The Ultimate Body Language Book
esearch has shown that some gestures are universal and therefore have ubiquitous meaning across cultures, while others only have local meaning. Other gestures are context specific so mean one thing in one place and can mean something entirely different elsewhere. Pointing, made by extending the index finger and balling up the rest of the hand for example, is one of the gestures that has the same meaning everywhere, but the okay-sign made by touching the index finger to the thumb and flaring out the remaining fingers, as we shall see later, does not. Some cultures also tend to gesture, called “gesticulation” when used in speech, more or less often than others. For example, Italians are known to use a lot of gestures in speech whereas the English tend to use gestures infrequently. The English culture, on the other hand, deems high rates of gesticulation as being impolite. The high gesture cultures include Hebrew, French and Spanish. The more social way for us to use our hands is to use them in concert with what is being said, although taken to extremes like the Italians, or lack thereof like the English, can be counterproductive. A balance between the two, will be the best case. The hands and arms add to the dialogue and liven it. Keeping your hands to your sides or your arms crossed tightly might be comfortable, but those that use their hands moderately while speaking appear intelligent and honest when viewed by others. Universally, closed posture come off as negative and anti-social no matter what kinds of truths spoken or positive feelings intended by the speaker. This is why it’s so important to be conscious of our gestures because even if we aren’t, others will be. Whether or not others bring closed body language to consciousness, is not relevant. Our impressions are created in others passively with no active thinking. The various gestures have been broken down into five categories: emblems, illustrators, affect displays, regulators which we cover next.
Chapter 3 – Cultural Differences Emblems: Word Replacement Gestures Peace or victory? Depends on your audience! Some gestures can be seen as offensive in different cultures.
- Page 49 and 50: Chapter 2 - The Basics Of Understan
- Page 51 and 52: We regularly place more importance
- Page 53 and 54: statements that are taken out of co
- Page 55 and 56: on the spot, and in real time. Chap
- Page 57 and 58: idiosyncrasy. Does this mean that e
- Page 59 and 60: to be compare to a baseline as they
- Page 61 and 62: such as postures and signals or in
- Page 63 and 64: than simple observation. While Wats
- Page 65 and 66: Millions of years ago, we gave up q
- Page 67 and 68: fact there is a class of body langu
- Page 69 and 70: speak, by observation and practice.
- Page 71 and 72: Body language makes the intent of a
- Page 73 and 74: We rarely catch women checking men
- Page 75 and 76: Chapter 2 - The Basics Of Understan
- Page 77 and 78: Chapter 2 - The Basics Of Understan
- Page 79 and 80: Chapter 2 - The Basics Of Understan
- Page 81 and 82: Chapter 2 - The Basics Of Understan
- Page 83 and 84: Asymmetrical posture shows a lack o
- Page 85 and 86: 4. Keep your midsection tight to as
- Page 87 and 88: kissing, back slapping, high fives,
- Page 89 and 90: that create relief. Someone that is
- Page 91 and 92: exercise except in this case the en
- Page 93 and 94: especially as the evening progresse
- Page 95 and 96: when people suffer from illness per
- Page 97 and 98: Much debate has been raised about t
- Page 99: present, the Japanese more than the
- Page 103 and 104: This “a-okay” gesture means goo
- Page 105 and 106: Chapter 3 - Cultural Differences Il
- Page 107 and 108: Chapter 3 - Cultural Differences Af
- Page 109 and 110: Chapter 3 - Cultural Differences Re
- Page 111 and 112: Chapter 3 - Cultural Differences Ad
- Page 113 and 114: characteristics. It is general in n
- Page 115 and 116: of the speech during conversation.
- Page 117 and 118: Chapter 3 - Cultural Differences Cu
- Page 119 and 120: Disgust.
- Page 121 and 122: into facial emotion recognition and
- Page 123 and 124: ecome more uniform, so too does the
- Page 125 and 126: The handshake is quickly becoming t
- Page 127 and 128: Chapter 4 - Space and Territory Int
- Page 129 and 130: Chapter 4 - Space and Territory Pro
- Page 131 and 132: An arm is extended to indicate that
- Page 133 and 134: Personal Space Distances 1. Intimat
- Page 135 and 136: wave of the hand in the country is
- Page 137 and 138: This is a comfortable body ready fo
- Page 139 and 140: Chapter 4 - Space and Territory Spa
- Page 141 and 142: e it to respect it by reading their
- Page 143 and 144: overtly show that they are being in
- Page 145 and 146: its hidden meaning. Chapter 5 - See
- Page 147 and 148: Chapter 5 - Seeing Eye To Eye - A L
- Page 149 and 150: Chapter 5 - Seeing Eye To Eye - A L
esearch has shown that some gestures are universal and therefore have ubiquitous meaning across<br />
cultures, while others only have local meaning. Other gestures are context specific so mean one thing in<br />
one place and can mean something entirely different elsewhere. Pointing, made by extending the index<br />
finger and balling up the rest of the hand for example, is one of the gestures that has the same meaning<br />
everywhere, but the okay-sign made by touching the index finger to the thumb and flaring out the<br />
remaining fingers, as we shall see later, does not.<br />
Some cultures also tend to gesture, called “gesticulation” when used in speech, more or less often than<br />
others. For example, Italians are known to use a lot of gestures in speech whereas the English tend to<br />
use gestures infrequently. <strong>The</strong> English culture, on the other hand, deems high rates of gesticulation as<br />
being impolite. <strong>The</strong> high gesture cultures include Hebrew, French and Spanish.<br />
<strong>The</strong> more social way for us to use our hands is to use them in concert with what is being said, although<br />
taken to extremes like the Italians, or lack thereof like the English, can be counterproductive. A balance<br />
between the two, will be the best case. <strong>The</strong> hands and arms add to the dialogue and liven it. Keeping<br />
your hands to your sides or your arms crossed tightly might be comfortable, but those that use their<br />
hands moderately while speaking appear intelligent and honest when viewed by others. Universally,<br />
closed posture come off as negative and anti-social no matter what kinds of truths spoken or positive<br />
feelings intended by the speaker. This is why it’s so important to be conscious of our gestures because<br />
even if we aren’t, others will be. Whether or not others bring closed body language to consciousness, is<br />
not relevant. Our impressions are created in others passively with no active thinking.<br />
<strong>The</strong> various gestures have been broken down into five categories: emblems, illustrators, affect displays,<br />
regulators which we cover next.