Neuro term. 1. The inability to recognize a coin, key, or other object merely by its feel, e.g.,\nwhen held in the hand. 2. The inability to recognize a door, e.g., by the sound of its slamming or\nfrom its photograph alone. 3. In agnosia, while perception itself (i.e., feeling a coin's shape or\nhearing a door slam) is normal, recognition of objects is not.
\n\n\nUsage: Studies of agnosia reveal how the brain processes nonverbal gestures, objects, and\nsensations apart from speech or words. Though very vocal, human beings still spend a great\ndeal of their lives in Nonverbal World.
\n\n\nNeuro-notes. 1. Inability to recognize a coin by the sound of its dropping suggests problems with the\nauditory association areas of the temporal lobe. 2. Inability to recognize a coin held in the hand\nsuggests problems with the tactile association areas of the parietal lobe. 3. Inability to recognize a\ncoin by its photograph suggests problems with the visual association areas of the occipital lobe. \nThese nonverbal brain modules exist independently of the cortical modules used to recognize and\nproduce speech sounds.
\n\n\n\nSee also APRAXIA.
\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[AGNOSIA]{#AGNOSIA}**\n\n*Neuro term*. **1.** The inability to recognize a coin, key, or other\nobject merely by its feel, e.g., when held in the hand. **2.** The\ninability to recognize a door, e.g., by the sound of its slamming or\nfrom its photograph alone. **3.** In agnosia, while perception itself\n(i.e., feeling a coin\\'s shape or hearing a door slam) is normal,\nrecognition of objects is not.\n\n*Usage*: Studies of agnosia reveal how the brain processes nonverbal\ngestures, objects, and sensations apart from\n**[speech](speech1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/speech1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** or\n**[words](word1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. Though very vocal, human beings still spend a great\ndeal of their lives in **[Nonverbal\nWorld](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvworld.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Neuro-notes*. **1.** Inability to recognize a coin by the sound of its\ndropping suggests problems with the *auditory association areas* of the\ntemporal lobe. **2.** Inability to recognize a coin held in the hand\nsuggests problems with the *tactile association areas* of the parietal\nlobe. **3.** Inability to recognize a coin by its photograph suggests\nproblems with the *visual association areas* of the occipital lobe.\nThese nonverbal brain modules exist independently of the cortical\nmodules used to recognize and produce speech sounds.\n\nSee also\n**[APRAXIA](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/apraxia.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"AKINESIA","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/akinesia.htm","html":"\n\n\nNeuro term. 1. Difficulty beginning or maintaining a body motion. 2. Symptoms include: a.\nslowed voluntary movements; b. difficulty in reaching for objects; c. inability to perform\nrepetitive, simultaneous, or sequential body movements; d. immobile, expressionless, or masked\nface; e. loss of normal "restless" body movements while sitting; f. loss of arm swinging while\nwalking; g. shuffling gait; and h. diminished finger dexterity.
\n\n\nUsage: Akinesia points to a variety of neurological problems (including, e.g., Parkinson's disease\nand brain damage associated with strokes). Akinesic behaviors affect an individual's normal\nnonverbal response, and may be (especially in older people) misconstrued as mood signs expressing emotions and feelings.
\n\n\nSee also APRAXIA.
\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[AKINESIA]{#AKINESIA}**\n\n*Neuro term*. **1.** Difficulty *beginning* or *maintaining* a body\nmotion. **2.** Symptoms include: **a.** slowed voluntary movements;\n**b.** difficulty in reaching for objects; **c.** inability to perform\nrepetitive, simultaneous, or sequential body movements; **d.** immobile,\nexpressionless, or masked face; **e.** loss of normal \\\"restless\\\" body\nmovements while sitting; **f.** loss of arm swinging while walking;\n**g.** shuffling gait; and **h.** diminished finger dexterity.\n\n*Usage*: Akinesia points to a variety of *neurological problems*\n(including, e.g., Parkinson\\'s disease and brain damage associated with\nstrokes). Akinesic behaviors affect an individual\\'s normal nonverbal\nresponse, and may be (especially in older people) misconstrued as mood\nsigns expressing emotions and feelings.\n\nSee also\n**[APRAXIA](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/apraxia.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"ANIMAL SIGN","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/animal1.htm","html":"\n\n\nANIMAL SIGN
\n![\"Altamira](\"animal.jpg\")
\n
\nAnimals are . . . the visible phantoms of our souls. --Victor Hugo
\n
\nCats and monkeys, monkeys and cats--all human life is there. --Henry James (The Madonna of the Future)
\n
\nMany primatologists have experienced a profound change in their attitude towards anthropoid apes after making eye contact with one for the first time. The spark across the species barrier is never forgotten. --Frans De Waal (Waal and Lanting 1997:1)
\n
Signal. A message emitted by the nonverbal behavior, cries, markings, body movements, or\nshapes of an organism of the kingdom Animalia (see EFFERENT CUE).
\nUsage: Animals provide an endless source of inspiration for artists, philosophers, photographers,\nand cinematographers. They are a major source of companionship, entertainment, symbolism,\nand food for all human beings.
\nWord origin. The word animal comes from the ancient Indo-European root ane-, derivatives of\nwhich include anima, equanimity, and unanimous.
\n\nAnthropology I. There is a curious ambivalence between Homo sapiens and all other species. \nOn the one hand, we find compelling similarities between ourselves and beasts. Yet on\nthe other, a cultural universal of human thought is the postulate that people and animals are\nfundamentally un-alike. Between the human and the animal lies an immense chasm.
\nAnthropology II. We find animals spiritually, intellectually, and morally inferior to ourselves. \nGreek philosophers despised beasts for their lack of reason. Today's Christians deny animals a\nsoul, yet portray the Holy Ghost as a winged member of the Columbidae family (i.e., as a dove). \nHindus believe all creatures are divine, but see hoofed animals of the Bovidae family (i.e.,\nsacred cattle) as more divine than others. Muslims picture all animals as being lower\nthan humans. Buddhists think animals, as well as humans, are ultimately unreal.
\nAnthropology III. We attribute animal characteristics to ourselves. Zoomorphism is a popular\ntheme of greeting cards, e.g., which liken friends and family members to cuddly kittens, bunnies,\nand bears. The Zuni Indians of New Mexico compare strong-willed men to black bears (Cushing 1883).
\nAnthropology IV. The earliest animal art--naturalistic renderings of deer, horses, and bulls--appears in the archaeological record ca. 30,000 years ago in western Europe. The Upper\nPaleolithic cave paintings of Cro Magnon man reveal that hunter-gatherers incorporated animals\ninto their thought processes and rituals at least 30 millennia ago.
\nAnthropology V. We purchase an estimated 500,000 plastic pink flamingo ornaments for our\nlawns each year (Conn and Silverman 1991:42).
\n
\nBeauty. While we overestimate the number of useful and attractive birds, butterflies, and mammals on\nearth, we underestimate the much larger population of unlovely insects, spiders, bats, bacteria,\nand worms (May 1992:42).
\n
\nCats. The first commercial software designed for nonhuman animals may be a video game called "CyberPounce." In Cyberpounce, virtual flies, fish, and mice entice the paw-batting instincts of house cats, who "hunt" for the video images on a screen. "He [CyberPounce creator, Matt Wolf] learned that cats can recognize activity on a television screen or computer monitor, but most programming designed for humans doesn't titillate them. Cats fixate on an object's color and movement patterns rather than its shape, he said" (Krane2001:A6).
\n
\nCourtship. Courting couples of the 17th century carried flea boxes, in which they collected the\nbodies of the dead arthropods they had picked off each other's skin (Dean 1982).
\n
\nDislike. According to the Nature Conservancy, our least-liked mammal is the rat (Anonymous 1990).
\n
\nDogs. We design exotic consumer products for Canis familiaris. A 25-ounce bottle of Mon\nChien, e.g., contains water and ground-beef flavoring (for dogs who may turn up their noses at drinking from Homo sapiens's toilet). At Fido's Fast Food, a converted Fotomat\ndrive-through in Toledo, Ohio, dogs may dine on crunchy "cheeseburgers" and peanut-butter bagels\n(Anonymous (1992C).
\n
\nFear. We fear wild animals more than "safer" domestic breeds. Yet while millions are afraid of\nsharks, e.g., only six people in the U.S. have been killed by sharks since 1988 (Conn and Silverman 1991:197). We fear dogs less, even though half of all U.S. children will be bitten by a dog by age 12 (Rovner 1992). \n(N.B.: Each year shying horses kill and wound more humans than all wild animals combined.)
Gorillas. We are fascinated by "humanlike" mannerisms of gorillas (Gorilla gorilla). \nGorilla groupies, e.g., sit for hours patiently watching lowland gorillas (G. g. berengei) at\nthe National Zoo in Washington, D.C. As one man remarked, watching gorillas "is the happiest\nthing I've done with my spare time" (Mundy 1992). The peak experience of a gorilla groupie is sharing eye\ncontact with the apes.
\n
\nMedia. 1. The first TV star was not a human being but a doll-sized replica of Felix the Cat, used in\nthe 1920s as a test pattern (Marschall 1986:13). 2. "Body hair is a remnant of our primeval animal self and, in evolutionary history, our human bodies are slowly losing their hair as we move away from the animal realm where we were open to nature" (Camille Paglia quoted in the Washington Post [Folliard 1995:E5]).
Size. As large-bodied animals ourselves (i.e., as megafauna), we consider much smaller creatures unworthy of humane\ntreatment. The U.S. Animal Welfare Act of 1971, e.g., does not apply to laboratory rats, mice, or\nbirds (Anonymous 1992D). As animals with backbones, we discriminate against much smaller\ninvertebrates. Few high-school teams, e.g., choose insects as mascots, despite the fact that insects\noutweigh all of earth's vertebrates combined, nine-to-one (Holden 1989:754).
\n
\nSpeech. In the U.S., 90% of pet owners speak to their dogs, cats, and birds (Wolkomir 1984). (N.B.:\nAccording a study at Utah State University, 73% think their pets talk back [Wolkomir 1984].)
\n
\nNeuro-notes. According to PET imaging studies, animal picture identification activates both the right and left occipital region (specifically, right and left lingual gyrus and left fusiform gyrus [Perani et al. 1999]). (Artifact picture identification, on the other hand, activates only the left brain hemisphere [Perani et al. 1999].)
See also TREE SIGN, WWW.Petsmart.com.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo (copyright Magín Berenguer)
Like she's carrying invisible suitcases. --Elaine (describing a woman who walked without swinging her arms; Seinfeld, April 14, 1999)
\n\n\n![\"Arm-Swing\"](\"B18027.jpg\")
\n
\nBody movement. To move the upper limbs back and forth rhythmically with the legs while\nwalking.
Usage: As a counterweight, the arm-swing helps balance our upright body while walking, jogging,\nand running. In dances, such as the locomotion, swim, and twist, vigorous arm-swinging gyrations express inner feelings\nand moods in time to music's rock-'n-roll beat.
\n\n\nObservation. Restless, back-and-forth motions of the arms above a conference table, e.g., may reveal an\nunconscious wish to "walk away" from meetings or discussion groups.
\n\n\nEvolution. Spinal-cord paleocircuits which govern the rhythmic, alternating movements of\narm-swinging evolved (in tandem with those of the legs) for locomotion. The act of swinging the\narms while walking--and of pumping them while running--is an evolutionary holdover from earlier\ndays, when the arms (used as forelimbs) participated with the legs in quadrupedal\nlocomotion.
\n\n\nInfancy. At three months of age, we use our forearms and hands to raise our bodies off the floor\nin preparation for crawling. As babies, we find moving pleasurable for its own sake (Chase and\nRubin 1979:153), and begin advancing one limb at a time--on all fours--between the 6th and 9th\nmonths of life. In a gait typical of quadrupeds, our arms reach alternately forward as the opposite\nhind limb crawls forward on the knee. (N.B.: Adults make surprisingly good quadrupeds, as well. \nIn 1988, e.g., a man crawled 28.5 miles around a level track without stopping, to prove it could be\ndone [McFarlan 1991:199]. From 1984-85, a man crawled 870 miles to please a Hindu goddess\n[McFarlan 1991:199].)
\n\n\nNeuro-notes. Paleocircuits for arm-swinging originated in the aquatic brain. Today, arm-swinging is still mediated by the basal ganglia. Like walking itself, our vestigial arm movements\nare unconscious and out of awareness. Motionless arms (and a shuffling gait), meanwhile, are\nsymptomatic of shortages of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, in the basal ganglia (as in\nParkinson's disease).
\n\n\nSee also HANDS-ON-HIPS, REPTILIAN BRAIN.
\n\n\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n\n","markdown":"**[ARM-SWING]{#ARM-SWING}**\n\n*Like she\\'s carrying invisible suitcases*. \\--Elaine (describing a\nwoman who walked without swinging her arms; *Seinfeld*, April 14, 1999)\n\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/B18027.jpg\"\nheight=\"35%\" width=\"25%\"}\\\n\\\n***[Body\nmovement](bodymov1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodymov1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***. To move the upper limbs back and forth rhythmically\nwith the legs while\n**[walking](walk1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/walk1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Usage*: As a *counterweight*, the arm-swing helps balance our upright\nbody while walking, jogging, and running. In\n***[dances](dance1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/dance1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***, such as the locomotion, swim, and twist, vigorous\narm-swinging gyrations express inner feelings and moods in time to\nmusic\\'s rock-\\'n-roll beat.\n\n*Observation*. Restless, back-and-forth motions of the arms above a\n**[conference\ntable](table.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, e.g., may reveal an unconscious wish to \\\"walk away\\\"\nfrom meetings or discussion groups.\n\n*Evolution*. Spinal-cord\n**[paleocircuits](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/paleo.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nwhich govern the rhythmic, alternating movements of arm-swinging evolved\n(in tandem with those of the legs) for *locomotion*. The act of swinging\nthe arms while walking\\--and of pumping them while running\\--is an\nevolutionary holdover from earlier days, when the arms (used as\nforelimbs) participated with the legs in *quadrupedal* locomotion.\n\n*Infancy*. At three months of age, we use our forearms and hands to\nraise our bodies off the floor in preparation for *crawling*. As babies,\nwe find moving pleasurable for its own sake (Chase and Rubin 1979:153),\nand begin advancing one limb at a time\\--*on all fours*\\--between the\n6th and 9th months of life. In a gait typical of quadrupeds, *our arms\nreach alternately forward* as the opposite hind limb crawls forward on\nthe knee. (***N.B.***: Adults make surprisingly good quadrupeds, as\nwell. In 1988, e.g., a man crawled 28.5 miles around a level track\nwithout stopping, to prove it could be done \\[McFarlan 1991:199\\]. From\n1984-85, a man crawled 870 miles to please a Hindu goddess \\[McFarlan\n1991:199\\].)\n\n*Neuro-notes*. Paleocircuits for arm-swinging originated in the\n**[aquatic\nbrain](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aquatic.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\nToday, arm-swinging is still mediated by the **[basal\nganglia](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/basal.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\nLike walking itself, our vestigial arm movements are unconscious and out\nof awareness. Motionless arms (and a shuffling gait), meanwhile, are\nsymptomatic of shortages of the neurotransmitter, *dopamine*, in the\nbasal ganglia (as in *Parkinson\\'s disease*).\n\nSee also\n**[HANDS-ON-HIPS](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/handhips.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[REPTILIAN\nBRAIN](reptile.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/reptile.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"ART CUE","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/art1.htm","html":"\n\n\nART CUE
\n![\"Visually](\"art.jpg\")
\n
\nI have always tried to render inner feelings through the mobility of the muscles . . . --Auguste Rodin
\n
\nMore often than not, [people] expect a painting to speak to them in terms other than visual,\npreferably in words, whereas when a painting or a sculpture needs to be supplemented and\nexplained by words it means either that it has not fulfilled its function or that the public is\ndeprived of vision. --Naum Gabo
Aesthetic signal. 1. An aromatic, auditory, tactile, taste, vestibular, or visual sign designed by\nhuman beings to affect the sense of beauty. 2. Arrangements, combinations, contrasts, rhythms, or sequences of signs, designed as an emotional language with which to bespeak elegance, grace, intensity, refinement, and truth.
\nUsage: "I shall thus define the general function of art as a search for the constant, lasting,\nessential, and enduring features of objects, surfaces, faces, situations, and so on, which allows us\nnot only to acquire knowledge about the particular object, or face, or condition represented on the\ncanvas but to generalize, based on that, about many other objects and thus acquire knowledge\nabout a wide category of objects or faces" (Zeki\n1998:71).
\n
\nAnthropology I. "All art then is utilitarian: the scepter, symbol of royal power, the bishop's crook, the love song, the patriotic anthem, the statue in which the power of the gods is cast in material form, the fresco that reminds churchgoers of the horrors of Hell, all undeniably meet a practical necessity" (Leroi-Gourhan 1964:364).
\n
\n Anthropology II. In Upper Paleolithic sculpture and cave art: "Women, bisons, aurochs, horses, are all executed according to the same convention whereby identifying attributes are attached to a central nucleus of the body. The result is that the head and limbs are often merely hinted at and, at best, are out of scale with the mass of the body" (Leroi-Gourhan 1993 [1964]:376).
\n
\nAromatic art. "On the deck [of Cleopatra's barge] would have stood a huge incense burner piled high with kyphi--the most expensive scented offering known to the Egyptians compounded from the roots of Acorus and Andropogon together with oils of cassia, cinnamon, peppermint, pistacia and Convolvulus, juniper, acacia, henna and cyprus; the whole mixture macerated in wine and added to honey, resins and myrrh. According to Plutarch it was made of 'those things which delight most in the night' adding that it also lulled one to sleep and brightened the dreams" (Stoddart 1990:142).
Cuisine. A dessert course without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye. --Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (quoted in McGee 1990:271)
\n
\nForm constants. 1. "What [Heinrich] Klüver [i.e., his hallucenogenic 'form constants'] showed was that there are a limited number of perceptual frameworks that appear to be built into the nervous system and that are probably part of our genetic endowment" (Cytowic 1993:125). 2. "Klüver . . . identified four types of constant hallucinogenic images: (1) gratings and honeycombs, (2) cobwebs, (3) tunnels and cones, and (4) spirals" (Cytowic 1993:125). 3. "In addition to form, there are also color and movement constants, such as pulsation, flicker, drift, rotation, and perspectives of advance-recede relative to the viewer" (Cytowic 1993:125). 4. "Form constants can be found in many natural phenomena, from subjective experiences to works of art, including craft work and cave paintings of primitive cultures" (Cytowic 1993:125).
\n
\nGolden section. Human beings are most aesthetically pleased when a straight line is divided not in half (i.e., not in two equal segments), but rather, when the right-hand segment measures 62% of the left-hand segment (Young 1978).
\n
\nLikes. 1. As human beings, we may be genetically predisposed to like bright colors, glitter, and sunshine; soft, tinkling, and rhythmic sounds; sweet, fruity, and nutty tastes; and touching what is soft, smooth, and dry (Thorndike 1940). 2. We like star-shaped better than blocky, rectangular-shaped polygons (Young 1978). 3. Visually, we prefer "unified variety" in a picture, rather than seeing too much or too little variety (Young 1978).
\n
\nMobiles. "Until Calder invented his mobiles, the generation of motion depended upon machines,\nand machines did not seem beautiful or desirable works of art to everyone, not even to the\ncynical Duchamp" (Zeki 1998:71).
\n
\nNeanderthal art. Among the few artistic artifacts fabricated by Homo sapiens neanderthalensis are a. an engraved fossil from Tata, Hungary, with lines scratched in the shape of a cross; and b. a carved and polished mammoth's molar tooth, also from Tata (Scarre 1993:48).
\n
\nPlato. The Greek philosopher Plato reasoned that, as a medium of communication, art was removed from reality and therefore could not communicate knowledge or truth (Flew 1979:6).
\n
\nPrehistory I. 1. The oldest human rock engravings, consisting of designs etched into stones in southern Australia, date back ca. 45,000 years ago (Scarre 1993). Known as Panaramitee petroglyphs, the engravings depict ". . . mazes, circles, dots, and arcs" (Scarre 1993:47; see above, Form constants). 2. One of the oldest human decorations, consisting of zigzag "V" markings engraved in a bone from a cave at Bacho Kiro in central Bulgaria, appear to be deliberately incised rather than merely accidental (Scarre 1993:47).
\n
\nPrehistory II. "Picturing by drawing or painting on flat-surfaced sign vehicles (walls, ceilings, animal skins, sides of containers, clay tablets, etc. [see SIGN, Usage II]) increased in quantity and sophistication with the arrival of urbanism and the full-time artist and scribe (ca. 6,000 B.P. [before present]). The painted signs themselves not only improved but became increasingly prolific, standardized, and information-laden, and began to carry more of a narrative force than the pre-urban decorations. Egyptian funerary art (from 3,000 B.P.), for example, details complex social, political, and agricultural activities in graphic picturing sequences--scenes easily understood by the modern viewer. Another example is the Minoan fresco from Akrotiri (ca. 3,500 B.P.), 16 inches high and more than 20 feet long, which depicts an intricate naval battle sequenced horizontally in a flowing narrative order" (Givens 1982:162).
Neuro-notes I: "Artists, without their being aware of it, have accurately described the function of\nthe brain through their definition of art. Just as artists select from varied visual information for\ntheir representation of reality, so does the brain discriminate from varied stimuli to produce insight" (Zeki 1998:71).
\nNeuro-notes II: "To be able to activate a cell in the visual brain, one must not only stimulate in\nthe correct place (i.e., stimulate the receptive field) but also stimulate the receptive field with the\ncorrect visual stimulus, because cells in the visual brain are remarkably fussy about the kind of visual stimulus to which they will respond" (Zeki 1998:71).
\nSee also MUSIC.
\nCopyright 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photograph of the 1884-86 sculpture, The Burghers of Calais, by Auguste Rodin (copyright 1994 by Benedikt Taschen Verlag GmbH)
AUDITORY CUE
\n![\"Drum](\"auditory.jpg\")
\n
\nThe voice of him that crieth in the wilderness. --Old Testament, Isaiah, XL, 3
\n
Sound signal. 1. An incoming sign received through the ears, causing the brain to hear. 2.\nAn outgoing sign produced by the vibration of physical objects (e.g., drum heads, reeds, and\nstrings) or body parts (e.g., the hands in clapping, and the larynx in speaking).
\nUsage I: Like touch cues, auditory cues are psychologically "real" (i.e., tangible) to human\nbeings. Because hearing evolved as a specialized form of touch, sounds share some properties of tactile signals. (N.B.: The telephone company's commercial jingle, "Reach out and touch someone," carries more than a figurative\nring of truth.)
\nUsage II: Auditory cues may be used a. linguistically (in speech), as well as b. emotionally\n(to transmit information about attitudes, feelings, and moods; see \nTONE OF VOICE).
\n
\nCourtship. In the speaking phase of courtship, auditory cues play a tactile role as they pave the way toward touching itself (see LOVE SIGNALS III).
Biology. Big-seeming auditory cues (e.g., deep or loud cries) suggest--and may substitute for--physical\nsize itself (see LOOM). Like the bullfrog's croaking, a man's deep voice may suggest greater size, authority, and strength. \n\n\n
\nAnatomy. Auditory cues are received, as vibrations, by specialized hair cells in the inner ear's cochlea. There, the vibrations are transformed (as electrical signals) in the auditory nerve,\nwhich links to auditory modules of the midbrain (i.e., the inferior colliculi) and the forebrain (e.g., the primary auditory\ncortex).
\nEvolution I. 1. "The visceral skeleton (splanchnocranium) of vertebrates consists of a series of\ncartilages or bones arising in the embryonic visceral (pharyngeal) arches" (Kent 1969:155). 2. \n"In lung-breathing tetrapods the visceral skeleton has been modified for transmission of sound\n(malleus, incus, and stapes), for attachment of the muscles of the modified tongue, and for\nsupport of the larynx (cricoid, thyroid, and arytenoid cartilages)" (Kent 1969:162).
\n
\nEvolution II. "When the first amphibia left the Silurian seas two or three hundred million years ago, with their heads resting on the ground, they relied entirely on bone conduction of vibration for hearing. The vibrations in the earth were transmitted from the bones of their lower jaws to the bone surrounding the inner ear. In order to hear, they probably kept their lower jaws touching the ground" (Nathan 1988:34).
\n
\nPsychology. Our aversion to sudden loud noises may be innate (Thorndike 1940).
\n
\nRight brain, left brain. Regarding auditory signals, the right-brain hemisphere is superior to the left when dealing with music, metaphorical and figurative speech, sequences of verbalized events, verbal stress and intonation patterns, and human non-speech sounds. The left-brain hemisphere is superior in processing spoken words, numbers, and nonsense syllables. (See HUMAN BRAIN, Right brain, left brain.)
\n
\nNeuro-notes I. The amphibian brain's inferior colliculi receive auditory cues from the lateral\nlemniscus and control such auditory reflexes as flinching in response, e.g., to a karate master's\n yell (see STARTLE REFLEX). Postural reflexes to loud sounds are triggered by\nthe inferior and superior colliculi, through brain-stem-cervical cord interneurons to anterior horn\nmotor neurons that are linked to spinal nerves in charge of muscle spindles.
Neuro-notes II. As in the visual neocortex, modules of auditory neocortex in the temporal lobe\nhave specialized functions, e.g., to decode information about the frequency, intensity, and timing\nof sounds.
\n
\nNeuro-notes III. Movement of sounds is detected a. by dorsal premotor regions of the frontal eye fields, b. ventral premotor regions of primate areas for multimodal spatial analysis and motor planning, and c. right superior and inferior parietal cortex (Griffiths et al. 2000).
Copyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo by Dennis Stock (copyright Magnum)
AUTISM
\n![\"Without](\"autism.jpg\")
\n
\nPeople talk to each other with their eyes, don't they? What are they saying? --Asperger's syndrome subject (quoted in Carter 1998:141)
\n
\n
\nCommunications disorder. 1. A related family of conditions, from producing repetitive body\nmovements to showing a special gift for drawing, music, or math, marked by a lack of empathy\nand an extreme inability to send and receive normal nonverbal cues. 2. An autistic person may fail to use socially normal patterns of eye contact, facial expressions, and gestures, and may be unable to use normal speech. 3. An autistic individual may\nalso display an intense interest in arranging, organizing, or hoarding a restricted range of physical objects.
Usage: When kept from handling a favored object, an autistic person may yell, become aggressive, or engage in property destruction. ". . . more than anything, autism is a defect of communication--an inability to share\nfeelings, beliefs and knowledge with other people" (Carter 1998:141).
\n
\nAsperger's Syndrome. Like autism, AS includes problems in social behavior, along with abnormal responses to the environment. Unlike autism, however, cognitive and communicative skills may be relatively normal, and verbal skills are strong. AS individuals show an unusually restricted interest in specific artifacts, objects, or life forms, such as bus schedules, videotape cassettes, and frogs.
Behavior. "Their language skills are often limited, and they find it difficult to initiate or sustain conversations. They also frequently exhibit \nan intense preoccupation with a single subject, activity or gesture" (Rodier 2000:56).
\n
\nEmbryology. In the first 20 to 24 days of gestation, a defect in the gene HOXA1 may be responsible a. for the physical appearance of the mouth, lower jaw, and ears, and\nb. for the brain stem anomalies (see below, Neuro-note) of autism (Rodier 2000:59).
Physical appearance. 1. Autistic children produce few facial expressions, though they may exhibit\njaw-droop. 2. People with autism ". . . have often been described not only as normal in\nappearance but as unusually attractive [perhaps due to a diminutive lower jaw and chin; see Facial Beauty]. They are certainly normal in stature, with normal-to-large\nheads" (Rodier 2000:60). 3. "The corners of his mouth are low compared with the center of his\nupper lip, and the top of his ears flop over [and are 'lower than normal' with 'an almost square\nshape'] . . ." (Rodier 2000:59).
\n
\nPsychiatry. "a) marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body posture, and gestures to regulate social interaction" (diagnostic criteria for 299.00 AUTISTIC DISORDER, DSM IV).
Neuro-note. In an autistic person, the brain stem is shorter, the facial nucleus is smaller, and the\nsuperior olive (an auditory relay station) may be missing entirely (Rodier 2000:58).
\nSee also NONVERBAL LEARNING DISORDER.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo by Justine Parsons (copyright 2000 by Scientific American)
BALANCE CUE
\n\n![\"Fun](\"funhog.jpg\")
\n
\nEquilibrium signal. An incoming sign received when the body's head is suddenly accelerated,\ndecelerated, or tilted.
Usage: Though we instinctively keep our head stabilized, we enjoy accelerating, dropping, and\nspinning it as well, e.g., in such sports as auto racing, skiing, sky diving, and surfing. Stimulation of\nmotion sensors in our inner ear is not only pleasurable, but diverts attention away from\ntoday's concerns and tomorrow's fretful worries. In part, this is because older centers of the brain's basal ganglia and cerebellum are engaged, in which there\nis no tomorrow, but only the present moment in time.
\n
\nAnatomy. Stimulating accelerometers of the inner ear diverts our attention from anxiety and apprehension\nabout the future. The inner ear's utricle and saccule are sensitive to linear acceleration and to\ngravity, while its three semicircular canals are sensitive to angular and rotational acceleration. Rotation upsets the normal circulation of fluid in the ear's balance loops to make us\nfeel dizzy (Pool 1987:69).
\n
\n\nConsumer products I. 1. We consider the illusion of speed thrilling, and find roller coasters\n(which only kill one or two people a year in the U.S. [Poundstone 1990:124]) scarier than automobiles (which kill\n50,000 a year [Wright 1990:263]). The fastest roller coaster in the world (which is in Gurnee, Illinois)\naverages only one mile faster than 65 mph, the speed limit of some interstate highways. (N.B.: The average\nadult coaster has a top speed of only 38 mph [Poundstone 1990:126].) 2. We scream loudest in the initial\nplunge, which triggers our innate fear-of-falling reflex, and grasp the bar in front of us tightly with\na power grip. We enjoy Magic Mountain's Viper, in Santa Clarita, California, which, from its highest\npoint 188 feet above the earth, carries our head upside-down seven times at speeds up to 70 mph\n(McFarlan 1990:92).
Consumer products II. To maximize our fear of falling, we may take our head aboard Magic\nMountain's FreeFall ride, where we may wait in line for up to 45 minutes, to drop it for 2.5 seconds 90\nfeet straight down a steel track (Poundstone 1990:131-32).
\n
\nConsumer products III. After rocking for 70 minutes in rocking chairs, nursing home patients diagnosed with dementia showed up to a one-third reduction in signs of anxiety and depression. According to University of Rochester geriatric nursing researcher, Nancy Watson, "You could see immediately by their faces that they were enjoying themselves."
\n
\nCourtship. Not only do we rock babies from side to side, but \n also the adults whom we love, as well (see LOVE SIGNALS IV, Hugging).
\n
\nFreewheeling. Our enjoyment of free body movements through space may be innate (Thorndike 1940).
See also AROMA CUE, COLOR CUE, EMOTION CUE, HEARING CUE, TASTE CUE.
\n\n\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo in U.S. News & World Report (August 23, 1999, p. 16; copyright by Hewlet Packard)
BEND-AWAY
\n![\"Slip-Slidin'](\"bendaway.jpg\")
\n
\nPosture. To contract the muscles of the primitive body wall, causing the spinal column to curve or\nrotate sideward, away from standard anatomical position (see BODY-BEND).
Usage: Psychiatrists and anthropologists have long known that the postures of our upper body reflect\nsocial attitudes and key emotional states (Bateson and Mead 1942, Richmond et al. 1991). \nBending away and other gross postural shifts often reveal negative feelings (Mehrabian 1974).
\nAnatomy. Flexing the spinal column sideward to increase the physical distance between two\npeople can be seen at meetings around a conference table. Lateral flexion (bending)\nand rotation (twisting) movements of the spine are made by contracting the deep muscles of the\nback (e.g.,the erector spinae and transversospinalis), which influence our most basic body postures.
\nEvolution. Among the oldest body movements were those for locomotion. Muscles of the body\nwall contracted to produce rhythmic sideward bending motions. The earliest, oscillatory\nswimming movements, which took animals toward food and mates, and away from harm, were\nwired into paleocircuits of the aquatic brain & spinal cord. Thus, bending away from a disliked person at a table is not unlike swimming away in the sea.
\nSee also ANGULAR DISTANCE, BODY-SHIFT.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt (Copyright Life)
BITE
\n
\nBody movement. The act of closing one's jaws tightly to cut, grip, grasp, or tear with the teeth, as\nin a. eating a Big Mac® sandwich, b. clenching the jaws in frustration and anger, or c. inflicting pain.
Usage: Our animal nature shows clearly in the eagerness with which we may bite our enemies. \nIn New York City, e.g., ca. 1,500 human beings report having been bitten by other humans each\nyear (Conn and Silverman 1991:86). (N.B.: This is five times greater than the reported figure for rat bites [Wurman 1989:177].) \nIn 1981, in Norfolk, Virginia, a traveling salesman was convicted of attacking a woman and\nbiting off her nose.
\n
\nAnatomy. The muscles of mastication are the masseter and temporalis (which close the mouth);\nand the lateral and medial pterygoids and anterior belly of the digastric (which open the mouth).
Biology. 1. "As soon as a young mouse has its teeth, it will turn around and try to bite anything which pinches its tail" (Scott 1975:7). 2. "Don't assume your dog won't bite. The most common statement from dog owners after a carrier has been bitten is, 'He's/She's never bitten anyone before!'" (flyer distributed in 2000 by the U.S. Post Office).
\n
\nEvolution. Along with their role in chewing and eating, our remote ancestors' jaws, jaw muscles, and teeth played a defensive role: the face was used as a weapon (as is dramatically the case today, e.g., in crocodiles, gorillas, and grizzly bears).
\n
\nMedia. 1. In their televised June 28, 1997 boxing rematch, challenger Mike Tyson committed a major foul by biting off a one-inch piece of Evander Holyfield’s ear and spitting it onto the floor of the ring. Two points were deducted from his score, but in the third round Tyson tried to bite Holyfield’s other ear and was disqualified from the competition. 2. On June 9, 2001, San Francisco Chronicle executive editor Phil Bronstein (husband of actress Sharon Stone) was attacked and bitten on the foot at the Los Angeles Zoo by a Komodo dragon. "A zookeeper had asked Bronstein [who was on a private tour because he ". . . had always wanted to see a Komodo dragon up close."] to remove his white tennis shoes to keep the 5-foot-long reptile from mistaking them for the white rats it is fed, Bronstein told the Chronicle" (Anonymous 2001G:A2).
