There is no doubt that body language is a very complex concept. However, when approached professionally, it can be understood by even the least of the intellectually deformed people. Oxford Online Dictionary defines body language as “the conscious and unconscious movements and postures by which attitudes and feelings are communicated.” There are two fascinating words in the definition—conscious and unconscious. Any definition that does not take the two into cognizance is defective. Many are quick to conclude that body language cannot be controlled. This is a wrong conclusion. There are some that are within the control of humans and this explains why law enforcement officers find it difficult to apprehend ‘professional’ criminals. Beyond what words can say, the body language is used to communicate the deepest part of our hearts.
Another website, All About Body Language, while explaining the meaning of the concept states that “body language is the process of using facial expressions, gestures, gaze, tone of voice and postures in order to send and receive wordless messages.” In this definition, it gives a list of the way in which body language can occur. More so, it emphasized that body language is a nonverbal communication. The concept of body language covers everything about kinesics. They include negative clusters such as leg folding, arm folding, contemptuous facial movements to positive clusters such as head nod, eye behavior, tactilics, personal space, micro-expressions (which includes 43 muscles of the face that combine to give over 10,000 facial expressions, 7 of which are generally referred to as universal). It also covers paralinguistic such as tone, volume, speed and pitch of voice. Mirroring another person is also included. By now, you can see that body language is such a broad concept that everyone should be thirsty enough to dig deeper than this short piece. From the foregoing, it becomes possible for law enforcement officers and other relevant stakeholders concerned about unraveling the truth at all times.
At this point, it is pertinent for me to note that body language must not be confused with sign language, as sign languages are full languages like spoken languages and have their own complex grammar systems, as well as being able to exhibit the fundamental properties that exist in all languages. Some websites and scholars have always made this mistake. Body language does not have a grammar system of its own and it is always interpreted broadly. That is, the same gesture can bear different meanings in different contexts. Unlike sign language where the meaning is absolute, the meaning of gestures and bodily signals varies in situations and contexts. The reason it is termed language is due to popular culture.
In order to have an in-depth understanding of the intricacies of body language, you must be versatile and expand your knowledge beyond your immediate society. This is because in every community, there are agreed-upon interpretations of given behaviors. This varied from culture to culture, nation to nation and people to people. For instance, in Japan, it is considered rude to look at a person, especially an elderly person in the face while in America, this would be considered as an act of insincerity. So, you should not expect a Japanese to behave the same way an American will behave. If you are tempted to make your own background as the yardstick for determining people’s behaviors, you will end up reading signs out of context. The issue of universality of body language has always created controversies among scholars. Let me cautiously opine at this point that apart from the seven universal facial expressions as identified by Prof. Paul Ekman in his research, there is no other universal body language signal. This means that you have to dig deeper and search wider to be vast in body language interpretation. Body language, a subset of nonverbal communication, complements verbal communication in social interaction. In fact some researchers conclude that nonverbal communication accounts for the majority of information transmitted during interpersonal interactions.
For you to properly express emotions, facial expression is an integral part. The ways the eyes, nose, lips, eyebrows and cheek movements are combined per time aid in the formation of different moods of a person. The moods that can be written on a person’s face are: anger, depression, sadness, joy, etc. A few studies show that facial expression and bodily expression (body language) are congruent when interpreting emotions. The face and the body are usually seen together in their natural proportions and the emotional signals from the face and body are well integrated. For example, a lack of crinkles around the eyes suggests a potentially fake smile. At one point, scholars opined that it was impossible for anyone to make a genuine smile while being commanded; there must be a real reason for the smile to occur in other to form wrinkles.
In the same vein, emotions can also be detected through postures. Research has shown that body postures are more accurately recognized when an emotion is compared with a different or neutral emotion. For example, a person feeling angry would portray dominance over the other, and their posture would display approach tendencies. Comparing this to a person feeling fearful: they would feel weak, submissive and their posture would display avoidance tendencies, the opposite of an angry person (Marina, 2013). Sitting or standing postures also indicate one’s emotions. A person sitting till the back of their chair, leans forward with their head nodding along with the discussion implies that they are open, relaxed and generally ready to listen. On the other hand, a person who has their legs and arms crossed with the foot kicking slightly implies that they are feeling impatient and emotionally detached from the discussion. In a standing discussion, a person stands with arms akimbo with feet pointed towards the speaker could suggest that they are attentive and is interested in the conversation. However, a small difference in this posture could mean a lot (Daisy, 2010). In some cultures like Bali, standing with arms akimbo is taken as a sign of rudeness.
References
Daisy N (2010). “Body Language: Silent Communicator at the Workplace”. IUP Journal of Soft Skills. 4 (1/2): 29–36.
Gelder, B (2011).”Similarities and differences in perceiving threat from dynamic faces and bodies.An fMRI study”. NeuroImage. 54 (2): 1755–1762. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.08.012. PMID 20723605.
Marina, P et al. (2013). “Asymmetries of Influence: Differential Effects of Body Postures on Perceptions of Emotional Facial Expressions”. PLoS ONE. 8 (9): e73605. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0073605. PMC 3769306. PMID 24039996.
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