Tag Archive for John Grinder

Non Verbal Body Language Dictionary ::N::

by Christopher Philip • March 25, 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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Nail biting: Nonverbal signal where the finger nails are chewed. It signals apprehension, anxiety, discomfort and a lack of self-confidence.

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Namaste: A greeting gesture common in India and Nepal. It is done by pressing the hands together palm in palm with fingers pointed upward in front of the chest. A slight bow of the head is sometimes added.

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Nasal wing dilation or nose flaring: Technical term for flared nostrils indicating that a person is entering a fight or flight response and is preparing for action by increasing oxygen uptake.

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Natural smilers: These are people that have a genuine symmetrical smile where both corners of the lips turn upwards equally. Natural smilers will have more even smiles as both sides of their brain respond to pleasure. Smiles that are not genuine are more pronounced on the left side of the face since they are consciously being controlled.

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Neck exposures: Exposures of the neck are linked to visceral responses linked to submissiveness and are displayed during courtship by women and by children.

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Neck rubbing or neck touching: The neck hold, scratch or rub is a response to negative feelings and is a restraint posture as in “holding one’s self back” as one might do to a wily cat or dog by grabbing them by the scruff of the neck only in this case, it is done to one’s self.

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Negative body language: Negative body language is any nonverbal cue meant to portray discomfort such as fear, aggression, timidity or shyness. When compared to positive body language, negative body language tends to be more honest since we routinely hide our shortcomings and are instructed to do so as children.

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Neocortex or mammalian brain: “Neo” from the root “new” is meant to describe the mammalian brain which is more complex and used for higher order thinking and planning. The neocortex is divided into four lobes, the frontal lobe which handles reasoning, speech, movement, and emotions, the parietal lobe is related to orientation, sensory information, recognition, and perception, the occipital lobe which handles vision and the temporal lobe which handles sounds and smells. These parts of the brain are active in deception and also creating false or misleading body language gestures. It is also referred to as the “lying brain.”

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Neoteny: All children are born with a small nose, round chubby cheeks, soft skin, big eyes and a big round face. We call these features neotenous as they remind us of characteristics found near birth. Neotenous features evoke protective feelings in others, even if carried by adults.

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Nervous body language or nervousness: Includes cues that results from discomfort. They include increased eye blink rate, stuttering, dilated pupils, fidgeting, appearing unfriendly or tense, facial fidgeting, shaking, postural shifts or unrelaxed/reserved postures, twitches, shrugs, head movements, playing with objects, sneering, scowling, frowning, smiling, coughing, biting the lower lip, pressing the lips together, increases in chattiness or becoming quiet, wrinkling of the nose, increase in perspiration, blushing or turning pale, curling up in a ball, shifting weight from side to side, rocking in a chair, uncrossing and recrossing the arms or legs, tapping the fingers and increased swallowing.

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Nervous energy: Extra energy that courses through the body due to various stress hormones producing telltale nonverbal behaviours. A person who is anxious will tend to fidget more often, bounce their legs up and down, pace back and forth, play with their face, scratch their arms or even shake uncontrollably. When people have nervous energy, they use movement to burn it off or displace it.

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Nervous hands: Hands that shake, quiver, or fidget indicate stress through a surge of adrenaline. Sometimes nervous hands are disguised through clasping or tucking them into pockets.

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Nervous feet or anxious feet: The polar opposite to happy feet. Nervous feet are more jarring with heel bumps, kicks, and grinding. Angry feet can be even more aggressive and stomp.

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Nervous smile: A fleeting smile that quickly shows and disappears, the eyes are tensed and darting and the lips may quiver in fear. Other times the smile is long-lasting, more than ordinary eluding to strong discomfort and withholding of information.

