How To Interpret Body Language
- June 10, 2008
- 121,200 Views
Writer
chatel8
Voice Over Artist
Marci Fine
Knowing how to read someone’s body language is like having your own personal lie-detector test. So start sussing out the truth today.
You Will Need
- Keen observational skills
Step 1: Start with the eyes
Let’s start with the eyes. Someone who can’t maintain eye contact could be lying—or, at the very least, extremely uncomfortable. Eyes that shift downward indicate guilt or shame. Direct eye contact signals interest, focus, honesty, and confidence.
If you want to know if a person is lying, ask him to remember something. If he looks to the left when replying, he’s making it up; if he looks to the right, he’s being truthful.
Step 2: Look for fidgeting
Watch for signs of fidgeting, like foot tapping: It means you’re boring the bejesus out of someone, no matter how many times he offers a polite, “How fascinating!”
If someone you’re talking to has his legs crossed and is briskly rocking the front foot back and forth, watch out: He’s annoyed enough to give you a good swift kick.
Step 3: Note eye focus
Note where a person looks when he speaks to you. If he’s looking at your lips, he’s sexually interested in you. If he’s focusing on your forehead, he thinks you’re a dope.
When a person is romantically interested in you, his eyes will be shiny because his glands will secrete a liquid that glazes them.
Step 4: Observe head tilts
Observe head tilts. A person who feels superior to you will keep his head tilted back slightly. A head slanted forward means the person is being judgmental or harboring negative feelings. A tilt to the side indicates interest.
If two people are talking face-to-face, with their hips aligned, don’t interrupt them—they are absorbed in their discussion and not open to interlopers.
Step 5: Watch the digits
Watch how the person uses his fingers. If his thumb is under his chin, with his index finger pointing vertically along the cheek, he’s not buying what you’re selling. If his hand is blocking his mouth, he may be lying.
If you want someone to like you, observe his posture and body movements and mimic them. When people are getting along, they unconsciously begin “mirroring” each other. Studies show you can nudge this camaraderie along by doing it intentionally.
Step 6: Analyze like a pro
Remember three rules: Put the gesture in context (a person may be tapping his foot because it’s asleep); track patterns (some people are always fidgety); and study clusters (one sign of lying is not proof, but several make a good case).
As much as 80 percent of communication is non-verbal.
Something wrong? Report this How-To
Comments (24)
lool most of this is just long believed misconceptions. looking left and right doesn't say anything... you can look anywhere when you lie.
over 2 years ago by Vicky_Nguyen
Simplistic and mostly WRONG ....
over 2 years ago by Steph_JeffersonWright
I agree, it's simplistic, it's not possible to cover everything in such a short video, and the last step was actually the most important. Most things said weren't detailed enough to be of any use.
over 2 years ago by natanz
the eye contact one was false too, someone who maintains constant eye contact is trying to hide their lies by giving too much eye contact
over 2 years ago by jakeg1116
Not necessarily true! You can never be 100% or even 80% sure that someone's lying from body language alone!
over 2 years ago by natanz
This is the biggest bunch of crap ever. Foot tapping doesn't mean ";boring"; it could be A.D.D., bouncing crossed leg means someone is annoyed? Looking left or right ALWAYS means lying or the truth? Stupid! What if a HOT girl or three headed guy is walking behind them. Howcast you should be embarrassed of this crap. Like a lot of these videos they present themselves as if they actually know what they are talking about its annoying.
over 2 years ago by hcarey
Cool can't wait to use it.
about 1 year ago by Proactive
Reading body language is a highly subjective matter and thus much of the information given in this video is somewhat incorrect. In the book What Every Body Is Saying, author Joe Navarro, former FBI Agent and skilled interrogator makes a case for body language as a tool for identifying stress and comfort and the possibility of deception or truth, but not necessarily the actuality because each person is different. In another book, Crime Signals by author David Given, Ph. D, it is stated that certain body language to look for is anything ";anomalous"; or out of the ordinary as this could be signs of something about to happen. For example, a person who follows closely behind another with a forward crouched posture and hands slightly forward may be about to try and pickpocket or rob the person in front. On normal occasion, people generally tend to respect certain unspoken personal space limitations and do not reach out for objects that do not belong to them, thus ";a criminal will usually give away their intentions well before action through body language."; In both books, references to the limbic brain, or section of our brain that dates back to a more primitive era that controls gross motor functions, is stated to be near impossible to control because we give off micro-gestures, even when trying to hide a lie. The information in this video may be true in some certain situations but