NICOTINE

**NICOTINE\
\
**![Bogie on Cue](nicotine.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/nicotine.jpg" height="50%"
width="18%"}

*With men in the Army, the Navy, the Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard,
the favorite cigarette is Camel. (Based on actual sales
records.)*\--Camel advertisement on back cover page of *Life* magazine
(July 10, 1944)\
\
\
***[Afferent
cue](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/afferent.htm){target="_top"}***.
**1.** A potent alkaloid drug (C~10~H~14~N~2~) of the tobacco plant,
ingested by hundreds of millions of men, women, and children in
[**consumer
products**](consprod.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm"
target="_top"} such as cigars, cigarettes, and snuff. **2.** The most
addictive chemical substance ever used by *Homo sapiens*.

*Usage I*: Nicotine \"speaks\" directly to the brain as an incoming
nonverbal cue. Currently, there is a worldwide epidemic of nicotine use.

*Usage II*: According to a 1999 World Health Organization estimate,
there are four million deaths a year from tobacco. Based on present
smoking trends, tobacco is predicted to be the leading cause of disease
in the world, causing ca. one in eight deaths.

*Usage III*: **1.** Nine out of 10 human beings who smoke a cigarette
for the first time become addicted, according to statistics of the U.S.
National Institutes on Drug Administration. **2.** According to a trade
publication, *Tobacco Reporter*, the average American cigarette smoker
buys ten packs of 20 cigarettes per week. **3.** Worldwide, a third of
all adults (36%) smoke cigarettes\--and are hopelessly addicted to
nicotine.\
\
*Usage IV*. According to a March, 2001 study published in *Preventive
Medicine* (Vol. 32, pp. 262-67), the use of smokeless (i.e., chewing)
tobacco is a predictor of later cigarette-smoking initiation in young
U.S. adult males.\
\
*Evolution*. Nicotine evolved as a communicative sign, i.e., as an
insect-repelling **[secondary
product](second1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/second1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

*Early history*. 1492: \"Almost from the day of first landfall, on
October 12, 1492, the inhabitants of Guanahani (San Salvador, Bahamas)
regaled the newcomers with such herbs \[i.e., tobacco plants\]. And upon
encountering near Fernandia Island a man in a small canoe carrying the
same plant material among his meager essentials, Christopher Columbus
surmised that the Indians held the leaves in high esteem\" (Wilbert
1987:9).

*Later history*. 1797: Cigarettes appear when Cuban cigar makers roll
little cigars in paper wrappers (Trager 1992:354). 1883: Gold Flake
cigarettes appear in London (Trager 1992:567). 1885: Thomas Edison, a
tobacco chewer, refuses to hire tobacco smokers (Trager 1992:585). 1925:
Old Gold cigarettes appear, with the slogan, \"Not a cough in a
carload\" (Trager 1992:773). 1955: U.S. cigarette consumption increases
as media ads promote filter-tipped Winstons, king-size Tareytons with
\"activated charcoal\" filters, and Marlboro filters (Trager 1992:953).

***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target="_top"}***.
In the U.S. the advertising of cigarettes on television was banned in
1971, \"abruptly removing one of the major categories of broadcast
income\" (Jankowski and Fuchs 1995:106).\
\
*Neuro-notes*. **1.** Nicotine \". . . mimics the neurotransmitter
acetylcholine by acting at the acetylcholine site and stimulating the
nerve cell dendrite\" (Restak 1995:116). Nicotine leads to the release
of pleasure-enhancing dopamine and morphine-like endorphins. **2.** \"In
both mice and humans, they \[Joseph R. DiFranza, University of
Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, and others\] say, the number
of high-affinity nicotinic cholinergic receptors has been seen to
increase in the brain after only the second dose of nicotine\" (Cooke
2000).

Copyright**©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Detail of photo of Humphrey Bogart (copyright by the Ludlow Collection)


NLD

**NONVERBAL LEARNING DISORDER**

***[NLD](http://www.nldontheweb.org/links.htm){target="_top"}***. **1.**
A frequently misdiagnosed state of anxiety, confusion, and social
withdrawal caused by inabilities to
**[send](efferen1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/efferen1.htm"
target="_top"}** and
**[receive](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/afferent.htm){target="_top"}**
common
**[gestures](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[facial
expressions](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialx.htm){target="_top"}**,
and
**[body-language](bodylan1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodylan1.htm"
target="_top"}** cues. **2.** NLD persons may **a.** misread everyday
nonverbal signals, **b.** display awkward body movements, and **c.**
have difficulty associating visual signs in space and time.

*Usage*: NLD children rely on the concreteness of verbal
**[speech](speech1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/speech1.htm"
target="_top"}** and written
**[words](word1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm"
target="_top"}**, and may be unable to process the subtleties of
nonverbal expression.\
\

------------------------------------------------------------------------

***E-Commentary***: \"My learning disabled son\'s biggest problem, now
that he is pushing 16, is lack of good social skills. He just isn\'t
responding appropriately to cues. I am unsure whether it\'s a lack of
perception or a lack of ability to properly respond that is the
difficulty.\" \--R.M., USA (4/11/00 11:19:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time)\

------------------------------------------------------------------------

\
*Neuro-notes*. \"A 120-base pair duplication polymorphism in the
dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) shows preferential transmission with
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) . . .\" Anonymous
(2000C).\
\
See also
[**AUTISM**](autism1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/autism1.htm"
target="_top"}, **[BODY DYSMORPHIC
DISORDER](dismorp1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/dismorp1.htm"
target="_top"}**, **[NONVERBAL
LEARNING](nvlearn1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/nvlearn1.htm"
target="_top"}**. Principal web link: ***[NLD on the
Web!](http://www.nldontheweb.org/links.htm){target="_top"}***

Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)


NOSE

**NOSE**

![Hard Noses](nose.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/nose.jpg" height="35%"
width="38%"}\
\
*Cleopatra\'s nose: had it been shorter, the whole aspect of the world
would have been altered*. \--Pascal, *Pensees, II\
\
Just need a nose job!* \--Kramer (*Seinfeld*, rerun of May 2, 2000)

*Body part*. That projecting part of the human
**[face](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/face.htm){target="_top"}**
which contains the nostrils and organs of
**[smell](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aromacue.htm){target="_top"}**.

*Usage*: The nose is one of the most defining features of human identity
and **[facial
recognition](facerec.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facerec.htm"
target="_top"}**.

*Anatomy*. Located at the center of our face, the nose is a rounded
prominence of bone, gristle, fatty tissue, and flesh. Unlike animal
noses, its freestanding shape reinforces the vertical height of our face
and accents the stability of its features.\
\
*Culture*. In the Trobriand Islands, couples may gently bite noses while
making love. Among Eskimos, Maoris, and Polynesians, touching another\'s
face or head with the tip of the nose is used as a friendly greeting.\
\
***[Emotion](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target="_top"}***.
When we breathe deeply, or are emotionally aroused, our nostrils visibly
*flare*. They may uncontrollably widen in anger, as well, when we listen
to disaggreeable comments made by colleagues around a [**conference
table**](table.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm"
target="_top"}.\
\
*Evolution*. Our triangular nose evolved in tandem with shrinkage of the
primate\'s bony muzzle. Because early primates depended more on sight
than smell, their snouts gradually shortened. Because we have no muzzle
at all, our proboscis was left standing high and dry on the fleshy
plain.

*Gender*. The generally larger noses of men give an appearance of
\"strength.\" Women\'s generally smaller noses\--which may be further
reduced with makeup to keep from upstaging the
[**lips**](lips.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/lips.htm"
target="_top"} and
[**eyes**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/eyes.htm){target="_top"}\--give
an appearance of \"youth.\" (See **[LOVE
SIGNAL](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig.htm){target="_top"}**.)

***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target="_top"}***.
In magazine ads, the feminine nose \"disappears\" into the flatness of
the face to accent the lips, eyes, and baby-smooth skin (Givens 1983).\
\
*Respiration*. Though our face is flatter today than that of our remote
primate ancestors, we still require the air we breathe to be cleaned,
warmed, and moistened before it enters our lungs. Thus, our nose
projects like an air duct, prominently and for all to see.

See also **[FACIAL
I.D.](facialid.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialid.htm"
target="_top"}**

Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)


NUT SUBSTITUTE

**NUT SUBSTITUTE**

![Nut and Substitutes](nut.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/nut.jpg" height="40%"
width="25%"}\
\
***[Consumer
product](consprod.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm"
target="_top"}***. A baked or deep-fried food product (e.g., cookies,
crackers, and Fritos®) designed to mimic the
**[taste](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/taste.htm){target="_top"}**
and **[crunchy
texture](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/crunch.htm){target="_top"}**
of roasted nuts, seeds, or fruits (in the latter case, e.g., stalks of
the cashew plant).

*Usage*. As primates, we are seemingly pre-adapted to enjoy the flavor
and texture of nut substitutes. Throughout the Middle East, e.g., crusty
breads, pastries, and candies are liberally sprinkled or covered with
whole seeds for their flavor, texture, and crunch. Papodams, tortilla
chips, and Crackerjacks®\--along with taro, yucca, sweet-potato, beet,
parsnip, carrot, rutabaga, celery-root, and seaweed chips\--are among
the thousands of ethnic cuisines designed to satisfy our need for
culinary snap, crackle, and pop.

***[Big](loom1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/loom1.htm"
target="_top"}*** *crunch*. The largest potato chip manufactured by
*Homo sapiens*\--nearly two feet across\--was made in 1990 of potato
flour at the Pringles plant in Jackson, Tennessee. Consumers, however,
prefer smaller chips which have the look and feel of *finger food*. As
primates, we are natural finger-feeders who enjoy bringing edibles to
our prehensile
**[lips](lips.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/lips.htm"
target="_top"}** with the sensitive, tactile pads of our
**[hands](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hands.htm){target="_top"}**.\
\
***[Existential
crunch](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/crunch.htm){target="_top"}***.
That crispy snacks so overpower us is because, as an existentialist
philosopher might say, they represent an \"authentic\" form of existence
which transcends the desire for softer, \"unreal\" foods, such as
Twinkies®.

*Global Crunch*. The proclivity to commune with our inner-primate self
through the tactile medium of grinding is so powerful that, according to
the U.S. Snack Food Association, Americans munch an average 21.42 lbs.
of chips, popcorn, pretzels, and so on, each year (Hall and Baumann
1994).

*Neuro-notes*. Our back teeth and the forward two-thirds of our tongue
receive
**[incoming](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/afferent.htm){target="_top"}**
crunch sensations from nut substitutes through branches of the *facial
nerve* (cranial VII). Like flavor cues, texture cues are processed on
two levels: **a.** *consciously* in the cerebral cortex and **b.**
*unconsciously* in the **[limbic
system](limbic.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/limbic.htm"
target="_top"}**. As crunching registers in the forebrain, nut
substitutes provide a pleasurable snack-food experience.

Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Detail from a Wheat Thins® box (copyright 1999 by Nabisco)

\
\
\
\


ORIENTING REFLEX

**ORIENTING REFLEX**

![\"What\'s that?\"](orient.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/orient.jpg" height="35%"
width="20%"}\
\
*Neuro term*. An unlearned response in which animals alert to new
features of their environment, e.g., to novel sights, sounds, and smells
in the speechless sense-surround of **[Nonverbal
World](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvworld.htm){target="_top"}**.

*Usage I*: The orienting reflex (OR) is an innate, protective response
designed to answer the question, \"What\'s that?\" The automatic OR
provokes both a cognitive and an emotional concern, and also triggers
immobility (i.e., the
***[freeze](freeze1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/freeze1.htm"
target="_top"}*** reaction), when we are suddenly faced with a novel,
unusual, or potentially dangerous person, place, or thing.\
\
*Usage II*: The [**messaging
features**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/messafea.htm){target="_top"}
of [**consumer
products**](consprod.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm"
target="_top"} may be designed to provoke the OR. Attention-grabbing
signals from commercial messages broadcast in the
[**media**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target="_top"}
trigger the OR as well.

*Reptiles*. In reptiles, orienting involves **a.** refocusing of the
sense organs, and **b.** freezing of the body\'s gross-motor movements.
A slowed heart rate (*bradycardia*) has been observed, as well, e.g., in
iguanas and in the death-feigning of hognose snakes (see **[BROADSIDE
DISPLAY](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/broadsid.htm){target="_top"}**,
*Saurian size*).

*Mammals*. The reptilian orienting pattern is present in mammals, where
it is usually followed by **c.** a more active (i.e., a non-reflexive or
voluntary) attention phase, and by **d.** an arousal of
**[emotion](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target="_top"}**.
That is, after the reptilian orienting reflex itself occurs, a mammal
may voluntarily attend (i.e., look, listen, and sniff the air), produce
**[facial
expressions](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialx.htm){target="_top"}**,
and emit
**[vocal](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tone.htm){target="_top"}**
mood signs.

*Anatomy I*. In mammals and primates, a diagnostic set of nonverbal
signs associated with OR is mediated by the five cranial nerves that
arise from the **[pharyngeal
arches](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/pharynx.htm){target="_top"}**
(i.e., from the primitive gill arches; see, e.g.,
[**EYEBROW-RAISE**](browrai1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/browrai1.htm"
target="_top"}, [**FLASHBULB
EYES**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/flashbul.htm){target="_top"},
[**JAW
DROOP**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/droop.htm){target="_top"}).
The trigeminal (cranial V, for
***[chewing](bite1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bite1.htm"
target="_top"}***) and facial (cranial VII, for *facial expressions*)
nerves link (i.e., communicate) with the the glossopharyngeal (cranial
IX, for *swallowing*), vagus (cranial X, for *vocalizing* and
*communicating with the viscera*), and accessory (cranial XI, for
*turning the head* and
*[**shoulder-shrugging**](shoshrug.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/shoshrug.htm"
target="_top"}*) nerves, but the source nuclei for the special visceral
efferents of the latter three cranial nerves all originate in the
medulla oblongata\'s nucleus ambiguus (NA).

*Anatomy II*. In mammals and primates, NA mediates control of the
pharynx, soft palate, larynx, and esophagus (see
**[ADAM\'S-APPLE-JUMP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/adajum.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[THROAT-CLEAR](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/throat.htm){target="_top"}**).
Chemoreceptors enable the third pharyngeal arch\'s carotid body to sense
CO2 and O2 levels. The accessory nerve (cranial XI) positions the neck,
assisted by the vagus nerve (cranial X). (Source: Porges 1995 \[Stephen
W., *Psychophysiology*, 32 (1995), 301-318. Cambridge University Press.
Printed in the USA, *Orienting in a defensive world: Mammalian
modifications of our evolutionary heritage. A Polyvagal Theory*\])

*Anatomy III*. NA medites control of the heart and vocal
**[intonation](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tone.htm){target="_top"}**.
Its efferent fibers mediate [**feeding and
breathing**](rest.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/rest.htm"
target="_top"}, as well as some [**body
movements**](bodymov1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodymov1.htm"
target="_top"}, emotions, and forms of communication (e.g., *growling*;
see [**SPECIAL VISCERAL
NERVE**](viscera1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/viscera1.htm"
target="_top"}). \"The NA-vagus provides the vagal brake that mammals
remove instantaneously to increase metabolic output to foster [**fight
or
flight**](fight.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/fight.htm"
target="_top"} behaviors. The NA-vagus provides the motor pathways to
shift the intonation of vocalizations (e.g.,
[**cry**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cry.htm){target="_top"}
patterns) to express emotion and to communicate internal states in a
social context.\" (Porges 1995)

*Anatomy IV*. The NA mediates control of the heartbeat rate, the lung\'s
bronchial tubes, and other **[visceral
organs](enteric1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/enteric1.htm"
target="_top"}** (Porges 1995).

*Evolution*. In orienting reptiles and mammals, according to Porges
(1995), the control of bradycardia (i.e., of slowed hearbeat rate) by
the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve (cranial X) may have evolved
from an ancient vertebrate *gustatory response*. \"Gustation is the
primary method for identifying prey (including other appropriate food
sources) and predators in aquatic environments\" (Porges 1995; see
**[AROMA
CUE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aromacue.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[TASTE
CUE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/taste.htm){target="_top"}**).

*Neuro-notes I*. The separation of the vagus nerve (cranial X) into a
dorsal motor nucleus (DMNX, causing bradycardia) and ventrolateral motor
nucleus (nucleus ambiguus or NA, which suppresses heart-rate
variability) began with reptiles and continues into mammals (Porges
1995). (***N.B.***: In turtles, however, the nuclei are still
connected.)

*Neuro-notes II*. In mammals, the slowed heart-rate of the OR is of
short duration due to their high oxygen needs. The ventrolateral motor
nucleus of the vagus nerve brakes the bradycardia (Porges 1995).

*Neuro-notes III*. \"With phylogenetic development, the viscerotropic
organization of the vagal system has become more complex, and
incorporates pathways from other cranial nerves including trigeminal,
facial, accessory and glossopharyngeal. Thus, more specialized functions
such as head rotation to orient sensory receptors toward the source of
stimulation, mastication to ingest food, and salivation to initiate
gustatory and digestive processes are integrated into the vagal system\"
(Porges 1995).

See also [**OBJECT
FANCY**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/object.htm){target="_top"},
**[STARTLE
REFLEX](startle1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/startle1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})\
Detail of photo by Sisse Brimberg (copyright 2000 by National Geographic
Society)


PAIN CUE

**PAIN CUE**

![Childbirth](pain.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/pain.jpg" height="50%"
width="25%"}\
\
*If you had a hundred masks upon your face, your thoughts however slight
would not be hidden from me*. \--Dante Alighieri, *Purgatorio, Canto XV*

*Sign*. A visible muscle contraction of the
**[face](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/face.htm){target="_top"}** or
body in response to unpleasant sensations of suffering due to physical
injury, trauma, or emotional distress.

*Usage*. Painful touches to the skin, e.g., may excite the midbrain\'s
reticular area enough to produce a visible response, such as a facial
*wince* or a *frown*. A casual touch from someone we dislike can produce
the same response (because physical and psychic pain cross paths in
**[Nonverbal
World](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvworld.htm){target="_top"}**).

*Anatomy*. Pain may show in **a.** narrowed or closed eye openings with
**b.** raised cheeks (as the eye-orbit muscles contract); **c.**
eyebrow-lowering with **d.** wrinkling on the bridge of the nose (as
corrugator and associated muscles contract); and **e.** a raised
upper-lip with **f.** wrinkling at sides of the nose (as levator muscles
contract; Prkachin and Craig 1995).\
\
*Chest pain*. **1.**  \"A clenched fist to the centre of the sternum
conveys the gripping quality of the pain (Levine\'s sign . . .) while a
flat hand describes the sensation of crushing heaviness . . . . Tight
band-like chest pain may be represented by a movement of the palmar
surfaces of both hands laterally from the centre of the chest . . .\"
(Edmondstone 1995). **2.** \"This study has shown that if patients
admitted to a coronary care unit illustrate the nature of their chest
pain by placing a clenched fist \[Levine\'s sign\] or a flat hand on the
sternum, or by drawing both palms laterally across their chest, there is
a 77% chance that their pain is due to cardiac ischaemia. If they do not
use these signs there is an even chance that their pain is
non-ischaemic. These signs are not discriminatory, but a positive
response lends support to a diagnosis of cardiac ischaemia \"
(Edmondstone 1995).\
\
*Culture*. In the Middle East, patting the chest over the heart with the
palm of the right hand means, \"I need help.\" \"The action mimes a fast
heartbeat, implying that the gesturer is in a state of panic\" (Morris
1994:148).\
\

------------------------------------------------------------------------

***E-Commentary***: \"This summer I worked around a burn hospital and
happened to see a chart with the \'faces of pain\' on it. Because the
Shriners Hospitals receive patients from all around the world, language
is sometimes a barrier; however, this poster is in each room showing
different levels of pain depicted in the facial expression. I have been
looking for that poster on the internet but cannot locate it.\" --Debbie
(10/27/00 3:00:29 PM Pacific Standard Time)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Wong-Baker FACES Pain Rating Scale*. \"The success of the Wong-Baker
FACES Pain Rating Scale has far exceeded our expectation. We have
received numerous requests for the scale and for various types of
information, one of them being the development of the instrument. In
1981, Donna Wong, a nurse consultant, and Connie Morain Baker, a child
life specialist, were working in the burn center at Hillcrest Medical
Center, Tulsa, OK. We frequently saw children who were in pain, and
because of their young age, had difficulty communicating how they were
feeling. Many times their complaints and cries were misunderstood by the
staff, and their pain was not effectively controlled. We believed that
we would be able to assess their pain better if the children were given
the proper tools to communicate with\" (**[Wong On
Web](http://www1.mosby.com/mosby/wong/)**[](http://www1.mosby.com/mosby/wong/hcom_wong_face.html)).\
\
See also **[SPECIAL VISCERAL
NERVE](viscera1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/viscera1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Detail of photo by Wayne Miller (copyright Wayne Miller)


PLEASURE CUE

**PLEASURE CUE**

*Pleasure\'s a sin, and sometimes sin\'s a pleasure*. \--Byron (*Don
Juan I*)\
\
*He said the idea, in fact, had come to him over bourbon and water in a
roadhouse in Illinois in 1937*. \--Claudia Levy (1995), on John V.
Atanasoff, inventer of the world\'s first electronic computer\
\
![Andy Boozing](pleasure.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/pleasure.jpg" height="50%"
width="28%"}\
\
*After a near-fatal car crash and an incident just like A\[s\] T\[he\]
W\[orld\] T\[urn\]\'s Andy (he passed out in the garage with the motor
running), A..J. \[Quartermaine\] was sent to rehab in 1992*. \--*General
Hospital* (*Soap Opera Digest*, May 2, 2000, p. 44)

***[\
Afferent
signal](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/afferent.htm){target="_top"}***.
**1.** An incoming auditory, chemical, tactile, vestibular, or visual
sign that produces enjoyment or delight. **2.** A message addressed to
the pleasure pathways of the brain.

