What is Body Language?
July 24th, 2010 | 
Author: 
“The body never lies and the body never keeps quiet”, Ancient Chinese proverb.
Observe the three role playing activities stated below:
One: Peter says, “Paul, Take this DVD cassette. It is very interesting. Play it and enjoy yourself”. (Not looked at the DVD and also at the Paul while handing over).
Two: Peter says, “Paul, take this DVD cassette. It is very interesting. Play it and enjoy yourself”. (Looked at the DVD but not looked at the Paul while handing over).
Three: Peter says, “Paul, take this DVD cassette. It is very interesting. Play it and enjoy yourself”. (Looked at the DVD, maintained eye contact with Paul and smiled while handing over).
From the above three role playing activities it is obvious that the third activity is the best as the Peter smiled, looked at the DVD and maintained eye contact with the Paul. It is obvious from the above the huge signification and importance attached to the body language during communication. In this context, let us know in detail about the body language.
WHAT IS BODY LANGUAGE?
When we communicate only 7 per cent of the communication depends on verbal communication and the rest goes towards the non verbal communication. Of the 93 per cent- 38 percent is for voice modulation and 55 per cent is for body language. It indicates the tremendous impact it makes during communication. Body language constitutes the total facial animation and body animation. Human beings may say many lies but it is the body language that usually speaks truth. When we communicate the other person observes and registers our body language in his subconscious mind. Although externally, the listener observes and accepts every thing of verbal language but the listener’s subconscious mind is totally beset with our body language.
INTERPRETATION OF BODY ANIMATION:
Non Verbal Behavior Interpretation
Standing with hands on hips Readiness, aggression
Sitting with legs crossed, foot kicking slightly Boredom
Sitting, legs apart Open, relaxed
Brisk, erect talk Confidence
Arms crossed on chest Defensiveness
Walking with hands in pockets, shoulders
hunched Dejection
Hand to cheek Evaluation, thinking
Rubbing the eye Doubt, disbelief
Touching, slightly rubbing nose Rejection, doubt, lying
Locked ankles Apprehension
Hands clasped behind back Anger, frustration,
Apprehension
Head resting in hand, eyes downcast Boredom
Rubbing hands anticipation
Sitting with hands clasped behind head,
legs crossed Confidence, superiority
Open palm Sincerity, openness,
innocence
Tapping or drumming fingers Impatience
Pinching bridge of nose, eyes closed Negative evaluation
Steepling fingers Authoritative
Patting/fondling hair Lack of self-confidence,
Insecurity
Titled head Interest
Stroking chin Trying to make a
decision
Pulling or tugging at ear Indecision
Biting nails Insecuritynervousness
Looking down, face turned away Disbelief
TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE BODY LANGUAGE:
Below mentioned are the common tips for effective body language and the same varies from culture to culture.
• First and foremost thing is to be aware of your own body language and capitalize the same effectively and efficiently.
• “The eyes are the windows, the mirrors of the soul”, goes the Chinese proverb. The use of eyes in the process of communication is called Oculesics. Maintain eye contact to the listener. And do not stare at the listener as it creates inconvenience and discomfort for the individual. If you find it difficult to look into the eyes then look in between both the eyes, it appears as though you maintain eye contact.
• Keep your back straight but not stiff and don’t slouch your body. You may slightly tilt your head forward to demonstrate your interest.
• Don’t stand still in a place. Make a few comfortable movements with in your personal space.
• Proxemics –This refers to the way in which people maintain a physical distance from one another. Learn to maintain the right gap between intimate and public zone. Intimate zone is the zone for well known and close people. Where as the public zone is meant for unknown people. Never offend others by entering their personal zones during conversation or communication.
• While shaking hands be confident and positive and ensure that your palm should neither by upwards nor downwards but just be equal and vertical as it conveys assertive approach.
• Smile from the core of your heart. People are intelligent and can make out whether the smile is genuine or fake.
• Make use of your hand movements up to the hilt. Each verbal language must be consistently correlated to have effective delivery of speech.
