Tag Archive for Index Finger

Non Verbal Body Language Dictionary ::T::

by Christopher Philip • March 28, 2010 • 0 Comments

Did we forget a nonverbal term? Suggest it in the comment box or e-mail it direct, and we’ll be ecstatic to add it! With well over 500 terms, the BLP dictionary is growing to be the largest free nonverbal dictionary in the world! Brought to you exclusively by The Body Language Project! Visit our homepage for more free learning.

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Tanned skin or tan: When the skin is darkened due to exposure to UV rays either through tanning beds or outside exposure. Tanned skin reveals a person’s hobbies or work environment. When it is due to tanning can indicate vanity especially when overdone. Tanned skin can also reveal a recent sunny vacation, or that a person works outdoors habitually and will usually have callused hands.

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Tap (the): A nonverbal cue given off by available women whereby the index finger taps the forearm. It is usually done when the arms are crossed. The tap is like an abbreviated finger motion as in, “come here.”

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Tapping: Tapping of the feet, fingers, or with objects, it indicates boredom and a desire to exit a situation. Other times it indicates anxiety where tapping is a form of energy release.

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Tapping a pencil on the teeth: Indicates that thought is taking place.

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Target: That person to which body language is aimed at, or, of which is being read.

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Taste or tastefulness: Nonverbal signals that are culturally specific and also somewhat subjective indicating that a person prefers clothing and material objects that are in style or fashionable. Having good taste reveals good judgment about social norms, a sensitivity about the opinions of others, sophistication and prosperity. The opposite signals are conveyed with poor taste.

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Teacup handshake: The palm is cupped such that it makes no contact with the other palm. It indicates shyness or insecurity.

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Teeth grinding or teeth clenching: Occurs when the jaw is tightly clenched and the teeth rub back and forth or simply by clenching the jaw tightly. It indicates inward-directed anxiety, frustration or anger. Other times clenching is due to intense physical strain or in anticipation of pain.

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Teeth licking or running tongue over teeth or tongue to teeth: When the tongue is run back and forth over the teeth or lips. This is a signal of stress as saliva production increases so does the need to move it around and swallow it. The tongue on teeth also provides a soothing tactile stimuli aimed at reducing anxiety.

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Tells or Tell (a): A term borrowed from poker, a ‘tell’ is a nonverbal cue that gives a person away and uncovers their hidden thoughts and emotions. It is an informal word used to replace “cue”, or “nonverbal body language.”

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Territory: The area around a person which they feel is their own and guard as such. It includes our houses or apartments, our yards, automobiles, offices as well as the space that surrounds our immediate bodies.

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Territorial displays: Includes nonverbal cues that make the body appear larger. Splaying the arms, legs and feet and puffing out the chest are a few examples of territorial displays.

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Territoriality: A key part of humanity that describes how people use space to communicate ownership.

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Testing closeness: A technique that is used to verify a desire for greater intimacy. Rather then using the entire body which can cause a negative reaction, testing says that legs, arms, or objects should be used to make brief forays into someone else’s personal space to read their reaction.

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Thigh-thigh cross or thigh thigh leg cross: A more extreme version of the knee knee cross where the leg is drawn up further onto the leg. It is extreme in so much as the legs are more tightly crossed. It is rarely performed by men due to their anatomy but found in women due to their wider hips.

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Thin slice assessment: The ability of humans to make decisions in astonishingly small amounts of time with only small amounts of information often involving nonverbal information – whether accurate or not. This phenomenon is why it takes so little time to assess people coding them into characters and leaving them there relatively immutable unless rigorously challenged. This is what makes using good nonverbals important in everyday life.

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Threat displays: Nonverbal signals designed to intimidate and predict aggression. These include chest protrusion in men, making the body appear larger and more outstretched, fist pounding, fist clenching, raising the voice, erratic movements, and so forth. These gestures form the prelude to physical violence.

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Thumb displays or thumbing: We see this thumb displays normally by royalty and also by lawyers who are trying to seem noble and important. The gesture happens by placing all but the thumbs in the front pockets of a vest, or suite jacket, or by knuckling the vest and leaving the thumbs out. Thumbs-out is a representation of ego, dominance, assertiveness and sometimes even aggressiveness. Denotes superiority.