*Usage*: Many nonverbal cues (see, e.g., **[BIG
MAC](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/bigmac.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[LOVE SIGNALS
V](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig5.htm){target="_top"}**, and
**[NICOTINE](nicotin1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/nicotin1.htm"
target="_top"}**) are addressed to pleasure areas of the brain.\
\
***[Consumer
products](consprod.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm"
target="_top"}***. **1.** According to trivia expert David Feldman,
\"\'There is a certain sensual thrill to throwing
[**shoes**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/footwear.htm){target="_top"}
out of moving cars\'\" (Oldenberg 1989:C5; see [**BALANCE
CUE**](balance1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/balance1.htm"
target="_top"}, *Consumer products I*; and
[**FEET**](feet.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/feet.htm"
target="_top"}, *Neuro-notes*). **2.** \"Police say a man stole a
snowplow from a Hastings \[Nebraska\] city storage shed and drove it 20
miles after a major snowstorm to buy a case of beer\" (Anonymous
2001B:A8).\
\
***[Media](http://members.aol.com/doder1/members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target="_top"}***.
The secretive, pleasure-seeking habits of media icons are media worthy
throughout the world. **1.** \"In addition to the photos that have
conferred such enduring icon status upon Jackie \[Jacqueline Kennedy
Onassis\], \[James\] Spada includes more surprising shots\--of her being
thrown from a horse and smoking cigarettes \[in his May 2000 book,
*Jackie: Her Life in Pictures*\]. (Her three-pack-a-day habit was a
well-kept secret.)\" (Craig 2000:42). **2.** As reported in *People
Weekly*, \"\'He was knocking back tequilas, and the last thing I
remember was \[*Indiana Jones* leading man\] Harrison \[Ford\] did one
shot and he was on the floor of the bar,\' she \[Melanie Griffith\]
recalls\" (O\'Neill and Cunneff 2000:96).

***RESEARCH REPORTS***. **1.** \"The results of animal behavior studies
suggest some interchangeability between eating food, engaging in sexual
behavior and self-administering drugs . . .\" (\"Food, Sex and Drugs Vie
for Brain\'s Attention,\" *Reuters Health*, Jan. 28, 2000). **2.**
\"\'Common neurochemicals mediate food and drug response,\' Dr. Marilyn
Carroll of the University of Minnesota pointed out. \'In animal studies,
sweet and fat preferences predict alcohol self-administration. Giving
preferred foods blocks drug self-administration. In humans, cigarette
abstinence results in weight gain, and ethanol abstinence is associated
with eating more
[**sweets**](candy1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/candy1.htm"
target="_top"}\'\" (*Reuters Health*, Jan. 28, 2000). **3.** Functional
MRI studies by researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina
have found that the prefrontal cortex and the anterior thalamus are
activated in alcoholics, but not in moderate drinkers, when viewing
pictures of alcoholic beverages (Flapan 2001).

*Neuro-notes*. The pleasure pathway \". . . begins at the ventral
tegmental area in the midbrain, which sits on top of the brainstem. In
evolutionary terms, this region is very old; it began with the
vertebrates, which appeared 500 million years or so ago. The pathway
extends to the nucleus accumbens, toward the front of the brain. This
area is a traffic hub for signals to and from the addiction pathway and
other parts of the brain. The nucleus accumbens is centrally located at
the intersection of the striatum (where motion is begun and controlled)
and the limbic system\" (Powledge 1999:513).

Copyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Detail of *As the World Turns* photo (copyright by CBS-TV)


POSTURE

**POSTURE**

![Bowing Head Posture](posture.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/posture.jpg" height="35%"
width="25%"}\
\
*I raised my body erect again as one should walk, though my thoughts
remained bowed down and shrunken*. \--Dante Alighieri, *The Divine
Comedy*, *Canto XII*

*Nonverbal
**[sign](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sign.htm){target="_top"}***.
**1.** A bearing, pose, or stance of the body or it parts: e.g., a
**[crouched](crouch1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/crouch1.htm"
target="_top"}** posture. **2.** A fixed, stationary body position as
opposed to a fluid **[body
movement](bodymov1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodymov1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

*Usage*: When sustained (i.e., held longer than two seconds), a body
movement such as a
**[bowed-head](bow1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bow1.htm"
target="_top"}** may be considered a posture. Though duration varies,
postures frequently are more expressive of attitudes, feelings, and
moods than are briefer gestures and fleeting motions of the body.\
\
*Primatology*. \"The stance of a baboon, independently of any specific
gesture, may indicate differences in tension and of individual status. .
. . . The dominant male baboon tends to walk very directly and
\'confidently\' through different parts of a feeding area or when moving
across country\" (Hall and DeVore 1972:166).\
\
*Salesmanship*. \"Your posture is almost military but not stiff and
uncomfortable-looking. Your
[**shoulders**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/shoulder.htm){target="_top"}
are not stooped with the weight of the world, because you are not bent
and broken by your burdens \" (Delmar 1984:33).

***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** An early experimental study (by James
\[1932\], based on ratings by judges) identified four postural
categories: **a. *[forward
lean](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/immediat.htm){target="_top"}***
(\"attentiveness\"); **b.** *drawing back* or ***[turning
away](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/angdis.htm){target="_top"}***
(\"negative,\" \"refusing\"); **c.**
***[expansion](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/antigrav.htm){target="_top"}***
(\"proud,\" \"conceited,\" \"arrogant\"); and **d.** *forward-leaning
trunk*, *bowed head*, *drooping shoulders*, and *sunken chest*
(\"depressed,\" \"downcast,\" \"dejected\") (Mehrabian 1972:19). **2.**
Frieda Fromm-Reichmann (1950) inferred feelings from observing and
imitating the postures of psychiatric patients (Mehrabian 1972:17).
**3.** Albert Mehrabian proposed two primary dimensions of posture:
**a.**
**[immediacy](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/immediat.htm){target="_top"}**,
and **b.** relaxation (Richmond et al. 1991:63).

See also **[ANGULAR
DISTANCE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/angular.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[BODY
WALL](bodywal3.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodywal3.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})\
Detail from photo by Elliott Erwitt (copyright *Magnum, Holiday*)


POWER GRIP

**POWER GRIP**

![Power Grips](power.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/power.jpg" height="35%"
width="35%"}\
\
***[Body
movement](bodymov1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodymov1.htm"
target="_top"}***. **1.** A manner of grasping an object tightly, in a
usually closed
**[fist](fist1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/fist1.htm"
target="_top"}**, between the palm and fingers. **2.** To clutch, hold,
or seize a bat, branch, club, or other object firmly with the hand.

*Usage I*: Our tight-fisted gestures given in
**[anger](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/anger.htm){target="_top"}**,
arousal, and
**[fear](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/fear.htm){target="_top"}**
employ the muscles and neural circuits of the power grip. Unlike its
cerebral cousin\--the **[precision
grip](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/precise.htm){target="_top"}**\--the
power grip has its roots in a primitive *grasping reflex*, and often
signals an
**[emotional](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target="_top"}**
rather than a reasonable response.

*Usage II*: Holding objects tightly (e.g., steering wheels, posts, and
handrails) is curiously pleasurable (perhaps as a holdover from our
primate past and penchant for climbing trees; see **[PRIMATE
BRAIN](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/primate.htm){target="_top"}**).
Thus, power-gripping sports such as baseball, tennis, and
**[golf](golf.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/golf.htm"
target="_top"}** are very popular today (see **[BRANCH
SUBSTITUTE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/branch.htm){target="_top"}**).\
\
*Culture*. In Syria, clenching both hands in power grips, and raising
them together over the midriff, with the thumbs positioned outward\--as
if stretching a rope\--means, \"I will strangle you\" (Morris 1994:74).

*Embryology*. \"A newborn infant has a grasp and a reaching reflex. He
will automatically close his fingers tightly around any object placed in
the palm of his hand\" (Chase and Rubin 1979:177).

*Evolution*. The power grip originated as a primate adaptation for
*climbing*.\
\
*Neuro-notes*. In grasping a racket or a club, sensory feedback to the
motor cortex may unconsciously tighten our grip. Stimulated by grasping,
pressure-sensitive tactile receptors cause further excitement and
contraction of muscles to unwittingly increase the tightness of our
grip.

See also
**[HANDS](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hands.htm){target="_top"}**,
[**OBJECT
FANCY**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/object.htm){target="_top"}.

Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Detail from photo by Jakob Tuggener


PROXEMICS

**PROXEMICS**

![Bodies in Space](proxemic.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/proxemic.jpg" height="35%"
width="30%"}\
\
*I have learned to depend more on what people do than what they say in
response to a direct question, to pay close attention to that which
cannot be consciously manipulated, and to look for patterns rather than
content*. \--Edward T. Hall (1968:83)

. . . *Every cubic inch of space is a miracle*. \--Walt Whitman (*Leaves
of Grass*, \"Miracles\")\
\
*The desire for personal mobility seems to be unstoppable\--it is,
perhaps, the Irresistible Force*. \--Charles Lave (1992)\
\
\
*Spatial signs, signals and cues*. According to its founder, Edward T.
Hall, proxemics is the study of humankind\'s \"perception and use of
space\" (Hall 1968:83).

*Usage*: Like **[facial
expressions](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialx.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[gestures](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target="_top"}**,
and
**[postures](posture1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/posture1.htm"
target="_top"}**, space \"speaks.\" The prime directive of proxemic
space is that we may not come and go everywhere as we please. There are
cultural rules and biological boundaries\--explicit as well as implicit
and subtle limits to observe\--everywhere.

*Body space I*. Scientific research on how we communicate in private and
public spaces began with studies of animal behavior (ethology) and
territoriality in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1959, the
anthropologist Edward Hall popularized spatial research on human
beings\--calling it *proxemics*\--in his classic book, *The Silent
Language*.