• Observe the film stars and great speakers across the globe closely for correct body language. Try to implement the same as per your convenience, comfort and that suits your culture.
• Look into the mirror and speak, you can make out if there are any inaccuracies in your body language because you are the best judge for yourself.
• Deliver any speech in the presence of your friends and family members and ask them to bring to your notice for evaluation and correction.
• Visualization technique proves to be useful while delivering any speech. Visualize your role model vis-à-vis body language and adopt the same. Over a period of time you can develop positive body language.
• Videotape your conversation, communication or your speech and then check by muting the recording. By this, your body language can be observed fully and the areas that need to be improved can be corrected and adopted.
• Never view body language in isolation. It has to be seen keeping the cultural context view.
CONCLUSION:
Body language is the most crucial part of any communication. Fine tuning body language helps ordinary persons to become an extra ordinary persons thereby excelling in all walks of life. Improving your body language can make a big difference in your people skills, emotional intelligence, attractiveness and general mood. The difference between the good leaders and great leaders is the right application of body language to convey, enthuse and inspire their followers.
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@LadyMeridon me 2:(
Almost none.
I took 7 communications seminars in 10 years at a previous job. They would send me, and then have me come back and teach the material to other people. All of the seminars dealt with body language at some point, and 2 of them dealt with it almost exclusively.
Here are the statistics I was handed. In a face-to-face conversation, only 10% of the communication is actually verbal. That only includes the actual words which are said, as tone of voice counts as non-verbal communication. Of the 90% which is non-verbal, approximately 5-10% is tone of voice and "hand talking", or hand gestures. The rest is all body language.
There are some things which are conveyed in the face, but most body language relies on other things which cannot be seen on a web cam. Those include things like body position, what you are doing with your limbs, how close or far you are standing from the person, and how your body position changes during your speaking phases and listening phases.
Some people are tremendously adept at manipulating their faces to seem appropriate to the conversation, but the eyes usually hold the key. For instance, you can generally tell how a person processes information by where they look when they think about how to answer a question. A person who looks up, over your shoulder or head, on either side, tends to process information in a very verbal, left-brained sort of way. A person who looks down, on either side, tends to process in a more creative, less-linear, right-brained sort of way. A person who has established which way they tend to look, and has done it repeatedly, and then breaks with that, is usually giving an answer which is not 100% truthful. Similarly, genuine emotion shows in the muscles around the eyes, with a specific muscular configuration for amusement, another for sadness, etc…
Web cams throw all that out the window, because people generally look right into the webcam when they speak, and you don't have the advantage of seeing how they process, or seeing the genuine emotion around the eyes. Most of that stuff happens in a flash, anyway, and then is gone, so any pause in the conversation makes it impossible to catch it.
What they are doing with the rest of their body is actually even more important than what they are doing with their face. The reason for that is that while people regain control of their face quite quickly, they tend to not even know what they are doing with the rest of their body. They are completely clueless, unless they have schooled themselves to control that stuff, and even then, it's very hard to control. Basically, the face shows a response for something like 1-3 seconds, but the body holds the response for much longer, and that can be as long as minutes.
You cannot see bodies at all, or if you do, you see someone sitting in their chair, maybe messing with their keyboard or the things on their desk. You don't get to see any of the "telegraphing" that goes on, so I would say the percentage is actually quite a bit lower than your guess of 60%. I would say it could be as low as 10%.
And one other thing we learned was interesting. Experts in non-verbal communication and body language do check the face, but they use the face to see if it matches what the body is doing. If it does not, then there is good reason to believe a person is hiding something. When people are serious about reading body language, they want to see the whole body if at all possible, because that gives the truest reading.
I always laugh at those tabloid magazines where they have a body language expert tell you how a relationship is going by how two people are relating to one another. Half the time, the photos are only partial photos, and you cannot really read those
Once I took those classes, I put what I learned into practice. My results, from honing my skills (which are a bit rusty right now, as I no longer come in contact with hundreds of people each day), would seem to indicate that those statistics are accurate. I no longer even bother reading faces except for the first few minutes of meeting someone new, to ascertain a few things about them. Other than that, I tend to read body language almost exclusively. And I do pretty well…
So that's what I think: about 10%, not counting the actual words they say.