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Thumb hiding: Placing the thumb of the same hand inside the clasped fingers, placing only the thumbs in a pants pocket with the remainder out are two ways thumbs can be hidden. This indicates low status and low confidence.

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Thumb in hand gesture: Done by placing the thumb against the index finger and where the remaining fingers form a ball. The hand then motions as if pointing, and in a rhythmic motion, emphasize points with conviction. The thumb in hand gestures is the “politicians gesture” since it is frequently used by various Presidents and world leaders and is a less offensive way to accomplish what would otherwise be left to finger pointing.

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Thumbs up: Where the thumb is raised upward with the remaining fingers clenched together. It indicates that all is well in North America and Europe, a sexual insult in parts of Africa, Australia, Southern Europe and the Middle East, the number 1 in Germany, and the number 5 in Japan.

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Tibial torsion or pigeon toes: Having the toes pointed inwards, often called pigeon toes or anatomically “tibial torsion” is a submissive body posture. Children, and women who are smitten, will point their toes inwards to show their meekness signally their willingness to be lead by more dominant individuals. Pigeon toes makes the body appear smaller forcing it into a less threatening profile.

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Tickling: A play gesture done to make another person laugh and squirm.

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Tie adjustment: A stereotypical male grooming cue indicating sexual interest.

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Tight lipped smile with low intensity: In this smile the lips are stretched across the face toward the ears using the risorius muscle and no teeth are showing. The low intensity smile has very little upward curl in the corner of the mouth and indicates a hidden attitude or thought, uncertainty, hesitation or lack of confidence.

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Tight lipped smile with high intensity: A variation where the lips rise even further with some teeth showing and of which the lips are slightly separated, the corners of the mouth are upturned, gaze is steady and warm and the posture is relaxed. We find this smile appearing when meeting new acquaintances and it is not a full honest smile, but does show openness to others.

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Timber: A characteristic of the voice that describes its quality or sound. Timber is influenced by age and sex coupled with the physical dimensions of the oral and nasal cavity. Children have higher voice qualities, as do women, especially compared to men, since their vocal tracts are about twenty centimeters shorter, and in relation, so too are their vocal cavities. Timber is a separate quality from pitch as even signing highly such as sopranos and falsettistas sound different across sexes and age. This is what makes timber an important nonverbal cue as it ties directly into hidden meanings perpetuated by the creator of the voice. We expect masculine men to have a different timber than less masculine men and especially different than women and children.

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Toes pointed upward (while standing): Happens when a person shifts their weight to the back foot while raising the toe of the other foot. It is a gravity defying form of body language indicating positive feelings.

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Tongue displays: Nonverbal cues that provide cues to a person’s inner thoughts. Lip licking, tongue protrusion and the tongue out the corner of the mouth all have specific meanings.

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Tongue protrusion or tongue out: An evolutionary throwaway gesture thought to have arisen as food rejection mechanism by infants sometimes indicating genuine focus on a task or deceit, agitation and unhappiness.

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Tongue jutting or tongue jut: When the tongue is pushed through compressed lips. It is used to signal a cheeky attitude when done amongst friends, but has a more sinister connotation in competitive situations since it indicates that a person has gotten away with something. In this case, the tongue usually does not touch the lips.

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Torso shield: Placing the arms or other objects over the chest so as to protect it from perceived threat. It indicates a difference of opinion. Shields can be hidden and subtle such as playing with a cufflink or holding a drink across the body, or be more obvious like holding a full arm cross or hiding behind a bar top or the back of a chair.

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Torso splay: A dominance posture where the torso is seen laying back in a comfort position, the chest is puffed out, and the chest is opened or bared challenging an attack. It indicates high comfort and that a person feels they are in charge.

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Touch reduction: When people are at odds with someone else, or are lying, they tend to reduce the amount of touching they do to other people.

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Traffic cop (the): The hands are placed palm up in a stop motion. The speaker wishes the audience to settle or calm so they can continue.

