2014b. Nonverbal neurology: How the brain encodes and decodes wordless signs, signals, and cues. In Kostic, Aleksandra & Derek Chadee (eds.). Social psychology of nonverbal communication. New York: Palgrave-MacMillan Press, pp. 9-30.

Givens, David B. 2014c. Measuring gestures. In Kostic, Aleksandra & Derek Chadee (eds.). Social psychology of nonverbal communication. New York: Palgrave-MacMillan Press, pp. 66-91.

Givens, David B. (forthcoming). “Reading Palm-up Signs: Neurosemiotic Overview of a Common Hand Gesture” (Accepted for publication [March 4, 2015] in Semiotica).

Givens, David B. (1982). “From Here to Eternity: Communicating With the Distant Future.” In Et Cetera (Vol. 39, No. 2), pp. 159-79.

Givens, David B. (forthcoming). “Reading Palm-up Signs: Neurosemiotic Overview of a Common Hand Gesture” (Accepted for publication [March 4, 2015] in Semiotica).

Goffman, Erving. 1956. The nature of deference and demeanor. American Anthropologist. Vol. 58, No, 3, June, pp. 473-502.

Goodall, Jane. 1986. The chimpanzees of gombe: Patterns of behavior. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University.

Hall, Karl & Irven DeVore. 1972. Baboon social behavior. In Phyllis Dolhinow (ed.). Primate patterns. San Francisco: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, pp. 125-180.

Hubbard, Amy, McNealy, K., Zeeland, A., Callan, D. & M. Dapretto. 2012. Altered integration of speech and gesture in children with autism spectrum disorders. Brain and Behavior. Vol. 2, No. 5, Sept. 2012, pp. 606-619.

Iacoboni, Marco. 2009. Imitation, empathy, and mirror neurons. Annual Review of Psychology. Vol. 60, pp. 653-670.

Kendon, Adam. 2004. Gesture: Visible actions as utterance. Cambrideg: Cambridge University Press.

Koppensteiner, Markus ; Grammer, Karl. Body movements of male and female speakers and their influence on perceptions of personality. Personality and Individual Differences. 2011. 51(6): 743-747.

Koppensteiner, Markus ; Stephan, Pia ; Jäschke, Johannes Paul Michael. From body motion to cheers: Speakers’ body movements as predictors of applause. Personality and Individual Differences. 2015. 74: 182-185.

Leigh, Thomas W. ; Summers, John O. An initial evaluation of industrial buyers’ impressions of salespersons’ nonverbal cues. Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. 2002. 22(1): 41(13).

Mehrabian, Albert ; Williams, Martin Mcguire, William J. (editor). Nonverbal concomitants of perceived and intended persuasiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1969. 13(1): 37-58.

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

Marler, Peter. 1965. Communication in monkeys and apes. In DeVore, I. (ed.), Primate behavior. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, pp. 544-584.

McNeill, David. 1992. Hand and mind: What gestures reveal about thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

McNeill, David. 2005. Gesture and thought. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Mittelberg, Irene. 2008. Peircean semiotics meets conceptual metaphor: Iconic modes in gestural representations of grammar. In Cienki, A. & C. Müller (eds.). Metaphor and gesture. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 115-154.

Montgomery, Kimberly J., Isenberg, Nancy & James V. Haxby. 2007. Communicative hand gestures and object-directed hand movements activated the mirror neuron system. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. Vol. 2, No. 2, June, pp. 114-122.

Muller, C. 2004. Forms and uses of the palm up open hand: A case of gesture family?” In Muller, C. & Ronald Posner (eds.). The semantics and pragmatics of everyday gestures. Berlin: Weidler, pp. 233-356.

Norton, R. (1983). Communicator Style: Theory, Applications, and Measures (Beverly Hills: Sage Publications).

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

Roll, William V. ; Schmidt, Lyle D. ; Kaul, Theodore J. Berdie, Ralph F. (editor). Perceived interviewer trustworthiness among black and white convicts. Journal of Counseling Psychology. 1972. 19(6): 537-541.

St J. Neill, S.R. The Effects of Facial Expression and Posture on Children’s Reported Responses to Teacher Nonverbal Communication. British Educational Research Journal. 1989. 15(2): 195-204.

Schubert, T. W. (2005). Your highness: Vertical positions as perceptual symbols of power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 89. 1–21.

Trout, Deborah ; Rosenfeld, Howard. The effect of postural lean and body congruence on the judgment of psychotherapeutic rapport. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1980. 4(3): 176-190.

Wiener, Morton ; Devoe, Shannon ; Rubinow, Stuart ; Geller, Jesse Mandler, George (editor). Nonverbal behavior and nonverbal communication. Psychological Review. 1972. 79(3): 185-214.

Waal, Frans De (1982). Chimpanzee Politics (London: Jonathan Cape).

Wieser, Matthias J.; Tobias Flaisch and Paul Pauli. Raised Middle-Finger: Electrocortical Correlates of Social Conditioning with Nonverbal Affective Gestures. 2014. PLoS ONE 9(7): e102937. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0102937

The Powerful Nonverbal Effect Of The Raised Middle Finger – Persistent Brain Consequences And Pairing