Neuro-notes. The muscles of biting are innervated by mandibular branches of the trigeminal\nnerve (cranial V, an emotionally sensitive special visceral nerve). Acting through the trigeminal's motor nucleus, emotional stimuli associated\n, e.g., with anger, may cause the jaw muscles to contract in uncontrollable biting movements.
\nAntonym: JAW-DROOP.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**BITE**\n\n***[\\\nBody\nmovement](bodymov1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodymov1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***. The act of closing one\\'s jaws tightly to cut, grip,\ngrasp, or tear with the teeth, as in **a.** eating a **[Big\nMac](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/bigmac.htm){target=\"_top\"}®**\nsandwich, **b.** clenching the jaws in frustration and anger, or **c.**\ninflicting pain.\n\n*Usage*: Our animal nature shows clearly in the eagerness with which we\nmay bite our enemies. In New York City, e.g., ca. 1,500 human beings\nreport having been bitten by other humans each year (Conn and Silverman\n1991:86). (***N.B.***: This is five times greater than the reported\nfigure for rat bites \\[Wurman 1989:177\\].) In 1981, in Norfolk,\nVirginia, a traveling salesman was convicted of attacking a woman and\nbiting off her nose.\\\n\\\n*Anatomy*. The muscles of mastication are the *masseter* and\n*temporalis* (which close the mouth); and the *lateral* and *medial\npterygoids* and *anterior belly of the digastric* (which open the\nmouth).\n\n*Biology*. **1.** \\\"As soon as a young mouse has its teeth, it will turn\naround and try to bite anything which pinches its tail\\\" (Scott 1975:7).\n**2.** \\\"Don\\'t assume your dog won\\'t bite. The most common statement\nfrom dog owners after a carrier has been bitten is, \\'He\\'s/She\\'s never\nbitten anyone before!\\'\\\" (flyer distributed in 2000 by the U.S. Post\nOffice).\\\n\\\n*Evolution*. Along with their role in chewing and eating, our remote\nancestors\\' jaws, jaw muscles, and teeth played a defensive role: the\nface was used as a weapon (as is dramatically the case today, e.g., in\ncrocodiles, gorillas, and grizzly bears).\\\n\\\n***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\n**1.** In their televised June 28, 1997 boxing rematch, challenger Mike\nTyson committed a major foul by biting off a one-inch piece of Evander\nHolyfield's ear and spitting it onto the floor of the ring. Two points\nwere deducted from his score, but in the third round Tyson tried to bite\nHolyfield's other ear and was disqualified from the competition. **2.**\nOn June 9, 2001, *San Francisco Chronicle* executive editor Phil\nBronstein (husband of actress Sharon Stone) was attacked and bitten on\nthe foot at the Los Angeles Zoo by a Komodo dragon. \\\"A zookeeper had\nasked Bronstein \\[who was on a private tour because he \\\". . . had\nalways wanted to see a Komodo dragon up close.\\\"\\] to remove his\n[**white tennis\nshoes**](sneaker.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/sneaker.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"} to keep the 5-foot-long reptile from mistaking them for\nthe white rats it is fed, Bronstein told the *Chronicle*\\\" (Anonymous\n2001G:A2).\n\n*Neuro-notes*. The muscles of biting are innervated by mandibular\nbranches of the trigeminal nerve (cranial V, an emotionally sensitive\n[**special visceral\nnerve**](viscera1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/viscera1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}). Acting through the trigeminal\\'s motor nucleus,\nemotional stimuli associated , e.g., with\n**[anger](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/anger.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nmay cause the jaw muscles to contract in uncontrollable biting\nmovements.\n\nAntonym:\n**[JAW-DROOP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/droop.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"BLUSHING","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/blush.htm","html":"\n\n\nA flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked nervously at the fringe of her jacket. --Arthur Conan Doyle ("A Case of Identity")
\n
\nNote whether she changes color while you are giving her my message . . . --Don Quixote to Sancho Panza (Cervantes 1605:566)
\n
\nEmotion cue. Becoming red or rosy in the face from physical exercise, embarrassment, shyness, anger, or shame.
Usage: Facial flushing or blushing is elicited by social stimuli, e.g., as one a. becomes the focus\nof attention in a group, b. is asked to speak in public, or c. experiences stranger anxiety. Suddenly the face, ears, and neck (and in extreme cases, the entire upper chest) redden,\ncausing further embarrassment still.
\n
\nAnatomy. Blushing is caused by sudden arousal of the sympathetic nervous system, which dilates\nthe small blood vessels of the face and body (see FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT).
\n
\nEthology. "Flushing, contrary to popular belief, is never seen in a purely aggressive individual; it is a sign of actual or possible defeat" (Brannigan and Humphries 1969:407).
\n
\nMedicine. Some people blush uncontrollably in almost any social situation, and suffer such\nembarrassment that they undergo surgery to interrupt sympathetic nervous supply to their faces. \nIn a thorascopic sympathicotomy, an incision is made through the arm pit into the thoracic cavity to\nsever a sympathetic nerve located close to the spine. (N.B.: Embarrassing sweaty palms\nmay be controlled the same way.)
Observation. One of the first signs of anger is an uncontrollable reddening of the ears.
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "In most cases the face, ears and neck are the sole parts which\nredden; but many persons, whilst blushing intensely, feel that their whole bodies grow hot and\ntingle. . ." (Darwin 1872:312). 2. The red face (accompanied by overhand beating and\nscreaming) has been observed in nursery school children who were motivated to attack but did\nnot actually do so (i.e., they seemed "defeated"; Blurton Jones 1967:355). 3. "[Michael] Lewis\nsuggests that embarrassment is first seen between the ages of two and two and a half" (Ekman\n1998:311). 4. "There is general agreement among contemporary researchers that attention to the\nself is the cause of blushing" (Ekman 1998:324).
\nSee also EYE-BLINK, FLASHBULB EYES.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of portrait Mr. S. Vaughan (copyright 1845 by Sheldon Peck)
BODY ADORNMENT
\nA sweet disorder in the dress
\n\n\tKindles in clothes a wantonness. --Herrick, Delight in Disorder
![\"Leg](\"adorn.jpg\")
\n
\nAfter its invention some 9,000 years ago: Cloth would soon become an essential part of society, as clothing and as adornment expressing self-awareness and communicating variations in social rank. For good reason, poets and anthropologists alike have employed cloth as a metaphor for society, something woven of many threads into a social fabric that is ever in danger of unraveling or being torn. --John Noble Wilford (1993:C1)
\n
\nClothing should always move with your body. Fashion is an extension of body language. A new garment creates a new posture--and a new attitude--in its wearer. --Véronique Vienne (1997:160)
\n
\n
\nWearable sign. 1. The act of decorating the human frame to accent its grace, strength, beauty, and\npresence, or to mask its less attractive features and traits. 2. Visually distinctive patterns of body piercing, dress, scarification, and tattoos worn to express a personal or a social (e.g., an ethnic, military, or national) identity.
Usage: 1. What we place upon our bodies (e.g., clothing, footwear, hats,\nmakeup, and tatoos) adds color, contrast, shape, size, and texture to our primate form. Each day,\nmyriad messages of adornment broadcast personal information--in a continuous way (i.e., as\n"frozen" gestures)--about our ethnicity, status, affiliation, and moods. 2. We may use clothing cues as a. uniforms (or "clothing signs"), b. fashion statements ("clothing symbols"), c. membership badges ("tie-signs"), d. social-affiliation signs ("tie symbols"), e. personality signs ("personal dress," e.g., the bow tie), and f. socio-political-economic signs ("contemporary fashion"), according to a typology developed by SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology professor, Ruth P. Rubinstein (1994). 3. "Social rank . . . has probably always been encoded through symbols in the material, design, color, and embellishment of the clothing" (Barber 1994:150).
\n
\nAnatomy. Before pants, skirts, and shoes, there was the unadorned primate body itself: eyes,\nteeth, skin, hair, and nails, along with shapes formed of muscle, fat, and bone. Before adornment,\nthe nonverbal brain expressed feelings and attitudes through body movements,\npostures, and facial cues. But with the advent of clothing and shoes the body's nonverbal\nvocabulary grew, as shoulders "widened," ankles "thinned," and feet stood up on tiptoes (see\nHIGH HEEL). As "optical illusions," stripes, colors, buttons, and bows accented or concealed\nnatural signs, and drew attention to favored--while diverting eyes from less favored--body parts.
\n
\nBylaw. "We recognize the essential wholesomeness of the human body and that life is enhanced by the naturalness of social nudity." --American Association of Nude Recreation bylaws
\n
\nLaw. The nonverbal power of clothing may be revealed by its absence. "The United States Supreme Court holds that strip clubs whose exotic dancers wear G-strings and pasties won't lure as many drunks and criminals to the neighborhood as clubs that permit the last stitch of clothing to be dropped" (Auster 2000:16).
\n
\nMedia. 1. According to the New York Times, the discovery by James Adovasio (Mercyhurst College) and Olga Soffer (University of Illinois at Urbana) of ancient weaving embedded in fired clay pushes the date of humankind's earliest cloth back to 27,000 years ago (Fowler 1995). 2. Forget that old hippie saying, you are what you eat. In the modern world, you are what you wear. --Suzy Gershman (Spokesman-Review, Webster 2000).
\n
\nPrehistory. Early evidence for personal ornamentation consists of a European stone pendant with decorative grooves, and a tapered neck around which to tie a thong (Scarre 1993:43).
\n
\nFur. As primates, we are also mammals for whom a dense matte of fur is an evolutionary\nbirthright. Anthropologists do not know when or why humans lost their body hair, but it is clear\nthat clothing originated as a fur substitute to cover the skin and genitalia. (N.B.: That we see\nnude bodies in the workplace on but the rarest of occasions testifies to the power of clothing today. \nOnce fashion appeared in Nonverbal World, it never went out of style.)
\n
\nBeads. If a bear-skin robe made the body loom large, decorating the garment with beads\nattracted greater notice still. The elaborate beadwork of a man's fur clothing found at a\n23,000 year old hunter's burial ground in Sungir, Russia, remained long after the furs themselves\nhad rotted away (Lambert 1987). As fashion media, however, leather and beads could go just so\nfar. Only after fabric replaced fur did clothing became truly expressive.
Leather. Full body dress originated in Africa or Eurasia to protect the body and keep it warm. \nThe first clothes were made of prepared animal hides. Stone scraping tools from Neanderthal\nsites in Europe provide indirect evidence for hide preparation, suggesting that cold-weather\nclothing could be at least 200,000 years old (Lambert 1987).
\nFlounce & weave. The earliest domesticated sheep, from Zawi Chemi Shanidar, Iraq, suggest that\nwool clothing originated 10,500 years ago (Wenke 1990). Unwoven skirts and shawls made\nof flounces of tufted wool or flax were worn by the ancient Sumerians 5,000 years ago (Rowland-Warne 1992), although one of the earliest known textiles--a linen-knit bag from Israel (found in Nahal Hemar cave)--is thought to be 8,500 years old (Barber 1994).
\n
\nFiber & fabric. More recently, the invention of the flying shuttle (1733), the spinning jenny\n(1764), and the 19th century power-loom made cotton fabrics available in ever greater quantities,\nas consumer products. Mass produced clothing first appeared in 1851 with the\ninvention of the sewing machine, and increased in production with the use of synthetic fibers (e.g.,\nOrlon in 1952). As the adornment medium became subject to greater control, the diversity and number of clothing cues burgeoned (see MESSAGING FEATURE). (N.B.: In 1993 a Lands' End® Mesh Knit shirt contained 4.3 miles of 18 singles cotton yarn [Anonymous 1993].)
\n
\nTattoo signals. "[U.S.] Teenagers with tattoos are more likely than their peers to drink too much, have sex too early, get into fights and engage in other risky behavior, a University of Rochester study shows" (Anonymous 2001E).
\n
\nThe color purple. With fabrics came dyes, and the ability to signal social status with color cues. In ancient Rome, e.g., only the emperor was allowed to wear a robe dyed royal purple (Barber 1994:150).
\n
\n
Neuro-note. To the very visual primate brain, fashion statements are\n "real" because, neurologically, "seeing is believing."
\nSee also ARM-SHOW, BLUE JEANS, BUSINESS SUIT, HAIR CUE, NECKWEAR, WWW.Bananarepublic.com.\n
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo (copyright Warner Bros., Inc.)
\n
BODY ALIGNMENT
\n![\"Showing](\"align.jpg\")
\n
\nPosture. The degree of orientation between a speaker's torso and\nthat of a listener (e.g., facing or angled away), as measured in\nthe coronal plane (which divides the body into front and back;\nsee ANGULAR DISTANCE).
Usage: We show agreement, liking, and loyalty by aligning the\nupper body with that, e.g., of our boss. It is often possible to\nidentify the most powerful (i.e., highest status) person\nseated at a conference table by the relative number of torsos aimed in his\nor her direction. While the less influential may glance freely\nabout, and turn their heads toward colleagues as they speak, their\ntorsos remain loyally oriented to the individual they most\nrespect.
\n
\nWorld politics. "At summit, when [Ronald] Reagan and [Mikhail] Gorbachev faced each other with similar postures, they were likely to be in agreement, or close to agreement" (Blum 1988:6-6).
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Direct torso alignment in the face-to-face\nbody orientation presents a formal, businesslike posture\n(Scheflen 1964). 2. Aiming the upper body conveys greater\n feelings of liking (i.e., of immediacy) than when the\nbody is angled away (Mehrabian 1969). 3. Lean-forward suggests\nfriendliness (Mehrabian 1974), while lean-backward expresses a\nmore negative pose (Mehrabian 1969). 4. A non-aligned, parallel orientation discloses neutral or passive moods\nwhich may grade into disliking or disagreement (Scheflen 1964,\nRichmond et al. 1991).
\nCourtship. Women (and men) unthinkingly "aim" their upper bodies\nat partners they like--even while angling their faces and\neyes away. Squaring-up with the shoulders is a nonverbal\ninvitation to speak.
\nSee also CUT-OFF.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo by Fritz Neugass (copyright Fritz Neugass)
BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER
\nNonverbal disability. 1. An obsessive preoccupation with perceived bodily defects. 2. Repetitive behaviors in response to this preoccupation.
\nNeuro-notes. Clomipramine, a serotonin reuptake inhibitor, may better reduce symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder (which is likely related to obsessive-compulsive disorder) than\nmight desipramine, a selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, according to a report in the November\n1999 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
\nSee also NONVERBAL LEARNING DISORDER.
\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER**\n\n***[Nonverbal](nvcom.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvcom.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}*** *disability*. **1.** An obsessive preoccupation with\nperceived bodily defects. **2.** Repetitive behaviors in response to\nthis preoccupation.\n\n*Neuro-notes*. Clomipramine, a serotonin reuptake inhibitor, may better\nreduce symptoms of body dysmorphic disorder (which is likely related to\nobsessive-compulsive disorder) than might desipramine, a selective\nnorepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, according to a report in the November\n1999 issue of the *Archives of General Psychiatry*.\n\nSee also **[NONVERBAL LEARNING\nDISORDER](nld1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/nld1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"BODY LANGUAGE","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/bodylan1.htm","html":"\n\n\nBODY LANGUAGE
\n![\"Dust](\"bodylang.jpg\")
\n
\nDoes his body say that he's an easy man to beat? Does her body say that she's a phoney? --Book jacket of Body Language (1970)
\n
Anatomical signs. 1. "The bodily gestures, postures, and facial expressions by which a person\ncommunicates nonverbally with others" (Soukhanov 1992:211). 2. "Body language and\nkinesics are based on the behavioral patterns of nonverbal communication, but kinesics is still so\nnew as a science that its authorities can be counted on the fingers of one hand" (Fast 1970:9).
\nUsage: "Body language," the lay term for "nonverbal communication," was popularized in 1970\nwith the publication of Body Language by Julius Fast. Though college textbooks (e.g., Burgoon\net al. 1989) omit references to the book and its author, Julius Fast--more than any academic--brought \npublic attention to the expressive force of gestures and body-motion cues.
\nThe negative. On the downside, Fast oversold body language to the public by suggesting\n(on the book's dust cover) that kinesic cues could be used to tell if one was "loose" (i.e., too sexually\nreceptive), "hung-up," "lonely," or "a manipulator." And, despite Fast's repeated warnings to use\ncaution when interpreting body-language, arm-crossing, leg-crossing, and other nonverbal signs\ncame to be overly meaningful signals in popular magazine and newspaper articles (i.e., as negative,\ndefensive "barriers" to rapport).
\nThe positive. On the upside, body language has entered the lexicon as a phrase with which to label a key\nchannel of human communication apart from spoken and printed words. Body Language has\ngone through dozens of printings, and is still available in bookstores today. Moreover, thanks to\nresearch completed during the 1990-2000 Decade of the Brain, many of the nonverbal signs and\ncues Fast wrote about in 1970 now have meanings backed by neuroscience (see, e.g.,\nNONVERBAL BRAIN).
\nThe promise. "The science of kinesics has added a new dimension to human understanding. \nBODY LANGUAGE can make you a more perceptive human being, and it may influence your\napproach to every relationship in which you are involved" (dust jacket of Body Language, by\nJulius Fast).
\nMedia. "The dynamic personality [i.e., the body language] of Humphrey Bogart dominates the\nwhole picture, and his playing in the leading role is a fine example of the value of dramatic\nunder-emphasis and intelligent modulations in voice and expression" (Today's Cinema review of\n1947 movie, Dead Reckoning [Columbia; cited in Frank 1982:49]).
\n
\n
\nE-Commentary: "I am writing to you from the British Broadcasting Corporation, in England. We are developing an idea for a television documentary on body language--how to read it, and how to modify your own body language in order to control the impression you give other people. We are particularly interested in how public figures and celebrities are increasingly aware of the importance of their own body language in preserving a positive public image.
\n
\n"Our proposed documentary will be for Discovery Channel USA, and will feature a well known British zoologist-turned-presenter with an expertise in body language. We are looking for contributors with an expertise in reading body language. I would very much like to know more about your research and the Center for Nonverbal Studies." Susie Painter (4/2/01 9:59:44 AM Pacific Daylight Time)
\n\n
\n
\nSee also BODY MOVEMENT.
Copyright© 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nIllustration detail from Body Language (1970; 4th printing)
BODY MOVEMENT
\n![\"Tumbling](\"bodymove.jpg\")
\n
\nI have always tried to render inner feelings through the mobility of the muscles . . . --Auguste Rodin
\n
\nAs an actor, Jimmy was tremendously sensitive, what they used to call an instrument. You could see through his feelings. His body was very graphic; it was almost writhing in pain sometimes. He was very twisted, almost like a cripple or a spastic of some kind. --Elia Kazan, commenting on actor James Dean (Dalton 1984:53)
Concept. Any of several changes in the physical location, place, or position of the material parts\nof the human form (e.g., of the eyelids, hands, or shoulders).
\nUsage: The nonverbal brain expresses itself through diverse motions of our body parts (see,\ne.g., BODY LANGUAGE, GESTURE). That body movement is central to our expressiveness is reflected in\nthe ancient Indo-European root, meue- ("mobile"), for the English word, emotion.
\n
\nMedia. In movies of the 1950s, such as Monkey Business (1952) and Jailhouse Rock (1957), motions of the pelvic girdles of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, respectively, had a powerful influence on American popular culture.
\n
\nAnatomy. Our body consists of a jointed skeleton moved by muscles. Muscles also move our\ninternal organs, the areas of skin around our face and neck, and our bodily hairs. (When we are\nfrightened, e.g., stiff, tiny muscles stand our hairs on end.) The nonverbal brain gives voice to all\nits feelings, moods, and concepts through the contraction of muscles: without muscles to move its parts,\nour body would be nearly silent.
Anthropology. Stricken with a progressive spinal-cord illness, the late anthropologist, Robert F.\nMurphy described his personal journey into paralysis in his last book, The Body Silent. As he lost\nmuscle control, Murphy noticed "curious shifts and nuances" in his social world (e.g., students\n". . . often would touch my arm or shoulder lightly when taking leave of me, something they never\ndid in my walking days, and I found this pleasant" [Murphy 1987:126]).
\n
\nRESEARCH REPORT: "A nonverbal act is defined as a movement within any single body area (head, face, shoulders, hands, or feet) or across multiple body areas, which has visual integrity and is visually distinct from another act" (Ekman and Friesen 1968:193-94).
\n
\nSalesmanship. "Your walk, entering and exiting, should be brisk and businesslike, yes. But once you are in position, slow your arms and legs down" (Delmar 1984:48).
\n
\n
\nE-Commentary: "I am searching for the piece of influential advice that will help one of my employees to communicate in a positive way nonverbally. Her boredom and impatience are so evident. She shifts in her seat, rolls her eyes, and sighs during meetings. It is disturbing to her co-workers and bad for morale. I have explained to her it is not appropriate. She replies she can't hide the way she feels. On the other hand, she wants to keep her job. So what can I do to get through to her before she loses her job?" --T., USA (4/17/00 8:40:04 PM Pacific Daylight Time)
\n
\n
\nNeuro-notes. Many nonverbal signals arise from ancient patterns of muscle contraction laid\ndown hundreds of millions of years ago in paleocircuits of the spinal cord, brain stem, and\nforebrain.
See also FACIAL EXPRESSION, INTENTION CUE, POSTURE.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo by Heinz Kluetmeier (Soviet gymnasts; copyright 1980 by Heinz Kluetmeier)
BODY WALL
\n\n![\"Body](\"bodywall.jpg\")
\n
\nAncient body part. 1. Nonverbally, an expressive unit consisting of the head and trunk (without the \nface, shoulders, arms, hands, legs, or feet). 2. Those muscles connecting the skull, spine, and ribs. 3. The "primal body," resembling the primordial feeding tube, from\nwhich the human form evolved ca. 500 m.y.a.
Usage: Movements and postures of the body wall (see, e.g., BODY-BEND, \nBODY-SHIFT, and BOW) are a. more basic, b. more trustworthy as cues, and c. less subject to\nconscious manipulation or control than are other body movements (e.g., of the fingers, hands, legs, and feet) and postures. The muscles, nerves, and\nmovements of the body wall resemble those of the first vertebrates ever to swim in Nonverbal\nWorld, the jawless fishes (see AQUATIC BRAIN & SPINAL CORD).
\n
\nAnatomy. On the basis of function (rather than mere convention), anatomists divide the\nhuman skeleton into primary and secondary elements (Horne 1995). The basic\ndistinction between an axial (i.e., skull, spine, and ribs) and appendicular (i.e., pectoral and\npelvic girdles, and limbs) skeleton is reflected in our nonverbal communication, as well. As expressive\ncues, movements of the body wall are more fundamental as mood signs than are our hand, arm, and leg\nmotions.
Evolution. Before faces and limbs, there was the body wall. Its skeletal muscles were designed to\nmove the body from one place to another. Sinuous waves of contraction bent the body wall,\nproducing the swimming motions that took animals a. toward food and mates, and b. away\nfrom enemies. Undulations moved from the head to the tail, and laterally from side-to-side. \n(N.B.: The ancient body wall bent the backbone forward [ventral flexion], and backward [dorsal flexion] as\nwell [Kent 1969].)
\n\n\n\n\n\nObservation. In a business meeting (where feelings run high), the most truthful gestures come\nnot from the limbs but from the torso. Isolating on unconscious locomotion movements (i.e.,\non sideward, forward, and backward bending motions), as bodies unwittingly align, \napproach, avoid, or repel one another, reveals where colleagues truly "stand" around the conference table. From the jawless fishes of\nOrdovician seas to the predatory sharks of Wall Street, messages of the body wall are much the same.
\n\n\nRESEARCH REPORTS. 1. Epaxial muscles, which extend from the base of the head to the tip of\nthe tail, dorsal to the transverse processes, include the longissimus, iliocostalis, and\ntransversospinalis groups, and the intervertebral muscles. "Epaxial muscles in tetrapods perform\nthe same primary function as in fishes--side-to-side and dorsoventral flexion of the vertebral\ncolumn" (Kent 1969:218). (Epaxial muscles also help to move the head.) 2. Regarding hypaxial\nmuscles: ". . . in the majority of tetrapods the muscles of the body wall are used chiefly to compress\nthe viscera and to operate the ribs for respiration" (Kent 1969:220).
\n\n\nSee also PALEOCIRCUIT.
\n\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n\n","markdown":"**BODY WALL**\n\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/bodywall.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"25%\"}\\\n\\\n*Ancient body part*. **1.** Nonverbally, an expressive unit consisting\nof the head and trunk (without the face, shoulders, arms, hands, legs,\nor feet). **2.** Those muscles connecting the skull, spine, and ribs.\n**3.** The \\\"primal body,\\\" resembling the primordial *feeding tube*,\nfrom which the human form evolved ca. 500 m.y.a.\n\n*Usage*: Movements and postures of the body wall (see, e.g.,\n**[BODY-BEND](bend1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/bend1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**,\n**[BODY-SHIFT](shift1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/shift1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, and\n**[BOW](bow1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/bow1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**) are **a.** more basic, **b.** more trustworthy as\n**[cues](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/cue.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nand **c.** less subject to conscious manipulation or control than are\nother body movements (e.g., of the fingers, hands, legs, and feet) and\npostures. The muscles, nerves, and movements of the body wall resemble\nthose of the first vertebrates ever to swim in **[Nonverbal\nWorld](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvworld.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nthe jawless fishes (see **[AQUATIC BRAIN & SPINAL\nCORD](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aquatic.htm){target=\"_top\"}**).\\\n\\\n*Anatomy*. On the basis of function (rather than mere convention),\nanatomists divide the human skeleton into *primary* and *secondary\nelements* (Horne 1995). The basic distinction between an *axial* (i.e.,\nskull, spine, and ribs) and *appendicular* (i.e., pectoral and pelvic\ngirdles, and limbs) skeleton is reflected in our nonverbal\ncommunication, as well. As expressive cues, movements of the body wall\nare more fundamental as mood signs than are our hand, arm, and leg\nmotions.\n\n*Evolution*. Before faces and limbs, there was the body wall. Its\nskeletal muscles were designed to move the body from one place to\nanother. Sinuous waves of contraction bent the body wall, producing the\nswimming motions that took animals **a.** toward food and mates, and\n**b.** away from enemies. Undulations moved from the head to the tail,\nand laterally from *side-to-side*. (***N.B.***: The ancient body wall\nbent the backbone *forward* \\[ventral flexion\\], and *backward* \\[dorsal\nflexion\\] as well \\[Kent 1969\\].)\n\n*Observation*. In a business meeting (where feelings run high), the most\ntruthful gestures come not from the limbs but from the torso. Isolating\non unconscious *locomotion* movements (i.e., on sideward, forward, and\nbackward *bending* motions), as bodies unwittingly align, approach,\navoid, or repel one another, reveals where colleagues truly \\\"stand\\\"\naround the [**conference\ntable**](table.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}. From the jawless fishes of Ordovician seas to the\npredatory sharks of Wall Street, messages of the body wall are much the\nsame.\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***. **1.** *Epaxial muscles*, which extend from the\nbase of the head to the tip of the tail, dorsal to the transverse\nprocesses, include the *longissimus*, *iliocostalis*, and\n*transversospinalis* groups, and the intervertebral muscles. \\\"Epaxial\nmuscles in tetrapods perform the same primary function as in\nfishes\\--side-to-side and dorsoventral flexion of the vertebral column\\\"\n(Kent 1969:218). (Epaxial muscles also help to move the head.) **2.**\nRegarding *hypaxial muscles*: \\\". . . in the majority of tetrapods the\nmuscles of the body wall are used chiefly to compress the viscera and to\noperate the ribs for respiration\\\" (Kent 1969:220).\n\nSee also\n**[PALEOCIRCUIT](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/paleo.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"BODY-BEND","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/bend1.htm","html":"\n\n\nBODY-BEND
\n![\"Bent](\"bend.jpg\")
\n
\nPosture. To contract muscles of the primitive body wall, causing the spinal column to tip\nforward, sideward, or backward from standard anatomical position.
Usage: As expressive cues, body-bend (i.e., axial-skeleton) postures are more fundamental as\nmood signs than are leg and arm (i.e., appendicular) postures. Bending the spinal column away\nfrom the person seated beside oneself at a conference table, e.g., is a reliable--and wholly\nunconscious--sign of disagreement, disliking, or shyness. (See BODY SHIFT.)
\n
\nAnatomy. Bending motions of the head and trunk are neurologically "simple" as signs. \nUnaffected, unintended, and unconscious, they are among the most reliable indicators of mood. \nBowing, for instance--flexing the spinal column forward (ventrally)--is a protective response which\nalso shows submissiveness and lowered social status. (N.B.: Even without a formal tradition of\nbowing [e.g., such as that of the Japanese] we may still tip our head and bend our spinal column\nforward when entering a superior's office doorway. Rearing, on the other hand--extending the spine\nbackward [dorsally]--conveys arrogance and disdain [see HEAD-TILT-BACK].)
\n
\nCulture. In southern Italy, the buttocks thrust--in which the stiffened (extended) upper body bends forward and the buttocks thrust backward, toward another person--is a sign of "obscene disdain" (Morris 1994:16). According to Morris, "This simple gesture is essentially an excretory insult, with the message 'I defecate on you'" (1994:16).
\n
\nEvolution. Our body began as a simple tube, with a mouth at the front end to take in food, and a\nvent at the rear to eliminate waste products. Among the oldest body movements were those for\nlocomotion. Muscles of the body wall contracted to produce rhythmic sideward bending\nmotions. These oscillatory swimming movements took animals toward food or mates, and away\nfrom harm.
Neuro-notes. The first side-to-side oscillations were wired into paleocircuits of the aquatic\nbrain & spinal cord. They appeared as alternating movements of the body's right and\nleft sides. Extremely primitive, the same spinal circuits enable us to walk, swim, and\ndance today.
\nSee also ANGULAR DISTANCE.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of drawing (Peck 1951:32; copyright Oxford University Press)
BODY-SHIFT
\n![\"Aversive](\"shift.jpg\")
\n
\nPostural cue. A slight or substantial change in body position, e.g., a. shifting one's weight in a chair, or\nb. angling one's torso to a new direction at a conference table (see ANGULAR DISTANCE).
Usage: A sudden body-shift may telegraph an unspoken feeling, mood, or opinion, and thus offer\na probing point.
\n
\nSalesmanship. One signal of a prospect's skepticism: "A sudden shift in posture" (Delmar 1984:46).
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "Slight postural shifts and the direction of visual focus\nare [in monkeys] two extremely subtle movements that communicate a potentially changing emotional state\nand an awareness of surrounding activity or tension" (Dolhinow 1972:231). 2. "Gross changes in\nbody position, such as shifting in the chair, may show negative feelings toward the person one is\ntalking to" (Mehrabian 1974:90).
\nNeuro-notes. Because they are supplied by segmental spinal nerves directly--rather than by the\nmore elaborate nerve plexuses which govern limb movements--trunk-bending and body-shifting\nrepresent a simpler, more straightforward venue for the expression of emotion. This is\nbecause, unlike our arm's tangled brachial-nerve plexus (an intricate, evolutionary add-on designed to coordinate the arm's\ndexterity and movement), our segmental spinal nerves have retained their more primitive\nrole in the control of posture. Thus, governed by paleocircuits of the basal ganglia and brain stem,\ngross body-shifts may reveal anger, disagreement, and disliking more directly.
\nSee also BODY-BEND, BODY WALL.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo by Otto Hagel (copyright Fortune)
BOOT
\nBoots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up and down again! --Kipling, Boots
\n![\"Cool](\"B43976.jpg\")
\n
\nI had a driving interest in footwear and the artistic possibilities of making boots. A saddle is a saddle, you just see brown leather. But boots . . . you see red, yellow, fuchsia, and chartreuse. --D.W. Frommer, bootmaker (Hadley 1993; see COLOR CUE)
\n
\nClothing cue. 1. A usually heavy, protective covering for the foot, made of leather, rubber, or\nvinyl. 2. A conspicuous sign of authority and power designed to accent the foot's ability to stomp.
Usage: Nonverbally, boots suggest strength by adding a. stature (i.e., increasing a wearer's\nvertical height; see LOOM) and b. stability (i.e., giving steadiness to stance; see\nANTIGRAVITY SIGN).
\n
\nAnatomy. Boots give us a more powerful gait and commanding stance. The boot-shaft's\nsnug contact with pressure-sensitive Pacinian corpuscles of the lower leg provides tactile\nreassurance, while supporting the long tendons that drop into our feet from muscles above. \nBoots also stabilize the ankle joint. By adapting to the physical needs of our feet (and to the psychic\nneeds of our reptilian brain) Doc Martens® helped young men and women of the 1990s feel secure on the\nstreets.
Cowboy boots. Fashion trainer John Molloy found that women consider men in cowboy boots\nmore attractive than men in ordinary shoes. (N.B.: Standing on tiptoes shifts the body's center of\ngravity forward, causing cowboy-boot wearers to compensate by leaning forward as well. This\nmakes the human derrière--already prominent by primate standards--protrude an additional\n25% [see HIGH HEEL]). Originally adapted from the moderately high Cuban heel, American\ncowboy boots add ca. two inches to standing height. (N.B.: A man's business shoe has only a\n1/2-to-3/4 inch upper base of polyethylene, and a 1/2 inch layer of rubber attached below, called a\nheel lift, which works as a shock absorber.)
\nEvolution. Boots evolved from leather sandals, as straps grew longer and thicker to support a\nhuman's congenitally weak ankles. Sandals reaching above the ankle (the oldest status symbol for\nfeet yet discovered) were worn exclusively by Roman army officers. Gradually, the leather pieces\nwidened until they enclosed the entire foot.
\nMedia. By popularizing thick, buckled motorcycle boots, Marlon Brando (The Wild\nOne 1954) and Peter Fonda (Easy Rider 1969) furthered the role of footwear as a fashion\nstatement designed to figuratively "stomp" the establishment's powers-that-be.
\nPsychology. Blind-and-deaf-born children stamp their feet in anger (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1971:12).
\n
\nStamping. "In man, stamping the feet in anger seems also to be a ritualized attack movement" (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1970:96).