*Body space II*. Hall identified four bodily distances\--*intimate* (0
to 18 inches), *personal-casual* (1.5 to 4 feet), *social-consultive* (4
to 10 feet), and *public* (10 feet and beyond)\--as key points in human
spacing behavior. Hall noted, too, that different cultures set
distinctive norms for closeness in, e.g.,
[**speaking**](speech1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/speech1.htm"
target="_top"}, business, and
[**courting**](court1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/court1.htm"
target="_top"}, and that standing too close or too far away can lead to
misunderstandings and even to *culture shock*.\
\
*Body space III*. Summarizing diverse studies, Vrugt and Kerkstra
(1984:5) concluded that, \"In interaction between strangers the
interpersonal distance between women is smaller than between men and
women.\"\
\
*Crowded space I*. \"*A persistent and popular view holds that high
population density inevitably leads to violence. This myth, which is
based on rat research, applies neither to us nor to other primates*\"
(Waal et al. 2000:77).\
\
*Crowded space II*. \"This pathological togetherness \[resulting from a
rat population explosion which led to killing, sexual assaults, and
cannibalism\], as Calhoun \[1962\] described it, as well as the
attendant chaos and behavioral deviancy, led him to coin the phrase
\'behavioral sink\'\" (Waal et al. 2000:77).\
\
*Crowded space III*. \"*In some of the short-term crowding experiments
conducted by others and ourselves, monkeys were literally packed
together, without much room to avoid body contact, in a cramped space
for periods of up to a few hours. No dramatic aggression increases were
measured. In fact, in my last conversation with the late John Calhoun,
he mentioned having created layers of rats on top of each other and
having been surprised at how passively they reacted*\" (Waal 2000:10).\
\
*Culture*. In Japan, one may *hand prow* (i.e., face the palm-edge of
one hand vertically forward in front of the nose), and
[**bow**](bow1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bow1.htm"
target="_top"} the head slightly, to aplogize for crossing between two
people, or intruding into another\'s space to move through a crowded
room. \"The hand acts like the prow of a ship cutting through water\"
(Morris 1994:115).\
\
*Elevator space*. **1.** \"In choosing to approach someone in order to
push the \[button on the control\] panel, men and women reacted to
different signals (Hughes and Goldman 1978); men preferred to approach
people who stood with eyes averted to people who looked at them and
smiled; women, however, preferred to approach someone who looked and
smiled\" (Vrugt and Kerkstra 1984:9). **2.** \"Chimpanzees take this
withdrawal tactic one step further: they are actually less aggressive
when briefly crowded. Again, this reflects greater \[primate\] emotional
restraint. Their reaction is reminiscent of people on an elevator, who
reduce frictions by minimizing large body movements, [**eye
contact**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/eyecon.htm){target="_top"}
and loud vocalizations\" (Waal et al. 2000:81).\
\
*Escalator space*. \"Men reacted more to the person standing
\[immediately, i.e., just one step behind, with the hands reaching
forward on the rail so as to be visible to the person ahead\] behind
them than did women\" (Vrugt and Kerkstra 1984:9). \"Women seem to
prefer to act as if they do not notice anything, so that unwanted
contact can be avoided. Men make it clear in their reactions that they
do not appreciate such a rapprochement\" (Vrugt and Kerkstra 1984:10).\
\
*Library space*. Regardless of an \"invader\'s\" sex, men already seated
at an otherwise unoccupied table view opposites most negatively, while
already seated women view adjacents most negatively (Fisher and Byrne
1975).\
\
*Parking space*. \"A study of more than 400 drivers at an Atlanta-area
mall parking lot found that motorists defend their spots instinctively\"
(AP, May 13, 1997; from research published in the *Journal of Applied
Social Psychology*, May 1997). \"It\'s not your paranoid imagination
after all: People exiting parking spaces really do leave more slowly
when you\'re waiting for the spot . . . . It\'s called territorial
behavior . . .\" (AP, May 13, 1997).

*Office space I*. Office workers spend the day in an average 260
square-foot (down from 1986\'s 275 square-foot), usually rectangular
space. Corporate downsizing and belt-tightening mean that many staffers
now find themselves working in even smaller, modular, 80-square-foot
*cubicles*. (***N.B.***: For some prehistoric context, consider that our
hunter-gatherer ancestors spent their workdays on an estimated
440-square-*mile* expanse of open savannah.) Cubicles replaced the more
exposed, \"pool\" desks which had earlier lined the floors of cavernous
group-occupied workrooms. Though maligned in Dilbert cartoons, cubicles
at least provide more privacy than the 1950s open workrooms, and offer
needed respite from visual monitoring (which is known to be stressful to
human primates).\
\
*Office space II*. \"German business personnel visiting the United
States see our open doors in offices and businesses as indicative of an
unusually relaxed and unbusinesslike attitude. Americans get the feeling
that the German\'s \[sic\] closed doors conceal a secretive or
conspiratorial operation\" (Vargas 1986:98).\
\
*Restaurant space*. Corner and wall tables are occupied first
(Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1970).

*Home space I*. Americans spend an estimated 70 years indoors, mostly in
the secure habitat of an average-sized, 2,000-square-foot residences
called a *home* (from the Indo-European root, **tkei-**, \"settle\" or
\"site\"). (***N.B.***: Because there is no counterpart in primate
evolution for a life lived entirely indoors, we bring the outdoors in.
Thus, better homes and gardens include obvious replicas, as well as
subtle reminders, of the original savanna-grassland territory, including
its warmth, lighting, colors, vistas, textures, and plants.)\
\
*Home space II*. Upon re-entering our home (after several hours of
absence), we feel a peculiar need to wander about the home space to
\"check\" for intruders. In mammals, this behavior is known as
*reconnaisance*: \". . . in which the animal moves round its range in a
fully alerted manner so that all its sense organs are used as much as
possible, resulting in maximal exposure to stimuli from the environment.
It thus \'refreshes its memory\' and keeps a check on everything in its
area\" \[this is \"a regular activity in an already familiar
environment,\" which does \"not require the stimulus of a strange
object\"\] (Ewer 1968:66).

*Neighborhood space*. The prime directive of neighborhood space is,
\"Stay in your own yard.\" That we are terribly territorial is reflected
in fences by the barriers they define. According to the American Fencing
Association, 38,880 miles of chain link, 31,680 miles of wooden, and
1,440 miles of ornamental fencing are bought annually in the U.S.
(***N.B.***: Each year Americans buy enough residential fencing to
encircle the earth nearly three times.)

*City space I*. Biologists call the space in which primates live their
*home range*. The home range of human hunter-gatherers (e.g., of the
Kalahari Bushmen in southern Africa) spreads outward ca. 15-to-20 miles
in all directions from a central *home base*. The home range of today\'s
city dwelling humans includes a home base (an apartment or a house) as
well, along with favored foraging territories (e.g., a shopping mall and
supermarket), a juvenile nursery (i.e., a school), a sporting area
(e.g., a
**[golf](golf.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/golf.htm"
target="_top"}** course), a work space (an office building, e.g.)\--and
from two-to-five nocturnal drinking-and-dining spots. We spend most of
our lives **a.** occupying these favorite spaces, and **b.** orbiting
among them on habitually traveled pathways, sidewalks, and roads.

*City space II*. \"*Fixing Broken Windows*, a book by \[Rutgers
criminologist George\] Kelling and co-author Catherine Coles, became a
bible for New York City\'s \'zero-tolerance\' policy toward abandoned
cars, abandoned buildings and even graffiti. \[new paragraph\] \"Kelling
and Coles argue that even small signs of crime and decay in a
neighborhood, such as broken windows, encourage crime by signaling that
such behavior is tolerated\" (Bayles 2000: 3A).\
\
*National space*. We live in one of ca. 160 sovereign nations which
together claim 54% of earth\'s surface, including almost all of its land
and much of its oceans, waterways, and airspace. Over ninety percent of
all nations, including the U.S., have unresolved border disputes (see
[***WWW.Army.mil***](http://www.army.mil/)).

*Outer space*. *No national sovereignty rules in outer space. Those who
venture there go as envoys of the entire human race. Their quest,
therefore, must be for all mankind, and what they find should belong to
all mankind*. \--Lyndon Baines Johnson\
\
*U.S. politics*. \"Distance between two shakers who are still connected
at the hand signifies either distrust, aloofness, or reserve. Democratic
presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, often criticized in the media
for his lack of passion in his campaign style, tends to shake hands by
planting his feet and extending his right arm out to meet the oncoming
hand of the other shaker\" (Blum 1988:7-4).\
\
*Neuro-notes I*. **1.** In imaging studies of our brain, the neural
basis of spatial location and navigation shows activation of the right
hippocampus. Travel to a place activates the right caudate nucleus of
the [**basal
ganglia**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/basal.htm){target="_top"}
(Maguire et al. 1998). **2.** \"The navigation system includes special
\'place cells\' and \'direction cells\' \[in the hippocampus\] that
flicker visibly in MRI images when a research subject tries to find his
or her way through a simulated urban environment\" (Boyd 2000). **3.**
\"A section of the \[London taxi\] cabbies\' brains, called the
hippocampus, became enlarged during the two years they spent learning
their way around the vast, complicated metropolis\" (Boyd 2000; see
[**PRIMATE
BRAIN**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/primate.htm){target="_top"},
*Climbing cues*).\
\
*Neuro-notes II*. Damage to the right parietal lobe\'s angular gyrus and
supra-marginal gyrus may cause problems in our ability to use space
(such as, e.g., a difficulty in dressing, problems orienting in space,
trouble drawing figures in 3D, and neglect of the body\'s entire left
side). Lesions in the right hemisphere\'s parietal lobe may affect our
spatial comprehension.\
\
See also **[ANGULAR
DISTANCE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/angular.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[CONFERENCE
TABLE](table.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm"
target="_top"}**,
**[LOOM](loom1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/loom1.htm"
target="_top"}**, **[STEINZOR
EFFECT](steinzor.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/steinzor.htm"
target="_top"}**, **[TOUCH
CUE](touch1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/touch1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Photo by Sanford Roth (copyright *Rapho Guillumette*)\


RAPPORT

**[RAPPORT\
\
![Let\'s Do Lunch](rapport.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/rapport.jpg"
height="35%" width="50%"}]{#RAPPORT}**

*A 1997 study by the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, N.C.,
with Manchester Partners International, says that even in this tight job
market, 40 percent of management hires fail, and the key reason for the
turnover (82 percent) is their inability to build good relationships
with peers and subordinates*. \--*San Diego Union-Tribune* (Anonymous
1998)\
\
*The subtlety of making impressions demands self-awareness* . . . .
\--Mark H. McCormack (*What They Don\'t Teach You at Harvard Business
School*, 1984:27)\
\
*Relationship*. A pleasant feeling of mutual trust, affinity, and
friendship established through
[**verbal**](speech1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/speech1.htm"
target="_top"} and
**[nonverbal](nvcom.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvcom.htm"
target="_top"}** means.

*Usage*: Rapport shows in **a.** reduced **[angular
distance](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/angular.htm){target="_top"}**,
**b.** direct **[body
alignment](align1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/align1.htm"
target="_top"}**, **c.** mutual **[eye
contact](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/eyecon.htm){target="_top"}**,
and **d.**
**[palm-up](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/palmup.htm){target="_top"}**
cues; and in the **e.** eyebrow-flash, **f.**
**[head-nod](headnod.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headnod.htm"
target="_top"}**, **g.**
**[laugh](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/laugh.htm){target="_top"}**,
**h.**
**[shoulder-shrug](shoshrug.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/shoshrug.htm"
target="_top"}**, and **i.** **[zygomatic
smile](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/zygosmi.htm){target="_top"}**.

