Working Inquiry Question: How and why do we communicate and reveal so much about ourselves without saying a word. (body language)
Body language’s importance is often over-looked. It’s unintentional but our expressions, hand movements, and stances can give away a lot of information before you even say a word. I’ve always found it baffling when people aren’t able to read the simplest of body language in everyday life. You can avoid many awkward situations if you just pay attention to what everyone is saying around you without opening their mouths. I’ve witnessed many guys go up to girls to make conversation with the purpose of getting to know them better or to ask them out on a date. When the girl is not interested, its seems obvious to me, but the guy usually misses it entirely. They will sometimes fold their arms, or shift their body away from him just slightly, even if they are smiling I find it pretty easy to tell the difference between an authentic smile and a real one. If they were able to read the body language that the girl was giving off they would be able to avoid a rejection
Another example would be during the presidential debates. Both candidates are smiling, but it’s ridiculously fake. It’s easy for people to lie to you with words, but a lot harder to lie with their body language. And it’s easy to tell which candidates were more comfortable at certain moments during the debates.
All of these reads I consider uncommon-common sense and I’ve learned them through observation and my own experiences. I would love to gain more knowledge on the topic of reading body language. I feel like it would be a great skill to have to be able to read people even better. There are many experts in the field and they are sometimes brought on the news to read what politicians are saying with their bodies. And there’s sure to be case studies and various articles that I could use to research.
There are also some TV shows that body language as a use for telling if a witness or suspect is lying. One of them being ‘Lie to Me.’ I haven’t seen it yet, but i plan to knock out a couple seasons of it during Christmas break. I’ve watched Psych before which is about a guy who is hyper observant and in various episodes he uses people’s body language to diverge information from them.
I originally thought of this as an aspect of language when I thought about sign language and how people who can’t hear or talk, communicate. I went beyond the sign language aspect and thought about what people say with their bodies in general.
The Onion's satire article on the over-coverage of body language. The article pokes fun at various news station's post debate over-coverage on the candidates body-language. Although The Onion is doing so in jest, they bring to our attention some a good point. We, as humans recognize the importance of body language. Why else would they spend precious television time and talking points on it?
This is a presentation by Amy Cuddy.
Body language, and why, how, and what we say without knowing
it. I found the interaction and use of body language between men and women most
interesting.
I don’t go out much, (when I do I’m usually the designated
driver). So I usually just end up people-watching in between keeping my
intoxicated friends from getting into fights or just being plain loud and
annoying. One of my favorite things is when a guy walks up to a girl, attempts
to hit on her and then fails miserably. I know, I Know.. it’s horrible, but I
find it hilarious.
The typical interaction goes as follows… Guy walks up to a
girl that he has been eyeing for at least a couple minutes, and either asks to
buy her a drink or simply tries to drum up some simple small talk and
introductions. When she’s not interested, the guy will usually fit in a painful
minute or two before being turned away (and even longer if she’s too nice.) The
part I don’t understand is how oblivious the guy always tends to be to what her
body language is screaming at him. He’s oblivious. Though in his defense that
may be due to the level of intoxication he’s attained, but still.
http://www.professional-counselling.com/interpreting-body-language.html
The definitive book of body language / Allan & Barbara Pease.
http://jasmine.uncc.edu/search~S0?/X%28body%20language%29+and+%28origins%29&Da=&Db=&SORT=D/X%28body%20language%29+and+%28origins%29&Da=&Db=&SORT=D&SUBKEY=%28body%20language%29%20and%20%28origins%29/1%2C17%2C17%2CB/frameset&FF=X%28body%20language%29+and+%28origins%29&Da=&Db=&SORT=D&4%2C4%2C
I was still unsure on what I wanted to focus on under the broad topic of body language. I was deciding between social interaction between men and women, or the reason why we even have body language, and why we reveal so much about ourselves. Nature vs. nurture type argument. The response I got from my presentation along with the research I was able to find during our library day, led me to focus on the nature vs. nurture focus and develop an argument based off of that.
During my research I found that women send close to five
times more body language messages than men in the same time period. They are
always more adept at being able to read body language.
I couldn’t find much specific scientific research on this, which makes sense.
It’s hard to envision a respected psychologist conducting a professional
scientific study on this topic. Most of my findings were about generic body
language, which still applies somewhat.
I was able find some good information and research on a professional
counseling website. And what I found was interesting. I’ve been able to read
facial expressions and simple things like if they are closing off their body or
fiddling. But I wasn’t why we our body does it and to what extent.
Easy tells are simple:
For example:
-
Crossing of the legs -- a sign of resistance or boredom
- Locked ankles – apprehensive
- Folding one’s arms -- translates defensiveness.
Why do our bodies reveal so much?
Some of it has to do with habits and our learned association
between our gestures and our feelings. While some reasoning is attributed to
that we are still animals and we have basic animal instincts of survival, for
example:
When someone is not comfortable with a situation they will
cover up their torso or turn it away, as a subconscious way to protect vital
organs.
http://www.professional-counselling.com/interpreting-body-language.html
The definitive book of body language / Allan & Barbara Pease.
http://jasmine.uncc.edu/search~S0?/X%28body%20language%29+and+%28origins%29&Da=&Db=&SORT=D/X%28body%20language%29+and+%28origins%29&Da=&Db=&SORT=D&SUBKEY=%28body%20language%29%20and%20%28origins%29/1%2C17%2C17%2CB/frameset&FF=X%28body%20language%29+and+%28origins%29&Da=&Db=&SORT=D&4%2C4%2C
Reaction to presentation:
I was still unsure on what I wanted to focus on under the broad topic of body language. I was deciding between social interaction between men and women, or the reason why we even have body language, and why we reveal so much about ourselves. Nature vs. nurture type argument. The response I got from my presentation along with the research I was able to find during our library day, led me to focus on the nature vs. nurture focus and develop an argument based off of that.
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