\nSee also BLUE JEANS, GOOSE-STEP, LEG WEAR, MEN'S SHOES.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**BOOT**\n\n*Boots\\--boots\\--boots\\--boots\\--movin\\' up and down again!* \\--Kipling,\n*Boots*\n\n***{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/B43976.jpg\"\nheight=\"35%\" width=\"25%\"}\\\n\\\n**I had a driving interest in footwear and the artistic possibilities of\nmaking boots. A saddle is a saddle, you just see brown leather. But\nboots . . . you see red, yellow, fuchsia, and chartreuse*. \\--D.W.\nFrommer, bootmaker (Hadley 1993; see [**COLOR\nCUE**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/color.htm){target=\"_top\"})\\\n\\\n***[Clothing\ncue](adorn.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/adorn.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***. **1.** A usually heavy, protective covering for the\n**[foot](feet.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/feet.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, made of leather, rubber, or\n**[vinyl](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/vinyl.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n**2.** A conspicuous\n**[sign](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sign.htm){target=\"_top\"}** of\nauthority and power designed to accent the foot\\'s ability to stomp.\n\n*Usage*: Nonverbally, boots suggest strength by adding **a.** *stature*\n(i.e., increasing a wearer\\'s vertical height; see\n**[LOOM](loom1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/loom1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**) and **b.** *stability* (i.e., giving steadiness to\nstance; see **[ANTIGRAVITY\nSIGN](antigrav.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/antigrav.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**).\\\n\\\n*Anatomy*. Boots give us a more powerful gait and commanding stance. The\nboot-shaft\\'s snug contact with pressure-sensitive *Pacinian corpuscles*\nof the lower leg provides tactile reassurance, while supporting the long\ntendons that drop into our feet from muscles above. Boots also stabilize\nthe ankle joint. By adapting to the physical needs of our feet (and to\nthe psychic needs of our [**reptilian\nbrain**](reptile.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/reptile.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}) Doc Martens® helped young men and women of the 1990s\nfeel secure on the streets.\n\n*Cowboy boots*. Fashion trainer John Molloy found that women consider\nmen in cowboy boots more attractive than men in ordinary shoes.\n(***N.B.***: Standing on tiptoes shifts the body\\'s center of gravity\nforward, causing cowboy-boot wearers to compensate by leaning forward as\nwell. This makes the human derrière\\--already prominent by primate\nstandards\\--protrude an additional 25% \\[see **[HIGH\nHEEL](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/highheel.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\\]).\nOriginally adapted from the moderately high *Cuban heel*, American\ncowboy boots add ca. two inches to standing height. (***N.B.***: A\nman\\'s business shoe has only a 1/2-to-3/4 inch upper base of\npolyethylene, and a 1/2 inch layer of rubber attached below, called a\n*heel lift*, which works as a shock absorber.)\n\n*Evolution*. Boots evolved from leather sandals, as straps grew longer\nand thicker to support a human\\'s congenitally weak ankles. Sandals\nreaching above the ankle (the oldest status symbol for feet yet\ndiscovered) were worn exclusively by Roman army officers. Gradually, the\nleather pieces widened until they enclosed the entire foot.\n\n*Media*. By popularizing thick, buckled *motorcycle boots*, Marlon\nBrando (*The Wild One* 1954) and Peter Fonda (*Easy Rider* 1969)\nfurthered the role of footwear as a fashion statement designed to\nfiguratively \\\"stomp\\\" the establishment\\'s powers-that-be.\n\n*Psychology*. Blind-and-deaf-born children stamp their feet in anger\n(Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1971:12).\\\n\\\n*Stamping*. \\\"In man, stamping the feet in anger seems also to be a\nritualized attack movement\\\" (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1970:96).\n\nSee also **[BLUE\nJEANS](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/bluejean.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[GOOSE-STEP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/goose.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[LEG\nWEAR](legwear1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/legwear1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, **[MEN\\'S\nSHOES](mens.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/mens.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"BOW","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/bow1.htm","html":"\n\n\nBOW
\n
\n![\"Polite](\"bow.jpg\")
If you come up too quickly, it won't seem like you are really apologizing. --Yamagishi (Sugawara 1996)
\n
\n Posture. To bend, curl, or curve the upper body and head forward.
Usage: Around the world, people bow a. to greet, b. to defer, c. to show courtesy, and d. to pray. \nIn some cultures the bow is a formal gesture, as in Japan, e.g., where people are judged by their bows. A\ncasual hello to Japanese colleagues is a quick bend to a 15-degree angle; a respectful greeting to customers\nor superiors is a 30-degree bow; a formal apology involves a quick bend to a 45-degree angle,\nheld to a count of three, with a slow return to upright posture.
\n
\nAnatomy. Bowing the trunk forward starts with flexor muscles of the stomach's recti abdominis,\nassisted by the backbone's erector spinae. These muscle groups are supplied directly by spinal\nnerves rather than by more evolved nerve plexuses. The bow's submissive tone stems from the\nrole these muscles and nerves originally played in curling the head and trunk forward into a\nprotective crouch. (Sudden head-lowering and back-rounding in response to an employer's\nremarks thus reveals weak or "spineless" resignation.)
Baseball. In Japanese baseball, pitchers remove their caps and bow toward home plate after hitting a batter with a ball.
\n
\nCulture. 1. In Japan, the forwardness of one's bow reflects status; e.g., those higher in status bow less deeply to those lower in status. It is considered bad form for westerners to bow too deeply to lower status Japanese. 2. Among the Mossi of Burkina Faso, the most servile gesture is the poussi-poussi. "To poussi-poussi, Collett [1983] explains, one takes off shoes and headgear (which add height), sits with the legs 'tucked to one side,' lowers the body, and beats on the ground. (Historically, men also threw dust on their heads.)" (Givens 1986:155 ). 3. "In the Muslim world, the body kowtow--in which one kneels down and touches the ground with the forehead--is used in prayer to show humility before the deity (Morris 1994:11).
\n
\nHumility. The English word humble means being "close to the ground." It comes via Old French's umble from Latin's humilis, "low, lowly." The word derives from Latin's humus, "earth," and is related to the English word human. In its original sense, being human meant being an "earthly being," as opposed to being an ethereal, immortal god in the sky (Ayto 1990). The Indo-European root for man is *dhghom, for on the ground is *dhghm, and for earth is *dhghom-o (Susan N. Skomal, personal communication).
\n
\nSubmission. Bowing at the boss's door is a common act inspired by the reptilian brain. Before\nentering a superior's inner sanctum, American workers may pause, bend at the waist, flex their\nnecks forward, and lower their heads to peek in. Though without a formal tradition of bowing,\nthey ritually lower themselves at the boss's door, as if doing so were written into the job\ndescription.
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Bonnet macaques bow heads in extreme fear (Rahaman and\nParthasarathy 1968). 2. Bowing (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1970), bent-forward (Scheflen 1972), and body-kowtow (Morris 1994) postures involve forward bending (ventral flexion) of the spinal column;\neach of these nonverbal cues makes its submissive appeal by showing harmlessness.
\nAntonyms--ANTIGRAVITY SIGN, HIGH-STAND DISPLAY. See also BODY WALL.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**BOW\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/bow.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"25%\"}**\n\nIf you come up too quickly, it won\\'t seem like you are really\napologizing. \\--Yamagishi (Sugawara 1996)\\\n\\\n***[Posture](posture1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/posture1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***. To bend, curl, or curve the upper body and head\nforward.\n\n*Usage*: Around the world, people bow **a.** to greet, **b.** to defer,\n**c.** to show courtesy, and **d.** to pray. In some cultures the bow is\na formal gesture, as in Japan, e.g., where people are judged by their\nbows. A casual hello to Japanese colleagues is a quick bend to a\n15-degree angle; a respectful greeting to customers or superiors is a\n30-degree bow; a formal apology involves a quick bend to a 45-degree\nangle, held to a count of three, with a slow return to upright posture.\\\n\\\n*Anatomy*. Bowing the trunk forward starts with flexor muscles of the\nstomach\\'s *recti abdominis*, assisted by the backbone\\'s *erector\nspinae*. These muscle groups are supplied directly by spinal nerves\nrather than by more evolved nerve plexuses. The bow\\'s submissive tone\nstems from the role these muscles and nerves originally played in\ncurling the head and trunk forward into a protective\n***[crouch](crouch1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/crouch1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***. (Sudden *head-lowering* and *back-rounding* in\nresponse to an employer\\'s remarks thus reveals weak or \\\"spineless\\\"\nresignation.)\n\n*Baseball*. In Japanese baseball, pitchers remove their\n[**caps**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hat.htm){target=\"_top\"} and\nbow toward home plate after hitting a batter with a ball.\\\n\\\n*Culture*. **1.** In Japan, the forwardness of one\\'s bow reflects\nstatus; e.g., those higher in status bow less deeply to those lower in\nstatus. It is considered bad form for westerners to bow too deeply to\nlower status Japanese. **2.** Among the Mossi of Burkina Faso, the most\nservile gesture is the *poussi-poussi*. \\\"To poussi-poussi, Collett\n\\[1983\\] explains, one takes off shoes and headgear (which add height),\nsits with the legs \\'tucked to one side,\\' lowers the body, and beats on\nthe ground. (Historically, men also threw dust on their heads.)\\\"\n(Givens 1986:155 ). **3.** \\\"In the Muslim world, the *body kowtow*\\--in\nwhich one kneels down and touches the ground with the forehead\\--is used\nin prayer to show humility before the deity (Morris 1994:11).\\\n\\\n*Humility*. The English word *humble* means being \\\"close to the\nground.\\\" It comes via Old French\\'s *umble* from Latin\\'s *humilis*,\n\\\"low, lowly.\\\" The word derives from Latin\\'s *humus*, \\\"earth,\\\" and\nis related to the English word *human*. In its original sense, being\nhuman meant being an \\\"earthly being,\\\" as opposed to being an ethereal,\nimmortal god in the sky (Ayto 1990). The Indo-European root for *man* is\n\\*dhghom, for *on the ground* is \\*dhghm, and for *earth* is \\*dhghom-o\n(Susan N. Skomal, personal communication).\\\n\\\n***[Submission](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/submit.htm){target=\"_top\"}****.*\nBowing at the boss\\'s door is a common act inspired by the **[reptilian\nbrain](reptile.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/reptile.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. Before entering a superior\\'s inner sanctum, American\nworkers may *pause*, *bend at the waist*, *flex their necks forward,*\nand *lower their heads* to peek in. Though without a formal tradition of\nbowing, they ritually lower themselves at the boss\\'s door, as if doing\nso were written into the job description.\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** Bonnet macaques *bow heads* in extreme\nfear (Rahaman and Parthasarathy 1968). **2.** *Bowing* (Eibl-Eibesfeldt\n1970), *bent-forward* (Scheflen 1972), and *body-kowtow* (Morris 1994)\npostures involve forward *bending* (ventral flexion) of the spinal\ncolumn; each of these nonverbal cues makes its submissive appeal by\nshowing *harmlessness*.\n\n*Antonyms*\\--**[ANTIGRAVITY\nSIGN](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/antigrav.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[HIGH-STAND\nDISPLAY](highstan.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/highstan.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. See also **[BODY\nWALL](bodywal3.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodywal3.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"CANDY","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/candy1.htm","html":"\n\n\nCANDY
\n![\"Designed](\"candy.jpg\")
\n
\nFruit substitute. 1. A rich confection, such as a strawberry sucker or a chocolate mint, designed\nto communicate with our taste buds for sweetness and, secondarily, with our receptors for sour,\nbitter, or salty tastes. 2. A food product designed to mimic the usually sweet taste of ripe\nfruit.
Usage: In U.S. supermarkets, the three best-selling candy bars--M&M's®, Snickers®, and Reese's\nPeanut Butter Cup® (Krantz 1991)--contain nuts, and are crunchy rather than merely soft. The\ntop three successfully combine sweetness and nuttiness in a proven evolutionary formula for\nprimates. So tasty are these and other candy bars that, according to the Hershey company, two-thirds are eaten immediately upon purchase.
\n
\nM&M's. Colorful, nut-sized M&M's® are among the most popular fruit substitutes of all time. \nTheir crisp, candy coatings encase milk chocolate mixed with finely ground peanut powder. On\naverage, U.S. citizens swallow 11,000 M&M's in a lifetime (Heyman 1992), liking the orange ones\nleast. (N.B.: The primate brain decodes orange as a warning (or aposematic)\ncoloration sign, often associated with poisonous snakes, insects, and berries.)
See also COCA-COLA®, EXISTENTIAL CRUNCH, NUT SUBSTITUTE.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000, 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nSnickers wrapper (copyright 1999 by Mars, Inc.)
CHAIR
\n![\"Garden](\"chair.jpg\")
\n
\nThe human race spends a great deal of time sitting down, whether working in an office, studying in a library, commuting by bus, car, or airplane, or eating in a restaurant. Some seats are far more comfortable than others. --Barry H. Kantowitz and Robert D. Sorkin (Human Factors, 1983)
\n
\nI quit following straight lines and work with the natural lines that are there. --Warren Schulze (Taggart 2001:B3; see below, Woodworking impressionist)
\n
\n
\nConsumer product.\n1. A piece of furniture with a horizontal seat, quadrupedal\nlegs, an upright back, and horizontal arms, usually designed to be occupied by a single person. 2. Homo sapiens's most diversely styled furniture item.
Usage: Office workers spend the majority of their working days seated in ergonomic swivel chairs. "Office seating has been extensively studied" (Kantowitz and Sorkin 1983:480).
\nWord origin. The word chair comes from Greek kathedra, "seat," from the 7,000 year old Indo-European root, sed-, "to sit."
\n
\nAnatomy. "The main weight of the body should be carried by the bony protuberances of the buttocks, more technically known as the ischial tuberosities" (Kantowitz and Sorkin 1983:478).
Animals. The legs of ancient Egyptian and Greek chairs were often carved to mimic the feet of\nbeasts. The legs of ancient Assyrian backless chairs were carved to depict lion claws or the\nhooves of bulls.
\nHistory. ". . . this familiar piece of furniture was not common anywhere in the world until just\n300 years ago!" (Manchester 1982:69). Before the widespread use of chairs, people sat on benches, logs,\nmats, stools, and storage chests. The earliest chairs served as symbols for high-status aristocrats, clan elders, religious leaders, and royalty. Today, the leader of a group seated\naround a conference table is called "the chair."
\n
\nPsychology. Asking someone to "please sit down" reduces an opponent's standing height, and thus diminishes effects of the high-stand display. Sitting in a slightly higher chair confers a subtle but powerful psychological advantage in bargaining and negotiations. Through the nonverbal principle of isopraxism a chair suggests sitting down, because it, itself,\nappears to be seated.
\n
\nRocking chair. The soothing effect of rocking in a chair is due to the vestibular sense (see BALANCE CUE).
\n
\nSymbolism. More than any other type of furniture, chairs have been elaborately carved, ornamented, and bedecked with symbols of heraldry, power, and wealth. They have become the everyday totems of status and rank.
\n
\nWoodworking impressionist. 1. "'I had a need to create things with my hands,' Warren [Schulze, former attorney, now chair designer in Rathdrum, Idaho], 41, says, believing forces out of his control pulled him from the mainstream. 'I had to take something from natural materials and create something'" (Taggart 2001:B3). 2. Schulze makes trees with natural branches and twigs (see BRANCH SUBSTITUTE). "The backs of his chairs reach toward the ceiling like arms stretching for an escaping balloon. His table legs bend with the natural grace of windblown branches. His benches grip the floor with duck-like feet" (Taggart 2001:B3).
\n
\n![\"Posture](\"seat.jpg\")
\n
\nToilet seating. "The Posture Mold seat designed by architect Alexander Kira is contoured and provides proper support for the thighs. This seat was selected for the design study collection of the Museum of Modern Art showing that good human factors can be esthetically as well as functionally attractive" (Kantowitz and Sorkin 1983:482).
\n
\nTrees. "Until the middle of the 17th century, the majority of chairs in all European countries\nwere made of oak, without upholstery or other cushioning" (Manchester 1982:72).
\n
\nVehicular seating I. "Layout of most vehicle cabs begins from a theoretical design eye point. This is an imaginary point in space from which lines of sight are calculated" (Kantowitz and Sorkin 1983:483).
\n
\nVehicular seating II. "Anthropometric data also can determine side-by-side seat spacing, that is, how many seats will fit in each row. The crucial dimension is called shoulder breadth. If your shoulders fit, so will your hips" [however, this '. . . does not guarantee you will have much room to move your elbows.'] (Kantowitz and Sorkin 1983:487).
\n
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo of Posture Mold toilet seat (copyright by Forbes Wright, Church Products)
HEAD-TILT-BACK
\n![\"Who's](\"headback.jpg\")
\n
\nGesture. Lifting the chin and leaning the head backward (dorsally, i.e., toward the shoulder blades or scapula bones).
Usage: Lifting the chin and looking down the nose are used throughout the world as nonverbal\nsigns of superiority, arrogance, and disdain (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1970, Hass 1970).
\nAnatomy. The prime mover of head-tilt-back (i.e., of extending the spine) is the erector spinae muscle group,\ncomponents of which reach to the skull's occipital bone to produce extension movements of the\nhead as well. These deep muscles of the back and neck are basic postural muscles which are\ninnervated by the spinal nerves directly, without relay through the cervical plexus or brachial plexus. \nThus, we have less voluntary control of our haughty head-and-trunk postures than we have, e.g., of\nour hand-and-arm gestures. (N.B.: Gross postural shifts which involve back-extension and head-raising may express unconscious attitudes of power and dominance.)
\n
\nCulture. 1. In Greece and Saudi Arabia, a sudden head-tilt-back movement means "No," and may originate from the infantile head-tilt-back used to refuse food (Morris 1994:145; see also HEAD-SHAKE). 2. In Ethiopia, the same gesture means "Yes," and may originate from the backward head movment used as a greeting (Morris 1994:146).
\n
\nOrigin. In its "superior" sense, head-tilt-back is a constituent of the primeval high-stand display.
\n
\nPolitics. Political leaders who used the head-tilt-back gesture in public speeches include Al Gore, Benito\nMussolini, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George Corley Wallace.
\n
\nRESEARCH REPORT: Head-tilt-back may be accompanied by "contempt-scorn" cues: one eyebrow lifts higher than the other, the eye openings narrow, the mouth corners depress, the lower lip raises and slightly protrudes, and one side of the upper lip may curl up in a sneer (Izard 1971:245).
\n
\n
Chin jut. A derivative gesture of head-tilt-back is the "chin jut," described by Desmond Morris (1994:30 ["The chin is thrust towards the companion"]) as an "'intention movement' of forward attack," which has become a worldwide sign of threat. The world's most exaggerated chin jut was that of the Italian dictator, Benito\nMussolini
\n
\n\n
\nE-Commentary: "Have you come across any research regarding a rapid multiple eye blink that looks almost as if the person is rolling their eyes back in their head? It often is accompanied by a head tilt back. I have a client who does this, and have encountered others who do this, and am not sure the source of such a gesture, or what it might suggest nonverbally. My gut tells me it makes the guy look arrogant and a bit supercilious. Am I totally off base in thinking this may be a problem. Any suggestions? I'd be glad to send you a copy of videotape showing what I'm talking about." --L.G., Senior Communications Consultant, USA (9/30/99 12:24:16 PM Pacific Daylight Time)
\n
Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo sequence by Ruth Orkin (copyright Ruth Orkin)
CINGULATE GYRUS
\n
\n![\"Anterior](\"cingulat.jpg\")
Brain. 1. The evolutionary new wing of the mammalian brain, in charge of grooming,\nnuzzling, and cuddle cues. 2. The newest part of the limbic system, responsible for\nmaternal caring, play, and audiovocal signals (Hooper 1986:48).
\nUsage: As the brain's maternal and childcare center, the cingulate gyrus mediates many of the\nnonverbal cues we give a. to babies, b. to small children, and c. to adults for\nwhom we truly care (see LOVE SIGNAL) and care for.
\n
\nAnatomy. Located on the medial surface of the cerebral cortex (in the frontal and parietal lobes, above the corpus callosum), the cingulate gyrus receives a. subcortical signals from the thalamus (anterior nucleus) and b. cortical signals from modules of the cerebral cortex as well. It sends signals to the parahippocampal gyrus through a broad-band fiberlink called the cingulum.
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "The posterior superior part of the cingulate gyrus is related to\nsexual behavior" and is also linked to OCD (obsessive-compulsive disorder; Diamond, Scheibel,\nand Elson 1985:5, 30). 2. "It is of interest that stimulation and ablation of the cingulate gyrus\nresult in a diverse range of emotional experiences corresponding to those described . . . for the\namygdala and septum. It can be assumed that the cingulate gyrus acts as an intermediary to the\nprefrontal cortex and orbital cortices . . ." (Eccles 1989:106). 3. "Emotion-related movement\n[see, e.g., SMILE], then, is controlled from the anterior cingulate region, from other limbic\ncortices (in the medial temporal lobe), and from the basal ganglia . . ." (Damasio 1994:140-41). \n4. "We cannot mimic easily what the anterior cingulate can achieve effortlessly . . ." (Damasio\n1994:141-42). 5. "Its location makes the cingulate cortex an excellent candidate for the brain's emotional control centre, which is what it seems to be" (Carter 1998:101).
\nNeuro-notes. 1. The cingulate gyrus is less tied to smell than is any other part of the limbic system,\naccording to Paul MacLean, and has no counterpart in the reptilian brain. 2. The anterior\ncingulate gyrus communicates between the prefrontal cortex and subcortical areas of the limbic\nsystem; bilateral destruction ". . . releases the rage centers of the septum and hypothalamus from any\nprefrontal inhibitory influence" (Guyton 1996:759). 3. "We suggest that cells in the rostral cingulate motor area, one of\nthe higher order motor areas in the cortex, play a part in processing the\nreward information for motor selection" ("Role for Cingulate Motor Area Cells in Voluntary Movement\n Selection Based on Reward," Keisetsu Shima and Jun Tanji, Science, Nov. 13, 1998, vol. 282, p. 1335). 4. "Anatomical studies have revealed\nprominent afferent input to the CMAs [cingulate motor areas] from the limbic structures and the\nprefrontal cortex, which can send information about motivation and the\ninternal state of subjects, as well as cognitive evaluation of the environment" (Shima and Tanji1998:1335). 5. "When a person with a hand-washing compulsion is told to imagine themselves [sic] in some filthy place their caudate nucleus and orbital frontal cortex fire away like mad. An area in the middle of the brain--the cingulate cortex--also responds strongly. This is the part of the brain that registers conscious emotion, and its involvement demonstrates the emotional discomfort generated by OCD" (Carter 1998:61).
\nSee also CRY, HYPOTHALAMUS.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of illustration (copyright 1998 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
CLEM
\n![\"Eyes](\"clem.jpg\")
\n
\n
\nGaze direction. 1. An acronym for "conjugate lateral eye movement." 2. A nonverbal response,\noften to a verbal question, in which the eyes move sideward (to the right or left) in tandem.
\n
\nUsage: CLEMs--involuntary eye movements to the right or left--signal information processing,\nreflection, and thought. Because they reflect unvoiced doubt, as well, CLEMs may used as probing points.
\n
\nSaccades. In a classic study by Harnad (1972) of the lateral eye movements of mathematicians during mental reflection, it was noted that rightward movement associated with symbolic thinking, while leftward movement associated with visual thinking. Left-movers were thought to be more creative.
\n
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Conjugate lateral eye movements are an index of brain-hemispheric activation (Gur 1975). 2 "People can be categorized as either 'right lookers' or 'left lookers'\nbecause approximately 75 percent of an individual's conjugatelateral eye movements are in one\ndirection" (Richmond et al. 1991:89). 2. "CLEM is usually quite prominent when someone is\nworking on a task that requires them [sic] to think or reflect" (Richmond et al. 1991:89).
See also GAZE-DOWN, MIME CUE, STEEPLE.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo (copyright Warner Bros., Inc.)
EXPECTANCY THEORY
\nConceptual model. The hypothesis--also known as expectancy communication or interpersonal expectancy effects--that a person's nonverbal communication unwittingly\nscripts a recipient's behavior, deportment, or performance in the manner of a self-fulfilling\nprophecy.
\nUsage I: Displayed nonverbally, a teacher's positive expectancies for certain chosen students \nencourages them to work harder and get better grades.
\nUsage II: A judge's body language can transmit negative signals (e.g., gaze cut-off, tense-mouth, and tongue-show), which may inadvertently influence jurors to decide against a defense\nattorney's case.
\nSalesmanship. "As in most areas concerning the sales confrontation, the salesperson will be viewed and treated largely according to how he expects to be treated" (Delmar 1984:31).
\n
\nClever Hans. As primates we are highly responsive to nonverbal cues, and thus susceptible to\nthe "Clever Hans" phenomenon (Pfungst 1911):
\n\nOnce upon a 19th-century time, there lived a world-famous horse named Clever Hans,\nwho displayed amazing mathematical ability. If somebody asked him to add, say, five\nplus seven, Hans would faithfully stomp 12 times, astounding all present. For years,\npuzzled scientists were baffled by how the animal could add and subtract. One Oskar\nPfungst solved the riddle at last. According to Pfungst, Clever Hans looked closely at his\nhuman audience for subtle body cues [e.g., of the eyes and head] telling him when to stop tapping his hoof. Tiny\nkinesic signs alone sufficed (Givens 1981:56).
\n
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Research has shown that "nonverbal cues play an enormous role in\nsignaling interpersonal expectations, often within the first 30 seconds of an interaction" (Burgoon\net al. 1989:448). 2. Relaxed postures, dominance displays, leg movements, head-nodding,\nsmiling, and "interested" facial expressions may show positive expectations; while head-shaking,\neyebrow-raising, looking surprised or disappointed, and tapping a pencil may show negative\nexpectations (Burgoon et al. 1989).
\nSee also ISOPRAXISM.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)\t
\n\n","markdown":"**EXPECTANCY THEORY**\n\n*Conceptual model*. The hypothesis\\--also known as *expectancy\ncommunication* or *interpersonal expectancy effects*\\--that a person\\'s\nnonverbal communication unwittingly scripts a recipient\\'s behavior,\ndeportment, or performance in the manner of a *self-fulfilling\nprophecy*.\n\n*Usage I*: Displayed nonverbally, a teacher\\'s positive expectancies for\ncertain chosen students encourages them to work harder and get better\ngrades.\n\n*Usage II*: A judge\\'s **[body\nlanguage](bodylan1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodylan1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** can transmit negative signals (e.g., *gaze*\n***[cut-off](cutoff1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/cutoff1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***,\n***[tense-mouth](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tensemou.htm){target=\"_top\"}***,\nand\n***[tongue-show](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tonguesh.htm){target=\"_top\"}***),\nwhich may inadvertently influence jurors to decide against a defense\nattorney\\'s case.\n\n*Salesmanship*. \\\"As in most areas concerning the sales confrontation,\nthe salesperson will be viewed and treated largely according to *how he\nexpects to be treated*\\\" (Delmar 1984:31).\\\n\\\n*Clever Hans*. As\n**[primates](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/primate.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nwe are highly responsive to nonverbal cues, and thus susceptible to the\n\\\"Clever Hans\\\" phenomenon (Pfungst 1911):\n\n> Once upon a 19^th^-century time, there lived a world-famous horse\n> named Clever Hans, who displayed amazing mathematical ability. If\n> somebody asked him to add, say, five plus seven, Hans would faithfully\n> stomp 12 times, astounding all present. For years, puzzled scientists\n> were baffled by how the animal could add and subtract. One Oskar\n> Pfungst solved the riddle at last. According to Pfungst, Clever Hans\n> looked closely at his human audience for subtle body cues \\[e.g., of\n> the eyes and head\\] telling him when to stop tapping his hoof. Tiny\n> **[kinesic](kinesic1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/kinesic1.htm\"\n> target=\"_top\"}** signs alone sufficed (Givens 1981:56).\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** Research has shown that \\\"nonverbal cues\nplay an enormous role in signaling interpersonal expectations, often\nwithin the first 30 seconds of an interaction\\\" (Burgoon et al.\n1989:448). **2.** Relaxed postures, dominance displays, leg movements,\n**[head-nodding](headnod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headnod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, smiling, and \\\"interested\\\" facial expressions may\nshow positive expectations; while\n**[head-shaking](headshak.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headshak.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, eyebrow-raising, looking surprised or disappointed,\nand tapping a pencil may show negative expectations (Burgoon et al.\n1989).\n\nSee also\n[**ISOPRAXISM**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/isoprax.htm){target=\"_top\"}.\n\nCopyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"CLOTHING CUE","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/adorn.htm","html":"\n\n\nBODY ADORNMENT
\nA sweet disorder in the dress
\n\n\tKindles in clothes a wantonness. --Herrick, Delight in Disorder
\n
\nAfter its invention some 9,000 years ago: Cloth would soon become an essential part of society, as clothing and as adornment expressing self-awareness and communicating variations in social rank. For good reason, poets and anthropologists alike have employed cloth as a metaphor for society, something woven of many threads into a social fabric that is ever in danger of unraveling or being torn. --John Noble Wilford (1993:C1)
\n
\nClothing should always move with your body. Fashion is an extension of body language. A new garment creates a new posture--and a new attitude--in its wearer. --Véronique Vienne (1997:160)
\n
\n
\nWearable sign. 1. The act of decorating the human frame to accent its grace, strength, beauty, and\npresence, or to mask its less attractive features and traits. 2. Visually distinctive patterns of body piercing, dress, scarification, and tattoos worn to express a personal or a social (e.g., an ethnic, military, or national) identity.
Usage: 1. What we place upon our bodies (e.g., clothing, footwear, hats,\nmakeup, and tatoos) adds color, contrast, shape, size, and texture to our primate form. Each day,\nmyriad messages of adornment broadcast personal information--in a continuous way (i.e., as\n"frozen" gestures)--about our ethnicity, status, affiliation, and moods. 2. We may use clothing cues as a. uniforms (or "clothing signs"), b. fashion statements ("clothing symbols"), c. membership badges ("tie-signs"), d. social-affiliation signs ("tie symbols"), e. personality signs ("personal dress," e.g., the bow tie), and f. socio-political-economic signs ("contemporary fashion"), according to a typology developed by SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology professor, Ruth P. Rubinstein (1994). 3. "Social rank . . . has probably always been encoded through symbols in the material, design, color, and embellishment of the clothing" (Barber 1994:150).
\n
\nAnatomy. Before pants, skirts, and shoes, there was the unadorned primate body itself: eyes,\nteeth, skin, hair, and nails, along with shapes formed of muscle, fat, and bone. Before adornment,\nthe nonverbal brain expressed feelings and attitudes through body movements,\npostures, and facial cues. But with the advent of clothing and shoes the body's nonverbal\nvocabulary grew, as shoulders "widened," ankles "thinned," and feet stood up on tiptoes (see\nHIGH HEEL). As "optical illusions," stripes, colors, buttons, and bows accented or concealed\nnatural signs, and drew attention to favored--while diverting eyes from less favored--body parts.
\n
\nBylaw. "We recognize the essential wholesomeness of the human body and that life is enhanced by the naturalness of social nudity." --American Association of Nude Recreation bylaws
\n
\nLaw. The nonverbal power of clothing may be revealed by its absence. "The United States Supreme Court holds that strip clubs whose exotic dancers wear G-strings and pasties won't lure as many drunks and criminals to the neighborhood as clubs that permit the last stitch of clothing to be dropped" (Auster 2000:16).
\n
\nMedia. 1. According to the New York Times, the discovery by James Adovasio (Mercyhurst College) and Olga Soffer (University of Illinois at Urbana) of ancient weaving embedded in fired clay pushes the date of humankind's earliest cloth back to 27,000 years ago (Fowler 1995). 2. Forget that old hippie saying, you are what you eat. In the modern world, you are what you wear. --Suzy Gershman (Spokesman-Review, Webster 2000).
\n
\nPrehistory. Early evidence for personal ornamentation consists of a European stone pendant with decorative grooves, and a tapered neck around which to tie a thong (Scarre 1993:43).
\n
\nFur. As primates, we are also mammals for whom a dense matte of fur is an evolutionary\nbirthright. Anthropologists do not know when or why humans lost their body hair, but it is clear\nthat clothing originated as a fur substitute to cover the skin and genitalia. (N.B.: That we see\nnude bodies in the workplace on but the rarest of occasions testifies to the power of clothing today. \nOnce fashion appeared in Nonverbal World, it never went out of style.)
\n
\nBeads. If a bear-skin robe made the body loom large, decorating the garment with beads\nattracted greater notice still. The elaborate beadwork of a man's fur clothing found at a\n23,000 year old hunter's burial ground in Sungir, Russia, remained long after the furs themselves\nhad rotted away (Lambert 1987). As fashion media, however, leather and beads could go just so\nfar. Only after fabric replaced fur did clothing became truly expressive.
Leather. Full body dress originated in Africa or Eurasia to protect the body and keep it warm. \nThe first clothes were made of prepared animal hides. Stone scraping tools from Neanderthal\nsites in Europe provide indirect evidence for hide preparation, suggesting that cold-weather\nclothing could be at least 200,000 years old (Lambert 1987).
\nFlounce & weave. The earliest domesticated sheep, from Zawi Chemi Shanidar, Iraq, suggest that\nwool clothing originated 10,500 years ago (Wenke 1990). Unwoven skirts and shawls made\nof flounces of tufted wool or flax were worn by the ancient Sumerians 5,000 years ago (Rowland-Warne 1992), although one of the earliest known textiles--a linen-knit bag from Israel (found in Nahal Hemar cave)--is thought to be 8,500 years old (Barber 1994).
\n
\nFiber & fabric. More recently, the invention of the flying shuttle (1733), the spinning jenny\n(1764), and the 19th century power-loom made cotton fabrics available in ever greater quantities,\nas consumer products. Mass produced clothing first appeared in 1851 with the\ninvention of the sewing machine, and increased in production with the use of synthetic fibers (e.g.,\nOrlon in 1952). As the adornment medium became subject to greater control, the diversity and number of clothing cues burgeoned (see MESSAGING FEATURE). (N.B.: In 1993 a Lands' End® Mesh Knit shirt contained 4.3 miles of 18 singles cotton yarn [Anonymous 1993].)
\n
\nTattoo signals. "[U.S.] Teenagers with tattoos are more likely than their peers to drink too much, have sex too early, get into fights and engage in other risky behavior, a University of Rochester study shows" (Anonymous 2001E).
\n
\nThe color purple. With fabrics came dyes, and the ability to signal social status with color cues. In ancient Rome, e.g., only the emperor was allowed to wear a robe dyed royal purple (Barber 1994:150).
\n
\n
Neuro-note. To the very visual primate brain, fashion statements are\n "real" because, neurologically, "seeing is believing."
\nSee also ARM-SHOW, BLUE JEANS, BUSINESS SUIT, HAIR CUE, NECKWEAR, WWW.Bananarepublic.com.\n
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo (copyright Warner Bros., Inc.)