*Business*. \"Don\'t exploit rapport; build it for future business\"
(Doreen K. Givens, N.D., personal communication).\
\
*Observation*. We use many of the same childlike cues sent and received
in
**[courtship](court1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/court1.htm"
target="_top"}** to establish rapport in business (e.g., to please
customers, solicit clients, and woo colleagues; see **[LOVE
SIGNAL](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig.htm){target="_top"}**).\
\
*Personal chemistry*. \"Personal chemistry helps people rise above their
competition to be selected and hold jobs they\'re offered. The ability
to work well with others is often the defining reason one person is
selected over another\" (Anonymous 1998:C-1).

*Salesmanship*. \"Your nonverbal strategy . . . is not to mirror the
prospect\'s stiff, closed posture but to lead him into more relaxed,
open postures by your example\" (Delmar 1984:43-4).\
\
*Word origin*. *Rapport* derives from Old French (\"to bring back\") via
Latin (\"to carry\"), from the 7,000 year-old Proto-Indo-European root,
*per-*^2^, \"fellow traveler\" (Soukhanov 1993; see
[**WALK**](walk1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/walk1.htm"
target="_top"}). Nonverbally, traveling together motivates bonding
through feelings of
**[isopraxism](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/isoprax.htm){target="_top"}**.\
\
***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** \"We can observe how in human beings
conversation is practiced as a bond-forming ritual. In such
conversations hardly any factual information is passed on, as they
consist largely of extremely banal, constantly repeated statements
concerning such matters as the weather\" (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1971:151).
**2.** \"Salesmen may court prospects over
**[lunch](lunch1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/lunch1.htm"
target="_top"}**, using the full range of seductive units to solicit a
warm social bond which may be exploited economically. . .\" (Givens
1978A:358). **3.** \"More smiling, facial pleasantness, head nods,
frequent and open gestures, and eyebrow raises have the same effects as
more
**[gaze](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/eyecon.htm){target="_top"}**:
They accompany a desire for intimacy. . .\" (Burgoon et al. 1989:322).

Antonym:
**[FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT](fight.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/fight.htm"
target="_top"}**. See also
**[IMMEDIACY](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/immediat.htm){target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})\
Detail of photo by Robert Frank (copyright Robert Frank)


REPTILIAN BRAIN

**[REPTILIAN BRAIN]{#REPTILIAN BRAIN}\
\
![Ancient Reptile](reptile.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/reptile.jpg"
height="25%" width="45%"}**

*. . . \'She was full of reptiles.\'* \--Joseph Conrad (*Lord Jim*)\
\
\
*Evolution*. **1.** Collectively, those early parts of the human brain
which developed during the reptilian adaptation to life on land. **2.**
Of particular interest are modules of the *forebrain* which evolved to
enable reptilian body movements, mating rituals, and signature displays.

*Usage I*: Many common gestures, postures, and nonverbal routines
(expressive, e.g., of
**[dominance](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/dominate.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[submission](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/submit.htm){target="_top"}**,
and territoriality) elaborated ca. 280 m.y.a. in modules of the
reptilian brain. The latter itself evolved from modules and
**[paleocircuits](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/paleo.htm){target="_top"}**
of the **[amphibian
brain](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/amphibia.htm){target="_top"}**.

*Usage II*: In the house of the reptile, it makes a difference whether
one *crouches* or *stands tall*. Flexing the limbs to look small and
[**submissive**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/submit.htm){target="_top"},
or extending them to push-up and seem
[**dominant**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/dominate.htm){target="_top"},
is a reptilian ploy used by human beings today. Size displays as
encoded, e.g., in
**[boots](boot1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/boot1.htm"
target="_top"}**, **[business
suits](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/busisuit.htm){target="_top"}**,
and
**[hands-on-hips](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/handhips.htm){target="_top"}**
postures, have deep, neural roots in the *reptilian forebrain*,
specifically, in rounded masses of grey matter called **[basal
ganglia](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/basal.htm){target="_top"}**.\
\
*Literature*: \"Of these the vigilance I dread, and to elude, thus wrapt
in mist of midnight vapor, glide obscure, and pry in every bush and
brake, where hap may find the serpent sleeping, in whose mazy folds to
hide me, and the dark intent I bring.\" \--John Milton (*Paradise Lost,
Book IX*; 1667)\
\
*Reptilian ritual*. In **[Nonverbal
World](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvworld.htm){target="_top"}**,
the meaning of *persistence* (e.g., repeated attempts to dominate) and
*repetition* (e.g., of aggressive
**[head-nods](headnod.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headnod.htm"
target="_top"}** or shakes of a
**[fist](fist1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/fist1.htm"
target="_top"}**) are found in underlying, reptilian-inspired rituals
controlled by the habit-prone basal ganglia (a motor control area
identified as the *protoreptilian* brain or *R-complex* by Paul D.
MacLean \[1990\]).

*Reptilian routine*. According to MacLean (1990), our nonverbal ruts
start in the R-complex, which accounts for many unquestioned,
ritualistic, and recurring patterns in our *daily master routine*. Like
a fence lizard\'s day\--which starts with a cautious commute from its
rock shelter, and ends with a bask in the sun\--our workday unfolds in a
series of repetitive, nonverbal acts. Countless office rituals (from
morning\'s *coffee huddle*, e.g., to the sacred *lunch break*) are
performed in a set manner throughout the working days of our lives.

*Prehistory*. As reptiles adapted entirely to life on land, terrestrial
legs grew longer and stronger than those of aquatic-buoyed amphibian
ancestors. In the reptilian spinal cord and brain stem, *antigravity
reflexes* worked to straighten limbs through *extensor* muscle
contractions which lifted the body higher off the ground. Advances in
the forebrain\'s basal ganglia enabled reptiles to walk more confidently
than amphibians\--and to raise and lower their bodies and broadsides in
*status displays*. The reptile\'s **[high-stand
display](highstan.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/highstan.htm"
target="_top"}**, e.g., presages our own pronated
**[palm-down](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/palmdown.htm){target="_top"}**
cues of emphasis while speaking.

*Neuro-notes I*. **1.** The *protoreptilian brain*, as defined by
MacLean, consists of systems **a.** in the upper spinal cord, **b.** in
the midbrain, and **c.** in the forebrain\'s *diencephalon* and basal
ganglia (Isaacson 1974). **2.** \"The major counterpart of the reptilian
forebrain in mammals includes the *corpus striatum* (*caudate* plus
*putamen*), *globus pallidus*, and peripallidal structures \[including
the *substantia innominata*, *basal nucleus of Meynert*, nucleus of the
*ansa peduncularis*, and *entopeduncular nucleus*\]\" (MacLean
1975:75).\
\
*Neuro-notes II*. **1.** As a footnote, the relatively high nonverbal IQ
of the reptilian basal ganglia was recruited for the development of
intelligence in birds, specifically, in the *hyperstriatum* and
*neostriatum* (rather than, as with mammals, in the cerebral cortex).
**2.** \"Within the avian telencephalon, the dorsal ventricular ridge
(DVR) contains higher order and multimodal integration areas. Using
multiple regressions on 17 avian taxa, we show that an operational
estimate of behavioral flexibility, the frequency of feeding innovation
reports in ornithology journals, is most closely predicted by relative
size of one of these DVR areas, the hyperstriatum ventrale (Timmermansa
et al. 2000:196).\
\
See also
**[ISOPRAXISM](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/isoprax.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[MAMMALIAN BRAIN](mammal.htm){target="_top"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/mammal.htm"}**.

Copyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})\
Illustration detail from *Getting There* (copyright 1993 by William
Howells)


REST-AND-DIGEST

**[REST-AND-DIGEST]{#REST-AND-DIGEST}\
\
![Relax and Relate](rest.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/rest.jpg" height="35%"
width="27%"}**

*Other men live to eat, while I eat to live*. \--Socrates

*Relaxation response*. **1.** A pleasant feeling of calmness and
well-being experienced as **a.** heart rate slows, **b.** smooth muscles
contract, and **c.** glands secrete while the body digests food. **2.**
Physiologically, a rudimentary model for the sensation of
**[happiness](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/happy.htm){target="_top"}**.

*Usage*: Many involuntary **[nonverbal
signs](nvcom.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvcom.htm"
target="_top"}** (e.g., *contracted pupils*, *moistened eyes* (i.e.,
glistening, brought on by stimulation of the lacrimal glands), *slowed
breathing rate*, and *mouth-watering* (due to watery secretions of the
salivary glands \[accompanied by increased swallowing\])\--along with
signs of relaxation (e.g., *warm, dry palms*; *lean-forward*;
*lean-back*) and satiation (e.g., *supinated fists*) are visible in the
visceral feelings and involuntary movements of our rest-and-digest
response.\
\
*U.S. politics*. \"He \[Frank Meeks, owner of 59 Domino\'s pizza
franchises in the Washington, D.C. area\] recalls that Nov. 17, 1995,
during the government shutdown, was \'pizza night\' for Monica L.
Lewinsky and President Bill Clinton, according to Lewinsky\'s day book\"
(Schafer 1998:A5; see [**BIG
MAC**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/bigmac.htm){target="_top"}).

*Observations*. **1.** Rest-and-digest-related cues (such positive
signals as **[body
alignment](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/align.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[eye
contact](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/eyecon.htm){target="_top"}**,
vocal satisfaction \[e.g., \"hmm,\" \"ooh,\" and \"um\"\],
**[head-nods](headnod.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headnod.htm"
target="_top"}**, and
**[smiling](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/zygosmi.htm){target="_top"}**)
are often visible in luncheon meetings around a **[conference
table](table.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm"
target="_top"}**. **2.** In
**[courtship](court1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/court1.htm"
target="_top"}**, couples eat together to relax, to relate, and to
respond in the rest-and-digest mode to offset feelings of **[stranger
anxiety](strange1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/strange1.htm"
target="_top"}**. (***N.B.***: Genital swelling is a rest-and-digest
\[i.e., a parasympathetic, response; see **[LOVE SIGNALS
V](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig5.htm){target="_top"}**\].)
**3.** In a restaurant, rest-and-digest
**[paleocircuits](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/paleo.htm){target="_top"}**
contract the urinary bladder, thus prompting visits to the restroom.

*Evolution*. Rest-and-digest is an ancient *parasympathetic* response
pattern which, in the **[aquatic
brain](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aquatic.htm){target="_top"}**,
slowed heart beat rate (and ventricular force) to conserve bodily
energy, e.g., to prepare a fish to digest its meal.

*Neuro-notes*. **1.** The
**[hypothalamus](hypo.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/hypo.htm"
target="_top"}** controls our rest-and-digest response. **2.** \"The
actions of the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions are mediated by
different neurotransmitters and are largely antagonic, e.g., where one
promotes contraction of smooth muscle, the other promotes dilation\"
(Damasio 1994:206).

