The Ultimate Body Language Book

She’s displeased and thinks you should know better.
We’ve seen the hands-on-hips posture before but it resurfaces again in the aggression classification
because it is ready posture. In this case, the hands on hips, feet together at attention is accompanied by
leaning forward with the head and chin up, or out, and exposed. The hands-on-hips puffs the person out
making them seem larger and the feet spread at shoulder width increases stability putting them in a
fighting stance. Observations have shown us that ignoring the puffed out chest is to be done at one’s
own peril as it is a very strong indicator that a person is about to strike out in aggression. The classic
‘in-your-face’ type of posture indicates readiness for fight and isn’t to be confused with a business
ready posture. The accompanying clues which are discussed next, shows an intent to fight, but also
tension so there is overlap in fighting nonverbal language and that which stems from other negative
emotions such as displeasure, fear, anger, antipathy and disgust. Therefore it is the context, once again,
that will tell us the root source of the body language, be it fight or flight.
As aggression nears, our blood “boils” and rushes to the surface of the body making our faces and ears
turn red with anger. While blood doesn’t actually boil there is some truth to it. As our nervous system is
shifted in the “fight or flight” response our blood pressure increases through a faster heart rate
preparing us for action. Since our faces have a high concentration of capillaries and vessels, and the
vessels, especially in the cheeks are much wider in diameter than other areas of the body, coupled with
the thin skin in the face, permit the redness of the blood to show through in the characteristic
“flushing.” This anger reaction shouldn’t be confused with feeling embarrassed or the blushing we see
through exercise. The accompanying cues in cluster will tell us which emotional response we are
seeing.