\n
CONFERENCE TABLE
\n
\n![\"Level](\"table.jpg\")
\n
\nIf you are really looking for control, spread your notebooks, pens, manuals, and anything else you brought along over as broad an area as possible--without bursting anyone else's [territorial] bubble. This will give you further claim to the territory. --Susan Bixler (The Professional Image, p. 236)
\n
\nConsumer Product. 1. A flat, smooth piece of furniture designed as a stage to dramatize face-to-face meetings. \n2. A corporate "level playing field" upon which speakers may address colleagues on matters of business. 3. A horizontal flatland, or territory, in which to send defensive and offensive messages with the eyes, face, hands, and\nshoulders.
Usage: Nonverbally, conference tables showcase the upper body's signs, signals, and cues. The\ntable's shape, size, and seating plan a. influence group dynamics, and b. may also affect the\nemotional tone and outcome of discussions. (N.B.: Because torso height varies less than standing\nheight, people seated around conference tables appear to be roughly the same size; thus, conference\ntables neutralize physical advantages of stature [see LOOM].) Meanwhile, the lower body's features are\nsecurely masked below the tabletop, and do not compete for notice with heads, hands, or eyes. A conference table may symbolize corporate status and power in business, politics, and military affairs.
\n
\n
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Dominant individuals choose central seats and do most of the\ntalking (Hare and Bales 1973). 2. Leadership and "central" seating positions (i.e., "opposite the most\nothers") "go hand in hand" (Burgoon et al. 1989:389). 3. Competence across a boardroom table shows in a well-moderated voice tone, rapid speech, few verbal disfluencies or hesitations, fluid gestures, and eye contact. Listeners respond negatively to dominance cues, on the other hand, such as a loud voice, eyebrow-lowering, staring, postures stiff with muscle tension, and pointing (Driskell and Salas 1993).
\nSee also STEINZOR EFFECT.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**CONFERENCE TABLE\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/table.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"25%\"}\\\n\\\n***If you are really looking for control, spread your notebooks, pens,\nmanuals, and anything else you brought along over as broad an area as\npossible\\--without bursting anyone else\\'s \\[territorial\\] bubble. This\nwill give you further claim to the territory*. \\--Susan Bixler (*The\nProfessional Image*, p. 236)\\\n\\\n***[Consumer\nProduct](consprod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***. **1.** A flat, smooth piece of furniture designed as\na stage to dramatize face-to-face meetings. **2.** A corporate \\\"level\nplaying field\\\" upon which speakers may address colleagues on matters of\nbusiness. **3.** A horizontal flatland, or *territory*, in which to send\ndefensive and offensive\n**[messages](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/message.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nwith the\n**[eyes](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/eyes.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[face](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/face.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[hands](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hands.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nand\n**[shoulders](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/shoulder.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Usage*: Nonverbally, conference tables showcase the upper body\\'s\n**[signs](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sign.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[signals](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/signal.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nand\n**[cues](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/cue.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\nThe table\\'s shape, size, and seating plan **a.** influence group\ndynamics, and **b.** may also affect the emotional tone and outcome of\ndiscussions. (***N.B.***: Because *torso height* varies less than\nstanding height, people seated around conference tables appear to be\nroughly the same size; thus, conference tables neutralize physical\nadvantages of *stature* \\[see\n**[LOOM](loom1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/loom1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**\\].) Meanwhile, the lower body\\'s features are securely\nmasked below the tabletop, and do not compete for notice with heads,\nhands, or eyes. A conference table may symbolize corporate status and\npower in business, politics, and military affairs.\\\n\\\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n**E-Commentary**: \\\"I am a graduate student at the Univesity of\nArkansas. I am working on my Master of Accountancy. I have chosen to\ntake a graduate course called Communications and Conflict. I am required\nto do a summary of nonverbal conflict research between 1989 and the\npresent. Can you point me in the right direction as to recent research\non the topic? I am an accountant and this sort of research is not an\neveryday thing for me.\\\" \\--J.A. (10/3/99 8:31:32 AM Pacific Daylight\nTime)\\\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\\\n*Observation*. The conference table is a nonverbal battlefield. **1.**\nTo promote key points, speakers should *lean forward* over the table and\nuse\n**[palm-down](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/palmdown.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ngestures. (***N.B.***: Leaning backward, away from the table and\n**[palm-up](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/palmup.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ngestures may suggest\n**[submissiveness](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/submit.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\ni.e., lack of conviction.) **2.** *Cuffs*, *bracelets*, and\n*wristwatches* add visibility to hand gestures. **3.** Nonverbal impacts\nof **[angular\ndistance](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/angular.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[arm\nwear](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/armwear.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[business\nsuits](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/busisuit.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[cut-off](cutoff1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/cutoff1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**,\n**[hairstyles](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/haircue.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nand\n**[neckwear](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/neckwear.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nare exaggerated by close-quarters interaction at the conference table.\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.**\n**[Dominant](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/dominate.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nindividuals choose central seats and do most of the talking (Hare and\nBales 1973). **2.** Leadership and \\\"central\\\" seating positions (i.e.,\n\\\"opposite the most others\\\") \\\"go hand in hand\\\" (Burgoon et al.\n1989:389). **3.** Competence across a boardroom table shows in a\nwell-moderated voice tone, rapid speech, few verbal disfluencies or\nhesitations, fluid gestures, and eye contact. Listeners respond\nnegatively to dominance cues, on the other hand, such as a loud voice,\n[**eyebrow-lowering**](browlow1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/browlow1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}, staring, postures stiff with muscle tension, and\n[**pointing**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/point.htm){target=\"_top\"}\n(Driskell and Salas 1993).\n\nSee also **[STEINZOR\nEFFECT](steinzor.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/steinzor.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"CONSUMER PRODUCT","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/consprod.htm","html":"\n\n\n![\"Products](\"B30375.jpg\")
\n
\nThus there exists a dictionary situation for everyone: designers design, manufacturers manufacture, and diverse consumers consume diversity. --Henry Petroski (The Evolution of Useful Things, 1992)
\n
\nWe look to nature for products because natural selection has had an incredible amount of time to optimize substances for varied purposes. --Scott Rapoport (2000:E-2)
\n
\nRubbermaid products evolve according to Darwinian laws. --Jay Mathews (1995B:H4)
\n
\nLike computing, genetic science is evolving into a consumer technology. --John Rennie (2000:6 [Author's Note: Our own bodies have become consumer products.])
\n
\nArtifact. 1. A material object deliberately fabricated for mass consumption and use. 2. An edible,\nwearable, drinkable (i.e., usable) commodity exhibiting a standardized design. 3. An artifact\nbearing a brand name (see, e.g., BIG MAC®) promoted in the media.
Usage: Like gestures, consumer products are informative, provocative, and highly\ncommunicative. Shoes, hats, and wrist watches, e.g., have a great deal to "say" about gender,\nidentity, and status. The make, model, and color of a new car reflect a buyer's personal tastes,\nmoods, and individuality.
\n
\nClutter. 1. "She [Marilyn Vondra, an opera singer] telephoned her clutter-support person a week later [after attending a 'Letting Go of Clutter' workshop] to say that, for the first time in some years, she had glimpsed the top of the coffee table. 'It's glass,' she said" (Dullea 1992:C1). 2. ". . . as experts will tell you, attachments to objects are emotional, never logical" (Dullea 1992:C6).
Design. Consumer goods "speak" via messaging features--expressive emblems,\ninsignia, and signs placed to stand out against more functional elements of a product's design. \nThe mouth-shape of a vehicular grille, e.g., which suggests an alert, angry, or tense face, has little bearing on automobile reliability, safety, or speed. The tiny\nflag-shaped tag on the derrière of Levi's® blue jeans, too, adds information rather\nthan durability to the product. (N.B.: Messaging features resemble the aromatic secondary\nproducts of herbs & spices, which evolved to communicate apart from the practical needs\nof plant metabolism, growth, and reproduction.)
\nEvolution. The earliest known products (dated to ca. 2.5 m.y.a.) are intentionally flaked Oldowan\npebble tools from Ethiopia, produced by our oldest-known human ancestor, Homo habilis. By\nca. 1.6 m.y.a., a more eloquent, fist-sized hand-axe, bearing a standardized, symmetrical, leaf-shaped design, was chipped in East Africa by Homo erectus. Since the Stone Age, the number of\nproducts invented and used by our species, Homo sapiens--from Silly Putty® to interstate\nhighways--has increased at a rate three times greater than biological evolution (Basalla 1988). As\nthe brain and body were shaped by natural selection, consumer goods adapted to the mind\nthrough a parallel process of product selection, which has rendered them ever more\nfluent, expressive, and fascinating to our senses.
\n
\nMaterialism. "The Gallup Organization revealed today the firsst scientific national poll of the world's most populous country, revealing a billion Chinese ambitious to become rich and buy millions of televisions, washing machines, refrigerators and videocassette recorders" (Mathews 1995:A13).
Media. Product selection in the modern age is shaped, intensified, and sped by electronic media\nthrough an ancient, imitative principle know as isopraxism. On January 31, 1993, e.g., broadcast\nimages of contented human beings gulping carbonated soft drinks reached an estimated 120\nmillion viewers of Super Bowl XXVII, many of whom later purchased products seen on TV.
\n
\nPackaging I. "A study by the DuPont Corporation showed that 78 percent of supermarket purchases were made as a result of package design and eye appeal" (Vargas 1986:143; note that packages are consumer products, as well).
\n
\nPackaging II. A singularly effective package is the Betty Crocker® cake mix box, introduced in 1954. "A close-up photo of the prepared cake, ideally colored, provides the background for an oval red spoon containing the logo. Ovals are more pleasing to the subconscious mind than shapes with sharp angles [by 1956, sales of Betty Crocker cake mixes had quadrupled]" (Vargas 1986:144).
\n
\nShopping. "In places like Poland and Hungary, the huge stores that have replaced drab, poorly stocked shops of the communist days are the busiest places in town on Sundays. Thousands of cars fill parking lots and couples with children, many dressed in their Sunday best, push carts filled with groceries, clothing, even appliances" (Stylinski 1998:A8).
\n
\nSpeech I. There is an evolutionary link between material artifacts and spoken language: "Evidence that 'archaic' Homo sapiens did indeed have cognitive control of hierarchically structured composite [speech] units comes from their tool technology. For the first time, hafted tools appear. These are composite tools, made from individual pieces put together and functioning as a whole" (Foley 1997:72; see MEDIA, Images and words; and SPEECH, Evolution I & II).
\n
\nSpeech II. Just as our species combines words into sentences, human beings also combine materials into products. The first known use of glue (a heat-treated asphalt) to join stone tools to wooden handles, e.g., dates back ca. 30,000 years to a Syrian archaeological site between the Palmyra and Euphrates rivers (Weiss 1996).\n
Writing. An evolutionary link between artifacts and writing exists as well: "Writing was invented [around 3300 B.C. in Sumer, in ancient Mesopotamia] to keep track of the storage or disbursement of commodities, and for several centuries it was used only for accounting purposes" (Anonymous 1992).
\n
\nRESEARCH REPORT: The number of everyday artifacts encountered in our lives has been\nestimated at between 20,000 and 30,000 manufactured objects (Petroski 1992).
\n
\n
Neuro notes I. We eagerly covet, collect, and consume material goods, which beckon to us\nas "gestures" from billboards, catalogues, and discount store shelves. Juice substitutes, women's shoes, and\nnew car smell, e.g., engage diverse areas of our brain to which they "speak." PET\nstudies show that we process object knowledge (i.e., the verbal labels for products) through many\nseparate brain areas linked by interconnected circuits called distributed systems.
\nNeuro notes II. Color words used to describe, e.g., a super bouncy ball come from our brain's\nventral temporal lobe, located in front of the "color area" on the inferior temporal cortex. \nMotion words for the ball's lively bounce, on the other hand, come from the middle temporal\ngyrus in front of the brain's "motion area," on the posterior parietal cortex (Martin et al. 1995:102). MRI research suggests that a large part of our neocortex is occupied by such processing\n"substations" for vision (Sereno et al. 1995:889). Thus, while super bouncy balls cannot actually\nspeak, their messaging features nonetheless engage multiple knowledge areas of our brain. Colorful balls have more to\n"say" than natural objects such as twigs and fallen leaves, because only the most expressive\nconsumer products survive.
\nSee also OBJECT FANCY, WWW.Target.com.
\n
\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
COURTSHIP
\n![\"A](\"court.jpg\")
\n
\nOnce I'm done with kindergarten, I'm going to find me a wife. --Tom (age 5)
\n
\nVivian put the moves on Victor. He resisted her at first, then warmed to her advances. By the time Kate resurfaced the next year on a fishing boat, Victor and Viv were in love. --Days of Our Lives (Soap Opera Digest synopsis, May 2, 2000, p. 48)
\n
\nNonverbal negotiation. To send and receive messages in an attempt to seek someone's favor or\nlove.
Usage: In all cultures, human beings attain the closeness of sexual intimacy through courtship, a\nslow negotiation, based on exchanges of nonverbal cues and words. All vertebrates from\nreptiles to primates reproduce through mating--via internal fertilization of the female's body. \nThrough its five phases (see LOVE SIGNAL), courtship is the means by which two\npeople close the physical gap and emotional distance between them to become a loving pair.
\nPrehistory. The word court traces to the ancient, Indo-European root, gher-, "to grasp, enclose."
\nSee also RAPPORT.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**COURTSHIP**\n\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/court.jpg\" height=\"50%\"\nwidth=\"25%\"}\\\n\\\n*Once I\\'m done with kindergarten, I\\'m going to find me a wife*. \\--Tom\n(age 5)\\\n\\\n*Vivian put the moves on Victor. He resisted her at first, then warmed\nto her advances. By the time Kate resurfaced the next year on a fishing\nboat, Victor and Viv were in love*. \\--*Days of Our Lives* (*Soap Opera\nDigest* synopsis, May 2, 2000, p. 48)\\\n\\\n*Nonverbal negotiation*. To send and receive\n[**messages**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/message.htm){target=\"_top\"}\nin an attempt to seek someone\\'s favor or\n**[love](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/love.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Usage*: In all cultures, human beings attain the closeness of sexual\nintimacy through courtship, a slow negotiation, based on exchanges of\n**[nonverbal\ncues](nvcom.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvcom.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** and\n**[words](word1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. All vertebrates from reptiles to primates reproduce\nthrough mating\\--via *internal fertilization* of the female\\'s body.\nThrough its five *phases* (see **[LOVE\nSIGNAL](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig.htm){target=\"_top\"}**),\ncourtship is the means by which two people close the physical gap and\nemotional distance between them to become a loving pair.\n\n*Prehistory*. The word *court* traces to the ancient, Indo-European\nroot, **gher-**, \\\"to grasp, enclose.\\\"\n\nSee also\n**[RAPPORT](rapport1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/rapport1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"CROUCH","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/crouch1.htm","html":"\n\n\nCROUCH
\n![\"Darwin's](\"crouch.jpg\")
\n
\nPrimeval posture. An originally protective body position, of great age, in which the limbs bend\nand the spinal column flexes forward, to press the arms, legs, and torso close to the ground (as in\ncowering).
Usage: Paleocircuits of the crouch posture underlie many gestures used today (see, e.g., BOW,\nHEAD-TILT-SIDE, and SHOULDER-SHRUG) to express a servile, submissive, or timid\nattitude, feeling, or mood.
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. In the dog: "Instead of walking upright, the body sinks downwards\nor even crouches, and is thrown into flexuous movements; his tail, instead of being held stiff and\nupright, is lowered and wagged from side to side; his hair instantly becomes smooth; his ears are\ndepressed and drawn backwards, but not closely to the head; and his lips hang loosely" (Darwin\n1872:56). 2. Crouching has been observed in subordinate bonnet macaques (Rahaman and\nParthasarathy 1968). 3. Motherless rhesus monkeys crouched and "showed symptoms similar to\ndisturbed mental patients" (Pugh 1977:200).
\nPaleontology I. The vertebrate crouch display is formed of ancient bending motions designed\nto remove animals from danger. A reflexive act, controlled by the spinal cord, bending the body\nmoves it away from hazards, reduces its exposed surface area, and makes it look "smaller." \nNonverbally, flexed body movements used to crouch lower to the ground predate extension\nmovements used to rise above its surface (see, e.g., HIGH-STAND DISPLAY); thus, our\nremote ancestors crouched before they stood tall.
\nPaleontology II. Crouching can be traced to an avoider's response which is tactile in origin,\nrather than visual, as in the high-stand display. So primitive is the crouch posture's flexor reflex\nthat it exists even in immature fish and amphibian larva. Stimulating the skin of these simple\ncreatures leads to side-to-side bending movements which, in a watery world, remove them from\ndangers signaled by the touch.
\nNeuro-notes. The crouch is keyed to paleocircuits formed of primitive, spinal-cord interneurons in charge\nof tactile withdrawal. Similar "tap withdrawal" movements have been observed even in\nspineless animals, such as the nematode worm. Working through pools of interneurons\ncontrolling the muscular stretch reflex, its body, like ours, automatically bends away from\ndanger.
\nAntonym: ANTIGRAVITY SIGN. See also PALM-UP.
\nCopyright 1999 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDrawing from Darwin 1872 (copyright 1998 by Oxford University Press)
PROXEMICS
\n![\"Bodies](\"proxemic.jpg\")
\n
\nI have learned to depend more on what people do than what they say in response to a direct\nquestion, to pay close attention to that which cannot be consciously manipulated, and to look for\npatterns rather than content. --Edward T. Hall (1968:83)
. . . Every cubic inch of space is a miracle. --Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass, "Miracles")
\n
\nThe desire for personal mobility seems to be unstoppable--it is, perhaps, the Irresistible Force. --Charles Lave (1992)
\n
\n
\nSpatial signs, signals and cues. According to its founder, Edward T. Hall, proxemics is the study of humankind's\n"perception and use of space" (Hall 1968:83).
Usage: Like facial expressions, gestures, and postures, space "speaks." The prime directive of\nproxemic space is that we may not come and go everywhere as we please. There are cultural\nrules and biological boundaries--explicit as well as implicit and subtle limits to observe--everywhere.
\nBody space I. Scientific research on how we communicate in private and public spaces\nbegan with studies of animal behavior (ethology) and territoriality in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In\n1959, the anthropologist Edward Hall popularized spatial research on human beings--calling it\nproxemics--in his classic book, The Silent Language.
\nBody space II. Hall identified four bodily distances--intimate (0 to 18 inches), personal-casual\n(1.5 to 4 feet), social-consultive (4 to 10 feet), and public (10 feet and beyond)--as key points in\nhuman spacing behavior. Hall noted, too, that different cultures set distinctive norms for closeness in, e.g., \nspeaking, business, and courting, and that standing too close or too far away can lead to\nmisunderstandings and even to culture shock.
\n
\nBody 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."
\n
\nCrowded 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).
\n
\nCrowded 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).
\n
\nCrowded 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).
\n
\nCulture. In Japan, one may hand prow (i.e., face the palm-edge of one hand vertically forward in front of the nose), and bow 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).
\n
\nElevator 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 and loud vocalizations" (Waal et al. 2000:81).
\n
\nEscalator 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).
\n
\nLibrary 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).
\n
\nParking 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.\tOffice 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\nworking in even smaller, modular, 80-square-foot cubicles. (N.B.: For some prehistoric context, consider\nthat our hunter-gatherer ancestors spent their workdays on an estimated 440-square-mile expanse\nof open savannah.) Cubicles replaced the more exposed, "pool" desks which had earlier lined the\nfloors of cavernous group-occupied workrooms. Though maligned in Dilbert cartoons, cubicles at least\nprovide more privacy than the 1950s open workrooms, and offer needed respite from visual monitoring (which is known to be stressful to human primates).
\n
\nOffice space II.\t"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).
\n
\nRestaurant 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\nof an average-sized, 2,000-square-foot residences called a home (from the Indo-European root,\ntkei-, "settle" or "site"). (N.B.: Because there is no counterpart in primate evolution for a life lived\nentirely indoors, we bring the outdoors in. Thus, better homes and gardens include obvious replicas, as well as\nsubtle reminders, of the original savanna-grassland territory, including its warmth, lighting, colors,\nvistas, textures, and plants.)
\n
\nHome 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." \nThat we are terribly territorial is reflected in fences by the barriers they define. According\nto the American Fencing Association, 38,880 miles of chain link, 31,680 miles of wooden, and\n1,440 miles of ornamental fencing are bought annually in the U.S. (N.B.: Each year Americans\nbuy enough residential fencing to encircle the earth nearly three times.)
\nCity space I. Biologists call the space in which primates live their home range. The home range of\nhuman hunter-gatherers (e.g., of the Kalahari Bushmen in southern Africa) spreads outward ca. 15-to-20 miles in all\ndirections from a central home base. The home range of today's city dwelling humans \nincludes a home base (an apartment or a house) as well, along with favored foraging territories (e.g., a\nshopping mall and supermarket), a juvenile nursery (i.e., a school), a sporting area (e.g., a golf course), a work\nspace (an office building, e.g.)--and from two-to-five nocturnal drinking-and-dining spots. We\nspend most of our lives a. occupying these favorite spaces, and b. orbiting among them on habitually\ntraveled pathways, sidewalks, and roads.
\nCity 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).
\n
\nNational space. We live in one of ca. 160 sovereign nations which together claim 54% of earth's\nsurface, including almost all of its land and much of its oceans, waterways, and airspace. Over\nninety percent of all nations, including the U.S., have unresolved border disputes (see 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
\n
\nU.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).
\n
\nNeuro-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 (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, Climbing cues).
\n
\nNeuro-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.
\n
\nSee also ANGULAR DISTANCE, CONFERENCE TABLE, LOOM,\nSTEINZOR EFFECT, TOUCH CUE.
Copyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nPhoto by Sanford Roth (copyright Rapho Guillumette)
\n
CUT-OFF
\n![\"Facing](\"cutoff.jpg\")
\n
\n
\nBody movement. A form of gaze avoidance in which the head is turned fully away to one side.
Usage: In a conversation, a sudden cut-off gesture may indicate uncertainty or disagreement\nwith a speaker's remarks. Sustained cut-off may reveal shyness or disliking.
\nSalesmanship. One signal of a prospect's skepticism: "Looking suddenly up and to the side" (Delmar 1984:46).
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Facing away is a reaction to spatial invasion (Sommer 1969). 2.\n"After the host and the various guests embraced, they backed off and one or both always looked\naway. [Adam] Kendon calls this the cut-off and thinks it may be an equilibrium-maintaining\ndevice [to re-establish a proper level of intimacy]" (Davis 1971:46). 3. ". . . we have repeatedly\nseen in normal 3- to 4-month-old infants extreme head aversion function to terminate intrusive\nmaternal behavior" (Stern 1974:188-89). 4. "In all cases [in the presence of strange adults] boys\nturn their heads away to the side more than do girls" (Stern and Bender 1974:241). 5. Gaze\naversion "increased dramatically" in conditions of crowding (Baxter and Rozelle 1975:46).
\n
\n
Copyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nPhoto detail copyright 1978 by Johnson & Johnson
DANCE
\n![\"Sharing](\"dance.jpg\")
\n
\nThe body dances in time with the speech. --Condon and Ogston (1967:225)
The truest expression of a people is its dances and its music. Bodies never lie. --Agnes de Mille
\n
\nBody motion. A repetitive series of usually rhythmic movements of the body and body parts\n(esp. feet, hands, and shoulders) to a musical beat, based on the alternating oscillations of\nwalking.
Usage: An ancient and powerful medium of nonverbal communication, dance is a nearly universal venue of\nhuman courtship. Dance not only synchronizes a couple's physical movements (e.g., as they move to the beat of the same drummer), but their\nmoods and feelings as well. Some dance forms (e.g., break dancing, military marching, and the tribal\nwar dance) stimulate strong feelings of togetherness and esprit de corps through the reptilian\nprinciple of isopraxism.
\n
\nAnthropology. "One field which still awaits exploration is the squestion [sic] of how far a dominant kinesthetic awareness of certain parts of the body is related to psychological factors. If posture and movement of an individual are closely interdependent with his psychological state, would not stylized posture and gesture in the dance of a people be relevant to a general psychological trend in their life?" (Holt and Bateson 1944:52; the authors contrast, e.g., "rhythmic, rotating movements of the pelvic region" with "rigid" postures of the torso and hips in dancing).
Motions. The human form is more noticeable when moved. Thus, dancers not only\nattract attention of partners but of onlookers as well. Through (usually) palm-down\nmotions, the arms participate in dance as "walking forelimbs." Exaggerated reaching (i.e.,\nextension) movements of the arms (e.g., while waving the hands high above the head) signal strong\nemotions through the principle of nonverbal release (see, e.g., ATNR). In dancing, a. we show our\nemotions and physical prowess (i.e., health), while b. giving our partners an opportunity to touch.
\n
\nPopular culture. When Joey Dee and the Starlighters played loud music with a beat at the Peppermint Lounge in New York in the 1960s, "even the waitresses were twisting" (Sutton 1984:33).
\n
\nNeuro-notes I. The oscillating movements and rhythmic footsteps of dance are keyed to a\ntwo-point pedestrian beat. The natural rhythm of our upright, bipedal gait is coordinated by\nthe same spinal paleocircuits which programmed the oscillatory swimming motions of the early\nfishes (Grillner 1996; see AQUATIC BRAIN & SPINAL CORD).
Neuro-notes II. In right-handed dancers, music appeals to the more emotional, intuitive, and \nnonverbal right-brain hemisphere. Thus, dancing couples are on simlar feeling (rather than thinking) wavelengths .
\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt (copyright Life)
DECEPTION CUE
\n
\n![\"A](\"deceive.jpg\")
\n
\nCarly returns to Sonny, who masks his relief over her return. --General Hospital (Soap Opera Digest, May 2, 2000, p. 104)
\n
\nAs a child, I never could understand how my mother knew every time I told her a lie. --Marjorie F. Vargas (1986:12)
\n
\n
\nGesture. A nonverbal sign of verbal deceit, untruth, or lying.
Usage: A long-standing goal of nonverbal research has been to find reliable signs of deception. \nThe quest is fueled by popular and scientific observations that deceit often is accompanied by\nunconscious signals revealing anxiety, stress, or shame while lying. Studies indicate that certain\nsigns used when speaking (e.g., a. gaze-down and b. the rate of head and hand movements)\ndo accompany lies. (N.B.: At the least, deception cues present probing points with which to\nguide inquiry regarding possible lies, much as galvanic skin resistance [see SWEATY PALMS] in tandem with physiological breathing and heart rates are used to measure autonomic stress in a polygraph test.)
\n
\nCaution. Nonverbal cues may be used as reliable indicators of anxiety and stress (see BASELINE DEMEANOR), but the nervousness itself does not necessarily indicate deception or lying (see below, Media).
\n
\nChimpanzee deception. In the broadest sense of the term, "deception" is rife in the animal kingdom. Nonpoisonous flies and snakes, e.g., may adopt the warning marks and coloration of poisonous species to seem, deceptively, more harmful than they are in fact (see also LOOM). The ability to deceive is highly evolved in primates (see below, Nonhuman primates). Our close animal relative, the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes), e.g., is gifted in the art of deception: 1. A young male, Dandy, withheld nonverbal cues of excitement to deceive other chimpanzees as to the location of hidden grapefruit, which Dandy subsequently consumed all by himself (Waal 1982). 2. A 9-year old male, Figan, withheld nonverbal food calls to conceal a bunch of bananas, which Figan subsequently consumed all by himself (Goodall 1986). 3. An adult male, Luit, pressed his lips together with his hand in an apparent attempt to hide the submissive fear grin he had given his rival, Nikki (Waal 1982).
\n
\nEvolution. "If we speculate about the evolution of communication, it is evident that a very important stage in this evolution occurs when the organism gradually ceases to respond quite 'automatically' to the mood signs of another and becomes able to recognize the sign as a signal: that is, to recognize that the other individual's and its own signals are only signals, which can be trusted, distrusted, falsified, denied, amplified, corrected, and so forth" (Bateson 1955:40).
\n
\nLiterature. "If you had a hundred masks upon your face, your thoughts however slight would not be hidden from me." --Dante Alighieri (Purgatorio, Canto XV).
\n
\nMedia. "Another factor that makes it difficult to detect lies is that 'the fear of being disbelieved looks the same as the fear of being caught lying,' he [Dr. Paul Ekman] said" (Goleman, New York Times, C9, Sept. 17, 1991).
\n
\nNonhuman primates. In primates, "tactical deception" may include concealment, distraction, creating an image, manipulation, and deflection (Quiatt and Reynolds 1993:158-59).
\n
\nNonverbal changes. According to Mark Knapp, Judee Burgoon, and G. Miller, ". . . changes in nonverbal behavior during deception consistently occur in six behavioral categories: (a) cues indicating underlying anxiety or nervousness, (b) cues indicating underlying reticence or withdrawal (including nonimmediacy), (c) excessive behaviors that deviate from the liar's truthful response patterns, (d) cues showing underlying negative affect, (e) cues showing underlying vagueness or uncertainty, and (f) incongruous responses or mixed messages" (Burgoon et al. 1989:270).
\n
\nO. J. Simpson's murder trial. 1. Listening to testimony about the location of his knit cap, Mr. Simpson visibly protested what he knew to be false. 2. Listening to testimony accusing him of the murder of his wife, Mr. Simpson showed no visible protest and remained completely motionless in his seat. 3. Why the stark contrast in his nonverbal demeanor? (N.B.: You be the judge.)
\n
\nPalm-up. "Pilot studies had suggested that a particular emblem, the hand shrug [a palm-up cue] which has the meaning of helplessness or inability . . . would appear as a clue to the occurrence of deception. . . . . In this instance, we expected that the hand-shrug emblem was occurring as a nonverbal slip of the tongue, with little awareness on the part of the subject, and that it was a deception cue" (Ekman and Friesen 1972:367).
\n
\nSelf-touch. "We think the [hand-to-face] eyecover [of] shame expresses her main affective reaction to the two verbal themes, being hospitalized and having aggressive impulses" (Ekman and Friesen 1968:207; Author's Note: In the figure used to illustrate the eyecover cue, the subject is also gazing downward and touching her forehead with her hand).
\n
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Deliberate control of body movement and the mental energy\nrequired to fabricate a lie have been suggested to explain the general research finding that fewer\nbody movements occur with deception (Vrij et al. 1966). 2. Lower rates of head nodding "are\nassociated with deceitful communication" (Mehrabian 1972:102). 3. Three ". . . extensive reviews of the data . . . showed that several nonverbal cues are, in fact, consistently related to deception" (Burgoon et al. 1989:270). "Deceivers display increased pupil dilation [see EYES], blinking rates, and adaptors [i.e., self-touching], more segments of body behavior, and fewer segments of facial behavior" (Burgoon et al. 1989:271). 4. Paul Ekman suggests that one should ". . . never reach a final conclusion about whether a suspect is lying or truthful based solely on either the polygraph or behavioral clues to deceit" (Ekman 1992:238; italics are the author's). 5. People make "fewer hand\nmovements during deception compared to truth-telling" (Vrij et al. 1997:97).
\n
\nSTUDY ABSTRACT: \n"Research on the detection of deception, via non-verbal cues, has shown that people's ability to successfully discriminate between truth and deception is only slightly better than chance level. One of the reasons for these disappointing findings possibly lies in people's inappropriate beliefs regarding lying behaviour. A 64-item questionnaire originally used in Germany, which targets participants beliefs regarding truthful and deceptive behaviour, was used. The present study differed from previous research in three ways: (i) instead of a student population, police officers and lay people were sampled, (ii) both people's beliefs regarding others deceptive behaviour and their beliefs regarding their own deceptive behaviour were examined, and (iii) both non-verbal cues to, and content characteristics of, deceptive statements were examined. Results were consistent with previous studies, which found significant differences between people's beliefs regarding deceptive behaviour and experimental observations of actual deceptive behaviour. Further, police officers held as many false beliefs as did lay people and finally, participants were more accurate in their beliefs regarding their own deceptive behaviour than they were in their beliefs regarding others behaviour" (Akehurst et al. 1996:461; © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.).
See also EYE-BLINK, FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT, SHOULDER-SHRUG.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo by Ernst Haas (copyright Magnum)
Hand position. 1. A manner of grasping an object securely between the inner surfaces of the\nfingers (i.e., the tactile pads) and the palm. 2. A "proprietary" clasp usually intermediate between the precision grip and the\npower grip. 3. A clear indication that a customer has decided to purchase (i.e., to take\nownership of) a hand-held consumer product such as a book, magazine, or greeting card.
\nUsage I: The decision grip is a nonverbal sign showing that one's mind has decided to take possession of an artifact or\nobject. After an exploratory waiting period (reflected by holding a consumer product, e.g., in the tentative precision grip), we unwittingly grasp the item in a\ndecision grip--which maximizes contact between the item itself and the sensitive tactile pads--as if it were already a personal possession or a belonging.
\n
\nUsage II: When a larger consumer product, such as a computer scanner or a table lamp, is placed in a shopping cart, the prospective owner may grasp the cart's handrail in a decision (rather than in the usual power) grip. Holding the cart in this manner reflects the emotional power exerted by consumer products.
\n
\nNeuro-notes. Using our sensitive fingertips as tactile antennae, we initially probe an objects with the precision grip, keeping it "at a distance" (because, psychologically, it is not yet "ours"). But as the mind takes ownership, we clutch the product between our fingers and palm in a proprietary clasp before taking\nfull acquisition at the checkstand. Handling objects in the decision grip stimulates\ntactile sensors (e.g., for pleasurable "soft," or protopathic, touch) and pleasure areas linked to grooming centers of the mammalian brain's cingulate gyrus.
See also HANDS, OBJECT FANCY.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n
EFFERENT CUE
\nAttendez! Por ejemplo!! Place the fingers of your right hand extended. Distend the thumb of your right hand until it touches your nose. The little finger of your right hand is stretched venomously towards the world. You say nothing but you think much, and that is that. The gesture is made; and an ugly world is scoffed. --John D. Williams (1926:8; see below, The Shanghai gesture)
\n
\n
\nNeuro term. 1. A nonverbal sign sent, as opposed to one received (see AFFERENT CUE). 2. \nAn outgoing sign produced, e.g., by a body movement, clothing cue, consumer product,\nglandular secretion (e.g., apocrine odor, sweaty palms, tears), hair style, nonverbal vocalization\n(e.g., cry, laugh, whine), posture, recipe (e.g., Big Mac®, Coca-Cola®, shrimp cocktail), or speech error.
\n
\nUsage: Conceptually, efferent and afferent reflect the two sides of every nonverbal sign: (1)\negress (i.e., as an out-bound cue to be produced) and (2) ingress (i.e., as an in-bound cue to be\nprocessed).
