Wilson - Introducing Body Language : a Practical Guide

Fie,fie upon her!

Theres language in her eye, her cheek, her lip.

Nay, her foot speaks: her wanton spirits look out

At every joint and motive of her body.

Ulysses, in Shakespeares Troilus and Cressida

I speak two languages Body and English.

Mae West

There are many jokes about dogs that talk. They are funny because we know that dogs dont talk. Or do they? Dog owners know that Fido can express himself quite effectively in a variety of ways. He can wag his tail and bark excitedly when anticipating food or walkies. He can lower his head and cower as though expecting to be hit when feeling guilty about stealing some sausages. These emotions are readily understood by dog owners. Fido can also glean a great deal about how we are disposed towards him from our gestures and behaviour. Although he might be responsive to the shape of certain words, such as his own name, most of this communication is through the reading of body language and tone of voice.

Humans dont have to rely on such indirect signals because we have an advanced language capability and can state our case much more clearly and explicitly. At least we think we can.

All of the emotional signalling that animals use is still present in humans and registers importantly with us. After all, we cannot always trust what someone tells us: they may have reasons for wanting to be deceptive. Some things, like cold facts and statistics, are best communicated by words and numbers but attitudes and intentions are better read through body language.

In some ways, body language is even more highly developed in humans because we have a most expressive face that has developed in connection with our preferred front-on interaction. Powerful signals are transmitted by facial expressions. We also have a highly developed capacity for mind-reading. This is the very useful capacity to second-guess what somebody has in mind for us based on voice inflexions and body language cues. Obviously it is important to know whether or not someone fancies us or wishes we would just go away. It is important to know whether they are on-side or on the verge of attack. Mind-reading ability has been retained and in some ways further evolved in humans because it has considerable survival value.

Where there is a discrepancy between what is said verbally and the feelings that are indirectly transmitted through facial expression and body language, we quite rightly set greater store by what we see, rather than what we are being told. This is because body language leaks certain emotions and attitudes that we might have preferred to conceal from those who observe us (and they know it). The reception process is immediate and largely unconscious, though it can be made conscious through a process of analysis such as that used in this book.

It is widely said that 93% of our communication is through body language, while only 7% is based in the words themselves. Although Albert Mehrabian, the researcher on whose work in the 1960s this assertion is based, has said this is a simplification of his findings, others have produced data suggesting that around 6070% of our communication is non-verbal.

Studies of US presidential election campaigns have been done in which the speeches of candidates are assessed through watching videos with and without sound, listening to sound recordings alone and simply reading transcripts. This allows comparison of the power of the various channels to influence voter choices and it confirms that visual body language, and even tone of voice, are much more persuasive than the verbal content of the message. Not surprisingly a new breed of spin doctors, image consultants and television coaches has grown in strength.