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Transactional analysis theory: Abbreviated TA, and developed by Eric Berne in the late 1950’s it is an integrated theory of how people function. It uses three ego states to predict and explain behaviour which are the parent, adult and child. It states that the most constructive position to hold is the adult rather than the parent or child. The “adult” is able to rationally deal with emotions and difficulties without throwing tantrums like a “child” and without trying to control like a “parent.” Unproductive or counterproductive interactions were said to be due to ego state problems rooting in our development. The focus was on modifying behaviour to achieve desirable results rather then simply observing them.

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Truth bias: A literature review shows that an average sixty-seven percent accuracy is found when detecting the truth, whereas forty-four percent is found while detecting deception. People’s accuracy at detecting truths is usually higher than their accuracy at detecting lies! This is what is called the truth bias. Some possible explanations for the truth bias stem from the fact that in everyday encounters we usually deal with honest people. While lying is pervasive, it doesn’t happen nearly as often as does lying. Thus, we expect people to be telling the truth and are therefore better at detecting it. Another possible reason for our inherent truth bias is because it would be detrimental to act suspiciously while speaking with others just in case they were telling the truth.

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Turtling or turtle (the) or turtle effect: This posture happens as the head appears to be swallowed by the shoulders. It is an evolutionary defensive strategy to protect the head and happens when people are uncomfortable, have low confidence about themselves or a topic, have insecurities, feel weak or powerless, ashamed, or are carrying any other negative emotion.

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Twiddling the thumbs: A subconscious gesture indicating boredom where the interlocked fingers support the task of thumbs circling one another.

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Twitching: Sometimes referred as a nervous twitch, a sudden short burst of movement or flinch can be due to a variety of reasons. Twitching can be due to sudden or sustained stress, but more often than not is due to a random firing of neurons, or underlying medial disease and therefore has no meaning at all. When it is due to stress, it is likely person specific meaning they have a tendency to twitch when under stress.

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Two-inch-drop: A female hip to waist ratio of which the hips are two inches larger than the breast. It is a “hippy” condition and found much more in European countries such as Britain. In Germany and Switzerland it is 2.4 inches and Sweden and France it is 3.2 inches.

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Two-inch-rise: Opposite to the two-inch-rise, the breast is two inches larger than the hips. This produces a “pin up model” condition. In the usual condition it is the hips that are actually narrower and not the breast that is larger producing an illusion.

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The Body Language Project is the result of a decade of personal research including a thorough review of over 60 primary scientific research journal articles. Learning body language forms the perfect foundation for success in ALL your communication.

If you are only picking up on what is being said, you are missing more than half of the message.

For more information on BodyLanguage be sure to check out: BodyLanguageProject.com and the Ebook – The Body Language Guide to Dating, Attraction and Sexual Body Language.

Share and Enjoy:

Non Verbal Body Language Dictionary ::O::

by Christopher Philip • March 26, 2010 • 0 Comments

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Oblique eyebrows of grief: In this facial expression the eyebrows are pulled upward more so than the otter ends.

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Observation: Observation in body language reading implies that one actively watches the entire disposition of a person from their head to their toes including all their verbal and paraverbal cues. There is a big disparity between just seeing something and actively evaluating what is being seen and this is what separates an average body language reader, from an expert.

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Oddball handshake: A handshake that often includes bumps, slaps, flicks and clicks. Meant to display a relaxed casual atmosphere and has its place to forming intimate friendships and bonds.

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Offensive gestures: Culturally specific gestures that produce negative feelings in others such as the middle finger in the West and the okay signal in Europe.

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Offered (the): The hands are palm up as if giving a gift. This is a beggar’s plea where agreement is desperately sought from the audience.

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Office artifacts or office props: Office artifacts include any objects that take up space in the place of work. They can be used to display status such as the use of trophies, plaques, certificates or interests such as model cars, sports memorabilia or pictures hung on walls such a nature or fishing adventures. Lawyers are usually portrayed in front of a large library of books which is a nonverbal signal of the mountain of knowledge that “backs them.”

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“OK” gesture: Done by placing the thumb against the index finger forming an opening with the remaining fingers flared out. It is considered more thought provoking and honest when compared to finger pointing because it place emphasis onto the speech rather than the listeners. In Belgium and France however, it means that something is worthless, in Tunisia, Sicily and Southern Italy is an insult, and in Japan that they wish their change returned in coins.

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Ok personality: People that are psychologically comfortable with who they are. They usually have upright posture, with shoulders firm and square, head raised and their body is balanced.