The Shanghai gesture. "The gesture [see epigraph above] is useful. It is comforting. It does something for you and to you, because the world cannot answer--in kind--if you make the gesture first" (Williams 1926:8).
\n
\nNeuro-note: Efferent cues reflect a. inner thoughts (produced, e.g., in tandem with the speech areas), and b. inner workings of the nonverbal brain.
See also CUE, INFORMATION, MESSAGING FEATURE.
\nCopyright© 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**EFFERENT CUE**\n\n*Attendez! Por ejemplo!! Place the fingers of your right hand extended.\nDistend the thumb of your right hand until it touches your nose. The\nlittle finger of your right hand is stretched venomously towards the\nworld. You say nothing but you think much, and that is that. The gesture\nis made; and an ugly world is scoffed*. \\--John D. Williams (1926:8; see\nbelow, *The Shanghai gesture*)\\\n\\\n\\\n*Neuro term*. **1.** A nonverbal sign *sent*, as opposed to one\n*received* (see **[AFFERENT\nCUE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/afferent.htm){target=\"_top\"}**).\n**2.** An outgoing sign produced, e.g., by a **[body\nmovement](bodymov1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodymov1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, **[clothing\ncue](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/adorn.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[consumer\nproduct](consprod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, glandular secretion (e.g., **[apocrine\nodor](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/apocrine.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[sweaty\npalms](sweaty1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/sweaty1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**,\n**[tears](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cry.htm){target=\"_top\"}**),\n**[hair\nstyle](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/haircue.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n[**nonverbal\nvocalization**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tone.htm){target=\"_top\"}\n(e.g.,\n**[cry](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cry.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[laugh](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/laugh.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nwhine),\n**[posture](posture1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/posture1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, recipe (e.g., **[Big\nMac](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/bigmac.htm){target=\"_top\"}**®****,\n**[Coca-Cola](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/cocacola.htm){target=\"_top\"}**®****,\n**[shrimp\ncocktail](shellfis.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/shellfis.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**), or **[speech\nerror](sperrors.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/sperrors.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\\\n\\\n*Usage*: Conceptually, *efferent* and *afferent* reflect the two sides\nof every nonverbal sign: (1) *egress* (i.e., as an out-bound cue to be\nproduced) and (2) *ingress* (i.e., as an in-bound cue to be processed).\n\n*The Shanghai gesture*. \\\"The gesture \\[see epigraph above\\] is useful.\nIt is comforting. It does something for you and to you, because the\nworld cannot answer\\--in kind\\--if you make the gesture first\\\"\n(Williams 1926:8).\\\n\\\n*Neuro-note*: Efferent cues reflect **a.** inner thoughts (produced,\ne.g., in tandem with the speech areas), and **b.** inner workings of the\n**[nonverbal\nbrain](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvbrain.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nSee also\n**[CUE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/cue.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[INFORMATION](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/info.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[MESSAGING\nFEATURE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/messafea.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright**©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"ENTERIC BRAIN","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/enteric1.htm","html":"\n\n\nENTERIC BRAIN
\n![\"Enteric](\"enteric.jpg\")
\n
\nEver since you gave me that order to be silent, a number of things in my stomach have gone to rot . . . . --Sancho Panza (Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote [1605:161])
\n
\nChomsky's linguistics was beginning to strike many people as "a theory of the stomach which ignored digestion." --David Berreby (1994)
\n\n
\nI don't like shopping, especially in a mall. I get dizzy and it makes me want to toss my cookies. --Nancy Lee Grahn, "Alexis," General Hospital (Soap Opera Digest, May 2, 2000:57)
\n
\nNeuro term. A vast collection of nerve cells and paleocircuits in the bowel area, of such\ncomplexity that it has recently been called the "second brain."
Usage: In many ways independent of the brain proper--i.e., having a mind of its own--the enteric\nbrain expresses itself nonverbally as visible "gut reactions." The "full" feeling of satisfaction, the\n"sick" feeling of nausea, the urge to vomit, and abdominal pain, e.g., are telegraphed through familiar facial\nexpressions and body movements.
\n
\nCulture. In the Japanese art of shinyo, one may cultivate the nonverbal skills of an awareness center called the hara, a region of the abdomen, diaphram, and stomach, which may be trained to process "gut feelings" about another person's unvoiced motivations and moods. "It is the primary way in which senior level Japanese officials and executives conduct business, and takes precedence over almost all other forms of decision-making. It does not consist of ‘winging it' based on generally ill-defined intuition; rather it is a skill and art which sets some people apart from all others in Japanese society and consists of learning and skills which are in some ways closely guarded secrets even today" (Drake 2000).
Goethe's biology. "Much of the ungulate's soul life--despite its undoubted intensity and power--does not appear at the surface, because it is too much involved in the processes of digestion and growth to establish any close relationship with the outside world" [Schadt, p. 226]. \n
\nNeuro-notes I. In terms of its structures, functions, and neurochemicals, the enteric nervous\nsystem (ENS) is now regarded as "a brain unto itself." According to Gershon (1998), "Within those yards of tubing\nlies a complex web of microcircuitry driven by more neurotransmitters and neuromodulators than\ncan be found anywhere else in the peripheral nervous system. These allow the ENS to perform\nmany of its tasks in the absence of central nervous system (CNS) control . . . ."
\nNeuro-notes II. Though the vagus nerve controls much of the ENS, the latter itself dictates how\nto perform most of its diverse functions.
\nSee also DISGUST, NONVERBAL BRAIN, REST-AND-DIGEST, SPECIAL VISCERAL\nNERVE.
\n
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
ERGONOMICS OF THE MIND
\n
\n![\"Smooth](\"ergo1.jpg\")
\n
\nConcept. 1. The application of neuroscience principles to consumer product design. 2. Design features a. adapted specifically to the brain and nervous system, and b. intended to optimize product\nappeal, enjoyment, and value (see, e.g., new car smell). 3. Emotional messaging features\nadded to make products more expressive (e.g., more "lively") and fun to use.
Usage: Ergonomics of the mind means "user friendly to the brain." For the last 100,000 years, human beings have designed products so as to maximize their appeal to emotions, feelings, and moods. Today we form strong attachments to products\nwhich express themselves, show attitude, and emote personality (see, e.g., BIG MAC, BLUE JEANS, VEHICULAR STRIPE).
\n![\"Smooth](\"ergo2.jpg\")
\n
\nFamiliarity. We prefer those products we have already seen, tasted, heard, felt, or smelled to those yet unexperienced. According to research by Robert Zajonc (1980): \n"If subjects are exposed to some novel visual patterns (like Chinese ideograms) and then asked to\nchoose whether they prefer the previously exposed or new patterns, they reliably tend to prefer\nthe preexposed ones. Mere exposure to stimuli is enough to create preferences" (quoted in LeDoux,\n1996:53). Subliminal mere exposure works, too: "This led him [Robert Bornstein] to conclude\nthat the mere exposure effect is much stronger when the stimuli are subliminally presented than\nwhen the stimuli are freely available for conscious inspection" (LeDoux, 1996:59).
\n
\nColor. We like multi-hued products. Like our primate relatives, we have acute color vision and can recognize\nca. 200 specific hues, from fiery reds to violet blues. (N.B.: The color green strongly attracts our attention, and is used in traffic lights, under the first\nand last steps of escalators, and in rented bowling shoes.)
\n
\nTouch. We like products that feel smooth and soft to the touch. When a silk scarf, e.g., is drawn across our palm, the "soft" sensation is carried by free nerve\nendings, the oldest touch sensors found in vertebrate skin. Today, the soft or protopathic touch sensors found in hairless areas of our skin are partly responsible for our itching, tickling, and sexual sensations.
\n
\nSee also ARTIFACT, OBJECT FANCY, VEHICULAR GRILLE.
\n
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nTop illustration: A native American atlatl (spear-thrower) weight from Ohio, dated between 2600-2400 BC (Scarre 1993:101; copyright Dorling Kinderslee)
EXPECTANCY THEORY
\nConceptual model. The hypothesis--also known as expectancy communication or interpersonal expectancy effects--that a person's nonverbal communication unwittingly\nscripts a recipient's behavior, deportment, or performance in the manner of a self-fulfilling\nprophecy.
\nUsage I: Displayed nonverbally, a teacher's positive expectancies for certain chosen students \nencourages them to work harder and get better grades.
\nUsage II: A judge's body language can transmit negative signals (e.g., gaze cut-off, tense-mouth, and tongue-show), which may inadvertently influence jurors to decide against a defense\nattorney's case.
\nSalesmanship. "As in most areas concerning the sales confrontation, the salesperson will be viewed and treated largely according to how he expects to be treated" (Delmar 1984:31).
\n
\nClever Hans. As primates we are highly responsive to nonverbal cues, and thus susceptible to\nthe "Clever Hans" phenomenon (Pfungst 1911):
\n\nOnce upon a 19th-century time, there lived a world-famous horse named Clever Hans,\nwho displayed amazing mathematical ability. If somebody asked him to add, say, five\nplus seven, Hans would faithfully stomp 12 times, astounding all present. For years,\npuzzled scientists were baffled by how the animal could add and subtract. One Oskar\nPfungst solved the riddle at last. According to Pfungst, Clever Hans looked closely at his\nhuman audience for subtle body cues [e.g., of the eyes and head] telling him when to stop tapping his hoof. Tiny\nkinesic signs alone sufficed (Givens 1981:56).
\n
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Research has shown that "nonverbal cues play an enormous role in\nsignaling interpersonal expectations, often within the first 30 seconds of an interaction" (Burgoon\net al. 1989:448). 2. Relaxed postures, dominance displays, leg movements, head-nodding,\nsmiling, and "interested" facial expressions may show positive expectations; while head-shaking,\neyebrow-raising, looking surprised or disappointed, and tapping a pencil may show negative\nexpectations (Burgoon et al. 1989).
\nSee also ISOPRAXISM.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)\t
\n\n","markdown":"**EXPECTANCY THEORY**\n\n*Conceptual model*. The hypothesis\\--also known as *expectancy\ncommunication* or *interpersonal expectancy effects*\\--that a person\\'s\nnonverbal communication unwittingly scripts a recipient\\'s behavior,\ndeportment, or performance in the manner of a *self-fulfilling\nprophecy*.\n\n*Usage I*: Displayed nonverbally, a teacher\\'s positive expectancies for\ncertain chosen students encourages them to work harder and get better\ngrades.\n\n*Usage II*: A judge\\'s **[body\nlanguage](bodylan1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodylan1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** can transmit negative signals (e.g., *gaze*\n***[cut-off](cutoff1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/cutoff1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***,\n***[tense-mouth](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tensemou.htm){target=\"_top\"}***,\nand\n***[tongue-show](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tonguesh.htm){target=\"_top\"}***),\nwhich may inadvertently influence jurors to decide against a defense\nattorney\\'s case.\n\n*Salesmanship*. \\\"As in most areas concerning the sales confrontation,\nthe salesperson will be viewed and treated largely according to *how he\nexpects to be treated*\\\" (Delmar 1984:31).\\\n\\\n*Clever Hans*. As\n**[primates](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/primate.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nwe are highly responsive to nonverbal cues, and thus susceptible to the\n\\\"Clever Hans\\\" phenomenon (Pfungst 1911):\n\n> Once upon a 19^th^-century time, there lived a world-famous horse\n> named Clever Hans, who displayed amazing mathematical ability. If\n> somebody asked him to add, say, five plus seven, Hans would faithfully\n> stomp 12 times, astounding all present. For years, puzzled scientists\n> were baffled by how the animal could add and subtract. One Oskar\n> Pfungst solved the riddle at last. According to Pfungst, Clever Hans\n> looked closely at his human audience for subtle body cues \\[e.g., of\n> the eyes and head\\] telling him when to stop tapping his hoof. Tiny\n> **[kinesic](kinesic1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/kinesic1.htm\"\n> target=\"_top\"}** signs alone sufficed (Givens 1981:56).\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** Research has shown that \\\"nonverbal cues\nplay an enormous role in signaling interpersonal expectations, often\nwithin the first 30 seconds of an interaction\\\" (Burgoon et al.\n1989:448). **2.** Relaxed postures, dominance displays, leg movements,\n**[head-nodding](headnod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headnod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, smiling, and \\\"interested\\\" facial expressions may\nshow positive expectations; while\n**[head-shaking](headshak.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headshak.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, eyebrow-raising, looking surprised or disappointed,\nand tapping a pencil may show negative expectations (Burgoon et al.\n1989).\n\nSee also\n[**ISOPRAXISM**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/isoprax.htm){target=\"_top\"}.\n\nCopyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"EYEBROW-LOWER","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/browlow1.htm","html":"\n\n\nEYEBROW-LOWER
\n\n![\"Tough-Guy](\"browlow.jpg\")
\n
\nFacial expression. 1. To frown or scowl, as in anger,\nconcentration, displeasure, or thought. 2. To depress, knit,\npucker, or wrinkle the brow by contracting the corrugator,\nprocerus, and orbicularis oculi muscles.
Usage: Lowering the eyebrows is a sensitive indicator of \n disagreement, doubt, or uncertainty.
\n\nObservation. Slightly lowered eyebrows may telegraph unvoiced\ndisagreement among colleagues, as comments are presented at a\nconference table.
\n\n\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. ". . .many kinds of monkeys, especially\nbaboons, when angered or in any way excited, rapidly and\nincessantly move their eyebrows up and down. . ." (Darwin\n1872:138). 2. In nursery school children, attacks "are often\npreceded and accompanied by fixating the opponent and by what\nlooks like a frown with lowering of the eyebrows and rather\nlittle vertical furrowing of the brow ('low frown') and no\nconspicuous modification of the mouth expression" (Blurton Jones\n1967:355). 3. Blind-and-deaf-born children frown in anger (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1971:12). 4. Lowered brows show anger (Ekman and Friesen 1976). \n5. "Puzzlement was displayed by curving the mouth downward,\nlowering the eyebrows and eyelids, dropping the jaw, and\nconstricting the forehead muscles" (Burgoon et al. 1989:352). 6. "A series of recent studies finds that men and women in a group situation are more likely to respond to female leaders with scowls and frowns, while smiling and nodding at male leaders who say the same thing" [Manpower Comments, May 1990:19].
\n\n\nNeuro-notes. A gestural fossil, the lowered-brows cue is innervated by special visceral nerves, originally designed for feeding. The expression is emotionally responsive today as it\nreflects visceral sensations (i.e., "gut feelings") aroused, e.g., by aggression or anger. In effect,\nwe lower our eyebrows to protect our eye openings, a form of "nonverbal lock-down." Emotional\nstimuli pass from higher brain centers to brain-stem nuclei below, where the facial nerve (cranial VII) arises in a special visceral motor column of the pons.
\n\n\nSee also CRY, EYEBROW-RAISE, HAT.
\n\n\nCopyright 1999 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nPhoto detail of Humphrey Bogart, from Warner Bros. movie, The Roaring Twenties (copyright Kobal Collection, London)
EYEBROW-RAISE
\n![\"Supercilious\"](\"browrais.jpg\")
\n
\n. . . the vast corrugated brow overhanging the proud eyes . . . . --Joseph Conrad (Lord Jim)
\n
\nFacial expression. 1. To lift the arch of short hairs above the\neye, as in uncertainty, disbelief, surprise, or exasperation. 2.\nTo elevate the eyebrow by contracting the occipitofrontalis\nmuscle.
Usage I: Raising the eyebrows adds intensity to a facial\nexpression. Brow-raising can strengthen a dominant stare,\nexaggerate a submissive pout, or boost the energy of a smile. \nThe involved muscle (occipitofrontalis) elevates the eyebrows to\nform prominent, horizontal furrows in the forehead, making almost\nany gesture look and feel stronger.
\nUsage II: In tandem with head-tilt-back, raising one or both \neyebrows suggests a supercilious air of disdain, haughtiness, or\npride. (N.B.: "Supercilious" comes from the Latin word for\n"eyebrow," supercilium.) We may unconsciously lift our eyebrows as we\ngive orders, argue important speaking points, or make demands.
\n
\nAnatomy. Our face evolved as a signboard to display emotions\nwelling from the mammalian brain. Facial messages are\ncontrolled by the facial nerve (cranial VII). Its nucleus has\nboth an upper and a lower component; the former lifts\nand depresses our eyebrows. When we feel happy, e.g., our limbic\nbrain stimulates cranial VII, which innervates\nthe forehead muscles to raise our brows.
Media. 1. "[Phil] Donahue has a characteristic way of raising his eyebrows which draws attention to his eyes which are directed to the [TV] viewers" (Raffler-Engel 1984:12). 2. To convey authority and show strong emotion,\ntelevangelists raise their eyebrows and project their foreheads'\nhorizontal lines onto the video screen for added dramatic effect.
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Eyebrow-raise is a threat sign in baboons,\nmandrills, and cebus monkeys (Andrew 1965; van Hooff 1967). 2.\nThe eyebrow-flash of recognition is a worldwide friendly greeting\n(Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1989; Morris 1994). 3. One eyebrow raised (as in\nthe eyebrow cock) is a widespread sign of scepticism (Morris\n1994).
\nNeuro-notes. Brow-raising is mediated by the top part of cranial VII's motor nucleus, which contains\ncells to innervate the contraction of muscles in the upper part of\nour face. The top part receives bilateral input from both sides\nof the cerebral neocortex, rather than unilaterally (as in the bottom part of\nthe nucleus, which controls the muscles of the lower half of our\nface).
\nSee also EYEBROW-LOWER.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo copyright by Linda McCartney.
A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked nervously at the fringe of her jacket. --Arthur Conan Doyle ("A Case of Identity")
\n
\nNote whether she changes color while you are giving her my message . . . --Don Quixote to Sancho Panza (Cervantes 1605:566)
\n
\nEmotion cue. Becoming red or rosy in the face from physical exercise, embarrassment, shyness, anger, or shame.
Usage: Facial flushing or blushing is elicited by social stimuli, e.g., as one a. becomes the focus\nof attention in a group, b. is asked to speak in public, or c. experiences stranger anxiety. Suddenly the face, ears, and neck (and in extreme cases, the entire upper chest) redden,\ncausing further embarrassment still.
\n
\nAnatomy. Blushing is caused by sudden arousal of the sympathetic nervous system, which dilates\nthe small blood vessels of the face and body (see FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT).
\n
\nEthology. "Flushing, contrary to popular belief, is never seen in a purely aggressive individual; it is a sign of actual or possible defeat" (Brannigan and Humphries 1969:407).
\n
\nMedicine. Some people blush uncontrollably in almost any social situation, and suffer such\nembarrassment that they undergo surgery to interrupt sympathetic nervous supply to their faces. \nIn a thorascopic sympathicotomy, an incision is made through the arm pit into the thoracic cavity to\nsever a sympathetic nerve located close to the spine. (N.B.: Embarrassing sweaty palms\nmay be controlled the same way.)
Observation. One of the first signs of anger is an uncontrollable reddening of the ears.
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "In most cases the face, ears and neck are the sole parts which\nredden; but many persons, whilst blushing intensely, feel that their whole bodies grow hot and\ntingle. . ." (Darwin 1872:312). 2. The red face (accompanied by overhand beating and\nscreaming) has been observed in nursery school children who were motivated to attack but did\nnot actually do so (i.e., they seemed "defeated"; Blurton Jones 1967:355). 3. "[Michael] Lewis\nsuggests that embarrassment is first seen between the ages of two and two and a half" (Ekman\n1998:311). 4. "There is general agreement among contemporary researchers that attention to the\nself is the cause of blushing" (Ekman 1998:324).
\nSee also EYE-BLINK, FLASHBULB EYES.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of portrait Mr. S. Vaughan (copyright 1845 by Sheldon Peck)
FACIAL I.D.
\n
\n![\"Mug](\"facialid.jpg\")
\n
\nIdentification. Those definitive features of a face with which to establish its age, sex,\nattractiveness, and identity.
Usage: Despite an advanced ability to recognize and recall thousands of faces (see FACIAL\nRECOGNITION), we are unable to describe individual faces adequately in words. Witnesses\nat crime scenes, e.g., offer police few verbal clues of facial I.D.
\n\n\nIdentity clues. Our brain's innate ability to recognize faces far exceeds that of any spoken\nlanguage to describe them. Identity clues used by the Chicago Police, e.g., consist of general, all-purpose\nwords such as a. high, low, wide, and narrow foreheads; b. smooth, creased, and wrinkled skin; c.\nlong, wide, flat, pug, and Roman noses; d. wide, narrow, and flared nostrils; e. sunken, filled-out,\ndried, oily, and wrinkled cheeks; f. prominent, high, low, wide, and fleshy cheek bones; g.\ncorners-turned-up, down, and level for the mouth; h. thin, medium, and full upper and lower lips;\ni. double chin, protruding Adam's apple, and hanging jowls for necks; and j. round, oval,\npointed, square, small, and double chins.
\n\n\n\nPrehistory. That linguistic labels for the face pale in comparison to those for consumer products (see, e.g., FOOTWEAR) is because our primate face "speaks for itself" and has done\nso for millions of years. The need to describe faces in words is a recent development dating back\nonly a few thousand years to adaptations for city life, i.e., for urban crime and increasing numbers of strangers. \n(N.B.: Recognizing and remembering faces involves emotion centers of the brain, which are addressed\nonly indirectly by speech centers.)
\n\n\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Researchers have isolated facial traits preferred, perhaps, by all\nhuman beings. Facial "cuteness," e.g.--a set of immature features and youthful proportions--is\nfound to be generally attractive in the male and female face. Cuteness (i.e., the infantile schema)\nwas originally identified in mammals (including human beings) by Konrad Lorenz (1939). 2.\nJapanese and Caucasian men and women prefer high cheekbones and such infantile traits as a.\nthin jaws, b. large eyes, c. a short distance between the mouth and chin, and d. a short distance\nbetween the nose and mouth (Perrett, May and Yoshikawa 1994). 3. Another preferred trait is\nsymmetry between a face's right- and left-hand sides. In a review of symmetry in mate selection,\nPaul Watson and Randy Thornhill concluded, e.g., that animals from scorpion flies to zebra\nfinches show a preference for symmetrical patterns and shapes (perhaps because asymmetry is a\nsign of weakness or disease; Watson and Thornhill 1994). Thornhill applied the findings to\nhuman beings by studying college student ratings of young adult faces (through photos showing a\nrange of vertical and horizontal symmetry or its lack): subjects rated symmetrical faces most\nattractive.
\n\n\n\nEvolution. Our face has become more baby-like (and less intimidating) through time. The wide\njaws and broad dental arch of our ancestor, Homo habilis (ca. 2.3 m.y.a.), e.g., belonged to a\nfearsome-looking face with great biting power. Our own lower face's comparatively smaller\nfeatures are crouched beneath an immense, bulbous--i.e., infantile--forehead.
\n\n\nSee also FACIAL BEAUTY, FACIAL EXPRESSION, LOVE SIGNAL.
\n\n\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n\n","markdown":"**[FACIAL I.D.]{#FACIAL I.D.}\\\n**\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/facialid.jpg\"\nheight=\"40%\" width=\"35%\"}\\\n\\\n*Identification*. Those definitive features of a\n[**face**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/face.htm){target=\"_top\"}\nwith which to establish its age, sex, attractiveness, and identity.\n\n*Usage*: Despite an advanced ability to recognize and recall thousands\nof faces (see **[FACIAL\nRECOGNITION](facerec.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facerec.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**), we are unable to describe individual faces adequately\nin **[words](word1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. Witnesses at crime scenes, e.g., offer police few\nverbal clues of facial I.D.\n\n*Identity clues*. Our brain\\'s innate ability to recognize faces far\nexceeds that of any spoken language to describe them. Identity clues\nused by the Chicago Police, e.g., consist of general, all-purpose words\nsuch as **a.** *high*, *low*, *wide*, and *narrow* foreheads; **b.**\n*smooth*, *creased*, and *wrinkled* skin; **c.** *long*, *wide*, *flat*,\n*pug*, and *Roman* noses; **d.** *wide*, *narrow*, and *flared*\nnostrils; **e.** *sunken*, *filled-out*, *dried*, *oily*, and *wrinkled*\ncheeks; **f.** *prominent*, *high*, *low*, *wide*, and *fleshy* cheek\nbones; **g.** *corners-turned-up*, *down*, and *level* for the mouth;\n**h.** *thin*, *medium*, and *full* upper and lower lips; **i.** *double\nchin*, *protruding Adam\\'s apple*, and *hanging jowls* for necks; and\n**j.** *round*, *oval*, *pointed*, *square*, *small*, and *double*\nchins.\n\n*Prehistory*. That linguistic labels for the face pale in comparison to\nthose for [**consumer\nproducts**](consprod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"} (see, e.g.,\n**[FOOTWEAR](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/footwear.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\nis because our primate face \\\"speaks for itself\\\" and has done so for\nmillions of years. The need to describe faces in words is a recent\ndevelopment dating back only a few thousand years to adaptations for\ncity life, i.e., for urban crime and increasing numbers of strangers.\n(***N.B.***: Recognizing and remembering faces involves\n**[emotion](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ncenters of the brain, which are addressed only indirectly by speech\ncenters.)\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** Researchers have isolated facial traits\npreferred, perhaps, by all human beings. Facial \\\"cuteness,\\\" e.g.\\--a\nset of immature features and youthful proportions\\--is found to be\ngenerally attractive in the male and female face. Cuteness (i.e., the\n*infantile schema*) was originally identified in mammals (including\nhuman beings) by Konrad Lorenz (1939). **2.** Japanese and Caucasian men\nand women prefer *high cheekbones* and such infantile traits as **a.**\n*thin jaws*, **b.** *large eyes*, **c.** a *short distance* between the\nmouth and chin, and **d.** a *short distance* between the nose and mouth\n(Perrett, May and Yoshikawa 1994). **3.** Another preferred trait is\n*symmetry* between a face\\'s right- and left-hand sides. In a review of\nsymmetry in mate selection, Paul Watson and Randy Thornhill concluded,\ne.g., that animals from scorpion flies to zebra finches show a\npreference for symmetrical patterns and shapes (perhaps because\n*asymmetry* is a sign of weakness or disease; Watson and Thornhill\n1994). Thornhill applied the findings to human beings by studying\ncollege student ratings of young adult faces (through photos showing a\nrange of vertical and horizontal symmetry or its lack): subjects rated\nsymmetrical faces most attractive.\n\n*Evolution*. Our face has become more baby-like (and less intimidating)\nthrough time. The wide jaws and broad dental arch of our ancestor, *Homo\nhabilis* (ca. 2.3 m.y.a.), e.g., belonged to a fearsome-looking face\nwith great biting power. Our own lower face\\'s comparatively smaller\nfeatures are crouched beneath an immense, bulbous\\--i.e.,\ninfantile\\--forehead.\n\nSee also [**FACIAL\nBEAUTY**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/beauty1.htm){target=\"_top\"},\n**[FACIAL\nEXPRESSION](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialx.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[LOVE\nSIGNAL](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"FACIAL RECOGNITION","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/facerec.htm","html":"\n\n\nI should never have known him by his appearance, but in his voice was plain to me that which his countenance had suppressed in itself: this spark rekindled in me all my knowledge of the changed features, and I recognized the face of Forese. --Dante Alighieri (Purgatorio, Canto XXIII)
\n
\n
\nAbility. 1. The act of identifying a face that has been seen before. 2. The awareness of having\nseen, met, known (or known of) other people by recalling distinctive features of their faces.
Usage: Our facial I.D. shows personality and defines "who we are." The ability to recognize and\nrecall thousands of faces easily and at a glance is a unique talent possessed by human beings alone. Facial\nrecognition is an active process, leading us to see "faces" in clouds, in rock\nformations, on screen doors, in shrouds, and on the surface of the Moon. Much of the ability to recognize faces lies in our\nbrain's inferior temporal cortex (see below).
\n
\nArt. In a most unusual art form for depicting the human face, Bill Gardner of Calgary, Canada attaches a portrait stencil to the lint screen of his dryer to create lint-laden likenesses of such celebrities as O.J. Simpson and Wayne Gretzky ("Fluff Pieces," Life Magazine, June, 1999, p. 44).
Evolution. Our higher-primate (or anthropoid) ancestors (ca. 35-40 m.y.a.)\nhad an enlarged visual cortex at the back of the head, on the occipital lobe, with which to\nprocess color vision and depth. Today, the anthropoid's is the most complex visual cortex on\nearth, with anatomically separate areas for a. analyzing form, b. coordinating hand-and-eye\nmovements, and c. recognizing faces. (N.B.: A few nerve cells in the lower temporal lobe are so\nnarrowly specialized that they respond only to hands and faces.)
\n
\nMedicine. Patients with prosopagnosia have damage to the visual system outlined below (see Neuroanatomy I & II). \nThough able to name individual features and identify emotion cues, they cannot recognize a\nonce familiar face. (N.B.: Sometimes even their own image appears as a stranger in the mirror.)
\n
\n\n
\nE-Commentary: "Kindly note my thesis, that: 'Many people, between us, acting or reacting with violence, are in some measure prosopagnostics, i.e., they have some degree of faceblindness. Therefore, they can't receive, they don't have the ability to feel at all, the very emotions expressed through the face of the victim.'" --Panos Axiomakaros, Olympian University, Athens, Greece (3/27/00 12:36:07 PM Pacific Standard Time)
\n
Neuroanatomy II. A second visual area, V2 (in front of V1), enhances our image of linear and\ncolor aspects of the face. Additional processing also takes place in V3 (recognition of form and\nmovement), V4 (additional color recognition), and V5 (movement; Restak 1994:27-8). Apart\nfrom our awareness, these modular areas of neocortex unify and give meaning to our vision of the\nface and its diverse expressions.
\nViewpoints. Studies show that as our eyes scan faces, they make repeated rest stops at the lips\nand eyes. Viewed from the side, our eyes hover about the profiled nose, eye, ear, and lips. As\nearly as 12 weeks of age an unborn baby's face is recognizable in the womb (parents may claim to\nsee a family resemblance). Our face changes size and shape throughout the life cycle, but is nearly\nalways recognizable to friends and family.
\nNeuro-notes I. The inferior temporal cortex receives information fed forward through a series of\nsensory and association areas, beginning with the retina's relay in the occipital lobe at the back of\nour skull. Regarding the temporal cortex itself, it has become a remarkably specialized part of the\nnonverbal brain. Some of its cells respond, e.g., only to frontal or profile views of the\nface, while others fire only when facial expressions appear (Kandel et al. 1991:459). \nFamiliarity registers in the superior temporal polysensory area (Young and Yamane 1992:1327).
\n
\nNeuro-notes II. 1. PET data suggest that facial recognition activates the right lingual and fusiform gyrus, the right parahippocampal gyrus, and the right and left anterior temporal cortex (Sergent et al. 1992). 2. Subsequent PET data suggest that activated regions for face recognition are lateralized to large aggregations of the right hemisphere, specifically in the right lingual and fusiform gyri (Kim et al. 1999).
\n
\nNeuro-notes III. Mappings of the macaque monkey prefrontal\ncortex show that prefrontal neurons a. process information related\nto the identity of faces, and b. are functionally compartmentalized in "a remarkably restricted area" (Scalaidhe et al. 1997:1135).
\n
\nNeuro-notes IV. 1. "Greater amygdala activation occurs when individuals view faces of a racial group different from their own (outgroup), compared with activation while viewing faces from their own racial group (ingroup) . . ." (Anonymous 2000B). 2. "Dr. Allen J. Hart, from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, in Boston, and colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals in the amygdala as black and white subjects viewed photographs of black and white individuals' faces. A second scan was done after a 2-minute rest period" (Anonymous 2000B). 3. "During the first fMRI scan, there were no significant differences in amygdala activation when subjects viewed outgroup versus ingroup faces, the report indicates. In contrast, during the second scan, there was a significant increase in the BOLD signal in the amygdala during viewings of outgroup faces" (Anonymous 2000B).
See also FACIAL I.D.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo by Linda McCartney, copyright 1992 (MPL Communications Limited)
![\"High-heel](\"feet.jpg\")
\n
\nWhy do we even bother to read palms? Feet are so much more revealing. --Elizabeth Kastor (1994:30)
\n
\nMost women think they have ugly feet. --Sharilyn Abbajay, general manager, Elizabeth Arden salon (Chevy Chase, Maryland; Roberts 1995:D1)
Smart parts. 1. The terminal end organs below the legs, used for standing, walking, dance, and display\n(see FOOTWEAR). 2. Those body parts which a. make direct contact with the earth and ground, b. reveal dominance and submission by toeing out or toeing in, respectively (see SHOULDER-SHRUG DISPLAY, Constituents); c. link to\nsexual modules of the brain's sensory parietal lobe (as expressed, e.g., in foot fetishism); d. inadvertently point toward or angle away from liked or disliked individuals, respectively; and e., through men's and\nwomen's shoes, mark gender, identity, and status.
\nUsage: Like our hands, our feet are neurologically gifted. As smart parts and sensory feelers,\ne.g., they are well connected to diverse areas of the brain. Feet are sexually sensitive, as well,\nthrough links to sensory nerves of the genitalia. For these reasons, feet are highly expressive organs which \nplay a major role in nonverbal communication throughout the world.
\nAnatomy. The oldest human footprints have the same platform-and-lever design as modern feet. \nBetween the sturdy heel bone and little toe is a stout 5th metatarsal bone which evolved as a\nplatform. Today, it carries the weight while the body is standing. The early 1st metatarsal, on the\nfoot's inner side (between the heel and big toe) also thickened--for walking. Today, the 1st\nmetatarsal enables us to push off as we step, and forms part of the foot's cushioning arch, \nwhich is accented in high heel shoes and comforted in sneakers. (N.B.: 25% of all bones of\nthe human body are in the feet.)
\n
\nAnthropology. Abruptly in Africa (i.e., ca. four m.y.a.), after descending from trees to the savannah grasslands,\nhuman beings began walking upright. Hands were no longer needed for travel, and fingers were\nliberated to continue their (primate) evolution as super-sensitive tactile antennae. At the same time--despite their\nown tactile savvy and prehensile IQ--feet were sentenced to bipedal "foot duty." (N.B.: While our hands\nadvanced, our feet were grounded.)
\n
\nAnthropometry. Mean foot breadth averages 3.5" in women, and 3.9" in men; length averages 9.5" and 10.7", respectively (Kantowitz and Sorkin 1983:494-95).\n\n
Archaeology. Evidence for human feet dates back ca. 3.5 m.y.a. to the tracks of three upright\nancestors (probably australopithecines) who strolled across a bed of volcanic ash on the east-African savannah, in what is now Laetoli, Tanzania. The footprints are nearly identical to those of\nmodern humans.
