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Body Language: What Are You Really Saying Essay

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You’re standing on the doorstep at the end of a date. You ask her if she had a good time. She gives you a tight-lipped smile, claims she had a great time, gives you a quick hug, and scurries inside her house. You walk back to the car wondering why you don’t believe her words. According to Professor Albert Mehrabian when communicating about emotion the meaning of the words make up 7 percent, tone equals 38 percent, and body language equals 55 percent. Body language is a common language we all speak yet not all of us can fully interpret. From our head to our toes our body is moving instinctively to reveal our thoughts and how we feel inside. Before you go any further I must warn you: A single action isn’t proof of an emotion or deception. …show more content…

People focus on their upper bodies when trying to control body language. The lower body is usually forgotten which leads to an increase of lower body movement when lying. Solid front desks make people more comfortable when lying. Moving up the body, the arms have a larger range of motion than the legs. This allows them to put more emotions on display. In addition to range of motion we have the dexterity of fingers to communicate with. Our hands spend most of our time out in front of us projecting our feelings and emotions. Open hands typically indicate honesty. During an honest story our hand gestures increases helping us tell the story. Hiding are hands can indicate nervousness or deceit. When we lie we typically rehearse the words or lay the lie out in our minds. We don’t typically rehearse the body language. That causes our hand gestures to diminish. Also our hand gestures can disappear when we are nervous. Talking to a superior or public speaking are good examples of this. We use our arms as natural barriers to protect ourselves when we feel threatened or defensive. Just like the legs, when we cross our arms we close our minds. When the person you’re talking to crosses their arms they are usually no longer interested in what you have to say or they feel threatened. If the hands start to clench and the jaw tightens up look out. A verbal or physical attack may be building. If while

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