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Olfactory processing: A secondary way of processing information like visual and auditory except the primary means involves the sense of smell. It falls out of the normal realm with which people process information they receive but is occasionally referred to as a vestige. People will use terms such as the following when they refer to their olfaction: This deal stinks. Something smells wrong here. Did you get a whiff of that? This is fresh.

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Once over (the): A sexual or competitive eye pattern that follows the body over its entire form from the toes to the top of the head stopping at the buttocks, breasts and face, typically performed by men. Women are rarely caught looking men over due to their superior peripheral vision. Men have hunter eyes and focus intently on smaller areas. When it signals competitiveness it is usually done by women onto other women looking for a “cat fight.”

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Open body language or openness: Any and all body language that shows that a person is ready to communicate and accept ideas from others. It happens when no part of the body covers the midway-point of the bisected body. The arms and legs are not crossed and the palms are up. Even clothing might be relaxed such as shirt collars being unbuttoned, the pants might hang loose and certain articles like jackets might be removed. Other signals of openness includes increased proximity, prolonged eye contact, warm and relaxed smile, intimate greetings such as hugs and cheek kissing.

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Opposite body language: A pick-up technique where men play hard-to-get by displaying teasing nonverbal cues or even outright disinterest. The object of opposite body language is to appear “chase worthy” in the eyes of women by appearing to be superior to them and avoid appearing “needy.”

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Oral displacement activities: An unconscious gesture aimed at self soothing by using parts of the body such as fingers or hair, or inanimate objects like pens by mouthing them. Scientists have speculated that it is a developmental throwback when we would suckle as infants. Oral displacement can include biting finger nails, sucking pencils, mouthing the stems of the glasses or passing hair through the mouth. Smokers can also be said to have oral displacement fixation where they habitually place objects in their mouth to sooth.

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Orbicularis oculi muscles: One of two muscles that produce smiling. These muscles serve to pull the eyes back to produce the honest smile through what is called “smiling eyes”. Smiling eyes, also called “crow’s feet”, where a classic wrinkling appears in the corner of the eyes is an indication of true happiness.

Oscar Pfungst: Psychologist who uncovered that the skills under which Hans the horse was able to perform simple math had nothing to do with his intelligence, but rather his ability to read body language. He noticed that there were differences in breathing, posture and facial expressions as Hans tapped out his answer. As Hans neared to correct answer, the handlers would increase the tension they held in their body language which would tip off Hans. Once the final tap had been made, the tension suddenly disappeared from the person and so Hans took this cue to mean it was time to stop tapping.

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Orienting reflex or orienting response (a): The phenomenon whereby people turn and move toward stimuli or people they are attracted to, or agree with, rather than away from them such as those we fear or disagree with. (b) The instinctive survival instinct whereby a person orients toward movement. As it applies to nonverbal communication, the orientation reflex controls distractions in business, to maintaining the attention of children with toys, and even to the freeze response where people stop moving in order to put themselves under the radar.

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Ownership gestures: Body language that indicates that a person is in control of something. Ownership gestures are usually performed on objects, but can also be done to people. Propping the feet up on a desk or car bumper or wrapping an arm around a lover or child, are ways to show who they belong to.

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Oxytocin: A natural chemical released by the body due to touching that helps create bonding between people especially in women. In men, sex is the primary releaser of oxytocin which surges up to fives times that of normal just before reaching orgasm. Oxytocin serves to eliminate internal tensions, reduce anxiety, creates feelings of contentment, calmness and trust, and provides reassurance. The hormone is partially responsible for pacifying behaviours that include self touching.

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If you are only picking up on what is being said, you are missing more than half of the message.

For more information on Body Language be sure to check out: BodyLanguageProject.com and the Ebook – The Body Language Guide to Dating, Attraction and Sexual Body Language.

Share and Enjoy:

Non Verbal Body Language Dictionary ::B::

by Christopher Philip • March 20, 2010 • 0 Comments

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Back channel signals: A set of body language that indicates that a speaker is being heard. They include noises such as “mhum” and “uh-huh”, gestures such as nodding and expressions such as smiling in agreement.

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Bandler, Richard, W.: Born February 24, 1950. Bandler is an American author on personal development and is best know for his work on NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) in association with John Grinder.

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Barriers: Postures, gestures or inanimate objects that are placed in front of someone which are used to block off other people. They are usually employed when someone is uncomfortable and wishes to control the space around them. Barriers function much like security blankets, as they have an emotionally protective feature.

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Baselining or baseline or norming: Probably one of the most important and often overlooked aspects of reading body language. It refers to the “normal” body motions that populate the repertoire of each person. “Normal” is defined as the body language that happens when a person is relaxed.

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Baton gestures or hand chop gesture: A motion done with the hands to emphasize points in speech. A baton or chop adds emotion to the words it is attached to. It is habitually done by powerful people who have the floor and are in charge.

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Beckoning: Using the index finger, hand, head and even the eyes to draw another person nearer.

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Becoming loud: An sudden increase in the volume of the voice. Becoming loud can be due to a variety of reasons including an attempt to be noticed, to dominate a room, to express anger, frustration, act out aggressively, berate, scorn, celebrate and show excitement, display enjoyment, or due to inebriation.

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Bedroom eyes: Eyes who’s pupils are large and fully dilated. Found in those who are reacting subconsciously to sexually stimulating imagery such as attractive mates.

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Beady little eyes or snake eyes: Eyes that are squinted or constricted who’s pupils are small and undilated. It indicates fear, aggression and dislike.

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Beards: Facial hair on the chin, cheeks and sometimes the neck. It is a nonverbal message signifying wisdom and is scholarly unless left to grow untrimmed. In this case, it is seen as unwieldy and primitive. Rarely does a beard indicate secretiveness, rather it is a cosmetic choice. Bears can mean that a man looks better that way, is trying to look older, is trying to hide age by covering wrinkles, is trying to conceal a facial flaw such as a weak chin or has a rebellious or artistic personality.

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Beauty dividend: A term referring to the profit aspect to appearances. Well studied this states that as a persons attractiveness increases so too does their earning power on a per unit basis. Good looking people tend to receive more raises, more often and also get hired for better positions. They’ve also been found to benefit their company with increased business and revenue over the long term.

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Becoming quiet: A sudden lowering in the volume of the voice. Becoming quiet can be due to a variety of reasons including trying to keep secrets and remain private, to create intimacy, to inhibit drawing attention to the self, to power play people into drawing them into personal space and forcing them to listen hard or due to shyness or timidity.

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Behaviourists: A school of psychology that limits its focus to observable and quantifiable aspects of behaviour excluding emotions and motives.

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Behaviourism: A term originating from the studies of John B. Watson in 1913. It says that behaviours can be measured, trained and changed. According to behaviourism responses to the environmental stimuli shape people’s behaviours according to various processes such as classical and operant conditioning and reinforcement schedules.

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Bent over posture or rump presentation: A submissive appeasement posture done by bending forward either facing toward or away. When done facing away can be taken as a sexual invitation. It says “I am offering myself in the passive female role” and is a request to be mounted. Young girls might be seen doing this while dancing in night clubs as they grind on men. Conversely the bow has origins in the same submissive bent over posture, however it is usually, but not always done facing whomever is being submitted.

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Bernieri, Frank: Professor of Psychology at Oregon State University. His primary focus of research is social perception and judgment, nonverbal behavior and communication, face-to-face interactions, multi-channel communication, interpersonal synchrony, empathy and research methodology and has published over 40 scientific articles and chapters.

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Beta males and females: Beta males and females are normally classified as anyone who does not fall into the “alpha” category, however in reality, beta is much less broad. Betas are second in command, and the term refers to contenders or subservient who’s purpose is to serve alpha’s. Beta’s can, at anytime, challenge the alpha for dominance and dethrone the alpha’s. Beta’s are identified by their body language. They can sometimes hold dominant language, but only when other alphas aren’t present. It is important to note that alpha and beta, in humans, is a floating concept as nearly everyone is alpha and beta at one time or another, as our company which includes our culture and sub-culture varies significantly. Beta body language includes leaning in while speaking, fidgeting, touching the face, taking on smaller body forms such as hunching the shoulders and pressing the legs together.

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Bipedalism: The human form of locomotion that involves two (bi), feet (pedal). Bipedalism in humans produced the condition that allow men and women to use their hands to manipulate tools and communicate. Because the feet where relegated to more rudimentary tasks, they hold more of the visceral reactions (such as running from predators, or being pulled under the table when in stressful negotiations) and so tend to be more honest. The hands and arms are more controlled by the conscious mind, rather than the primitive mind, and so tend to be more deceitful. In other words, bipedalism kept feet honest.

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Birdwhistell, Ray L.: American anthropologist who pioneered the study of kinesics. He utilized slow-motion replays to analyze the actions of people. He published a book called Introduction to Kinesics in 1952.

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Blade away or blade toward (blading): The turning of the body with only small degrees either toward or away from stimuli that a person agrees with or disagrees with. The turning away of the torso by degrees as an encounter becomes less and less enjoyable or to our liking. Think of a knife that is turned on an angle so as to slice more or less steeply. Blading away is to “turn the back on someone” when in dislike, or to blade toward so as to “face them head on” when liking is present.

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Blanching: When the surface of the body or face appears white. It is due to the presence of extremely fearful situations that creates a flight or fight response drawing blood from the periphery and diverting it to the major muscles in the core of the body. It is the body’s way to prepare to escape or mount an aggressive challenge.

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Blepharoplasty: A very popular surgery for Asian women is to create the double eyelid.

Asian people lack the fold or eyelid crease and so their eyes are narrowed and oval in appearance. The surgery adds a second fold or crease in the eyelid from an eyelid without a crease, producing a rounder westernized eye. It is proof of how important large eyes are in terms of creating attractiveness and neoteny.

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Blocking: A term used to describe when a person wishes to distance themselves from a distressing stimulus by erecting barriers. Blocking is a part of the fight or flight response, and takes the form of the flight element because it creates distance between things we wish to avoid. It includes crossing the arms or legs, turning a shoulder so the body faces away, rebuttoning jackets or pulling a jacket closed, pulling the feet and arms inward, or pointing the feet toward the doorway indicating a desire to leave.

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Blowing off steam or exhaling or blowing out air through the lips: Done by forcefully exhaling air through a compressed mouth and indicates frustration, disapproval, uncertainty and an attempt at pacifying.

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Blushing: Blushing is linked to the release of adrenaline and cortisol which courses through the body when people get excited, feel pressure or are nervous. The hormone also diverts blood flow from the digestive system and shunts it to major muscle groups giving them a burst of energy. As a side effect, our blood vessels that deliver blood to our faces dilate, meaning they relax or open, allowing more blood to reach the surface of our face causing them to turn red.

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Bodifications and tattoos: Conscious alterations of the body such as clothing, jewelry, tattoos, severely plucked eyebrows and false nails. More severe are the forms that are permanent such as breast implants, dramatic piercing, facelifts, liposuction, collagen insertion, etc. The type of tattoos and art it contains can be telling of a person’s character. Bodifications reveal a need to be different, rebelliousness, nonconformist, have an artistic nature, a desire to fit in or lower socioeconomic status (heavy tattoos).

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Body cross: A posture whereby the arms connect in some way across the front of the body to produce a safety barrier.

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Body cutoff: An orienting reflex designed to end conversations. When people wish to exit they will cut their centerline off from the conversation as if leaving preliminarily. The greater the angle, the less interest or more dislike is present.

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Body language (a): A subset of nonverbal communication that includes body postures, gestures, facial expressions and eye movements.

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Body language or nonverbal communication (b): A method of conveying information through conscious and subconscious gestures, body movements, postures and facial expressions. Body language is used as conscious replacement of speech, to reinforce speech, and as an indicator of mood.

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Body language reader: A person who is receiving and decoding hidden meaning from nonverbal channels.

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Body language reader: A person who collects nonverbal language around them so as to study and interpret them.

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Body language sender: A person who is emitting nonverbal language which is being received by another person and interpreted.

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Body lowering: A technique whereby a person takes a lower position relative to another to show that they wish to submit. One such example is the curtsey which is done to show respect and taking a knee when interacting with someone else who is seated is another. Dropping the head can also be a form of body lowering.