\nEmbryology. In the womb, human feet resemble the grasping feet of monkeys and apes. (N.B.:\nThough earthbound, our feet never outgrow their innate ability to reach out and touch.) Lagging behind hands,\nlower-limb buds form by the end of the 4th week of life. By week seven, digital rays appear on\nthe buds (which resemble fleshy paddles). By week eight toes separate through a process of programmed cell death. \nBetween the 5th and 12th weeks, muscles enter from outside the growing limbs as bones and\ntendons form inside them. Like creeping vines, nerves grow into the lower extremities and cable the feet to\nmultiple sites in the brain, and at three months, a human fetus can wiggle its toes.
\n
\nMedia. The following movies cast feet in sexually expressive cameo roles: 1. Bull Durham (Kevin Costner, nude, paints Susan Sarandon's toenails); 2. Goodbye, Columbus (sitting on her bed, Ali MacGraw polishes her toes and talks dirty to Richard Benjamin); 3. Lolita (James Mason gives Sue Lyon a pedicure in a seedy motel); and 4. Overboard (Goldie Hawn receives a pedicure on her yacht from her butler, Roddy McDowall; Roberts 1995 [see below, Neuro-notes]).
\n
\nPaleontology. Originating as pelvic fins for water travel, feet evolved into the five-digit\nextremities which enabled the earliest amphibians and reptiles to walk and run, and to paddle through ancient seas. By ca. 70\nm.y.a., as the first primates took to the trees, feet became touch-sensitive and skilled for climbing and\ngrasping, and, later, even for handling objects, such as insects and fruit (though the hands remained superior in dexterity and manipulative skill). (N.B.: Because they were more agile\nand neurologically better connected, early primate feet were "smarter" than the feet of their mammalian\nancestors.)
\n
\nSpace. A left foot was the first body part on the Moon. On Sunday, July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong planted his left boot on the fine, powdery lunar surface, at 10:39 PM (EDT). "Still holding on [to the LM], he stretched out his toe and dragged it backward several times, furrowing the soft ground [i.e., he palpated the plain]" (Chaikin 1994:209).
\n
\n\n
\nE-Commentary: "Feet position and action often correlate with how we feel, i.e., happy feet when we are excited; dangling high heel shoes when we are in a seductive or playful mood; unmoving when we want to be left alone. For example, I have noticed that when two people are talking, their feet mimic each other; when a third person arrives, if they don't wish this person to partake, they will turn at the waist and greet, but their feet remain fixed. If the third person is liked, the original two usually will move their feet and create a comfortable openness, so that they can form a triangle. I have also noticed that jurors often move their feet and point them to the door when they don't like an attorney as he is presenting." --J.N., FBI (4/20/00 7:22:29 PM Pacific Daylight Time)
\n
\nE-Commentary: "I work for a radio magazine programme called "Outlook" at the BBC World Service. I am producing a special programme about feet--their physiology, role, history, and other interesting aspects and stories about people's feet. Your organisation sounds very interesting. I'd be very grateful if you could help out with any interview/feature suggestions or get in touch with me about this as soon as possible." –Producer, Outlook, BBC World Service (9/21/00 5:12:18 AM Pacific Daylight Time)
\n
See also BOOT, GOOSE-STEP.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nFIGHT-OR-FLIGHT
\n
\n![\"Fight](\"fight.jpg\")
Ready response. An emergency reaction in which the body prepares for combat or escape from\npotentially dangerous situations, animals, or people.
\nUsage: Many nonverbal signs (e.g., dilated pupils, sweaty palms, bristling hair [i.e., piloerection], and a faster breathing rate--along with squaring the torso for battle or angling away to prepare for flight) are visible in\nstepped-up visceral feelings and body movements of the fight-or-flight response.
\n
\nEvolution. Fight-or-flight is an ancient sympathetic response pattern which, in the aquatic brain, accelerated heartbeat rate, raised blood-sugar level, and released hormones from the\n adrenal gland, preparing an alarmed fish to chase-and-bite, or to turn-tail-and-flee.
\n
\nFacial color. Also called the "fight, fright or flight" response, the sympathetic nervous system may telegraph its state of mind in the whiteness (i.e., pallor) or redness (i.e., flushing) of the face. Pallor, associated with extreme fear or anger (i.e., rage), is caused by vasoconstriction of the facial blood vessels, brought on by the release of large amounts of adrenaline and noradrenaline. Associated with embarrassment or slight-to-moderate anger, a flushed face (which may begin with a faint blush at the top of the ears) is caused by vasodilation of the facial blood vessels, due to adrenaline. (N.B.: Currently, the physiological differences between fear and anger are not well understood.)
\n
\nObservation. Fight-or-flight cues (see, e.g., CUT-OFF, EYE-BLINK, EYEBROW-RAISE, FACIAL FLUSHING, FLASHBULB EYES, and\n HAND-BEHIND-HEAD) are \nvisible not only in warfare and physical combat, but also in corporate meetings around a conference table.
\n
\nWaiting. Human beings are easily angered when they are kept waiting, e.g., in airline terminals, hospital emergency rooms, and heavy traffic. As adrenaline and noradrenaline levels rise, flyers, patients, and commuters may be more prone to aggression and violence than they are when permitted to move freely about. (N.B.: In England, more nurses are attacked in emergency departments than in psychiatric wards.)
\n
\n
Neuro-notes. 1. In the 1920s, physiologist Walter B. Cannon identified the sympathetic nervous\nsystem's emergency reaction, which prepared the body to exert high levels of physical energy\n(Cannon 1929). 2. In the 1930s, while stimulating regions of the hypothalamus of the cat,\nphysiologist W. R. Hess identified the defense reaction, which included tendencies to fight or\nflee. 3. The fight-or-flight response is coordinated by central command neurons in the\nhypothalamus and brain stem which "regulate the sympathetic outflow of both the stellate\nganglion and the adrenal gland" (Jansen et al. 1995:644). 4. ". . . the threshold for release of noradrenaline [the 'anger hormone'] to psychological stimuli is generally higher than that of adrenaline [the 'fear hormone']" (Mayes 1979:37).
\n
\nAntonym: REST-AND-DIGEST. See also FREEZE REACTION.
\n
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT]{#FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT}\\\n\\\n**{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/fight.jpg\"\nheight=\"35%\" width=\"30%\"}\n\n*Ready response*. An emergency reaction in which the body prepares for\ncombat or escape from potentially dangerous situations, animals, or\npeople.\n\n*Usage*: Many **[nonverbal\nsigns](nvcom.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvcom.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** (e.g., dilated pupils, **[sweaty\npalms](sweaty1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/sweaty1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, bristling hair \\[i.e., piloerection\\], and a faster\nbreathing rate\\--along with **[squaring the\ntorso](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/broadsid.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nfor battle or **[angling\naway](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/angular.htm){target=\"_top\"}** to\nprepare for flight) are visible in stepped-up visceral feelings and body\nmovements of the fight-or-flight response.\\\n\\\n*Evolution*. Fight-or-flight is an ancient *sympathetic* response\npattern which, in the **[aquatic\nbrain](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aquatic.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\naccelerated heartbeat rate, raised blood-sugar level, and released\nhormones from the adrenal gland, preparing an alarmed fish to\nchase-and-bite, or to turn-tail-and-flee.\\\n\\\n*Facial color*. Also called the \\\"fight, fright or flight\\\" response,\nthe sympathetic nervous system may telegraph its state of mind in the\n*whiteness* (i.e., pallor) or *redness* (i.e., flushing) of the face.\nPallor, associated with extreme\n[**fear**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/fear.htm){target=\"_top\"} or\n[**anger**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/anger.htm){target=\"_top\"}\n(i.e., rage), is caused by *vasoconstriction* of the facial blood\nvessels, brought on by the release of large amounts of adrenaline and\nnoradrenaline. Associated with embarrassment or slight-to-moderate\nanger, a flushed face (which may begin with a faint blush at the top of\nthe ears) is caused by *vasodilation* of the facial blood vessels, due\nto adrenaline. (***N.B.***: Currently, the physiological differences\nbetween fear and anger are not well understood.)\\\n\\\n*Observation*. Fight-or-flight cues (see, e.g.,\n**[CUT-OFF](cutoff1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/cutoff1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**,\n**[EYE-BLINK](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/eyeblink.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[EYEBROW-RAISE](browrai1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/browrai1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, **[FACIAL\nFLUSHING](blush.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/blush.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, **[FLASHBULB\nEYES](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/flashbul.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nand\n**[HAND-BEHIND-HEAD](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/handbehi.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\nare visible not only in warfare and physical combat, but also in\ncorporate meetings around a **[conference\ntable](table.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\\\n\\\n*Waiting*. Human beings are easily angered when they are kept waiting,\ne.g., in airline terminals, hospital emergency rooms, and heavy traffic.\nAs adrenaline and noradrenaline levels rise, flyers, patients, and\ncommuters may be more prone to aggression and violence than they are\nwhen permitted to move freely about. (***N.B.***: In England, more\nnurses are attacked in emergency departments than in psychiatric\nwards.)\\\n\\\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n***E-Commentary***: \\\"I\\'m really interested on getting information\nabout nonverbal language in aggressive people, fighting aggressors,\nflight-or-fight behavior, etc. I teach adrenaline conditioning training\nhere in Mexico, and I really want to learn more to give more\nprofessional classes to my students. If I understand more about the body\nlanguage of aggressors, attackers, and street people, it will help me a\nlot.\\\" --J. M., Mexico (9/21/00 1:02:09 PM Pacific Daylight Time)\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n*Neuro-notes*. **1.** In the 1920s, physiologist Walter B. Cannon\nidentified the sympathetic nervous system\\'s *emergency reaction*, which\nprepared the body to exert high levels of physical energy (Cannon 1929).\n**2.** In the 1930s, while stimulating regions of the\n**[hypothalamus](hypo.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/hypo.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** of the cat, physiologist W. R. Hess identified the\n*defense reaction*, which included tendencies to fight or flee. **3.**\nThe fight-or-flight response is coordinated by central command neurons\nin the hypothalamus and brain stem which \\\"regulate the sympathetic\noutflow of both the stellate ganglion and the adrenal gland\\\" (Jansen et\nal. 1995:644). **4.** \\\". . . the threshold for release of noradrenaline\n\\[the \\'anger hormone\\'\\] to psychological stimuli is generally higher\nthan that of adrenaline \\[the \\'fear hormone\\'\\]\\\" (Mayes 1979:37).\\\n\\\nAntonym:\n[**REST-AND-DIGEST**](rest.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/rest.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}. See also [**FREEZE\nREACTION**](freeze1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/freeze1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}.\\\n\\\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n\n \n"} {"title":"FIST","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/fist1.htm","html":"\n\n\n
FIST
\n![\"Triumphant](\"fist.jpg\")
\n
\nHand signal. A gesture made with the hand closed, the fingers flexed, and the tactile pads held firmly\nagainst the palm.
Usage: Clenched fists signal an aroused emotional state, as in anger, excitement (e.g., to cheer\non a team), or fear. In a business meeting, unconscious fisting is a visible sign of anxiety (see \nSELF-TOUCH) or unvoiced disagreement (see PROBING POINT).
\n
\nCulture. In Pakistan, displaying a clenched fist toward another is a nonverbal sign used to display an "obscene insult" (Morris 1994:71).
World politics. In 1968 the raised fist (see HIGH-STAND DISPLAY) was broadcast to a worldwide TV audience, as it was presented by U.S. Olympic medalists as a power salute demonstrating defiance from the victory stand (Blum 1988). Politicians who have used the aggressive fist gesture to hammer home rhetorical statements include Adolph Hitler, Nikita Kruschev, and Manuel Noriega (Blum 1988).
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "Rage, anger, and indignation are exhibited in nearly the same\nmanner throughout the world. . . . There is, however, an exception with respect to clenching the\nfists, which seems confined chiefly to the men who fight with their fists" (Darwin 1872:242). 2.\nIn nursery school children, the beating movement ". . . is an overarm blow with the palm side of the\nlightly clenched fist. The arm is sharply bent at the elbow and raised to a vertical position then\nbrought down with great force on the opponent, hitting any part of him that gets in the way"\n(Blurton Jones 1967:355). 3. Blind-and-deaf-born children clench their fists in anger (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1971:12). 4. In the infant's transition to sleep, "Fists closed for more than several\nseconds indicate increasing fatigue or distress . . ." (Papousek and Papousek 1977:70). 5. The closed fist is a widespread gesture of power and triumph, and a worldwide\nsign to show forceful emphasis and threat (Morris 1994:70, 72-73).
\nAntonym: PALM-UP. See also GOOSE -STEP.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**FIST**\n\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/fist.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"15%\"}\\\n\\\n***[Hand](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hands.htm){target=\"_top\"}***\n***[signal](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/signal.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\nA\n**[gesture](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nmade with the hand closed, the fingers flexed, and the tactile pads held\nfirmly against the palm.\n\n*Usage*: Clenched fists signal an aroused emotional state, as in\n**[anger](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/anger.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nexcitement (e.g., to cheer on a team), or\n**[fear](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/fear.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\nIn a business meeting, unconscious fisting is a visible sign of anxiety\n(see\n**[SELF-TOUCH](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/selftouc.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\nor unvoiced disagreement (see [**PROBING\nPOINT**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/probe.htm){target=\"_top\"}).\\\n\\\n*Culture*. In Pakistan, displaying a clenched fist toward another is a\nnonverbal sign used to display an \\\"obscene insult\\\" (Morris 1994:71).\n\n*World politics*. In 1968 the raised fist (see [**HIGH-STAND\nDISPLAY**](highstan.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/highstan.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}) was broadcast to a worldwide TV audience, as it was\npresented by U.S. Olympic medalists as a power salute demonstrating\ndefiance from the victory stand (Blum 1988). Politicians who have used\nthe aggressive fist gesture to hammer home rhetorical statements include\nAdolph Hitler, Nikita Kruschev, and Manuel Noriega (Blum 1988).\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** \\\"Rage, anger, and indignation are\nexhibited in nearly the same manner throughout the world. . . . There\nis, however, an exception with respect to clenching the fists, which\nseems confined chiefly to the men who fight with their fists\\\" (Darwin\n1872:242). **2.** In nursery school children, the *beating movement* \\\".\n. . is an overarm blow with the palm side of the lightly clenched fist.\nThe arm is sharply bent at the elbow and raised to a vertical position\nthen brought down with great force on the opponent, hitting any part of\nhim that gets in the way\\\" (Blurton Jones 1967:355). **3.**\nBlind-and-deaf-born children clench their fists in anger\n(Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1971:12). **4.** In the infant\\'s transition to sleep,\n\\\"Fists closed for more than several seconds indicate increasing fatigue\nor distress . . .\\\" (Papousek and Papousek 1977:70). **5.** The closed\nfist is a widespread gesture of *power* and *triumph*, and a worldwide\nsign to show *forceful emphasis* and *threat* (Morris 1994:70, 72-73).\n\nAntonym:\n**[PALM-UP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/palmup.htp){target=\"_top\"}**.\nSee also **[GOOSE\n-STEP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/goose.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"FLEXION WITHDRAWAL","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/withdra1.htm","html":"\n\n\nFLEXION WITHDRAWAL
\n![\"Flexion](\"withdraw.jpg\")
Reflexive body movement. An automatic escape motion designed to remove a body part or parts\nfrom danger (e.g., flexing the neck to lower and protect the head).
\nUsage: Flexion withdrawal underlies many negative and submissive nonverbal signs (e.g., cues\nof disagreement, disliking, and fear; see BODY-BEND, BOW, CROUCH,\nGAZE-DOWN, HEAD-TILT-SIDE, and SHOULDER-SHRUG).
\nBusiness. Around a conference table, colleagues may reveal unvoiced negative \nfeelings in postures influenced by flexion withdrawal, e.g., pulling the hands and arms\nbackward, away from disliked speakers.
\nBiology. In mammals, the most primitive protective response is a flexion withdrawal, which\n"takes the head and neck away from the stimulus" (Salzen 1979:130).
\nEmbryology. The crouch posture is "a protective pattern characteristic of the early embryonic\nflexion response" (Salzen 1979:136). By 8 weeks, e.g., the human fetus already "knows" to\nwithdraw its head and neck when its mouth is touched. Defensive, coordinated flexing and\nwithdrawing movements have been seen in immature fish larvae, in marine snails, and in human\nembryos at eight weeks of age. ln four-legged animals whose brains have been surgically\ndisconnected from their spinal cords, almost any tactile stimulus will cause flexor muscles to\ncontract and withdraw a limb from whatever touched it (Guyton 1996).
\nAnatomy. Human arms and legs have highly developed flexor reflexes. Automatic escape\nmovements, coordinated by the spinal cord, can be triggered, e.g., by scalding pot handles--or by\nstrong emotions from the amygdala.
\nNeuro-notes. Jumping to sound involves body-flexion movements configured in paleocircuits\nof our amphibian brain. Through their nerve fibers, auditory-lobe impulses reach down to\nexcite spinal networks of interneurons and motor neuronsin charge of muscles that flex our\nshoulders and arms, and bow our heads in the protective crouch posture.
\n
\nSee also NONVERBAL RELEASE.
Copyright 1999 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of Auguste Rodin's Eve (photo copyright Descharnes & Descharnes)
FREEZE REACTION
\nPosture. A sudden involuntary cessation of body movement, usually in response to a novel stimulus or to fear.
\nUsage: The freeze reaction is a protective reflex. The body may automatically tense up as the nervous system\nmobilizes for action (see FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT) as in, e.g., a. when we hear a rattlesnake, or b. when we hear the\nboss call out our name.
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Immobility is an avoidance cue in nursery-school children (McGrew\n1972:138). 2. Foot activity "decreased to a near zero level" in conditions of severe crowding\n(Baxter and Rozelle 1975:50). 3. Muscle tension is "a vestige of freezing" (LeDoux 1996:201).
\nNeuro-notes. The amygdala contains a "fear center" which a. activates the body's freeze reaction,\nand b. may stretch our lips into a fear grin.
\nSee also ORIENTING REFLEX, STARTLE REFLEX.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**FREEZE REACTION**\n\n***[Posture](posture1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/posture1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***. A sudden involuntary cessation of **[body\nmovement](bodymov1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodymov1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, usually in response to a novel stimulus or to\n**[fear](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/fear.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Usage*: The freeze reaction is a protective reflex. The body may\nautomatically tense up as the nervous system mobilizes for action (see\n**[FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT](fight.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/fight.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**) as in, e.g., **a.** when we hear a rattlesnake, or\n**b.** when we hear the boss call out our name.\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** *Immobility* is an avoidance cue in\nnursery-school children (McGrew 1972:138). **2.** *Foot activity*\n\\\"decreased to a near zero level\\\" in conditions of severe crowding\n(Baxter and Rozelle 1975:50). **3.** *Muscle tension* is \\\"a vestige of\nfreezing\\\" (LeDoux 1996:201).\n\n*Neuro-notes*. The\n**[amygdala](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/amygdala.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ncontains a \\\"fear center\\\" which **a.** activates the body\\'s freeze\nreaction, and **b.** may stretch our\n**[lips](lips.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/lips.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** into a *fear grin*.\n\nSee also [**ORIENTING\nREFLEX**](orient1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/orient1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}, **[STARTLE\nREFLEX](startle1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/startle1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"FROWN","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/browlow1.htm","html":"\n\n\nEYEBROW-LOWER
\n\n
\n
\nFacial expression. 1. To frown or scowl, as in anger,\nconcentration, displeasure, or thought. 2. To depress, knit,\npucker, or wrinkle the brow by contracting the corrugator,\nprocerus, and orbicularis oculi muscles.
Usage: Lowering the eyebrows is a sensitive indicator of \n disagreement, doubt, or uncertainty.
\n\nObservation. Slightly lowered eyebrows may telegraph unvoiced\ndisagreement among colleagues, as comments are presented at a\nconference table.
\n\n\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. ". . .many kinds of monkeys, especially\nbaboons, when angered or in any way excited, rapidly and\nincessantly move their eyebrows up and down. . ." (Darwin\n1872:138). 2. In nursery school children, attacks "are often\npreceded and accompanied by fixating the opponent and by what\nlooks like a frown with lowering of the eyebrows and rather\nlittle vertical furrowing of the brow ('low frown') and no\nconspicuous modification of the mouth expression" (Blurton Jones\n1967:355). 3. Blind-and-deaf-born children frown in anger (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1971:12). 4. Lowered brows show anger (Ekman and Friesen 1976). \n5. "Puzzlement was displayed by curving the mouth downward,\nlowering the eyebrows and eyelids, dropping the jaw, and\nconstricting the forehead muscles" (Burgoon et al. 1989:352). 6. "A series of recent studies finds that men and women in a group situation are more likely to respond to female leaders with scowls and frowns, while smiling and nodding at male leaders who say the same thing" [Manpower Comments, May 1990:19].
\n\n\nNeuro-notes. A gestural fossil, the lowered-brows cue is innervated by special visceral nerves, originally designed for feeding. The expression is emotionally responsive today as it\nreflects visceral sensations (i.e., "gut feelings") aroused, e.g., by aggression or anger. In effect,\nwe lower our eyebrows to protect our eye openings, a form of "nonverbal lock-down." Emotional\nstimuli pass from higher brain centers to brain-stem nuclei below, where the facial nerve (cranial VII) arises in a special visceral motor column of the pons.
\n\n\nSee also CRY, EYEBROW-RAISE, HAT.
\n\n\nCopyright 1999 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nPhoto detail of Humphrey Bogart, from Warner Bros. movie, The Roaring Twenties (copyright Kobal Collection, London)
FRUIT SUBSTITUTE
\n![\"No](\"fruit.jpg\")
\n
\nThe scent which comes from the fruit, and from the spray that is diffused over the green leaves, kindles within us a craving to eat and to drink . . . . --Dante Alighieri (Purgatorio, Canto XXIII)
\n
\nConsumer product. A food product (e.g., a candy bar, cookie, or donut) sweetened with\nsugar to resemble the taste of the ripened ovaries of apple, banana, and other seed-bearing plants.
Usage: So successful have fruit substitutes become as "edible signs" (i.e., as foods\nsuggesting the presence of ripe fruits and berries), that they are as common in the modern diet as real\nfruit itself. A fruit substitute's sweetness usually comes from table sugar (i.e., sucrose), a\ncrystalline carbohydrate which suggests the fruity sweetness of fructose (for which--as a\nnonverbal sign--it stands). Today's fruit substitutes reconnect us to our fruit-eating, primate past
\nJuicy fruit. When primates took to the trees ca. 50 m.y.a. in the Eocene, they supplemented a\nbasically insect diet with ripened fruit. The evolution of our "sweet tooth" is reflected in our ancestors'\nteeth. Insect-eaters had spiked cusps on their molar teeth, while fruit-eaters had\nflatter, rounder molars for grinding. Eocene-primate molars show a flattened adaptation for pulping" fruit flesh (the better to taste its fructose). Our tricuspid teeth enable us to pulp grapes,\nbananas, and Juicy Fruit® chewing gum.
\nTasty fruit. Fourteen m.y.a., as Miocene primates descended from trees to the terrestrial plain, a\npowerful appetite for fructose descended with them. Today, combining sweetness with ca. 300\nvarieties of flavor molecule, strawberries are among the tastiest of real fruits. With ca.\n200 flavors, raspberries also delight the tongue. Bananas are less flavorful, yet their 17% sugar\ncontent--which ties them for "sweetest" with the Chinese litchi--has helped make bananas the\nworld's best-selling fruit (Hockstader 1992).
\nTastykakes®. And yet, bananas are still not sweet enough, because it is a peculiarity of our\nspecies that we indulge our primate sweet tooth with fruit substitutes rather than with actual fruit. \nHalf of the U.S. population, e.g., does not eat a single piece of fresh fruit a day (Sugarman 1992). \nIn a lifetime, Americans eat more candy (1,500 lbs.) than apples (1,400 lbs.; Heyman 1992). \nApples, oranges, and raspberries have bowed to sweeter-tasting candies and pastry products,\nsuch as Tastykakes®, which encode more chemical information, and have more to "say."
\nFlavor. Decoded in the chemical channels for taste and smell, a piece of fruit is usually no\nmatch for a baked good. As culinary signals, cookies and donuts are designed to send far\nmore complex sets of messages a. to tongue receptors, through sweet--as well as salty--tastes, and\nb. to nasal receptors, through rich caramelized aromas of baked sucrose and deep-fried fat. A\nbanana's natural flavor molecules (called esters) are pleasant, but are no match for the\nsalty-sweet, buttery taste, and resonant aroma, e.g., of strudel.
\nPrehistory. Giving sweets (e.g., sugar cane, butter creams, and chocolate-covered ants) is a\n"friendly" gesture in all societies. The earliest prehistoric candy may have been bee honey,\nwhich is still a popular commodity among living hunter-gatherers, such as the !Kung Bushmen, today. \nIn written history, honey is mentioned in ancient hieroglyphic texts, as in, "Honey for the funeral\nprocession of the [Egyptian god] Osiris" (Martin 1991:182).
\nToday. Earth's best-selling fruit substitute is Life Savers®. Over 35 billion rolls have been sold\nsince 1913 (McFarlan 1990). Had they grown on trees, the colorful candies might have appealed\nto Miocene-primate tongues as well. Indeed, in the U.S.A. today, a candy bar is more appealing--and\npsychologically more "real" as food than an orange or a tangerine. (N.B.: There are no seeds, and\na candy bar's "peeling substitute" is easier to remove.)
\nNeuro-notes. Sweetness stimulates taste buds of the tongue tip, which convey signals through\nthe facial nerve, via the hindbrain, to the forebrain. There, the message splits, as part travels a. to\nunconscious areas of the limbic system (amygdala and lateral hypothalamus), and b. to the\nconscious cerebral cortex (via thalamic relays to the postcentral gyrus and insula). (N.B.: That we\ncrave sugar instinctively is suggested by babies born without a cerebral cortex, who respond to\nsweet but reject bitter tastes.)
\nSee also JUICE SUBSTITUTE, NUT SUBSTITUTE.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nJell-O® pudding box (copyright 1999 by Jell-O®)
\n
Taste cue. 1. An amino acid used to enhance flavors and add a pleasant meaty taste to\nfood products. 2. The fifth basic taste--MSG--called umami by the Japanese. 3. A flavor\nadditive which prompts food items to "speak" to the tongue as "meats."
\nUsage: With a rich "meaty" flavor, glutamate is a frequent additive to edible consumer products such as crackers, chips, seasonings, soup bases, sauces, and "natural flavorings." \n Rich in free glutamate, parmesan cheese and tomatoes, e.g., appeal to the tongues of carnivores.
\n
\nEvolution. ". . . many animals most likely seek out glutamate as a marker for high-protein foods" (Mirsky 2000:34 [Scientific American]).
History. MSG dates back to Oriental antiquity, to sea tangle, a seaweed used to make stock. \nUnknown in Europe until the 16th century, the New World's tomato, \ncombined with onions and olive oil by Spanish chefs, has become a main ingredient of \nsoups, sauces, pastes, and juices. (N.B.: Malay kaychup evolved as catsup in England, and was\nmass-marketed as a consumer product in the U.S. by the H.J. Heinz Co. in 1876.)
\nChemistry. High levels of free glutamate (a building block of protein) are found in mushrooms,\ntomatoes, and peas. Hydrolyzed vegetable protein breaks into glutamic acid, which turns into the\nwhite crystalline flavor enhancer, monosodium glutamate (MSG):\nCOOH(CH2)2CH(NH2)COONa.
\nNeuro-note. A study of the gustofacial reflex of newborns (as young as 24 hours in age) found a.\nthat unseasoned soup stock produced an aversion response, but that b. soup seasoned with MSG\nproduced an acceptance response (National Food Safety 1987).
\nSee also SHELLFISH TASTE, WWW.Soups.com.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[GLUTAMATE\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/B21690.jpg\"\nheight=\"35%\" width=\"25%\"}]{#GLUTAMATE}**\n\n**[*Taste\ncue*](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/taste.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n**1.** An amino acid used to enhance flavors and add a pleasant **[meaty\ntaste](meaty.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/meaty.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** to food products. **2.** The fifth basic\ntaste\\--MSG\\--called *umami* by the Japanese. **3.** A flavor additive\nwhich prompts food items to \\\"speak\\\" to the tongue as \\\"meats.\\\"\n\n*Usage*: With a rich \\\"meaty\\\" flavor, glutamate is a frequent additive\nto edible **[consumer\nproducts](consprod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** such as crackers, chips, seasonings, soup bases,\nsauces, and \\\"natural flavorings.\\\" Rich in free glutamate, parmesan\ncheese and tomatoes, e.g., appeal to the tongues of carnivores.\\\n\\\n*Evolution*. \\\". . . many animals most likely seek out glutamate as a\nmarker for high-protein foods\\\" (Mirsky 2000:34 \\[*Scientific\nAmerican*\\]).\n\n*History*. MSG dates back to Oriental antiquity, to *sea tangle*, a\nseaweed used to make stock. Unknown in Europe until the 16th century,\nthe New World\\'s tomato, combined with onions and olive oil by Spanish\nchefs, has become a main ingredient of soups, sauces, pastes, and\njuices. (***N.B.***: Malay *kaychup* evolved as catsup in England, and\nwas mass-marketed as a consumer product in the U.S. by the H.J. Heinz\nCo. in 1876.)\n\n*Chemistry*. High levels of free glutamate (a building block of protein)\nare found in mushrooms, tomatoes, and peas. Hydrolyzed vegetable protein\nbreaks into glutamic acid, which turns into the white crystalline flavor\nenhancer, monosodium glutamate (MSG): COOH(CH~2~)~2~CH(NH~2~)COONa.\n\n*Neuro-note*. A study of the *gustofacial reflex* of newborns (as young\nas 24 hours in age) found **a.** that unseasoned soup stock produced an\n*aversion response*, but that **b.** soup seasoned with MSG produced an\n*acceptance response* (National Food Safety 1987).\n\nSee also **[SHELLFISH\nTASTE](shellfis.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/shellfis.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, [***WWW.Soups.com***](http://www.soups.com/).\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"GOLF","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/golf.htm","html":"\n\n\nAt the 1981 Benson and Hedges golf tournament in Fulford, York, Bernhard Langer hit his ball\n onto the 17th green from atop the limb of a tree.
\n![\"Neo-Savannah](\"golf.jpg\")
\n
\n"[Pursuant to Rule 13-2:] The area of his intended stance or swing" means that prior to a stroke, a player may not break any limbs growing on a tree that interferes with his swing . . . --Tom Meeks (Golf Journal, October 2000, p.56)
\n
\n
\nHunting and gathering. 1. An evolutionary correct game with which to rekindle the savannah\nexperience our nomadic ancestors knew in Africa. 2. A game enjoyed by small, face-to-face bands of\nplayers, wandering through artificial grasslands in pursuit of spherical prey, striking white balls with high-tech\nbranch substitutes called clubs.
Usage I: Nonverbally, golf reconnects players a. to arboreal, b. to savannah-grassland, and c. to\n hunter-gatherer roots. Golfers focus incredible attention on gripping the club, e.g., which in\nshape and thickness resembles a tree branch. Blending power and precision grips, they\nstrike vinyl balls as if swatting small prey animals.
\nUsage II: In the career realm, important deals are nurtured on the golf course. Stalking through\nartificial grasslands in close-knit groups (see ISOPRAXISM), sticks in hand--hunting for game\nballs and walloping them--business people enjoy the same concentration, competition, and\ncamaraderie their ancestors felt two m.y.a. in Africa. (N.B.: No gas stations, subways, or\nbillboards disturb the "natural" view.)
\n
\nAdornment. "After winning preliminary rounds [to qualify for the National Long Drive Championships] the Golfing Gorilla [a Tacoma, Washington human primate dressed in a gorilla costume] has been told by officials his suit is unsuitable [because, under PGA rules, all players must 'be properly groomed']" (Kelly 1983).
\n
\nCulture and the color green. "With this camaraderie, we were cut off from our ethnic roots, bias and prejudice. We were merely men against the course. We had transcended our race, color and ethnicity. The only color we saw was the color green" (Tharwat 2000:52; see below, The color yellow).
History. Originally known as colf, golf was played in Holland from the year 1297 A.D. (at least),\nwith balls made of fine-grained hardwoods (e.g., elm, box, and beech). In 1848 a superior ball\nwas made from tree sap known as gutta percha, boiled and shaped in iron molds.
\nPrehistory I. Twenty m.y.a. in the Miocene, parts of East Africa changed from dense rain forest\nto open woodlands, as the arboreal ancestors of humans began living a part of their lives on\nthe ground. (N.B.: The first ground-dwelling humanoid may have resembled Ramapithecus, a\nfossil ape who lived ca. 15-to-7 m.y.a. in Europe and Asia.)
\nPrehistory II. Two m.y.a. in the Pleistocene, the first humans (genus Homo) lived in eastern\nAfrica as hunter-gatherers, on tropical, shrubby grasslands--in hot, flat, open countryside with\nscattered trees and little shade known as savannahs (from Taino zabana, "flat grassland").
\nPrehistory III. Homo habilis would feel at home strolling the 8th hole at Pebble Beach, e.g., with\nits cliffs, surf, boulders, and tree-lined hills spanning the horizon. Its fairway resembles a game\ntrail, its sand traps could be dried salt ponds, and neither office buildings nor power poles disturb the\n"natural view."
\n
\nThe color yellow. "Stonewolf Golf Club in Fairview Heights, Ill., a private course designed by Jack Nicklaus, is suing three fertilizer companies for allegedly supplying faulty products. The course claims slow-release fertilizer released too quickly last summer, saturating 17 of 18 fairways with urea, a derivative of mammal urine, which killed the grass and turned the areas yellow" (Anonymous 2000E:7).
\n
\nTrees and animals. Names of golf courses suggest we perceive them as natural habitats. \nThe best-rated U.S. public course, Brown Deer Park (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), e.g., is named after\nthe most-hunted U.S. game animal, the deer. The best-rated private course, the Cypress Point\nClub at Pebble Beach in California, is named after a tree. Hell's Half Acre, reputedly the world's\nlargest sand trap, is located in New Jersey on the 7th hole of a course named Pine Valley.
Neuro-notes I. Because the savannah experience took place during a critical time in human\nevolution--as Homo's brain was expanding faster than any brain in the history of vertebrates--grassland habitats left an indelible mark on the species. Today, e.g., we remodel earth to our\nliking by flattening and smoothing its surface, idealizing the original plains upon which our\nancestors hunted, gathered, and camped. We still find psychic comfort in semi-open spaces; indeed, Neo-Savannah Grassland, with its scattered bushes and reassuring clumps of trees, is the landscaping\ntheme of golf courses, college campuses, city parks, and cemeteries.