I LIKE THIS SONG SO MUCH
I find that I do this personally when I'm not comfortable being somewhere, like a new doctor's office or hospital waiting room.
That's all I can really contribute.
If he's interested, he'll make eye contact. If he smiles that's a green light for you say "hi". If he's looking at his shoes when he passes you or if he suddenly starts looking at his watch or what he's holding in his hands then he's not the one for you.
i like that ((:
I think that you can interpret communication up to a 80% through webcam. You can see the person laugh at a comment, look distracted, occupied, sad, happy, or upset. However, you usually can't see their posture and in-depth facial expressions. Some people like "talking" with their hands, so webcam might limit the exposure to seeing a person's hand movements
100% is physically meeting and talking to the person.
Hope this helps and enjoy your week!
he might pull you closer or look into your eyes (or maybe at your lips haha) thats what id look for if i were you =] good luck
Hi, Well this could turn out to be a thesis. LOL
A "sharp" horse is a term used to describe a race horse that is bubbling with energy, so much so that he arrives in the paddock prancing and on his toes looking around with excitement at all the surroundings. He may sweat a bit between his back legs or on his neck. This is not necessarily a bad sign, he is just eager to race.
While he may be prancing or jogging he may have his head tucked down to his chest and his tail pointed out and away fromhis body.
On the track a sharp horse is anxious to get going and will often prance beside the out rider, or pony horse. He may even try to take a little nip at the pony and quickly pull his head away. This is a strong sign that the horse is ready to run a race.
As the pony breaks into a canter when the warm-up for the race starts the race horse will also break into a canter immediately.
Horses that are ready to run a race are more relaxed, yet have an alert look, tail raised and a healthy glow of their coat.
A dull horse will walk along with his head down and his tail between his legs. He does not look like a happy horse that is ready to run his best race. He may have his ears turned back rather that pricked and alert. He may show signs of resistence breaking into the gallop for the warm-up.. His eyes may be moving quickly and his nostrils may be flaring.
SOme will even grit their teeth and sweat so much until it turns into a white foam called washiness, and may even rear, or buck away from the handler.
Some horses can be a bit nervous in the paddock , or post parade and then settle down once the get to the starting gate. Some horses are very settled in the paddock and post parade, then get antsy once the load in the gate. And the gate can be a very dangerous for horse and rider. It is always good to look for a well schooled horse.
When the track is muddy look for horses that are lifting their legs high. This is a sign that they do not like a sloppy track.
These are all things I look for when I attend a race. My Dad's uncle was a trainer years ago, and he and my Dad were very close. So like it or not, I went to the track. These were always things that I was taught to look for. So from an early age, these are the things I always look for at the track. Good luck to you
ADD: For the troll that gave me a thumbs down, why don't you come out of hiding and give a better answer than mine. In fact, if you would grow up and quit following me around giving me thumbs down, just post a better answer. That's all.
@LadyMeridon i bet he still does jst ve has 2 make songs that will apeal 2 da new generation lik im 13 so i lik go 2 discos n u need dis type of song 2 listen 2 instead of his old 1 aldou i love dem 2
Sounds like this is just her personality, so it would be really hard to tell. If you are into outgoing people, then there are ways to pursue her. If you are more of the quiet type, then you might consider dating someone a little more down to Earth. If you feel she acts more serious toward you than how she presents herself with other men, then you have to consider 1) is this possibly the vibe she feeds off of you and that she is just a socially adept person or 2) does she consider you to be more of a person she looks toward for advice/guidance and possibly intimacy. If you are not sure, why not just ask her out for casual drinks after work one evening? Pick a public bar nearby that is a mixed hangout and buy her a couple of beers/shots and see where the evening takes you.
@LadyMeridon its just a song hun and beside he’s a boy !:D
i kept listening to this
@globin3 i speak french
@naty670 Me too
his accent when he speaks french is hot.. as a french girl, i think that every american huy speaking french is hot