Body Language in Our Society.
Body language as a memory tool and learning aid,
and body language in our society.
Introduction to Body Language
We hear that Selena Gomez is territorial and Justin Bieber is unhappy. Gloria Cain is loyal and firmly believes in her husband’s respect for women. Meanwhile, Obama chooses not to wear a tie because he is finding his job increasingly tough of late. All this information comes to us courtesy of body language experts quoted in the media.
Body language is a tool that everyone uses whether knowingly or unknowingly. Salesmen use it to tell whether a prospect would result in a sale. Politicians use it to look more trustworthy. Men try to read a woman’s body language to tell whether or not she would be receptive to his advances. Teachers use it to decide whether students are paying attention or not. Television audiences use it to judge public figures ranging from Casey Anthony to Michelle Bachmann.
Body language refers to the nonverbal cues that we send out by our actions, gestures, body postures and facial expressions. Human beings read and interpret such nonverbal cues off of each other all the time. The study of body language is fairly recent and was dubbed kinesics in the 1960s (Fast, 1970).
Body Language and Society
Body language has a huge impact on our communication, and our brains naturally respond to nonverbal cues (Goman, 2008). Nonverbal signals help us to make quick decisions about people and what they are saying – or not saying. According to Goman, body language is very complex and can only be accurately interpreted by using other factors as filters. Body language is colored by context, and culture among several other factors. For example, hugging oneself tightly in cold weather would be interpreted as a sign that one is feeling cold. Hugging oneself tightly when the weather is warm could elicit a completely different interpretation. This is an example of how context changes the way body language is understood. Similarly, hugging may raise eyebrows in the office, but not in a social setting such as a club.
A nonverbal cue, just like a word or sentence does not appear in isolation, it appears within a cluster – a series of nonverbal cues from the same individual. A gesture cluster is a series of movements, postures and actions all reinforcing a common point (Goman, 2008).
When our verbal and nonverbal communications diverge, people will assign more weight to nonverbal cues (Goman, 2008). Nonverbal cues are generally relied upon in getting information about our feelings, adds Goman.
Body language has an impact on all spheres of life. It affects business, by influencing purchasing decisions. It affects politics by influencing voting decisions. It affects religion and family life also.
Body language can also create rifts between people of different cultures. Someone interacting with people of a different culture might judge them to be cold or distant because they tend to observe a greater degree of personal space than those from his own culture. Body language also affects recreation. Some games like poker and chess rely heavily on reading the opponents nonverbal cues accurately.
Many decisions both correct and incorrect are made from our assessment of body language. As experts Harry Witchel and Andrew Bass wrote in 2005, body language is often read incorrectly because people tend to oversimplify and jump to conclusions. They propose a more calibrated method for reading nonverbal cues that is more nuanced. Sometimes people’s reading of body language becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Particularly when we use our interpretation of body language to decide how to approach people, it can easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Body language has a huge impact in the legal system. According to Lardner (2001), nonverbal cues play a role in making crucial judgments such as whether an individual is telling the truth or not. She quotes a police forensic expert as saying that the ‘window of opportunity’ is in the few seconds between the times a question is asked and the time the witness answers the question. Prosecutors, attorneys, and pretty much everyone else will be keenly watching for any movement especially unusual movements, body posture, changes in tone of voice, breathing patterns, and other nonverbal factors.
Individuals who are hiding the truth are said to exhibit ‘micro expressions’ (Lardner, 2001). These are short flashes of emotion that to the trained eye, betray something. Lawyers’ body language could also have an impact on the impression the courtroom has of their case. Body language should portray positive emotions like confidence instead of unease.
Body language can also be used in business skillfully, for example at a boardroom meeting, a CEO who wants more eye contact would be wise to sit at the middle of the longer side of the table instead of the traditional ‘head of the table.’ This is because most people are likely to be casting their eyes in that direction.
In the mass media, newspapers user their knowledge of nonverbal communication to price their products. Page sections to which the eye is naturally drawn are sold more expensively. Advertising companies use knowledge of body language to select the right photographs of models to use in advertisements.
According to Pease (1981) people of higher socioeconomic status use less body language and nonverbal communication while people of lower socioeconomic status use it less. He points out that body language, just like written language, has its own system of words, sentences and even punctuations. This means that body language has to be looked at in toto before it can give an accurate measure of somebody’s thoughts and feelings. Pease writes that people who are perceptive can look at other people’s body language and relate it to their words.
Only very few, very practiced people can lie successfully. One would have to either be a much practiced liar or having some psychological disorder that causes him to actually believe his lie.
Body language can portray the relationship between two people. People who are in closest relationship with each other tend to stand closest to one another. Greetings and handshakes are widely used to ascribe power and status. A dominant person will want to have the upper hand in a handshake (Pease, 1981). Instead of having his palm facing upward, he will want to have his palm facing downwards.
When greeting a head of state or a monarch or other dignitary, ladies tend to curtsey and men tend to bow. This body language communicates something to the effect of ‘your highness’ (Pease, 1981).
One of the early discoveries in the study of kinesics was that the pupils of the eyes dilate when one sees something pleasant, according to Fast, (1970). This dilation is involuntary. This may be the reason that players in a poker game can tell when one of them has a good hand.