\n
\nNeuro-notes II: "yips". "Physical and psychological factors may contribute to a phenomenon in golf known as the 'yips' [a form of dystonia, which '. . . affects musicians, stenographers, dentists and others who frequently are forced to repeatedly assume a prolonged, abnormal posture']--an acquired problem of sudden tremors, jerking, or freezing while putting--according to a summary of current Mayo Clinic research published this week [January 8, 2001] in Sports Medicine. Aynsley Smith, PhD, director of sport psychology and sports medicine research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, says preliminary research indicates that more than 25% of avid golfers develop the yips, which adds an estimated 4.7 strokes to the average 18-hole score of an affected player.
\n
\n"Fast, downhill, and left-to-right breaking putts of 2-5 feet were most likely to produce symptoms, although long putts caused problems for some golfers. Playing in or leading a tournament, tricky putts, and playing against specific competitors were also associated with yips episodes.
"'While pressure situations make the problem worse, it is difficult to imagine why good golfers would suddenly begin having the yips after years of successful performance if it was only a matter of anxiety or 'choking,' ' says Dr. Smith. 'Although performance anxiety may cause the yips in many golfers, muscle and nervous system deterioration caused by prolonged overuse may be at the root of the problem for other players. This may explain why some get relief and play successfully by changing their grip or by switching to a longer putter.' In the second phase of the Mayo Clinic research, investigators measured the heart rate, arm muscle activity, and grip force while putting of 4 yips-affected golfers and 3 nonaffected counterparts. Those with the yips had higher average heart rates and demonstrated increased muscle activity, particularly in the wrists. In addition, while nonaffected golfers were able to make an average of 9 out of 10 consecutive 5-foot putts, the yips-affected golfers only made half of theirs" (Anonymous 2001).
\n\nNeuro-notes III. "It takes nearly a millisecond for the impact shock to travel up the club shaft and milliseconds more for nerve pathways to carry the sensation to the brain. So by the time a player can feel the hit, the ball has already flown as much as a foot off the tee and is no longer in contact with the club head" (Suplee 1997:A3).
\n
\n![\"The](\"golf1.jpg\")
See also LAWN DISPLAY, NONVERBAL LEARNING, NONVERBAL WORLD.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[GOLF]{#GOLF}**\n\n*At the 1981 Benson and Hedges golf tournament in Fulford, York,\nBernhard Langer hit his ball onto the 17th green from atop the limb of a\ntree*.\n\n*{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/golf.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"35%\"}\\\n\\\n*\\\"\\[Pursuant to Rule 13-2:\\] The area of his intended stance or swing\\\"\n*means that prior to a stroke, a player may not break any limbs growing\non a tree that interferes with his swing* . . . \\--Tom Meeks (*Golf\nJournal*, October 2000, p.56)\\\n\\\n\\\n*Hunting and gathering*. **1.** An evolutionary correct game with which\nto rekindle the *savannah experience* our nomadic ancestors knew in\nAfrica. **2.** A game enjoyed by small, face-to-face bands of players,\nwandering through artificial grasslands in pursuit of spherical prey,\nstriking white balls with high-tech **[branch\nsubstitutes](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/branch.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ncalled *clubs*.\n\n*Usage I*: Nonverbally, golf reconnects players **a.** to *arboreal*,\n**b.** to *savannah-grassland*, and **c.** to *hunter-gatherer* roots.\nGolfers focus incredible attention on gripping the club, e.g., which in\nshape and thickness resembles a tree branch. Blending\n**[power](power1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/power1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** and **[precision\ngrips](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/precise.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nthey strike\n**[vinyl](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/vinyl.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nballs as if swatting small prey animals.\n\n*Usage II*: In the career realm, important deals are nurtured on the\ngolf course. Stalking through artificial grasslands in close-knit groups\n(see\n**[ISOPRAXISM](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/isoprax.htm){target=\"_top\"}**),\nsticks in hand\\--hunting for game balls and walloping them\\--business\npeople enjoy the same concentration, competition, and camaraderie their\nancestors felt two m.y.a. in Africa. (***N.B.***: No gas stations,\nsubways, or billboards disturb the \\\"natural\\\" view.)\\\n\\\n[***Adornment***](adorn.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/adorn.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}****. \\\"After winning preliminary rounds \\[to qualify for\nthe National Long Drive Championships\\] the Golfing Gorilla \\[a Tacoma,\nWashington human primate dressed in a gorilla costume\\] has been told by\nofficials his suit is unsuitable \\[because, under PGA rules, all players\nmust \\'be properly groomed\\'\\]\\\" (Kelly 1983).\\\n\\\n*Culture and the\n[**color**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/color.htm){target=\"_top\"}\ngreen*. \\\"With this camaraderie, we were cut off from our ethnic roots,\nbias and prejudice. We were merely men against the course. We had\ntranscended our race, color and ethnicity. The only color we saw was the\ncolor green\\\" (Tharwat 2000:52; see below, *The color yellow*).\n\n*History*. Originally known as *colf*, golf was played in Holland from\nthe year 1297 A.D. (at least), with balls made of fine-grained hardwoods\n(e.g., elm, box, and beech). In 1848 a superior ball was made from tree\nsap known as *gutta percha*, boiled and shaped in iron molds.\n\n*Prehistory I*. Twenty m.y.a. in the Miocene, parts of East Africa\nchanged from dense rain forest to open woodlands, as the arboreal\nancestors of humans began living a part of their lives on the ground.\n(***N.B.***: The first ground-dwelling humanoid may have resembled\n*Ramapithecus*, a fossil ape who lived ca. 15-to-7 m.y.a. in Europe and\nAsia.)\n\n*Prehistory II*. Two m.y.a. in the Pleistocene, the first humans (genus\n*Homo*) lived in eastern Africa as hunter-gatherers, on tropical,\nshrubby grasslands\\--in hot, flat, open countryside with scattered trees\nand little shade known as *savannahs* (from Taino *zabana*, \\\"flat\ngrassland\\\").\n\n*Prehistory III*. *Homo habilis* would feel at home strolling the 8th\nhole at Pebble Beach, e.g., with its cliffs, surf, boulders, and\ntree-lined hills spanning the horizon. Its fairway resembles a game\ntrail, its sand traps could be dried salt ponds, and neither office\nbuildings nor power poles disturb the \\\"natural view.\\\"\\\n\\\n*The color yellow*. \\\"Stonewolf Golf Club in Fairview Heights, Ill., a\nprivate course designed by Jack Nicklaus, is suing three fertilizer\ncompanies for allegedly supplying faulty products. The course claims\nslow-release fertilizer released too quickly last summer, saturating 17\nof 18 fairways with urea, a derivative of mammal urine, which killed the\ngrass and turned the areas yellow\\\" (Anonymous 2000E:7).\\\n\\\n*Trees and animals*. Names of golf courses suggest we perceive them as\nnatural habitats. The best-rated U.S. public course, *Brown Deer Park*\n(Milwaukee, Wisconsin), e.g., is named after the most-hunted U.S. game\nanimal, the deer. The best-rated private course, the *Cypress Point*\nClub at Pebble Beach in California, is named after a tree. Hell\\'s Half\nAcre, reputedly the world\\'s largest sand trap, is located in New Jersey\non the 7th hole of a course named *Pine Valley*.\n\n*Neuro-notes I*. Because the savannah experience took place during a\ncritical time in human evolution\\--as *Homo\\'s* brain was expanding\nfaster than any brain in the history of vertebrates\\--grassland habitats\nleft an indelible mark on the species. Today, e.g., we remodel earth to\nour liking by flattening and smoothing its surface, idealizing the\noriginal plains upon which our ancestors hunted, gathered, and camped.\nWe still find psychic comfort in semi-open spaces; indeed, *Neo-Savannah\nGrassland*, with its scattered bushes and reassuring clumps of trees, is\nthe landscaping theme of golf courses, college campuses, city parks, and\ncemeteries.\\\n\\\n*Neuro-notes II: \\\"yips\\\"*. \\\"Physical and psychological factors may\ncontribute to a phenomenon in golf known as the \\'yips\\' \\[a form of\ndystonia, which \\'. . . affects musicians, stenographers, dentists and\nothers who frequently are forced to repeatedly assume a prolonged,\nabnormal posture\\'\\]\\--an acquired problem of sudden tremors, jerking,\nor freezing while putting\\--according to a summary of current Mayo\nClinic research published this week \\[January 8, 2001\\] in *Sports\nMedicine*. Aynsley Smith, PhD, director of sport psychology and sports\nmedicine research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, says\npreliminary research indicates that more than 25% of avid golfers\ndevelop the yips, which adds an estimated 4.7 strokes to the average\n18-hole score of an affected player.\\\n\\\n\\\"Fast, downhill, and left-to-right breaking putts of 2-5 feet were most\nlikely to produce symptoms, although long putts caused problems for some\ngolfers. Playing in or leading a tournament, tricky putts, and playing\nagainst specific competitors were also associated with yips episodes.\n\n\\\"\\'While pressure situations make the problem worse, it is difficult to\nimagine why good golfers would suddenly begin having the yips after\nyears of successful performance if it was only a matter of anxiety or\n\\'choking,\\' \\' says Dr. Smith. \\'Although performance anxiety may cause\nthe yips in many golfers, muscle and nervous system deterioration caused\nby prolonged overuse may be at the root of the problem for other\nplayers. This may explain why some get relief and play successfully by\nchanging their grip or by switching to a longer putter.\\' In the second\nphase of the Mayo Clinic research, investigators measured the heart\nrate, arm muscle activity, and grip force while putting of 4\nyips-affected golfers and 3 nonaffected counterparts. Those with the\nyips had higher average heart rates and demonstrated increased muscle\nactivity, particularly in the wrists. In addition, while nonaffected\ngolfers were able to make an average of 9 out of 10 consecutive 5-foot\nputts, the yips-affected golfers only made half of theirs\\\" (Anonymous\n2001).\n\n*Neuro-notes III*. \\\"It takes nearly a millisecond for the impact shock\nto travel up the club shaft and milliseconds more for nerve pathways to\ncarry the sensation to the brain. So by the time a player can feel the\nhit, the ball has already flown as much as a foot off the tee and is no\nlonger in contact with the club head\\\" (Suplee 1997:A3).\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/golf1.jpg\"\nheight=\"35%\" width=\"35%\"}\n\nSee also [**LAWN\nDISPLAY**](lawn1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/lawn1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}, **[NONVERBAL\nLEARNING](nvlearn1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/nvlearn1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, **[NONVERBAL\nWORLD](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvworld.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**[](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"HANDSHAKE","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/touch1.htm","html":"\n\n\nTOUCH CUE
\n![\"Hand](\"touch1.jpg\")
\n
\nMost decide by "the touch," that is, the feel . . . . --Andrew Ure
\n
\nTouch is infrequent and usually consists of a slight tap on a woman's shoulder. Or he may run his arm around the waist of a woman visitor. Men are never touched by [TV talk-show host, Phil] Donahue. --Walburga von Raffler-Engel (1984:16).
\n
\nTactile signal. 1. Incoming: A sign received through physical contact with a body part (e.g., a\nhand or lip), causing it to feel (see HOMUNCULUS). 2. Outgoing: A sign of physical contact\n(e.g., of pressure, temperature, or vibration) delivered to a body part (see, e.g., KISS).
Usage I: Touch cues are powerfully real to human beings. If "seeing is believing," touching is\nknowing-- i.e., "knowing for sure." Touch cues are used worldwide to show emotion, e.g., in settings\nof childcare, comforting, and courtship, and to establish personal rapport.
\nUsage II: Self-touching is often seen in anxious or tense settings, as a form of self-consolation by means of self-stimulation (see below, Usage IV).
\nUsage III: "Soft" or protopathic touch--which is found in hairless (or glabrous) areas of our skin--is partly responsible for itching, tickling, and sexual sensations (Diamond et al.1985:4-6). Protopathic touch is ancient, but gives little information about the size, shape, texture, or location of a tactile stimulus.
\n
\nUsage IV: "Itch" sensations may trigger the spinal cord's rhythmic, oscillating scratch reflex. Scratching stimulates pain receptors (or nociceptors) which drown out (i.e., block) the itchy feeling. Primates often scratch themselves in anxious social settings and when intimidated by dominant rivals.
\n
\nUsage V: "Tickle" is a tingling sensation, considered both pleasant and unpleasant, which often results in laughter, smiling, and involuntary twitching movements of the head, limbs, and torso.
\n
\nAnatomy. The outer covering of skin is our body's largest "part." Skin makes up about 15% of the body's weight (ca. 23 lbs.), and occupies some 21 square feet of surface area (Wallace et al.1983:254). Pain and protopathic touch cues are received via free nerve endings in\nthe skin and hair follicles. More specialized nerve endings have evolved for finer touch and\ntemperature discrimination. Mechanoreceptors (including Pacinian corpuscles, Merkel's disks,\nand Meissner's corpuscles) sense pressure, stretching, and indenting of the skin. Thermoreceptors (Krause\nend bulbs for cold and organs of Ruffini for heat) are sensitive to changes in temperature.
\n
\nCulture. 1. According Edward Hall (1966), "contact cultures" (e.g., France, Latin America, and Saudi Arabia) use a greater frequency of aroma and touch cues than do "noncontact cultures" (e.g., Germany and North America), which use more visual cues. 2. The buttock pat, used in American football as a sign of encouragement, has spread to European sports (Morris 1994:14). 3. In Germany, Austria, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, the buttock slap--in which the right buttock pushes out as if or to be slapped with one's own right hand--is given as a sign of insult (Morris 1994:14).
Evolution. The most primitive, specialized tactile-sense organ in vertebrates is the neuromast, a\nfluid-filled pit in the skin of today's fishes, which picks up vibrations, heat, electrical, and (perhaps)\nchemical signals in the surrounding water. Each neuromast contains a hair cell, which, when\nmoved by water currents generated by a nearby fish, e.g., stimulates a sensory nerve. Through the\nneuromast, the current becomes a nonverbal sign of another fish's presence.
\n
\nHandshake. Grasping another's hand with a power grip is a widespread means of expressing congratulations, contractual agreement, farewell, and greeting. The handshake is European in origin (Morris 1994), although many cultures touch hands and other body parts with the hand(s) to greet family members and fellow tribesmen. These socio-emotional touch cues developed from tactile signs originally used in mammalian grooming and childcare. 1. "We do know that the full Hand Shake occurred as early as the 16th century because in Shakespeare's As You Like It there is the phrase: 'they shook hands and swore brothers'" (Morris 1994:125). 2. In the politician's handshake, two hands reach out to clasp and surround another's hand, like a glove, to intensify the emotions aroused by physical closeness and "friendship." According to Morris (1994:126), the glove handshake is widespread in "diplomatic, political and business circles." 3. A study reported in the July 2000 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that women ". . . who introduce themselves with an assertive gesture by way of a firm handshake were perceived as being intellectual and open to new experiences" (Lipsitz 2000:32).
\n
\nPrimates. "A troop of [at least 100] furious monkeys in India's northeastern state of Assam brought traffic to a standstill after a baby monkey was hit by a car on a busy street. . . . . The angry monkeys kept traffic at bay for more than a half hour as they tried to care for the infant. A local shopkeeper said: 'It was very emotional . . . some of them massaged its [broken] legs'" (Newman 2000:C14). \n
Space. When Apollo 11's pilot, Michael Collins, flew above the Moon, he felt he could "almost reach out and touch it" (Collins1988:5).
\n
\nSports. Many baseball players go through touch rituals before they come to bat. "Nomar Garciaparra, the shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, has a routine with his batting gloves [i.e., he compulsively adjusts and re-adjusts them] that would rival the machinations during the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace" (Wilkens 1998:E-3).
\n
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: In a review of studies of people touching one another, Vrugt and Kerkstra (1984) concluded that a. touching of opposite-sex acquaintances, "even at an early age," is avoided (p. 14); b. young adults, "as when bowling," touch each other more in mixed than in same-sex interactions (p. 14); c. "old" women touch more than "old" men, seemingly due to declining sexual interests (pp. 14-15); d. while greeting and departing, men "behave less intimately toward each other" than women behave toward each other (p. 15 [Author's note: But hugging has become more prevalent among U.S. men since the 1980s.]); and e. women "shrink less from being touched by strangers than men" (p. 15).
\n
\nNeuro-notes: We find pleasure in a carpet's softness, as it stimulates the poorly localized tactile\nsensations for soft or protopathic touch, carried by the anterior spinothalamic nerves (whose paleocircuits are\nphylogenetically older than those for the more precise sensations of pain and temperature, carried by the lateral\nspinothalamic nerves.
See also AROMA CUE, COLOR\nCUE, EMOTION CUE, TASTE CUE.
\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo (James Dean holds Julie Harris's hand; copyright by Warner Bros., Inc.)
Gesture. 1. A vertical, up-and-down movement of the head used to show agreement or\ncomprehension while listening. 2. A flexed-forward, lowering motion of the skull, used to\nemphasize an idea, an assertion, or a key speaking point.
\nUsage: Rhythmically raised and lowered, the head-nod is an affirmative cue, widely used\nthroughout the world to show understanding, approval, and agreement. Emphatic head-nods\nwhile speaking or listening may indicate powerful feelings of conviction, excitement, or superiority,\nand sometimes even rage.
\nAnatomy. 1. In the affirmative head-nod, longus capitis, rectus capitis anterior, and longus colli\nflex our neck and head forward, while splenius (a deep muscle of the back) and trapezius bend the\nhead and neck backward. 2. In the emphatic head-nod, forced expiration while stressing an\nimportant word contracts muscles of the abdominal wall (i.e., the oblique and transverse muscles, and\nlatissimus dorsi), which depress our lower ribs and bend our backbone and head forward\n(Salmons 1995:818-19).
\nEvolution. Paleocircuits for the reptilian head-bobbing display (used aggressively by lizards, e.g., to affirm their presence in Nonverbal World) may underlie the nods we ourselves use to reinforce our words. The reptilian principle of isopraxism\nmay explain why speakers and listeners often nod in synchrony.
\n
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Though other types of affirmative head movements have been observed cross-culturally (LaBarre 1947), the affirmative head-nod is well-documented as a nearly universal\nindication of accord, agreement, and understanding (Darwin 1872; Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1970, 1971; Morris\n1994). 2. "Others see it [the head-nod] as an abbreviated form of submissive body-lowering - in other words, as a miniature bow" (Morris 1994:142).
Neuro-notes. That we head-nod in agreement may be due, in part, to trapezius's origin as a "gut reactive" branchiomeric muscle for respiration and feeding (see SPECIAL VISCERAL NERVE). 1. Today, e.g., it assists movements of\na baby's head in accepting the breast--a behavior some have used to explain the universality of the head-nod cue (e.g., Morris 1994:142). 2. Moreover, the accessory nerve (cranial XI, which innervates\ntrapezius), has a relationship with the vagus nerve (cranial X, which innervates the larynx in\nproducing "hmm," "uh huh," and other "digestive" vocalizations). Thus, the affirmative head-nod may\nreflect an agreeable response to food. 3. Regarding the emphatic head-nod, the strong physical emphasis during \nits downward phase suggests a separate origin from the "yes" nod, which begins with an upward\nmotion.
\nSee also HEAD-SHAKE.
\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[HEAD-NOD]{#HEAD-NOD}**\n\n***[Gesture](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\n**1.** A vertical, up-and-down movement of the head used to show\nagreement or comprehension while listening. **2.** A flexed-forward,\nlowering motion of the skull, used to emphasize an idea, an assertion,\nor a key speaking point.\n\n*Usage*: Rhythmically raised and lowered, the head-nod is an\n*affirmative* cue, widely used throughout the world to show\nunderstanding, approval, and agreement. Emphatic head-nods while\nspeaking or listening may indicate powerful feelings of conviction,\nexcitement, or superiority, and sometimes even\n**[rage](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/anger.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Anatomy*. **1.** In the affirmative head-nod, *longus capitis*, *rectus\ncapitis anterior*, and *longus colli* flex our neck and head forward,\nwhile *splenius* (a deep muscle of the back) and *trapezius* bend the\nhead and neck backward. **2.** In the emphatic head-nod, *forced\nexpiration* while stressing an important word contracts muscles of the\nabdominal wall (i.e., the *oblique* and *transverse* muscles, and\n*latissimus dorsi*), which depress our lower ribs and bend our backbone\nand head forward (Salmons 1995:818-19).\n\n*Evolution*.\n**[Paleocircuits](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/paleo.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nfor the reptilian *head-bobbing* display (used aggressively by lizards,\ne.g., to affirm their presence in **[Nonverbal\nWorld](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvworld.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\nmay underlie the nods we ourselves use to reinforce our words. The\nreptilian principle of\n**[isopraxism](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/isoprax.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nmay explain why speakers and listeners often nod in synchrony.\\\n\\\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** Though other types of affirmative head\nmovements have been observed cross-culturally (LaBarre 1947), the\naffirmative head-nod is well-documented as a nearly universal indication\nof accord, agreement, and understanding (Darwin 1872; Eibl-Eibesfeldt\n1970, 1971; Morris 1994). **2.** \\\"Others see it \\[the head-nod\\] as an\nabbreviated form of submissive body-lowering - in other words, as a\nminiature\n[**bow**](bow1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/bow1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}\\\" (Morris 1994:142).\n\n*Neuro-notes*. That we head-nod in agreement may be due, in part, to\ntrapezius\\'s origin as a \\\"gut reactive\\\" branchiomeric muscle for\n*respiration* and *feeding* (see [**SPECIAL VISCERAL\nNERVE**](viscera1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/viscera1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}). **1.** Today, e.g., it assists movements of a baby\\'s\nhead in accepting the breast\\--a behavior some have used to explain the\nuniversality of the head-nod cue (e.g., Morris 1994:142). **2.**\nMoreover, the *accessory nerve* (cranial XI, which innervates\ntrapezius), has a relationship with the *vagus nerve* (cranial X, which\ninnervates the larynx in producing \\\"hmm,\\\" \\\"uh huh,\\\" and other\n\\\"digestive\\\" vocalizations). Thus, the affirmative head-nod may reflect\nan agreeable response to food. **3.** Regarding the emphatic head-nod,\nthe strong physical emphasis during its downward phase suggests a\nseparate origin from the \\\"yes\\\" nod, which begins with an upward\nmotion.\n\nSee also\n**[HEAD-SHAKE](headshak.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headshak.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"HEAD-SHAKE","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/headshak.htm","html":"\n\n\nGesture. 1. Rotating the head horizontally from side-to-side a. to disagree, or b. to show misunderstanding of a speaker's words. 2. In an emotional conversation, a rhythmic, side-to-side rotation of the head to express disbelief, sympathy, or grief.
\nUsage: The head-shake is used to demonstrate a. cognitive dissonance, or b. emotional empathy.
\n
\nAnatomy. Longus colli and splenius rotate the head from side-to-side, in tandem with\nsternocleidomastoid. The latter's prehistory as a branchiomeric muscle (originally used for\nrespiration and feeding) makes it responsive as a "gut-reactive" sign of refusal (see below; see also SPECIAL VISCERAL NERVE).
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. The head-shake is a universal sign of disapproval, disbelief, and\nnegation (Darwin 1872; according to Morris [1994:144] it is "widespread"). 2. The first nonverbal nay-saying may occur when babies head-shake to refuse food and drink. Rhesus monkeys, baboons, bonnet macaques, and gorillas\nsimilarly turn their faces sideward in aversion (Altmann 1967). 3. Children born deaf and blind\nhead-shake to refuse objects and to disapprove when being touched by an adult (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1973). 4.\nEvasive action shows in sideward head movements of young children to avoid the gaze of adults\n(Stern and Bender 1974). 5. A single sharp turn to one side (e.g., the Ethiopian head side-turn)\ncan express negation as well (Morris 1994).
\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[HEAD-SHAKE]{#HEAD-SHAKE}**\n\n***[Gesture](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\n**1.** Rotating the head horizontally from side-to-side **a.** to\ndisagree, or **b.** to show misunderstanding of a speaker\\'s words.\n**2.** In an emotional conversation, a rhythmic, side-to-side rotation\nof the head to express disbelief, sympathy, or grief.\n\n*Usage*: The head-shake is used to demonstrate **a.** cognitive\ndissonance, or **b.** emotional empathy.\\\n\\\n*Anatomy*. *Longus colli* and *splenius* rotate the head from\nside-to-side, in tandem with *sternocleidomastoid*. The latter\\'s\nprehistory as a branchiomeric muscle (originally used for *respiration*\nand *feeding*) makes it responsive as a \\\"gut-reactive\\\" sign of refusal\n(see below; see also [**SPECIAL VISCERAL\nNERVE**](viscera1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/viscera1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}).\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** The head-shake is a universal sign of\ndisapproval, disbelief, and negation (Darwin 1872; according to Morris\n\\[1994:144\\] it is \\\"widespread\\\"). **2.** The first nonverbal\nnay-saying may occur when babies head-shake to *refuse* food and drink.\nRhesus monkeys, baboons, bonnet macaques, and gorillas similarly *turn\ntheir faces sideward* in aversion (Altmann 1967). **3.** Children born\ndeaf and blind head-shake to refuse objects and to disapprove when being\ntouched by an adult (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1973). **4.** Evasive action shows\nin *sideward* head movements of young children to avoid the gaze of\nadults (Stern and Bender 1974). **5.** A *single sharp turn* to one side\n(e.g., the Ethiopian *head side-turn*) can express negation as well\n(Morris 1994).\n\nSee also\n**[CUT-OFF](cutoff1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/cutoff1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**,\n**[HEAD-NOD](headnod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headnod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"HEAD-TILT-BACK","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/headbac1.htm","html":"\n\n\nHEAD-TILT-BACK
\n
\n
\nGesture. Lifting the chin and leaning the head backward (dorsally, i.e., toward the shoulder blades or scapula bones).
Usage: Lifting the chin and looking down the nose are used throughout the world as nonverbal\nsigns of superiority, arrogance, and disdain (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1970, Hass 1970).
\nAnatomy. The prime mover of head-tilt-back (i.e., of extending the spine) is the erector spinae muscle group,\ncomponents of which reach to the skull's occipital bone to produce extension movements of the\nhead as well. These deep muscles of the back and neck are basic postural muscles which are\ninnervated by the spinal nerves directly, without relay through the cervical plexus or brachial plexus. \nThus, we have less voluntary control of our haughty head-and-trunk postures than we have, e.g., of\nour hand-and-arm gestures. (N.B.: Gross postural shifts which involve back-extension and head-raising may express unconscious attitudes of power and dominance.)
\n
\nCulture. 1. In Greece and Saudi Arabia, a sudden head-tilt-back movement means "No," and may originate from the infantile head-tilt-back used to refuse food (Morris 1994:145; see also HEAD-SHAKE). 2. In Ethiopia, the same gesture means "Yes," and may originate from the backward head movment used as a greeting (Morris 1994:146).
\n
\nOrigin. In its "superior" sense, head-tilt-back is a constituent of the primeval high-stand display.
\n
\nPolitics. Political leaders who used the head-tilt-back gesture in public speeches include Al Gore, Benito\nMussolini, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George Corley Wallace.
\n
\nRESEARCH REPORT: Head-tilt-back may be accompanied by "contempt-scorn" cues: one eyebrow lifts higher than the other, the eye openings narrow, the mouth corners depress, the lower lip raises and slightly protrudes, and one side of the upper lip may curl up in a sneer (Izard 1971:245).
\n
\n
Chin jut. A derivative gesture of head-tilt-back is the "chin jut," described by Desmond Morris (1994:30 ["The chin is thrust towards the companion"]) as an "'intention movement' of forward attack," which has become a worldwide sign of threat. The world's most exaggerated chin jut was that of the Italian dictator, Benito\nMussolini
\n
\n\n
\nE-Commentary: "Have you come across any research regarding a rapid multiple eye blink that looks almost as if the person is rolling their eyes back in their head? It often is accompanied by a head tilt back. I have a client who does this, and have encountered others who do this, and am not sure the source of such a gesture, or what it might suggest nonverbally. My gut tells me it makes the guy look arrogant and a bit supercilious. Am I totally off base in thinking this may be a problem. Any suggestions? I'd be glad to send you a copy of videotape showing what I'm talking about." --L.G., Senior Communications Consultant, USA (9/30/99 12:24:16 PM Pacific Daylight Time)
\n
Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo sequence by Ruth Orkin (copyright Ruth Orkin)
![\"Looming](\"B7209.jpg\")
\n
\nLooking as tall as possible and expanding the chest is universally employed by human beings as a means of intimidating an adversary, as witness the behavior of small boys. --Hans Hass (The Human Animal, p. 146)
\n
\nPosture. 1. A vertically looming stance in which the body "enlarges" through extension of\nthe limbs. 2. A primeval "pushup" intended to lift the quadrupedal body higher off the ground.
Usage: The high-stand is an antigravity display used to show a superior, confident, \nhaughty attitude or mood. It is a forerunner of the aggressive pushup used by some lizards, and of our\nown assertive palm-down cue as well.
\n
\nCulture. "Whereas high status communicators are generally relaxed in North America, in Japan they assume stiff, erect postures with feet firmly planted on the floor . . ." (Burgoon et al. 1989:194).
Sea origin. It is likely that paleocircuits for "standing tall" developed in sea creatures\nbefore animals set foot on land. Fossil evidence is lacking, but in living fishes, such as gobies,\nstatus and rank vary in proportion to physical body size. The very big dominate the merely large,\nwho in turn dominate the small. Gobies and other piscines, however, may appear "bigger"\nthrough an array of nonverbal illusions. To loom larger, a goby stiffens and raises its fins, lifts its\nhead, puffs out its throat, and flares its gill covers. Cichlid fish, e.g., erect vertical fins and turn to\ndisplay a "bigger" broadside (see BROADSIDE DISPLAY). Puffer fish balloon in size, cod fish\nbulge their heads and jut out their pelvic fins to threaten, and mudskippers raise their bodies on vertical\nfins in aggressive displays.
\nOn terra firma. In land animals, forelimb extension lifts the body's front end to more vertically\nimposing heights. Doing a pushup makes living iguanas and lizards, e.g., look "bigger" than they\nappear with their bellies lowered to the ground. The Australian frilled lizard rears and erects its\nfrill, while the cobra rears and spreads its hood.
\nMammals. Mammals push up in aggressive stiff-walk postures. \nBulls, e.g., take several stiff-steps to loom "large" before galloping ahead at full charge. Bears, coyotes, and\nwolves strut with a stiff-legged gait to carry their bodies higher off the ground. A dominant wolf\nstands over its submissive foe. Primates show dominance by straightening their legs and\nwidening their arms. A gorilla, e.g., displays with a stiff-legged bluff charge. An aggressive\nchimpanzee rises to a bipedal stance, widens its bristling arms, and swaggers from side to\nside to seem "big." Rearing on the hindlegs is a posture directed by adult or young adult baboons at other baboons in the wild; it can prelude attack or escape (Hall and DeVore 1972).
\nHumans. To embody the vertebrate's natural weapon, sheer size, we assume a John-Wayne\nstance, i.e., we stand tall, bristle, square our shoulders, broaden our bodies with the hands-on-hips gesture, talk in deep tones, and toe-out to military oblique. (N.B.: That the vertebrate eye\nresponds to changes in size makes it possible for different species to understand each other's cues. \nPark rangers advise, e.g., that we stand up and wave our arms to threaten mountain lions\nencountered in the wild [see below, Warning signs]. As a human-to-human cue: "Wave your arms if you need a lifeguard--this is an international distress signal, whether you are in the water or on the beach" [source: San Diego Lifesaving Association, San Diego Union-Tribune, July 4, 1998, E-1].)
\n
\nU.S. politics. Borrowing Winston Churchill's 1941 "V for Victory" hand gesture, Richard Milhous Nixon extended both arms fully outward and upward, and gave the American people two V for Victory hand gestures in his triumphant 1968 tickertape parade. This manic version of the high-stand display later became one of Mr. Nixon's trademark nonverbal cues (see also ANGULAR DISTANCE). "Amid the din of a cheering crowd, the [i.e., Mr. Nixon's] fingers up for victory also signals acceptance of tribute to a powerful and confident leader" (Blum 1988:3-12).
\n
\nWarning signs. In 1996, the University of California at Berkeley put up a dozen 12" by 18" aluminum signs to warn students of the dangers of nearby mountain lions. The signs recommend ". . . that people raise their arms to make themselves appear larger to the lion, and, if attacked, to fight back and remain standing" (Chronicle of Higher Education, Sept. 27, 1996).\n\n\n
Neuro-notes. Paleocircuits mediating the high-stand display consist of small networks of spinal-cord\ninterneurons in charge of the muscle stretch reflex. These mini-networks mediate antigravity\nresponses, i.e., the muscular contractions which automatically extend our limbs to keep us standing\nupright (without our consciously deciding to do so).
\nSee also BASAL GANGLIA, REPTILIAN BRAIN.
