False smiles pull back only the mouth while real smiles pull back both mouth and eyes.
Science has proven that the more you smile, the more positive reactions others will give you.
Diana's Sideways-Looking-Up smile had a powerful effect on both men and women
When you fold your arms your credibility dramatically reduces
You may feel that arm-crossing is simply comfortable but others will think you're not approachable.
Skilful elbow-touching can give you up to three times the chance of getting what you want.
A light 3 second elbow-touch creates a momentary bond between two people. Touching above or below the elbow does not produce the same result and touching for more than 3 seconds will receive a negative response.
Gestures can reveal if a person is lying.
Seven of the most common ‘lying gestures' are the, ‘Mouth Cover', the ‘Nose Touch', the ‘Eye Rub', the ‘Ear Grab', the ‘Neck Scratch', the ‘Collar Pull' and the ‘Fingers In The Mouth'.
Bill Clinton answering questions about Monica Lewinsky in front of the Grand Jury
Pupil dilation is a sign that the person likes what they see
When the pupil of the eye dilates, the black section in the middle grows in size. This explains why we sometimes see a “twinkle in the eye” when a person is happy or excited. The larger black area reflects light differently.
The closer people feel emotionally to each other, the closer they will stand to each other.
There are cultural reasons too, why people will stand a certain distance from another person.
Jiggling the feet is like the brain's attempt to run away from what is being experienced.
If you are not sure whether you're being lied to or not, look under the table or desk. Glass topped tables cause us more stress than solid tables, as our legs are in full view and so we don't feel as if we are in full control.
Open legs show male confidence; closed legs show male reticence
Crossed legs not only reveals negative or defensive emotions, it makes a person appear insecure and causes others to react accordingly.
Finger pointing creates negative feelings in most listeners
Finger pointing not only registered the least amount of positive responses from the listeners; they could also recall less of what the speaker had said
Being ‘perceptive' means being able to spot the contradictions between someone's words and their body language.
And that overall women are far more perceptive than men. Research reveals that women read the situation accurately 87% of the time, while men only scored 42% accuracy. This has given rise to the term "women's intuition".
Cultural Differences
The biggest cultural differences exist mainly in relation to territorial space, eye contact, touch frequency and insult gestures. The regions that have the greatest number of different local signals are Arab countries, parts of Asia and Japan.
If a Saudi man holds another man's hand in public it's a sign of mutual respect. But don't do it in Australia, Texas or Liverpool, England!
