Body Language

Most of the time, words are not enough to express how someone really feels. And sometimes,

what we say are not really what we intend to convey. This is where nonverbal communication

gains its importance in the interaction of two or more people.

Body language, a form of nonverbal communication, is the conscious and unconscious use of

gestures and body movements to send messages, moods, feelings, and state of mind. You can

easily identify one’s emotions if you know how to read and interpret his or her actions.

Anger

This emotion is probably the easiest to identify from one person. Aside from the increasing

of the voice volume, facial movements could identify anger or fury. It could be identified

by one hard, intense look on the source of his anger or when the eyebrows would meet at the

center slightly above the bridge of the nose. Other facial body language involved in this

emotion include nasal flaring, teeth baring, snarling, flushing of the face, shallow

breathing, and tightening of the lips and jaw.

A person with a clenched fist, perspiration, his hands on the waist, or arms crossed across

the chest are signs of anger as well.

Nervousness, Tension, And Anxiety

The most common signs of these emotions are dry mouth, pale face, trembling of the lips and

fingers, and perspiration. A nervous or anxious person would tend to move a lot to remove

the tension off his body, thus he would fidget, rock or tap his feet, drum his fingers on a

surface, or pace around the room back and forth. Lack of eye contact or the inability to

hold prolonged eye contact is also an indication of these emotions.

Fear and Defensive State

Trembling, perspiration, and a pale face could also be seen in fear. The skin will be cold

and clammy, the voice will tremble, muscle tension, and the body will have a defensive

posture when threatened. A defensive posture includes the raising of the hands, crossing of

arms or regressing to the fetal position. The person will also try to make a distance from

the source of his fear or danger.

Flirting And Attraction

Flirting body language is quite complicated since women and men have different ways of

showing it. But the signs that the two genders have in common in showing attraction include

prolonged eye contact, smiling, raising of eyebrows, preening, adjusting or touching of

clothes, looking at the lips of the other person, leaning towards the person, and closing

the distance.

Interest And Focus Of Attention

Eye contact is the most indicative sign of interest and attention. Leaning forward to the

person and nodding are reinforcements that you are indeed listening to him or her. When the

eye would wander to another object, it means that the person may be bored or his attention

was distracted.

Confidence

Confidence is evident in a firm handshake, good posture, calm muscles, and comfortable use

of hand gestures when conversing. When sitting down, a relaxed position is indicative of

confidence as well. Sitting on the edge of the chair with tense back muscle would mean

otherwise – tension or nervousness.

Body language has a way of telling us how a person really feels, but the meanings and

indications are not reliable and true at all times. Basically, the gestures stated above are

the general body movements commonly used by most people in the same situations and emotions.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 5:32 am and is filed under expression. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.