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Body orientation or body angling: Refers to the angle at which people sit or stand in relation to one another. A subset of posture that is important in conveying information such as the desire to leave as when the body faces away or when weight is applied to one side over the other, disinterest when bodies lean away or liking when bodies create proximity. The purpose to meeting is also conveyed through orientation such as confrontation, bargaining, friendship, or even indifference.

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Body raising or elevation: Status and dominance are closely related to the relative height of a person which is why people are seen as leaders when they are taller. Height can be artificially raised as well with high heels or special footware for men, by using situation specific features such as staircases, using chairs which are taller or elevated platforms such as where the judge sits overlooking his courtroom.

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Body rocking: A technique used to show a desire to leave a conversation. It is also meant to indicate a nonverbal “time constraint.” It is a body language expression done by design to show others that one must be someplace else in order to appear more important. The body is rocked from weight forward to weight back, from side to side, or turning the shoulders slightly away as one does naturally when exiting conversations. This can tell people to warp up their conversation, or when done in dating, tease women inducing them to pursue.

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Body shifting: When a person rocks back and forth while sitting or standing. This indicates a moderate uneasiness or boredom and a desire to leave.

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Body size reduction: Whenever the body is less erect and less spread than normal. Happens by pulling the arms and legs inward, lowering the head, tucking the chin inward. Body size reduction shows submission, timidity and shyness.

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Bottom pinching: A sexually aggressive gesture when done by a man on an attractive woman especially when un-welcomed. It takes on three forms and has been an Italian pastime: the pizzicato which is a quick tweak with the thumb and middle finger, the vivace which is more vigorous and uses several fingers and done more than once and the sostenuto which is prolonged and heavy handed with a rotation.

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Boredom: An emotional state whereby an individual displays disinterest in the activities or the people around them. Boredom is indicated by fidgeting, tapping the fingers or toes, appearing to have no emotion on the face, supporting the head on the hand and leaning against walls, tables, slouching backwards, letting the eyes wonder, gazing into the distance, sighing heavily, yawning, crossing and recrossing the arms and legs, fiddling with pens, eyeglasses or papers, doodling, pointing the body away from the speaker, shifting the weight, moving the head from side to side, rolling the eyes, stretching and picking at the fingernails.

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Bounce (the): A type of gait usually found in teenage girls who walk with a springy step. It signifies health and optimism.

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Brain-body interplay: As it relates to body language, the brain-body interplay says that they are linked making it difficult to “untie” body expressions from the underlying emotions that compel them. For example, it is difficult to have a negative attitude while dancing spryly. The actions the body performs tends to bleed through into the mind and create positive or negative feelings as the case may be. Even laughing, done for no good reason, can put someone in a good mood because it helps release all sorts of positive hormones.

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Broad smile: In this smile the upper and lower teeth are made visible and the gaze is relaxed and the smile is intended to convey joy and pleasure. This is a true smile and not one that is easily faked because the corners of the eyes display crow’s feet.

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Broken window theory (the): Says that disorderly appearance of an area increases the incidence of crime and antisocial behaviour occurring in that area. Graffiti, trash and litter, and other items in disrepair tend to attract more damage and litter and also those types of people likely to inflict such detritus. In a well known city experiment, graffiti that was quickly removed tended to reduce the amount of crime occurring in the area.

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Buccinator muscles: Muscles located on the sides of the face that draw the lip corners toward the ears. It is activated during the sneer producing dimples in the cheeks.

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Business gaze: Eye contact in a business gaze that is held about 80-90% of the time to avoid feelings of discomfort. They eyes follow a pattern whereby they never leave the face and spend the majority of the time between the forehead and the eyes, never below.

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Buttock clasping: A sexual display of affection usually done during copulation. It is a firm grasping of the read end during pelvic thrusting.

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Buttress stance: A standing posture where the leg bearing the body’s weight is straight, while the other leg is extended forward and outward away from the body. It indicates a readiness to depart.

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Buy signals: These are nonverbal signals that indicate that a person is ready to commit to a sale. They include eye increased eye contact, moving in and shrinking distance, touching the chin and greater relaxation.

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If you are only picking up on what is being said, you are missing more than half of the message.

For more information on BodyLanguage be sure to check out: BodyLanguageProject.com and the Ebook – The Body Language Guide to Dating, Attraction and Sexual Body Language.

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