Antonym:
**[FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT](fight.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/fight.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})


SECONDARY PRODUCT

**SECONDARY PRODUCT**

![Pleasant Aroma Cue](second.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/second.jpg" height="40%"
width="25%"}\
\
***[Sign](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sign.htm){target="_top"}***.
**1.** In botany, a chemical compound not essential to the *structural*
or *nutritional* needs of a plant, but required for its ability to
*communicate*. **2.** A compound less involved in the *matter* or
*energy* of, e.g., an aromatic, spice, or medicinal plant, than in the
***[information](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/info.htm){target="_top"}***
it transmits to other plants and animals.

*Usage*: Conceptually, secondary products may be used as models for the
evolution of **[messaging
features](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/messafea.htm){target="_top"}**
found in diverse consumer product designs. Secondary plant products
demonstrate the separate evolutionary paths taken by information,
matter, and energy (see **[NONVERBAL
INDEPENDENCE](nvind1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/nvind1.htm"
target="_top"}**).

*Evolution*. Many of the estimated hundreds of thousands of thousands of
secondary plant products (e.g., alkaloids, such as nicotine; cyanogenic
compounds; flavonoids; insect anti-juvenile hormones; rare amino acids;
rubber-like polymers; and terpenoids) evolved for purposes of defense
against insects and other plant pests.

See also **[AROMA
CUE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aromacue.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[HERBS &
SPICES](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/herb.htm){target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)


SHELLFISH TASTE

**[SHELLFISH TASTE]{#SHELLFISH TASTE}\
\
![Shrimp Cocktail](shellfis.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/shellfis.jpg"
height="35%" width="25%"}**

*Honey and locusts were the viands that nourished the Baptist in the
desert* . . . . \--Dante Alighieri (*Purgatorio, Canto XXII*)\
*\
Flavor cue*. **1.** The usually pleasant aroma and taste of cooked
*arthropods*, including shrimp, lobster, and crab. **2.** A flavor,
greatly enhanced by *umami* (Konosu et al. 1987; see
**[GLUTAMATE](glutamat.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/glutamat.htm"
target="_top"}**), which \"speaks\" to the tongue as \"meat\" (see
**[MEATY
TASTE](meaty.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/meaty.htm"
target="_top"}**).

*Usage*: Human beings have a peculiarly powerful craving for the cooked
muscle tissue of shellfish, insects, spiders, and grubs. The appetite is
deeply rooted in our primate past as *insectivores*.

*Evolution I*. The earliest-known Paleocene primate (*Purgatorius*),
e.g., ate insects, which belong to the same biological phylum
(*Arthropoda*) as lobsters and shrimp. Primates have been heavy insect
eaters throughout their 65-million years, and lemurs, lorises, and
tarsiers (the least evolved of the living primates) eat mainly insects
today. (***N.B.***: The evolutionary raw bar is open for our closest
primate relatives, as well. Chimpanzees, e.g., enjoy *termites* and
lowland gorillas snack on *ants*.)

*Evolution II*. Our love of arthropod flesh reaches further back in time
than primates, however. The saga began ca. 450 m.y.a. ago in Ordovician
seas, when the giant lobster *Pterygotus* dined on (then) soft-headed
vertebrates. For 100 million years shellfish ate vertebrates, until the
latter\'s bony brain case formed in the late Devonian period.
(***N.B.***: Our hardened skull may have originated, in part, as a
defense against giant lobsters.) The evolutionary table turned as
harder-headed amphibians pursued arthropods on dry land, eating them
instead.

*Prehistory*. It is likely that early humans ate arthropods whenever and
wherever they could. Modern hunter-gatherers, e.g., relish grubs,
*caterpillars*, and *tarantulas*, roasted in coals until their meaty
flesh is well-done. (***N.B.***: Today, U.S. urbanites cook long-tailed
arthropods from the sea, and serve their succulent bodies in sauce made
from reddened fruits of the nightshade family\--they call the dish
*shrimp cocktail*.)

*Anthropology I*. Theaters in parts of Mexico sell fried *leaf-cutter
ants* as a crunchy snack food (see **[EXISTENTIAL
CRUNCH](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/crunch.htm){target="_top"}**).
Fried ants taste like bacon, according to members of the New York
Entomological Society, who sampled ants and exotic insects at their
100th anniversary banquet in 1992. Roasted *kurrajong grubs* from
Australia resemble lean sausages, they discovered, and fried *mealworms*
taste like honey-roasted nuts.

*Anthropology II*. **1.** Feasting on *gumbo*, *crab cakes*, and
*lobster bisque* marks an evolutionary victory over Pterygotus and other
giant arthropods. **2.** The flavor of *chocolate-covered ants* is made
more pungent by pyrazine molecules given off as warning signs.
(***N.B.***: Found in ants, beetles, and butterflies as *alarm
pheromones*, pyrazines have also been isolated as **[aroma
cues](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aromacue.htm){target="_top"}**
in fried beef, cocoa, coffee, and roasted nuts \[McGee 1990\].)

*Chemistry*. Synthetically duplicated, \"snow crab flavor\" consists of
the chemical **[messaging
features](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/messafea.htm){target="_top"}**
glycine, arginine, alanine, glutamate, inosine, monophosphate, sodium
chloride, and dibasic potassium phosphate (Konosu et al. 1987).

See also **[NUTTY
TASTE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nutty.htm){target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})


SHOPPING

**SHOPPING**

![Bargain Hunting](355000.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/355000.jpg" height="50%"
width="35%"}\
\
*Plastic shopping bags lower the wow-factor of whatever you\'re
[**wearing**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/adorn.htm){target="_top"}*.
\--Véronique Vienne (1997:156)\
\
*Hunting & gathering*. The usually pleasurable act of wandering through
stores in search of **[consumer
products](consprod.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm"
target="_top"}**, services, and bargains.

*Usage*: Shopping is a uniquely human activity with **a.** prehistoric
roots in *hunting and gathering*, **b.** primate roots in *foraging*,
and **c.** neonatal roots in the *grasping reflex* (see [**OBJECT
FANCY**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/object.htm){target="_top"},
*Neuro-notes*). U.S. adults spend ca. six percent of their waking time
(i.e., six hours a week) shopping (Sun et al. 1989). (***N.B.***:
American women shop 40% more than American men \[Sun et al. 1989\].)

*Evolution*. As a nonverbal activity, the joys, challenges, and routines
of shopping are partly innate. Wild primates, e.g., make daily foraging
trips in search of food to consume and, seemingly, to enjoy.
Chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, use color vision to browse
for nuts, fruits, and berries. By ca. two m.y.a., our earliest human
ancestors (*Homo habilis*) spent less time hunting than foraging,
gathering, and scavenging\--in family groups\--for whatever they could
find (Blumenschine and Cavallo 1992). The landscape was their mall.

*Today I*. We spend a great deal of our social time collectively
browsing for apparel, colorful objects, and edibles in *shopping malls*.
In the U.S., e.g., nine out of ten (i.e., 94% of) adults report having
visited a shopping center \"last month\" (Conn and Silverman 1991:127).

*Today II*. The shopping quest is rewarding\--whether we actually buy or
not. In the U.S., men buy an average 35 articles of clothing a year,
while women purchase 54 (Conn and Silverman 1991:32). For American
women, the favored item is clothing, while for men it is automobiles
(Conn and Silverman 1991:128). Most American men (two-thirds) do not
shop alone for their own clothes, but instead are accompanied by women
(Conn and Silverman 1991:128).\
\
***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target="_top"}***.
**1.** The modern shopping mall, which borrows heavily from [**messaging
features**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/messafea.htm){target="_top"}
designed for Disneyland, has, like the theme park itself, become a form
of \"media in the round.\" \"\'In a business that is as dependent as
film or theater on appearances,\' the magazine \[*Chain Store Age
Executive* (winter 1992)\] concluded, \'the illusion of safety \[in a
shopping mall\] is as vital or even more so, than its reality\'\"
(Glaberson 1992:B4). **2.** In a survey of *Self* women\'s magazine
readers, **a.** 49% shop \"whenever the mood strikes\"; **b.** 69%
prefer shopping by \"Myself\"; **c.** 74% spend the most time shopping
for \"Myself\"; **d.** 72% shop most often in \"Malls\"; and **e.** 72%
\"find shopping helps if you\'re depressed\" (Anonymous (1992E).

*Pediatrics*. Babies are pre-adapted for shopping. They arrive on earth
ready to explore\--i.e., to actively look, listen, and reach out to
touch and handle colorful objects in their world. (***N.B.***: Forty
square feet of shopping-center space has been constructed in the U.S.
for every baby born since 1986 \[Conn and Silverman 1991:128\].)

*Psychology*. In the U.S., 96,738 acres of land are occupied by shopping
centers and malls (Conn and Silverman 1991:89). A patron entering a
store usually turns right (perhaps due to the right eye\'s dominance).
According to marketing psychologists, shoppers look around the front
section directly inside a store\'s entrance, but are less likely to buy
goods displayed there than items located in areas to their right.
(***N.B.***: Whether right or left-handed, we do more impulse buying on
a shop\'s right-hand side \[Kyriakos1992\].)

*Psychiatry*. The uncontrollable urge to buy things is called
*oniomania*.\
\
See also [***WWW.Mallofamerica.com***](http://www.mallofamerica.com/).

Copyright 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
\


SHOULDER WEAR

**SHOULDER WEAR**

![Puffy Sleeves](puffy.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/puffy.jpg" height="40%"
width="25%"}\
\
***[Clothing
cue](adorn.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/adorn.htm"
target="_top"}***. Items of clothing, jewelry, or other decorations worn
to showcase the appeal, gestures, and shape of the
**[shoulders](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/shoulder.htm){target="_top"}**.

*Usage*: Human shoulders are so expressive that, in every society,
**[consumer
products](consprod.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm"
target="_top"}** have evolved to accent their masculine, feminine,
**[dominant](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/dominate.htm){target="_top"}**,
or
**[submissive](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/submit.htm){target="_top"}**
messages.

*Fashion statement I*. Like the round head atop our upright body,
flat-lying shoulders stand out as conspicuous shapes set high and wide
upon our frame. How we clothe them affects what they have to say.
Clothing worn across the shoulders accents natural signs, signals, and
cues of, e.g., ancestral
**[high-stand](highstan.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/highstan.htm"
target="_top"}** and
**[crouch](crouch1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/crouch1.htm"
target="_top"}** displays. Military epaulets *square*, while décolleté
dresses *bare*, the shoulders to show, respectively, the strength of a
**[broadside](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/broadsid.htm){target="_top"}**
or the softness of a
**[shrug](shoshrug.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/shoshrug.htm"
target="_top"}**.

*Fashion statement II*. Unless heavily muscled, bare shoulders cannot
compete with shoulders artificially squared in a **[business
suit](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/busisuit.htm){target="_top"}**.
But they need not, for the messages are opposed. Like the shirtless
collars and bow ties of the Chippendale dancers, *tee-shirts*,
*camisoles*, and *tube-tops* advertise submissive movements of the
crouch display.

