We often feel more confident in ‘ reading’ people’s body language than perhaps we should – deception, in particular, is often surprisingly hard to detect. However, there is no denying that becoming more conscious of the gestures and facial expressions we unconsciously display can improve how we communicate. We can monitor and refine our nonverbal signals and become more sensitive to those of others. The examples below illustrate some of the first areas to look at to improve your nonverbal communication skills.
How To Read Posture
The tace is extremely important in reading emotions, but precisely because of that, people are more careful to control their facial expressions. So body movement can also be important. For example, facially, someone might try to be attentive to what you are saying, but at the same time, support their head, on the one hand, stretch out their legs, and lean back -so the posture conveys a message of boredom. Signs that signal interest include orienting your head towards the other person, sitting reasonably straight, and keeping your legs bent at the knee. If you lean forward and drawback your legs, this can suggest great interest.
How To Flirt
‘Giving someone the eye’ is all about signaling sexual interest and sexual availability, but timing is everything! The gaze has to be long enough to be perceptible to the other person but not so long that it seems like an aggressive stare. Repeating the process a few times may do the trick. If the other person keeps avoiding your gaze, you are probably wasting your time, but if the eyes meet and the facial expression shows interest, you may be on your way. For the really shy and reticent, a big smile may also be needed to win them over.
How to Make Someone Feel Comfortable
There are lots of ways of making someone feel comfortable, and body language” certainly plays its role. Undoubtedly, bodily relaxation matters. If you are tense, nervous, or fidgety, this will make others feel uncomfortable. One useful nonverbal sign that people are getting along is that they tend to imitate each other’s postures. See if you can notice how often this occurs in conversation. Try to resist imitating someone else’s postures, and you may start to feel you are being really unfriendly! If you wish to create a more positive atmosphere, try to imitate someone’s postures (although not too blatantly) – this shows interest and responsiveness to the other person.
How To Read Facial Expressions
Facial expressions can be either posed or spontaneous. So, how can we tell the difference? Most revealing is the smile. In a posed smile, often just the corners of the mouth are raised; in a genuine smile, smile wrinkles – ‘crow’s feet – may appear at the corner of the eye. A posed smile may be produced almost as if turning on a light switch, whereas the onset and offset of a spontaneous smile may be more gradual. Another clue to whether an expression is posed or genuine is its degree of symmetry. An asymmetrical expression is one where the expression on one side of a line is drawn vertically through the middle of the face and does not match that of the other side. Posed expressions tend to be much less symmetrical than spontaneous ones, so you can use this as a clue to help judge whether someone’s facial response is largely genuine or if it has an element of effort.
How To Detect Deception
Detecting deception from body language is much harder than people often think. There is no ‘Pinocchio’s nose’ that automatically tells you when someone is lying. For example, there is a belief that if someone averts their gaze, he or she may be lying; this may be the case, but the person might also be showing respect or simply be feeling shy.
One useful way to discern deceptions is to look for very brief expressions, which may occur if someone is surprised, startled, or Jadenly influenced by very strong emotions (such as fear, panic, or anger). These expressions may be quickly brought under control but can be very revealing about someone’s underlying emotions. If, for example, you mention an unexpected promotion to a colleague, they might make a fleeting expression of surprise – widened eyes, raised eyebrows – before they regain facial composure and offer their congratulations.