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Nonelective physical characteristics: One of two types of outer physical traits that a person might have from which a person might be judged (the other being elective). A nonelective trait includes a person’s height, to some degree their weight, body proportions, their complexion, facial features, physical handicaps, the colour of their hair, their age and sex, their race, and so forth. These are important cues to the nonverbalist, but not nearly as much as elective characteristics since they are not chosen. Nonelective traits influence how people are perceived by others and can therefore predict in a general sense how they have been treated by others to produce their core character, but it does not predict their underlying emotions and personality.

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Nonthreatening body language: Nonverbal communication that indicates that a person is not looking for a confrontation and one who is friendly. These include open palm displays, erect, yet relaxed body postures, relaxed gaze, smiling, comfortable proximity, among others.

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Nonverbal awareness: The relative consciousness of silent messages in ones immediate surroundings and their inherent power.

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Nonverbal communication or NVC: Behaviour including gestures, postures, eye patterns, touch, facial expression, fashion, use of space and territory and paraverbal cues that are either directly or are indirectly used to convey meaning from one person to another.

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Nonverbal empathy: Like emotional empathy which is the capability to share in another’s feelings, nonverbal empathy is the capability to share in another’s emotions by connecting to their unspoken movements. It is related to rapport building, but of which no link between two people needs to established, just pure understanding. Mother’s who focus on their preverbal children to understand their desires and wishes by monitoring eye contact, eye direction, pointing, bouncing, use of touch and various other signals will have nonverbal empathy with their children.

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Nonverbal hot spots: An area of the body where active nonverbals are being emitted which provide useful clues to a nonverbalist.

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Nonverbal intelligence: The relative knowledge of the postures and gestures and their meaning coupled with the ability to apply them in a skillful way to bring success to all facets of life including personal and work.

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Non-verbalist (the): A person who is deeply fascinated with watching the silent language occurring all around them. The non-verbalist will watch people in all functions, at nightclubs, at the park, in malls, on television, or at the office. They will consume material and scientific research to learn and build on their resource base so they can master reading, what is to ordinary people, hidden thoughts and emotions as well as to build on and improve their relationships with others.

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Nonverbal leakage: Body language signals which are emitted from a person without their conscious awareness, or at times despite their conscious awareness, which provides useful, yet otherwise hidden information to others.

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Nonverbal physical mannerisms: Ways the body can be held to convey various meanings. For example, standing over someone as they work displays aggression, whereas placing chairs at forty-five degree angles, crossing the legs toward your partner, and avoid putting the hands together shows assertiveness and control. Other mannerisms like drumming the fingers and tapping the feet show nervousness.

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Nonverbal radar: The decision to be watchful of the nonverbal communication occurring all around a person. A person might have their radar turned on to study other people or they might relax it, such as with friends and family.

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Nonverbal vetting: A process of careful observation and evaluation of a person through nonverbal channels to assess their honesty, character, motives, and usefulness.

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Nose crinkle: Happens when the muscles between the eyes just above the nose contract forcing the skin around the nose to wrinkle. It signifies dislike and disgust and can happen in fractions of a second making it very reliable.

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Nose touch: Touching the nose with the hand is a discomfort gesture linked to anxiety and so is a pacifying gesture. Other times it provides clues that a person is lying.

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Nose turning: A signal of dislike or disbelief where the nose momentary twitches to the side. It is as if a person is moving their nose away from a disagreeable smell.

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Nose up gesture: A confidence display where the chin comes up and is opposite to the head down submissive posture.

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Not OK people: People that are uncomfortable with who they are. They have shoulders hunched and carry a negative facial emotions. You may naturally feel wary when around them without reason.

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NLP: Abbreviation for Neuro-Linguistic Programming. NLP is a system developed to help induce behavioural changes and improve communication between colleagues as well as to re-train thinking in business. It was developed in the 1970s where two researches in California, Richard Bandler and John Grinder noted that the predominant research into human behaviour focused on analysis rather then retraining thinking patterns. NLP is driven by defining positive outcomes, understanding how other’s perceive particular circumstances and in identifying the roots by which thoughts affect images and sound or feelings.

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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.

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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.

Share and Enjoy: