The Ultimate Body Language Book

of our consciously awareness and in so doing induces us to imitate other people’s expressions. This
partially explains why we are negatively affected by people in our company whom persistently scowl
or frown. In the long term, negativity usually grates on us to the extent that we often feel a need to
actively address others who hold these positions, and if that address proves impossible, we resort to
isolating ourselves from them. We do so to protect ourselves from negative and destructive emotions
that can permeate our thoughts. Attitudes exempted, even facial expressions of the people we surround
ourselves with play a big role on how we tend to see the world. The contagion of negative emotions,
thoughts and body language is probably a large player in the recent success of the positive thinking
movement. Here, a reverse tact is used to “think” positive, and so be positive, and promises that
success and riches will follow.
The brain and body are closely linked and it is difficult to “untie” them from one another. Telling a lie
is difficult when holding honest gestures, such as palms exposed, and similarly, 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. Even laughing, done for no good reason, can put
someone in a good mood because it helps release all sorts of positive hormones.
Body language, for this reason, is very powerful. As we learn the gestures associated with opened and
closed minds, we can create positive changes in ourselves. We can even induce emotional changes in
others through the use of mirroring, as we shall see in a later chapter. Just by uncrossing the arms, or
unfurrowing the brow, can make us not only appear more open and happy, but also make us feel that
way. Smiling, even if one is not in the mood, can be particularly effective because it can set the
framework by which an interaction might take place. So to provide a quick answer to our initial
question, emotions likely have inward and outward forces with varying strengths. With some practice
we can either resist outward stimuli, or adopt them, or can induce inward stimuli and emit them.
Having the ability to spot reasons for bad moods and body language can allow us to replace them with
more positive body language helping us feel happier.
Chapter 1 - Why The Study Of Body Language Is Important
How The Lymbic System Affects Body
Language
The limbic system is a set of brain centers including the amygdale, hippocampus, anterior thalamic
nuclei, and limbic cortex. These structures in collection handle emotion, behavior, long term memory
and olfaction or the sense of smell. In 1952 researcher Paul MacLean started using terms to divide the
brain by function and what he thought was their origin. He called collections of the brain the “reptilian
brain” which included the base of the brain and brain stem, the “mammalian brain” or the limbic brain
and the “neocortex” or human brain. Scientists have proposed that the brain has evolved from a
primitive reptilian brain to the more complex neocortex. By examining images of the brain, it become
apparent to scientists that the brain has “stacked” specialized structure upon specialized structure in
what seems like a progress through time. Think of how rocks form through sedimentation over time,
and you have a rough idea of how brains have evolved. By moving inwards from the outer layers of the
brain to the center it has been theorizes that one is moving back in time to the original “primitive”
brain. This is why the center brain is called the reptilian (original, less complex) brain whereas the
neocortex (“neo” meaning new, more complex) which the mammalian brain, is located on the outside.
As it applies to nonverbal behaviour, it is the limbic brain that is responsible because it reacts naturally