*Fashion statement III*. *Puffy sleeves* keep shoulders lifted and
permanently shrugged in a frozen gesture which seems to say, \"I\'m
harmless: you may approach\" (see **[LOVE
SIGNAL](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig.htm){target="_top"}**).
*V-neck*, *cowlneck*, *boatneck*, and *scoop-neck sweaters* reveal the
collarbones (and the submissive **[throat
dimple](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/dimple.htm){target="_top"}**).
*Sleeveless sweaters* and *blouses* display the deltoids. The *surplice
wrap* dress forms a deep V over the clavicles and breastbone, and a
*camisole top\'s* straps draw viewers\' eyes outward and across the
shoulders\' soft skin. Fabrics such as *taffeta*, *velvet*, *velour*,
*silk*, and *Ultrasuede***®** may be worn to mimic the softness itself.

*Anatomy I*. The **a.** soft skin, **b.** rounded shape (of our upper
arm\'s *deltoid* area), and **c.** extreme flexibility of our shoulders
have made this body region sexually appealing in men and women alike.
Clothing may be designed **a.** to bare one or both shoulders, **b.** to
accentuate their roundness, or **c.** to allow them greater freedom of
movement.

*Anatomy II*. Historically, women\'s clothing has drawn attention to
every part\--the flesh, muscle definition, and boney projections\--of
the feminine shoulder: **a.** the *epidermal* skin, **b.** the rounded
*deltoid muscles* of the upper arm, **c.** the *trapezius muscles* of
the back and neck, **d.** the *collarbones* (or clavicles), and **e.**
the *shoulder blades* (or scapulas).

*Prehistory*. The world\'s oldest preserved textile garment is a
5,000-year-old *linen shirt* from an Egyptian tomb at Tarkhan (Barber
1994). The man\'s shirt was intentionally V-necked, perhaps to expose
the throat and clavicle bones. Ancient Egyptian women wore tubular,
ankle-length *jumpers* with shoulder straps. While their breasts were
sometimes hidden and sometimes exposed, the splendor of their upper
arms, clavicles, and shoulders was left to show through the ages (Barber
1994).

See also **[ARM
WEAR](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/armwear.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[FOOTWEAR](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/footwear.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[NECKWEAR](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/neckwear.htm){target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Photo detail of Bette Davis in *Bad Sister* (originally *The Flirt*
\[Universal 1924\]; copyright Kobal Collection, London)


SHOULDER-SHRUG

**[SHOULDER-SHRUG]{#SHOULDER-SHRUG}\
\
![Defensive Shrug](shoshrug.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/objects/shoshrug.jpg"
height="25%" width="50%"}**

*It had the power to drive me out of my conceptions of existence, out of
that shelter each of us makes for himself to creep under in moments of
danger, as a tortoise withdraws within its shell*. \--Joseph Conrad
(*Lord Jim*, 1899; see below, *Origin*)\
\
\
***[Gesture](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target="_top"}***.
**1.** To lift, raise, or flex-forward one or both
**[shoulders](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/shoulder.htm){target="_top"}**
in response **a.** to another person\'s statement, question, or physical
presence; or **b.** to one\'s own inner thoughts, feelings, and moods.
**2.** One of several constituents of the larger **[shoulder-shrug
display](shrugdis.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/shrugdis.htm"
target="_top"}**.

*Usage I*: The shoulder-shrug is a universal sign of resignation,
uncertainty, and submissiveness. Shrug cues may modify, counteract, or
contradict verbal remarks. With the statement, \"Yes, I\'m sure,\" e.g.,
a lifted shoulder suggests, \"I\'m not so sure.\" A shrug reveals
misleading, ambiguous, or uncertain areas in dialogue and oral
testimony, and thus may provide a **[probing
point](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/probe.htm){target="_top"}**,
i.e., an opportunity to examine an *unverbalized* belief or opinion.\
\
*Usage II*: The shrug gesture bears an interesting relationship to the
English word, *just*, as in, \"I don\'t know why I took the money\--I
just took it.\" In this sense, \"just\" conveys a feeling of
powerlessness and uncertainty as to motive. The word also connotes
\"merely,\" as in \"Just a scratch\" (Soukhanov 1992:979). These
diminutive aspects of the word \"just\" resonate with the cringing,
crouched aspect of the shoulder-shrug cue (see below, *Origin*).\
\
*Anatomy*. The *trapezius* and *levator scapulae* muscles lift the
shoulder blades (*scapulas*). Trapezius (assisted by *pectoralis major*,
*p. minor*, and *serratus anterior*) medially rotates (i.e., ventrally
flexes) the shoulders, as well.

*Football*. On January 25, 1998, in an NBC Sports interview conducted
after his team had won Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego, Denver Broncos
quarterback, John Elway, *shrugged his shoulders* and said, \"I can\'t
believe it.\"

***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target="_top"}***.
Actor James Dean\'s *defensive shrug* set his style apart from the
stiffer performances of male leads of his time. The contrast between
Dean\'s nonverbal *diffidence* and Rock Hudson\'s square-shouldered
*dominance* in the 1956 movie *Giant*, e.g., is so dramatic it seemed
shoulders had been written into the script. But they had not, for
Dean\'s shrug, according to director Elia Kazan, was \"natural.\" Dean
*cringed* all the time. As *American Icon* author, David Dalton, wrote,
\"Jimmy\'s body is a universe where gravitational pull stems from
instability; fascination from asymmetrical shifts and awkward physical
contortions formed under internal stress\" (1984:53).\
\
*Observations*. **1.** Responding to his father\'s question (\"Do you
have your lunch money?\"), a son\'s left shoulder *lifts slightly* as he
answers, \"Yes.\" The father replies, \"Better make sure.\" **2.**
**[Bowing](bow1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bow1.htm"
target="_top"}** forward, a finance director peeks around his boss\'s
doorway and *lifts his shoulders* as he asks, \"May I talk to you,
sir?\" **3.** While conversing in a hotel bar, a man and woman *flex*,
*pitch*, and *roll their shoulders* flirtatiously over cocktails (see
**[LOVE SIGNALS
III](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig3.htm){target="_top"}**).\
\
*Origin*. The shrug gesture originates from an ancient, protective
**[crouch](crouch1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/crouch1.htm"
target="_top"}** pattern innervated by
**[paleocircuits](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/paleo.htm){target="_top"}**
designed for **[flexion
withdrawal](withdra1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/withdra1.htm"
target="_top"}**. The *shoulder-shrug complex* was originally identified
by Charles Darwin in 1872.\
\
*Outer space*. On July 11, 1996, while orbiting in the Russian
spacecraft, Mir, U.S. astronaut Shannon Lucid *shrugged her shoulders*,
*tilted her head*, and gestured with her *palm up* as she answered
questions about her six-week delay in returning to Earth. \"You know,\"
she told NBC\'s *Today Show*, \"that\'s life.\"

*Primatology*. Shoulder-shrugging has been seen in South African adult
and young adult baboons as a sign of fear and uncertainty, and as a
response subsequent to the startle reaction (Hall and DeVore 1972).\
\
*U.S. politics*. On September 9, 1998, in Orlando, Florida, President
Bill Clinton *shrugged his shoulders* and
**[gazed-down](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gazedown.htm){target="_top"}**
at a public apology as he said, \"I\'ve done my best to be your friend.
But I also let you down, and I let my family down, and I let this
country down.\" (*Washington Post*, September 10, 1998).

***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** \"When a man wishes to show that he
cannot do something, or prevent something being done, he often raises
with a quick movement both shoulders\" (Darwin 1872:264). **2.**
*Pulling in the shoulders* is a response to spatial invasion (Sommer
1969). **3.** The *shrug* is listed in two checklists of universal
nonverbal signs: **a.** as \"A fairly sudden raising of both shoulders\"
(Brannigan and Humphries 1972:60), and **b.** \"Raising both shoulders\"
(Grant 1969:533). **4.** *Shrugging the shoulders* is a submissive sign
in children (McGrew 1972).

*Neuro-notes*. As a branchiomeric muscle, upper trapezius is emotionally
responsive (i.e., \"gut reactive\"; see [**PHARYNGEAL
ARCH**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/pharynx.htm){target="_top"}),
and quite difficult to control by conscious means. Upper trapezius is
innervated by the *accessory nerve* (cranial XI), a **[special visceral
nerve](viscera1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/viscera1.htm"
target="_top"}** which also feeds into the voice box (or *larynx*).
Thus, shoulder-shrugs and vocal whines may be given at the same time.

See also
**[ADAM\'S-APPLE-JUMP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/adajum.htm#ADAM'S-APPLE-JUMP){target="_top"}**,
**[HEAD-TILT-SIDE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headside.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[PALM-UP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/palmup.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[TONE OF
VOICE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tone.htm){target="_top"}**.\
\
Copyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})


SHOULDER-SHRUG DISPLAY

**[SHOULDER-SHRUG DISPLAY\
\
]{#SHOULDER-SHRUG DISPLAY}***![Tim Buckley](shrugdi1.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/shrugdi1.jpg"
height="75%" width="25%"}\
\
Global **[body
movement](bodymov1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodymov1.htm"
target="_top"}***. Identified by Charles Darwin in1872, an interrelated
set of 13 body motions, from the head to the toes, used worldwide to
show helplessness, resignation, and
**[uncertainty](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/uncert.htm){target="_top"}**.

*Usage*: Individually or in combination, signs from the shoulder-shrug
display (e.g.
**[head-tilt-side](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headside.htm){target="_top"}**,
**[shoulder-shrug](shoshrug.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/shoshrug.htm"
target="_top"}**, and pigeon-toes)\--suggest feelings of resignation,
powerlessness, and
**[submission](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/submit.htm){target="_top"}**.
In
**[courtship](court1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/court1.htm"
target="_top"}** and
**[rapport](rapport1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/rapport1.htm"
target="_top"}**, the cues show harmlessness and friendly intent, thus
inviting physical approach and affiliation.

*Constituents*. The shoulder-shrug display involves the entire body in a
visual crouch. As described by Darwin (1872), the display consists of
**1.** raised shoulders (elevated; trapezius and/or levator scapulae
muscles contracted), **2.** head-tilt sideward (lateral flexion), **3.**
elbows bent and held into the body (flexed and adducted), **4.**
upraised palms (forearms supinated; see
**[PALM-UP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/palmup.htm){target="_top"}**),
**5.** palm-show (wrist extended), **6.** open hand (digits extended),
**7.** fingers spread (abducted), **8.** eyebrows raised (frontalis
contracted; see
**[EYEBROW-RAISE](browrai1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/browrai1.htm"
target="_top"}**), and **9.** mouth opened (digastric and suprahyoid
contracted; see
**[JAW-DROOP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/droop.htm){target="_top"}**).
A century later, **10.** pouted lips (mentalis contracted; see
**[LIP-POUT](pout.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/pout.htm"
target="_top"}**), **11.** knock-knees (tibial torsion), **12.** bending
forward at the waist (flexion, slight bowing; see
**[BOW](bow1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bow1.htm"
target="_top"}**), and **13.** pigeon-toeing (toes angled in) were added
to the display (Givens 1977).