Just as people are not always conscious of the body language they give off, people are not always conscious of how they read body language. A dilated pupil shows that someone may have a good hand in a poker game or that they are attracted to someone.
In trying to court a woman, a man must be able to read her body language accurately. Failure to read the signs may lead to either giving up on approaching a girl who was actually interested because he thinks she is not. It may also lead to an inappropriate response. For example touching a woman’s hand or coming closer when she is not interested. This will be interpreted as an invasion of personal space and countered.
Body language according to Pease (1981) often contributes to peoples experiences with law enforcement officers. Being careful to communicate submissive instead of defensive vibes to a traffic officer could go a long way in saving a driver from getting a speeding ticket.
According to Pease, it works 50% of the time. Someone who seems defensive may be deemed threatening by the police officer who will then react to the perceived threat by booking them. This shows that awareness of body language can very easily change the experiences that people go through in life. In fact, failure to adopt a submissive or surrender posture in some countries can result in death. In case of a stop and search, a motorist would be advised to raise their hands or at least put them on the steering wheel to reassure the police that (s) he is not up to anything. Any position that may arouse suspicion that one is in possession of a weapon could result in taking a bullet.
Body language means different things in different cultures. In most Western countries, two men walking hand in hand would be assumed to be a gay couple, yet in Arab countries people assume they are friends or family members.
Through popular television shows like Lie to Me body language has become an integral and fascinating part of popular culture. The show features a resident expert who wows audiences with his ability to go beyond what people are saying to interpret what they are really saying – through their body language that is (Andrejevic, 2010). An increasing number of reality shows as well as celebrity news outlets regularly employ the use of body language experts who supposedly give their audiences an inside view of what the subject’s real feelings and intentions are. These media programs have created the appearance the people do not trust what others say. According to Andrejevic, this impression is false, since most adults give more weight to verbal messages than body language.
Nonetheless, speech is important even for body language enthusiasts. By speaking to someone, they elicit a response which they use to judge the semantic clues. Speech can be used to judge the physical reaction, the tone of voice, confidence and breathing patterns, according to Andrejevic, (2010.) Andrejevic points out that all these popular television shows promise what they cannot deliver and could throw their audiences into further confusion. For instance, after noticing a ‘tell’ during a poker face, how does one judge whether it is a genuine tell or just a ruse?
Body Language as a Memory Tool and Learning Aid
Body language is very useful in enhancing learning, according to Gregersen, (2002). Gregersen believes that teachers should be taught how to use nonverbal cues to ensure that they are understood. She points out that merely speaking correctly and grammatically is not the same as actually passing a message across to the student. Nonverbal messages do not work in isolation; they are often interpreted alongside verbal messages.
According to Strid et. al. (2006) infant performance in nonverbal communication could be used to predict performance in later childhood.
Strid writes that children learn body language from their interaction with people around them particularly adults and this knowledge is carried on throughout life.
Body language comes to us in different ways. Sometimes it is learned through socialization. It could also be a genetically passed on. This explains why some signals are practically universal while others have different meanings from one culture to another. A smile is a good signal in practically every culture. Frowning probably means the same thing in every culture. So does crying, or shrugging our shoulders. Some other gestures do not have a nearly universal single meaning. Thumbs up, the ring okay gesture, or the V sign all have different meanings in different cultural contexts This means that body language has to be learned just as diligently as verbal language. A native English speaker learning French would be well advised to also learn French body language by observing very keenly.
Conclusion
In conclusion, body language is an integral part of everyday life. Everyone uses it, even when they are not conscious of it. In using body language to discern important information however, people have to be very careful. It is important to remember that body language has to be read in context. Context means the cultural context, the situational context, the environmental context, the context of other qualifying body language signals being given off at the same time, as well as many other factors that influence body language including verbal information.
Without a more nuanced look at body language, we might fall into the trap of looking at just a small part of a message or just a word in a sentence and deciding that it is the whole message.
References
Andrejevic. A. (2010) Reading the Surface: Body Language and Surveillance. Culture Unbound Vol 2: 15-36
Bass A. & Witchel. (2005) Why Learning Body Language can be Counter Productive. USA: www.harrywitchel.com
Fast, J. ( 1970) Body Language: How our Movements and Posture Reveals our Secret Selves. USA: ereads.
Goman C. K. (2008). The Nonverbal Advantage: Secrets and Science of Body Language at Work. USA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Gregersen. T. (2002) Language Learning Beyond Words: Incorporating Nonverbal Language into Classroom Activities. Reflections on English Language Teaching. Vol 6, No 1 51-64
Lardner, M. C. (2001) What You Didn’t Say Speaks Volumes. Michigan Bar Journal. Vol. 5: 36-38
Pease, A. (1981). Body Language: How to Read Others Thoughts by Their Gestures. London: Sheldon Press.
Strid, K., Tjus T., Smith, L., Meltzoff, A.N., and M. Heimann. (2006). Infant Recall Memory and Communication Predicts Later Cognitive Development. Infant Behavior and Development. Vol 29: 545-553