*Origin*. The shoulder-shrug display incorporates defensive
**[crouch](crouch1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/crouch1.htm"
target="_top"}** movements from the protective **[tactile
withdrawal](withdra1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/withdra1.htm"
target="_top"}** reflex.

***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target="_top"}***.
In TV news reports, as she approached, gazed at, and spoke to
\"commoners,\" England\'s Princess Diana flexed her *shoulders forward*
and *tilted her head* to the side, thus showing compassion for those
beneath her station. (***N.B.***: Nonverbally, Lady Diana connected by
curtseying back.)

*Neuro-notes*. Socioemotional stimuli for shrug-display cues involve the
forebrain\'s
**[amygdala](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/amygdala.htm){target="_top"}**
(LeDoux 1995, 1996) and **[basal
ganglia](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/basal.htm){target="_top"}**
(or \"reptilian core\"; MacLean 1990). Submissive feelings find
expression in coordinated muscle contractions designed to bend, flex,
and rotate parts of our axial skeleton and appendicular skeleton, to
\"shrink\" the body and show a harmless \"lower\" profile. (***N.B.***:
Unlike the **[high-stand
display](highstan.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/highstan.htm"
target="_top"}**, diverse motions of the shrug complex were designed for
*defense* rather than for offense\--for self-protection in a physical
world, as well as self-protection in a *social world* mediated by signs,
signals, and cues.)

Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})\
Photo of Tim Buckley in Central Park, by Linda McCartney (copyright 1992
by MPL Communications Limited; McCartney: \"I think it captures his
personality perfectly because it shows his vulnerability.\")


SILENCE

**SILENCE**

*In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength*. \--*Isaiah 15*

*And, as if satisfied, he was silent*. \--Dante Alighieri (*Purgatorio,
Canto XXIV*)

*Not heard*. **1.** Nonverbally, the condition or quality of being
difficult or impossible to hear, as in
**[walking](walk1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/walk1.htm"
target="_top"}** stealthily, swallowing a
**[cry](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cry.htm){target="_top"}**,
curtailing bodily noises, and refraining from
**[speech](speech1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/speech1.htm"
target="_top"}**. **2.** Synonyms include *secretive* (see **[DECEPTION
CUE](deceive.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/deceive.htm"
target="_top"}**), reserved (see
**[SUBMISSION](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/submit.htm){target="_top"}**),
and
**[tightlipped](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tensemou.htm){target="_top"}**
(which, in English, implies a conscious decision to withhold
information).

*Usage*: Animals from reptiles to human beings have devised ingenious
means to be silent in order to avoid detection.

***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target="_top"}***.
*Dead air*: \"An unintended interruption in a broadcast during which
there is no sound\" (Soukhanov 1992:478).

*Pregnant pause*. While giving a brief report at a conference table,
important speaking points may be dramatized by inserting a brief pause
immediately after their delivery. In a lengthier report, pauses may be
used to separate main sections of the presentation; listeners feel
refreshed by silence and pay renewed attention to vocalizations
delivered after a pause (see **[ORIENTING
REFLEX](orient1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/orient1.htm"
target="_top"}**).\
\
***RESEARCH REPORT***: \"*Silences* also function to mark episode and
position boundaries \[in conversations, e.g., when closing a topic\]\"
(Burgoon et al. 1989:409).

See also
**[INVISIBILITY](invisib1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/invisib1.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)


SIT

**SIT**

![Flexed-Adducted](sit.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/sit.jpg" width="15%"
height="50%"}\
\
***[Posture](posture1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/posture1.htm"
target="_top"}***. To rest with the torso in an upright position and the
body supported largely on the buttocks.

*Usage*: The manner of sitting at a **[conference
table](table.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm"
target="_top"}**, e.g., transmits
**[information](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/info.htm){target="_top"}**
about one\'s *status* (mental, physical, and social), *feelings*, and
unvoiced *opinions*, *attitudes*, and *moods*.

*Primatology*. Sitting is the usually favored position of primates.\
\
*Salesmanship*. \"Do not wait to be asked to be seated\" (Delmar
1984:42).\
\
***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** The most detailed research on sitting
positions is by the anthropologist Gordon W. Hewes (1957). **2.** Male,
North-American college students express uneasiness with changes in
sitting posture (e.g., by assuming a more
**[direct](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/angular.htm){target="_top"}**
body orientation; Vrugt, Anneke, and Kerkstra 1984). **3.** Female,
North-American college students show uneasiness by sitting
**[still](freeze1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/freeze1.htm"
target="_top"}** and
**[arm-crossing](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/armcross.htm){target="_top"}**
(Vrugt, Anneke, and Kerkstra 1984). **4.** In chairs and couches, **a.**
*ankle-ankle legs cross* (\"I am politely relaxed\"; worldwide), **b.**
*knee-knee legs cross* (\"I am very relaxed\"; worldwide), **c.**
*ankle-knee legs cross* (\"I am assertively relaxed\"; widespread), and
**d.** *legs twine* (\"I am slinkily relaxed\"; widespread) have been
identified as typical human sitting postures (Morris 1994:152-54).

*Neuro-notes*: As **[consumer
products](consprod.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm"
target="_top"}**, couches are designed to recall the primate lap\'s
protopathic softness, and to stimulate pleasure areas for grooming,
childcare, and sexuality in the mammalian brain\'s **[cingulate
gyrus](cingulat.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cingulat.htm"
target="_top"}**.\
\
See also [**LOVE SIGNALS
III**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig3.htm){target="_top"}
(***E-Commentary***).

Copyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal
Studies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"}**)\
Detail of photo (copyright the Loehr Collection)


SNEAKER

**[SNEAKER]{#SNEAKER}**

***[![White Sneaker](B46182.jpg){border="0"
tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/B46182.jpg"
height="35%" width="25%"}\
\
](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/footwear.htm){target="_top"}****Sneakers
that promise movement of athletic perfection*. \--Elizabeth Kastor
(1994:30)\
\
*When dressing casually, let sneakers determine the look of the clothes
you\'re going to wear \[\--not the other way around\]*. \-- Véronique
Vienne (1997:156)\
\
***[Footwear](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/footwear.htm){target="_top"}***.
A casual sports shoe made with a usually colorful canvas or nylon upper,
and a soft, thick sole of rubber, latex, or
**[vinyl](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/vinyl.htm){target="_top"}**.

*Usage I*: Because they cover our very expressive
**[feet](feet.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/feet.htm"
target="_top"}**, we are choosy about the brands, insignia, and styles
of the sneakers we wear (see **[MESSAGING
FEATURE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/messafea.htm){target="_top"}**).
(***N.B.***: As a nonverbal
**[sign](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sign.htm){target="_top"}** of
gender, presence, and personality, sneakers communicate \"who we are\"
much as do **[hair
cues](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/haircue.htm){target="_top"}**
and
**[hats](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hat.htm){target="_top"}**).

*Usage II*: The large size, bold contrasts, and loud colors of running,
training, and basketball shoes (all of which evolved from sneakers)
suggest **a.** *youth* and *physical fitness* (often more theatrical
than real); **b.** identification with *team sports* (esp., e.g., with
star players); and **c.** a preference for *informality and comfort*.

*Usage III*. Sneakers are rarely worn beneath **[conference
tables](table.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm"
target="_top"}** because **a.** they do not support the **[business
suit\'s](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/busisuit.htm){target="_top"}**
power metaphor, and **b.** their thick, cushioning soles suggest
\"awkwardness.\" (***N.B.***: Soles greater than one-eighth inch give a
clumsy appearance, suggestive less of coordination, grace, and
savoir-faire than are communicated by, e.g., thinner, more elegant
leather soles, esp. those of Italian or British design. Visually, sole
thickness is equivalent to the contrast between mittens and kid
gloves.)\
\
*Anatomy*. Running shoes may be the most comfortable footwear yet
designed by humans. Perhaps better than any shoe, Nikes cushion the
estimated five million pounds of impact born each day by the modern
foot. (***N.B.***: The typical American, who walks seven and one-half
miles a day, owns two and one-half pairs of athletic shoes.)

*Evolution*. On humanity\'s shoe tree, the sneaker (or *tennis shoe*) is
a recent offshoot. The word \"sneaker\" crept into English around 1875
as a label for a croquet shoe made in the U.S., whose vulcanized rubber
sole had been attached to white canvas uppers (magically, it seemed)
without stitches or thongs. The 1910-era American rubber-sole design
known as *Keds®* paved the way for a more modern species of footwear,
the *Nikes®* *ultralight running shoe* of the 1970s. (***N.B.***: In the
mid-1990s, Americans spent ca. \$12 billion a year on running
shoes\--yet nine out of ten who owned them never ran.)

***[Media](sneaker.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/sneaker.htm"
target="_top"}***. **1.** Sneakers were popularized by James Dean in
*Guys and Dolls* (1955), and by Elvis Presley\'s teen cohort in
*Jailhouse Rock* (1957). In the 1950s sneakers broke the formality of
corporate leather shoes to express a kinder, gentler world for feet and
the lifestyle for which they stand. **2.** \"Nike Air shoes with
pressurized air soles helped more than double sales from \$1.7 billion
in 1989 to \$3.8 billion just five years later, with the help of a
determined marketing effort led by NBA star Michael Jordan\" (McCall
2000:A14).

See also [**BLUE
JEANS**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/bluejean.htm){target="_top"},
**[BOOT](boot1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/boot1.htm"
target="_top"}**, **[MEN\'S
SHOES](mens.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/mens.htm"
target="_top"}**, **[WOMEN\'S
SHOES](womens.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/womens.htm"
target="_top"}**.

Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})


SOFT SIGN

**[SOFT SIGN]{#SOFT SIGN}**

*Neuro cue*. A
[**gesture**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target="_top"},
**[body
movement](bodymov1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodymov1.htm"
target="_top"}**, or
[**posture**](posture1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/posture1.htm"
target="_top"} used clinically to diagnose a psychiatric or movement
disorder.

*Usage*: Soft signs include, e.g.,
**[apraxia](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/apraxia.htm){target="_top"}**
cues,
**[eye-blink](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/eyeblink.htm){target="_top"}**
rates, and **[startle
reflex](startle1.htm){tppabs="http://members.aol.com/doder1/startle1.htm"
target="_top"}** signs. Two generic types of soft sign have been
identified: **a.** those involving motor systems suggestive of
early-life brain disturbances, and **b.** those involving less localized
systems suggestive of adult neural dysfunctions and behavioral
disturbances (Woods 1992). \"Both . . . appear to be clinically useful
in \[the psychiatric\] patient population\" (Woods 1992:446).

Copyright 1999 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal
Studies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target="_top"})