\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[HIGH-STAND DISPLAY]{#HIGH-STAND DISPLAY}**\n\n*{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/B7209.jpg\"\nheight=\"35%\" width=\"25%\"}\\\n\\\nLooking as tall as possible and expanding the chest is universally\nemployed by human beings as a means of intimidating an adversary, as\nwitness the behavior of small boys*. \\--Hans Hass (*The Human Animal*,\np. 146)\\\n\\\n*[**Posture**](posture1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/posture1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}*. **1.** A vertically\n**[looming](loom1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/loom1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** stance in which the body \\\"enlarges\\\" through extension\nof the limbs. **2.** A primeval \\\"pushup\\\" intended to lift the\nquadrupedal body higher off the ground.\n\n*Usage*: The high-stand is an\n**[antigravity](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/antigrav.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ndisplay used to show a superior, confident, haughty attitude or mood. It\nis a forerunner of the aggressive *pushup* used by some lizards, and of\nour own assertive\n**[palm-down](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/palmdown.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ncue as well.\\\n\\\n*Culture*. \\\"Whereas high status communicators are generally relaxed in\nNorth America, in Japan they assume stiff, erect postures with feet\nfirmly planted on the floor . . .\\\" (Burgoon et al. 1989:194).\n\n*Sea origin*. It is likely that\n**[paleocircuits](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/paleo.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nfor \\\"standing tall\\\" developed in sea creatures before animals set foot\non land. Fossil evidence is lacking, but in living fishes, such as\ngobies, status and rank vary in proportion to physical *body size*. The\nvery big dominate the merely large, who in turn dominate the small.\nGobies and other piscines, however, may appear \\\"bigger\\\" through an\narray of nonverbal illusions. To loom larger, a goby *stiffens* and\n*raises* its fins, *lifts* its head, *puffs* out its throat, and\n*flares* its gill covers. Cichlid fish, e.g., erect vertical fins and\nturn to display a \\\"bigger\\\" *broadside* (see **[BROADSIDE\nDISPLAY](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/broadsid.htm){target=\"_top\"}**).\nPuffer fish balloon in size, cod fish bulge their heads and jut out\ntheir pelvic fins to threaten, and mudskippers raise their bodies on\nvertical fins in aggressive displays.\n\n*On terra firma*. In land animals, forelimb extension lifts the body\\'s\nfront end to more vertically imposing heights. Doing a pushup makes\nliving iguanas and lizards, e.g., look \\\"bigger\\\" than they appear with\ntheir bellies lowered to the ground. The Australian frilled lizard rears\nand erects its *frill*, while the cobra rears and spreads its *hood*.\n\n*Mammals*. Mammals push up in aggressive *stiff-walk* postures. Bulls,\ne.g., take several *stiff-steps* to loom \\\"large\\\" before galloping\nahead at full charge. Bears, coyotes, and wolves *strut* with a\nstiff-legged gait to carry their bodies higher off the ground. A\ndominant wolf *stands over* its submissive foe. Primates show dominance\nby *straightening their legs* and *widening their arms*. A gorilla,\ne.g., displays with a stiff-legged *bluff charge*. An aggressive\nchimpanzee rises to a bipedal stance, *widens* its bristling arms, and\n**[swaggers](swagger1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/swagger1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** from side to side to seem \\\"big.\\\" Rearing on the\nhindlegs is a posture directed by adult or young adult baboons at other\nbaboons in the wild; it can prelude attack or escape (Hall and DeVore\n1972).\n\n*Humans*. To embody the vertebrate\\'s natural weapon, sheer size, we\nassume a *John-Wayne stance*, i.e., we stand tall, bristle, square our\n**[shoulders](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/shoulder.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nbroaden our bodies with the\n**[hands-on-hips](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/handhips.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ngesture, talk in deep tones, and toe-out to military oblique.\n(***N.B.***: That the vertebrate eye responds to changes in size makes\nit possible for different species to understand each other\\'s cues. Park\nrangers advise, e.g., that we *stand up* and *wave our arms* to threaten\nmountain lions encountered in the wild \\[see below, Warning signs\\]. As\na human-to-human cue: \\\"Wave your arms if you need a lifeguard\\--this is\nan international distress signal, whether you are in the water or on the\nbeach\\\" \\[source: San Diego Lifesaving Association, *San Diego\nUnion-Tribune*, July 4, 1998, E-1\\].)\\\n\\\n*U.S. politics*. Borrowing Winston Churchill\\'s 1941 \\\"V for Victory\\\"\nhand gesture, Richard Milhous Nixon extended both arms fully outward and\nupward, and gave the American people two V for Victory hand gestures in\nhis triumphant 1968 tickertape parade. This manic version of the\nhigh-stand display later became one of Mr. Nixon\\'s trademark nonverbal\ncues (see also [**ANGULAR\nDISTANCE**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/angular.htm){target=\"_top\"}).\n\\\"Amid the din of a cheering crowd, the \\[i.e., Mr. Nixon\\'s\\] fingers\nup for victory also signals acceptance of tribute to a powerful and\nconfident leader\\\" (Blum 1988:3-12).\\\n\\\n*Warning signs*. In 1996, the University of California at Berkeley put\nup a dozen 12\\\" by 18\\\" aluminum signs to warn students of the dangers\nof nearby mountain lions. The signs recommend \\\". . . that people raise\ntheir arms to make themselves appear larger to the lion, and, if\nattacked, to fight back and remain standing\\\" (*Chronicle of Higher\nEducation*, Sept. 27, 1996).\n\n*Neuro-notes*. Paleocircuits mediating the high-stand display consist of\nsmall networks of spinal-cord *interneurons* in charge of the *muscle\nstretch reflex*. These mini-networks mediate *antigravity responses*,\ni.e., the muscular contractions which automatically extend our limbs to\nkeep us standing upright (without our consciously deciding to do so).\n\nSee also **[BASAL\nGANGLIA](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/basal.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[REPTILIAN\nBRAIN](reptile.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/reptile.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"HYPOTHALAMUS","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/hypo.htm","html":"\n\n\nHYPOTHALAMUS
\n
\n![\"Nuclei](\"hypo.jpg\")
Brain. 1. A subcortical group of nuclei in the forebrain which serves a. the limbic system,\nb. the autonomic nervous system (see FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT), and c. the endocrine system. 2. A\nthumbnail-sized neuro structure which organizes basic nonverbal responses such as, e.g., aggression,\nanger, sexuality, and fear.
\n\n\nUsage: Giving input to--and receiving output from--the limbic system, the hypothalamus mediates\ndiverse nonverbal signs associated with emotion.
\n\n\nEvolution I. The hypothalamus has deep evolutionary roots in the chemical sense of smell (see\nAROMA CUE).
\n\n\nEvolution II. As the forebrain's main chemical-control area, hypothalamus regulates the piscine's\nadrenal medullae, chemical-releasing glands which, in living fish, consist of two lines of cells near\nthe kidneys. The adrenal medullae pump adrenaline into the bloodstream, where it effects every\ncell in the fish's body. (N.B.: In humans, adrenaline speeds up body movements, strengthens\nmuscle contractions, and energizes the activity of spinal-cord paleocircuits.)
\n\n\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Pathways involved in oral and genital functions "converge in that\npart of the hypothalamus in which electrical stimulation results in angry and defensive behaviour"\n(MacLean 1973:44). 2. In higher vertebrates, the olfactory system and the hypophysis [i.e., the\npituitary gland (which is linked to the hypothalamus)] "are derived from a single patch of\nembryonic [neuro]ectoderm" (Stoddart 1990:13). 3. The hypothalamus mediates many nonvebal\nbehaviors through reticular nuclei in the brain stem (Guyton 1996).
\n
\nNeuro-notes. Regarding hypothalamic nuclei and nonverbal signs, a. the dorsomedial nucleus stimulates savage behavior; b. the posterior nucleus stimulates the sympathetic nervous system; c. the preoptic area houses the sexual dimorphic nucleus; and d. the anterior nucleus stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system (see REST-AND-DIGEST; Fix 1995).
\n
\nCopyright 1999 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of illustration from Mapping the Mind\n(copyright Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1998)
INTENTION CUE
\n![\"Intending](\"intent.jpg\")
\n
\nBody movement. A gesture, motion, or posture of the fingers, hands, arms, feet, legs, face, head,\nneck, shoulders, or torso which is preparatory to a nonverbal action, such as leaving a room,\nrising from a table, or attacking an enemy.
Usage: An intention cue--such as angling the feet away from someone we dislike--is an\nunconscious signal of how we truly feel about another person. Intention cues may also reflect\ninner attitudes, unvoiced opinions, and emotions as aroused, e.g., in deception.
\n
\nAnimal behavior. 1. "These are the incomplete or preparatory movements which often appear at the beginning of an activity" (Hinde 1970:668). 2. "Intention movements of biting or striking are a common source of the components of threat movements: the upright threat posture of the herring gull provides several examples. In other cases intention movements of preening, nesting, self-protection, copulation, and many other types of behaviour have given rise to display movements" (Hinde 1970:668).
\n
\nAnimal ethology. Two animals may fight over a food item, but usually they bluff each other with aggressive displays to force a bloodless retreat (see below, Snarl). In ethology, early researchers such as N. Tinbergen and K. Lorenz suggested that bluffing and threat displays were intention movements which evolved through a process of "ritualization." As incoming or afferent cues, intention movements are reliable signs with which to predict subsequent behaviors.
\n
\nArm-reach. Sitting across a table from an attractive stranger, we may unwittingly extend our\narms toward that person in preparation to touch (see LOVE SIGNALS IV). As with many intention cues, the preparatory\naction is not completed (i.e., we stop short of making physical contact).
\n
\nFeet-pointing. Jurors may unwittingly point their feet away from attorneys with whom they\ndisagree, in an unconscious preparation to walk away.
\n
\nKnees clasp. In the seated position, leaning forward and clasping "both knees with the hands" means, "I am about to leave" (Morris 1994:149).
\n
\nRitualization. "Since the behavior patterns of social care of skin and fur already expresses contact willingness, it is understandable that they sometimes become ritualized into expressive movements. The lemur (Lemur mongoz) greets others with a movement that is used to comb the fur, a behavior that is common to this group. This combing movement with the lower mandible is made into space, accompanied by rhythmic calls and even licking the air at high intensity" (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1970:95).
\n
\nSnarl. "When your dog lifts his lips and shows you his teeth because you reached for the bone between his paws, you've witnessed an intention display. Rather than bite you there on the spot, your dog shows the beginning phase of the biting sequence to bluff you away" (Givens 1983:43).
See also ANGULAR DISTANCE.
\nCopyright 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo by Eric Schwab (copyright UN)
INTERIOR DESIGN
\n![\"Outside](\"interior.jpg\")
\n
\nHere, then, was a wide and reasonably lofty hall, extending through the whole depth of the house and forming a medium of general communication, more or less directly, with all the other apartments. --Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter)
\n
\n[Hollywood, California's Linoleum City manager Susan] Mannes said sales of all of the store's natural products (linoleum [invented in 1863 from linseed oil, rosin, limestone, and wood or cork ingredients, with jute backing], cork, sissal) have increased since the early 1990s. --Candace Wedlan (2000:D1)
\n
\nHumane Habitat. 1. The practice of decorating an indoor space with lights, colors,\nlandscapes, textures, animals, plants, and other natural objects found in the great outdoors. 2. The\nunconscious or deliberate act of bringing in the outside cues of Nonverbal World.
Usage: Nothing in our evolutionary past prepared us for a life lived almost entirely indoors,\nso we bring the outdoors in. Through ingeniously designed consumer products, we make home and\noffice spaces look and feel more like the outside world our forebears knew. (N.B.: Adding the nonverbal\nsigns of nature to the workplace makes it a more humane environment, and a more efficient\nhabitat as well.)
\nColor I. "An East Coast factory gave its cafeteria a face-lift by painting its previously peach-colored walls a light blue. Patrons responded with complaints of being cold . . . . When the room was painted peach again, complaints stopped" (Vargas 1986:151).
\n
\nColor II. "Think about the colors used by the fast-food chains in your area. There's not a cool color to be seen. In the Midwest, Wendy's, Colonel Sanders, McDonald's, Hardee's, A & W, Burger King--all keep people moving with reds, oranges, and rich browns" (Vargas 1986:151).
\n
\nCover. Our preference for having something behind our back when eating or resting (e.g., a partition or a wall) may be innate (Thorndike 1940).
Nonverbal reminders. People are happy when their work and play spaces duplicate features\nof the ancestral African plain. The best offices, e.g., provide obvious replicas as well as more\nsubtle reminders of the original savannah habitat, including its warmth, lighting, colors, vistas,\ntextures, and plants. Flowers, cacti, palms, ivy vines, leafy shrubs, and fig trees are cultivated\nindoors today--for the outdoor look of yesterday.
\nSky & sun signs. We keep our homes heated (or cooled) to 72 F.--the savannah average--and\ndecorated with travel posters of oceans, mountains, and trees. We paint our ceilings in light\ncolors to suggest the sky, leaving them unadorned to seem "bigger," "higher," and less\nenclosing.
\nSunshine I. We crave the natural brightness of sunlight. From isolation experiments \nNASA found that we miss sunshine nearly as much as we miss the company of human\nbeings. In offices without direct sunlight, pictures and drawings of the sun may be added as\nreminders of its heat, glow, and brilliance.
\nSunshine II. The sun's power has been acknowledged in prehistoric pictographs and rock art\nthroughout the world (Mallery 1972). Drawings of Ra, the Egyptian god of the sun and skies,\nstill decorate the dark walls of ancient tombs. Set on a pair of wings, or upon the head of Ra himself,\nthe round solar disk emblem works on the principle of a cubicle poster's tropical sun: to warm the\ntraveler and cheer the dead.
\nWindows I. After sunlight itself comes the wish for a window, to see outside. Without\nreference to landscapes or the far horizon, workers in windowless offices may feel\ndisoriented and disheartened. Industry studies suggest that staff members without scenic vistas are more apt to\ndisplay art prints (depicting natural earth scenes) and to feel lower in status than colleagues with\nvistas and views.
\nWindows II. Hospital studies show that patients get well sooner, have shorter stays, require less\npainkiller, and receive fewer complaints from nurses when their rooms have pleasant landscape\nviews (Bell et al. 1990).
\nTouch cue I. Too much smoothness may create a peculiar feeling of unreality. Foreign visitors to the\nU.S., e.g., have been advised to carry unfinished stones or pieces of natural wood to satisfy their primate cravings for\n texture, which urban America often seems to lack (Baldwin and Levine 1992). (N.B.:\nWith so many man-made, smooth artifacts--from desktops to copy machines--an office environment may be the most unreal place of all.)
\nTouch cue II. Because large areas of our brain receive signals from nerves in the fingertips (see\nHOMUNCULUS), office spaces may stave off boredom and restore sensory awareness by adding \nan assortment of tactile signs, signals, and cues. Linen-embossed wallpaper, terra-cotta pots,\nnatural stone facings, and walls of weathered brick, e.g., can add refreshing contrast to otherwise flat, featureless corporate surfaces. (N.B.: In 1973-74, Skylab 4 astronaut Gerald Carr spent 84\ndays in space. So boring was his drab workplace that Carr advised designers of the NASA space\nstation, Freedom, to make future cabins as "natural" as possible with interesting colors,\ntextures, and lighting.)
\nTouch cue III. Because they replicate the softness of mammalian fur, carpets seem "friendlier"\nthan bare floors. A carpet's fuzzy nap stimulates sensations of "light" or protopathic touch. \nProtopathic cues travel in spinal-cord pathways that evolved earlier than the pathways for heat and\npain. Thus, walking on carpets is more inviting to primate souls and feet than \nconcrete, hardwood, or linoleum floors.
\nSee also LAWN DISPLAY
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo copyright 1999 by Better Homes and Gardens
INVISIBILITY
\n![\"Transparent](\"invisibl.jpg\")
\n
\nCome, my son, let us go look for a place where I may hide . . . . --Cervantes (Don Quixote, 1605:565)
\n
\nKeeping reflections to a minimum is necessary but not sufficient for invisibility. Light must also\npass unimpeded through the body . . . . --Sönke Johnsen (2000:88)
Not seen. Nonverbally, the condition of being difficult or impossible to see, as in the use of\ncamouflage, concealment, flatness, thinness, hiding, or transparency.
\nUsage: Animals from jellyfish to humans have devised ingenious ways to be stealthy and to\navoid detection.
\nJellyfish. In the featureless ocean depths which make up ca. 99 percent of Earth's living space,\njellyfish have no place to hide, and thus rely upon transparency to become "invisible." Their clear,\ngelatinous bodies (the interior as well as the exterior surfaces) allow from 20 to 90\npercent of light to pass through, thus enabling these simple creatures to sneak up on prey while\navoiding detection by sighted enemies (Johnsen 2000:88).
\nHuman beings. 1. In the corporate world, humans may become functionally invisible by\nkeeping a low profile (e.g., by remaining silent), and by covering their bodily exteriors with the\nuniform of the day (see, e.g., BUSINESS SUIT, ISOPRAXISM). 2. In private life, human beings spend a great deal of time in seclusion behind closed doors (e.g., in bathrooms and bedrooms) and other partitions designed to shield their bodies from prying eyes. Scientists have determined that too much visual monitoring can be harmful to human health.
\n
\nHunter's camouflage. According to Konrad Spindler (1994:147), the 5,000-year-old grass cloak of the Copper Age Iceman would have provided "excellent camouflage" for a hunter. \n
Sighting distance. "At some distance, depending on the animal's original contrast and how the\nwater affects the light, the contrast drops below what the observer can see. This distance is\nknown as the sighting distance, and beyond it the animal is invisible (and safe)" (Johnsen\n2000:87).
\n
\nUnderground. "Throughout history, tunnels hidden below the earth were far from public gaze and thought" (Langrall 1994:4).
Copyright 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo (copyright by Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution)
ISOTYPE
\n![\"Easy](\"isotype.jpg\")
\n
\nPictorial sign. 1. Isotype (International System of Typographic Picture Education) was\nintroduced in 1936 by Otto Neurath. 2. Isotype is a set of pictographic characters used "to create\nnarrative visual material, avoiding details which do not improve the narrative character" (Neurath\n1936:240). 3. Isotype was designed to be an alternative to written script ("adapted to the child's\nmind"), as a pictorial means for communicating information about a. directions, events, and\nobjects, and b. complex relationships in space and time.
Usage: Though isotype ultimately failed as a means of communication (in part because educators favored\nwritten words over pictures), Neurath's "international picture language" laid the foundation for\ninternational graphic symbols, i.e., for the pictographic signals of airport, train-station, and\nhighway signs. Today, the use of graphics at the human-computer interface further demonstrates\nthe power of pictographic communication. (N.B.: Words are unlikely ever to replace images in\nNonverbal World.)
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "The first step in Isotype is the development of easily understood\nand easily remembered symbols. The next step is to combine these symbolic elements" (Neurath\n1936:224-25). 2. ". . . simple [pictographic] elements can be made to show the most complicated\nfacts and relationships. The visual method, fully developed, becomes the basis for a common\ncultural life and a common cultural relationship" (Neurath 1936:226).
\nPrehistory. "With Spanish Levantine rock art (dating to 11,500 B.P. ["before present"]), ancient sign artifacts begin\nto show a quantum leap both in complexity and information content in scenes representing\nhunters, singly and in groups, associated weapons, clothing, gender signals, social behaviors, and\ncomplicated juxtapositionings of human beings with one another and with prey animals. Thus\nbegins pictographic narration--story telling, dramatization--showing consequences of actions,\nportraying life-and-death encounters" (Givens 1982:162).
\nFuture. Semiotic principles of isotype are included in a U.S. Department of Energy warning\nsystem, designed to send a cautionary message to human beings 10,000 years in the future about the dangers of nuclear waste (see\nWIPP MARKER).
\nNeuro-notes. "Pictographic traditions--both protowritings and true pictographic scripts--rest on\nsemiotic principles which seem to have deep roots in human perception and cognition" (Givens\n1982:162-63).
\nSee also NONVERBAL LEARNING.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nJUICE SUBSTITUTE
\n![\"Sucrose](\"juice.jpg\")
\n
\nIt's the Real Thing. --Coca-Cola Bottling Co. (1969)
\n
Consumer product. A usually colorful--but sometimes clear--frozen or liquid food product (e.g., a cherry popsicle, orange soda, or\nstrawberry milkshake) sweetened with sugar to resemble the taste of natural fruit juice.
\nUsage: Historically, squeezed fruit juice has been one of humankind's favorite refreshments. Iced-fruit juices and French sorbets, e.g., date back some 300 years. In the late 1990s, Tropicana® orange\njuice was among the top-ten most popular grocery-store items sold in the U.S. (N.B.: Orange\njuice contains glucose, fructose, and sucrose; flavor compounds known as terpenes; and the\nminerals potassium and phosphorus.)
\nEvolution. The sweetness of a juice substitute is usually increased by adding table sugar (sucrose), a\ncrystalline carbohydrate which suggests the fruity sweetness of fructose, for which it stands (i.e., as a\nnonverbal sign). Today, an incredible vocabulary of sucrose signals reconnects our species to its\nfruit-eating, primate past (see FRUIT SUBSTITUTE).
\nSoda signs. In the modern diet, fresh-fruit drinks have been largely replaced by sweeter beverages\nwhich suggest their presence and stand in their stead. In the U.S., e.g., soft drinks outsell fruit\njuices three-to-one. Carbonated sodas contain high levels of sucrose, as well as of artificial colorings and\n flavorings. Today, the most recognized brand name on earth belongs to a dark, bubbly\njuice substitute known as Coca-Cola®.
\nCola cues. Coke® is a complex harmony of cola seeds, vanilla, and spices; and oils of\norange, lemon, and lime--blended with evolutionary-unprecedented quantities of caffeine and\nsucrose. In the 1990s, Coke Classic® and Pepsi® were, respectively, the 2nd and 3rd most\npopular grocery-store items in annual sales (behind Marlboro® cigarettes).
\nSee also NUT SUBSTITUTE.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo by John Hedgecoe (copyright 1983 by John Hedgecoe)
KINESICS
\n![\"Birdwhistell's](\"kinesics.jpg\")
\n
\nA man stands inside of a closed glass phone booth. You cannot hear a word he says, but you see his postures, gestures, and facial expressions. You see his kinesics. --Marjorie F. Vargas (Louder Than Words, p. 67)
\n
\nLinguistic analogy. 1. Founded by anthropologist Ray Birdwhistell (1952, 1970), kinesics is the\nstudy of nonverbal communication using the methods and concepts of American descriptive\nlinguistics of the late 1940s. 2. The anthropological term for body language.
\n
\nUsage: Students of kinesics searched for a grammar of body movements, facial expressions, and\ngestures, much as descriptive linguists formulated a grammatical structure of words.
\n
\nBirdwhistell-isms: 1. "Social personality is a tempero-spacial system. All behaviors evinced by any such system are components of the system except as related to different levels of abstractions" (Birdwhistell 1952:5). 2. "Even if no participant of an interaction field can recall, or repeat in a dramatized context, a given series or sequence of [body] motions, the appearance of a motion is of significance to the general study of the particular kinesic system even if the given problem can be rationalized without reference to it" (Birdwhistell 1952:5). 3. ". . . all meaningful [body] motion patterns are to be regarded as socially learned until empirical investigation reveals otherwise" (Birdwhistell 1952:6). 4. "No kine ever stands alone" (Birdwhistell 1952:15).
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "I suggest that this separate burgeoning evolution of kinesics and paralanguage alongside the evolution of verbal language indicates that our iconic communication serves functions totally different from those of language and, indeed, performs functions which verbal language is unsuited to perform" (Bateson 1968:615). 2. \n"The first premise in developing this type of notational system for body language, Dr.\nBirdwhistell says, is to assume that all movements of the body have meaning. None are\naccidental" (Fast 1970:157). 3. "A kineme is similar to a phoneme because it consists of a\ngroup of movements which are not identical, but which may be used interchangeably without\naffecting social meaning" (Knapp 1972:94-95). 4. "Not everyone agrees with Birdwhistell that\nkinesics forms a communication system which is the same as spoken language" (Knapp\n1972:96). 5. The linguistic analogy was popular in the 1970s, e.g.: "This [the authors'] model draws its components from several social sciences, especially linguistics. Its basic idea is that face-to-face interaction can be construed as having a definite organization or structure, just as language is understood in terms of its grammar" (Duncan and Fiske 1977:xi). 6. "The system developed by Birdwhistell (1970) is by far the most elaborate and\nfamous example of a structural approach" (Burgoon et al. 1989:42). 7. "So as you can see,\nBirdwhistell based his category system of behaviors on a model taken from the categories of\nverbal communication (allophone, phone, phoneme, morpheme)" (Richmond et al. 1991:55). 8. \n"Her [Margaret Mead's] dilemma was how to acknowledge universals in facial expression\n[discovered by Paul Ekman] and not disavow [her student] Ray Birdwhistell's conclusion that\nthere were no universals" (Ekman 1998:388).
\nSee also PARALANGUAGE, PROXEMICS.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**KINESICS**\n\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/kinesics.jpg\" height=\"60%\"\nwidth=\"25%\"}\\\n\\\nA man stands inside of a closed glass phone booth. You cannot hear a\nword he says, but you see his postures, gestures, and facial\nexpressions. You *see* his *kinesics*. \\--Marjorie F. Vargas (*Louder\nThan Words*, p. 67)\\\n\\\n*Linguistic analogy*. **1.** Founded by anthropologist Ray Birdwhistell\n(1952, 1970), kinesics is the study of [**nonverbal\ncommunication**](nvcom.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvcom.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"} using the methods and concepts of American descriptive\nlinguistics of the late 1940s. **2.** The anthropological term for\n**[body\nlanguage](bodylan1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodylan1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\\\n\\\n*Usage*: Students of kinesics searched for a *grammar* of **[body\nmovements](bodymov1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodymov1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, [**facial\nexpressions**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialx.htm){target=\"_top\"},\nand\n[**gestures**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target=\"_top\"},\nmuch as descriptive linguists formulated a grammatical structure of\n**[words](word1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\\\n\\\n*Birdwhistell-isms*: **1.** \\\"Social personality is a tempero-spacial\nsystem. All behaviors evinced by any such system are components of the\nsystem except as related to different levels of abstractions\\\"\n(Birdwhistell 1952:5). **2.** \\\"Even if no participant of an interaction\nfield can recall, or repeat in a dramatized context, a given series or\nsequence of \\[body\\] motions, the appearance of a motion is of\nsignificance to the general study of the particular kinesic system even\nif the given problem can be rationalized without reference to it\\\"\n(Birdwhistell 1952:5). **3.** \\\". . . all meaningful \\[body\\] motion\npatterns are to be regarded as socially learned until empirical\ninvestigation reveals otherwise\\\" (Birdwhistell 1952:6). **4.** \\\"No\nkine ever stands alone\\\" (Birdwhistell 1952:15).\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** \\\"I suggest that this separate burgeoning\nevolution of kinesics and paralanguage alongside the evolution of verbal\nlanguage indicates that our iconic communication serves functions\ntotally different from those of language and, indeed, performs functions\nwhich verbal language is unsuited to perform\\\" (Bateson 1968:615).\n**2.** \\\"The first premise in developing this type of notational system\nfor body language, Dr. Birdwhistell says, is to assume that all\nmovements of the body have meaning. None are accidental\\\" (Fast\n1970:157). **3.** \\\"A *kineme* is similar to a phoneme because it\nconsists of a group of movements which are not identical, but which may\nbe used interchangeably without affecting social meaning\\\" (Knapp\n1972:94-95). **4.** \\\"Not everyone agrees with Birdwhistell that\nkinesics forms a communication system which is the same as spoken\nlanguage\\\" (Knapp 1972:96). **5.** The linguistic analogy was popular in\nthe 1970s, e.g.: \\\"This \\[the authors\\'\\] model draws its components\nfrom several social sciences, especially linguistics. Its basic idea is\nthat face-to-face interaction can be construed as having a definite\norganization or structure, just as language is understood in terms of\nits grammar\\\" (Duncan and Fiske 1977:xi). **6.** \\\"The system developed\nby Birdwhistell (1970) is by far the most elaborate and famous example\nof a structural approach\\\" (Burgoon et al. 1989:42). **7.** \\\"So as you\ncan see, Birdwhistell based his category system of behaviors on a model\ntaken from the categories of verbal communication (allophone, phone,\nphoneme, morpheme)\\\" (Richmond et al. 1991:55). **8.** \\\"Her \\[Margaret\nMead\\'s\\] dilemma was how to acknowledge universals in facial expression\n\\[discovered by Paul Ekman\\] and not disavow \\[her student\\] Ray\nBirdwhistell\\'s conclusion that there were no universals\\\" (Ekman\n1998:388).\n\nSee also\n**[PARALANGUAGE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tone.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[PROXEMICS](proxemi1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/proxemi1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"KISS","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/kiss1.htm","html":"\n\n\nKISS
\n![\"Me](\"kiss1.jpg\")
\n
\nKiss me as if you made believe
\nYou were not sure, this eve,
\nHow my face, your flower, had pursed
\nIts petals up. --Robert Browning, In a Gondola
The anatomical juxtaposition of two orbicularis oris muscles in a state of contraction. --Dr.\nHenry Gibbons, Definition of a Kiss
\n
\nBlair walks in and gives Cristian a big sloppy kiss to make Max jealous. --One Life to Live (Soap Opera Digest synopsis, May 2, 2000:109)
\n
\nTouch cue. 1. To caress, touch, or gently feel with the lips. 2. To press one's lips against those\nof another.
Usage: We kiss to show our affection, as in kissing a child, parent, or lover (see LOVE\nSIGNALS IV).
\nConsumer products. In 1995, Revlon claimed that its ColorStay Lipcolor® "won't kiss off on your teeth, your glass . . . or on him." Later in 1995, "Procter & Gamble, the manufacturer of Max Factor and Cover Girl cosmetics, asked Revlon to provide support for its claims within a week" (Hamilton 1995:F1).
\n
\nCourtship: "Ever so slowly, the couple's heads will loom closer and closer, like docking\nspacecraft. Three inches away and closing, their faces will roll several degrees right or left, in\nsynchrony, so the noses will clear. And the lips begin a cautious link-up. The pair seals together\nin the first kiss" (Givens 1983:91-2).
\n
\nCulture. 1. In Latin countries, a man may kiss the back of a woman's hand to greet her with respect. His hand kiss should be "effortless, noiseless and moistureless" (Morris 1994:113). 2. In Vatican City, kissing another's foot is a "humble salutation" (Morris 1994:76). Extremely rare, the foot kiss ". . . still survives in a ritual form when the Pope symbolically washes and kisses the feet of poor people in Holy Week" (Morris 1994:76; see also BOW, Humility).
\n
\nMedia I. Jane Wyman and Regis Toomey kissed for 185 seconds in the 1940 movie You're in the\nArmy Now.
\n
\nMedia II. “I would like to think that someone who had respect for me and cared about me . . . would have kissed me on the cheek [rather than squarely on the lips] and said ‘I’m delighted to meet you’,” nurse Darva Conger confessed on the Feb. 23, 2000 "Good Morning America'' show, in an interview about how she felt after marrying a total stranger, Rick Rockwell, on the Feb. 15, 2000 Fox TV special, Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire.
\n
\nMedia III. On kissing Leonardo DiCaprio: "Sharon Stone proclaimed that 'kissing him was like kissing your arm.' He got another scathing review from 'Romeo + Juliet' costar Claire Danes: 'Our chemistry ended when the cameras stopped.' Then 'Titanic's' Kate Winslet revealed: 'It was like kissing my brother'" (Davis 2000:53).
\n
\nPrimatology. Chimpanzees may kiss and embrace after a fight.
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "Nuzzling, licking, sucking, playful biting, kissing, and so on,\nwhich appear to have a broad geographical distribution as sexually meaningful signs, can be used\nto communicate the emotional intimacy that is prerequisite to sexual intercourse" (Givens\n1978:352). 2. "Many mammals 'kiss' before mating as a way of stimulating a partner's maternal\ninstincts. Dolphins nibble, cats give playful bites, dogs lick faces or nuzzle flanks, and chimps\npress lips in their courtship" (Givens 1983:93). 3. "Our kiss originates from a mammal-wide\nsucking reflex" (Givens 1983:93). 4. "Mouth-to-mouth contact with the lips" is a worldwide\nsign of love (Morris 1994:155).
\nNeuro-notes. The most sensitive area of our face is the perioral area (which includes the lips and\nnose). Kissing sensations travel through the trigeminal nerve (cranial V), which carries impulses\nreceived from the lips. Reflecting its importance, trigeminal is served by three sensory nuclei,\nextending from the upper spinal cord through the brainstem to the amphibian midbrain.\nPleasurable protopathic or light-touch sensations travel from the principal and spinal nuclei\nthrough evolutionary-old pathways to the thalamus, then to areas of the mammalian brain\n(including the cingulate gyrus, prefrontal cortex, and basal forebrain), as well as to primary\nsensory areas of the parietal cortex (see HOMUNCULUS).
\nSee also EMOTION CUE, REST-AND-DIGEST.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo by Bruce Weber (Madonna; copyright Bruce Weber)
LAWN DISPLAY
\n![\"lendh-,](\"lawn.jpg\")
\n
\nThe poetry of earth is ceasing never. --Keats, On the Grasshopper and Cricket
\n
\nDamn, I poured my whole life into this lawn, my heart, my soul, the tender feelings I've held back from my family . . . . Look, some people hoist a flag to show they love their country. Well, my lawn is my flag. --Hank Hill, King of the Hill (quoted in The Spokesman-Review, May 28, 2000, F1)
\n
\n
\nSpatial cue. A plot of carefully groomed grass, and any of several decorative artifacts (e.g.,\nwhite pickets or plastic pink flamingos) placed upon its surface.
Usage: Lawns mark territory and betoken status. Each year, Americans buy an estimated 500,000\nplastic pink flamingo ornaments to mark their yard space--and to provide tangible evidence that, "This\nland is mine."
\nEvolution. Two m.y.a. the first humans lived in eastern Africa on hot, flat, open countryside with\nscattered trees and bushes and little shade, known as savannah grasslands. (N.B.: At this time, the\nhuman brain was expanding faster than any brain ever had in animal history, and in the growing\nprocess seemingly locked in a fondness for level grassland spaces.)
\nVerbal prehistory. The word lawn itself may be traced to the ancient Indo-European root, lendh-, "open land."
\nToday I. To make earth more to our liking, we flatten and smooth its surface to resemble the\noriginal rolling plains our ancestors walked upon during the critical Pleistocene epoch two\nm.y.a. Neo-Savannah Grassland--with its scattered bushes, trees, and lawns--is the\ndominant theme of housing tracts, campuses, cemeteries, entertainment parks, and shopping\nmalls in almost every city today.
\n
\nToday II. So important are lawns as consumer products that, at the University of Florida, a $700,000 campus laboratory--known as the TurfGrass Envirotron--was fabricated so horticulturalists could watch grass grow.
\n
\nToday III. "Despite the view in some circles that lawns are a symbol of suburban conformity and repressed individualism, Americans traditionally have equated a green space around the home with freedom and power, said Washington State University horticulturalist Ken Struckmeyer" (Turner 2000:F8).
\n
\nFlatland, China. In 1999, Chinese leaders planted a few hundred square yards of grass from seed (shipped from USA's Inland Northwest) on Tiananmen Square. "Across China, cities are planting thousands of acres of lawns, parks and golf courses ['to reverse decades of environmental ruin and make drab cities more livable'] . . ." (McDonald 1999). (N.B.: On Tiananmen square, knee-high metal signs warn visitors: "Please don't enter the grass.")
\n
\nFlatland, USA. Taking the U.S. as a whole, 40 square feet of perfectly level shopping-center space\nhas been constructed for every child born since 1986. Due to our prehistory on grasslands, we\nprefer to conduct our lives on plane-paved surfaces. In Los Angeles, ". . . 70 percent of the land area is devoted to the use of cars . . ." (Mathews 1974). Some 100,000 acres of land are now\noccupied, e.g., by vast, table-terraced superstores. (N.B.: Inside air temperatures average 72\ndegrees F., the warmth of the primeval savannah.) And spreading in front of houses and\napartment buildings are closely cropped micro-savannahs, occupying an estimated 7.7 million\nacres of level, home-lawn plots.
\n
\nInterior design. "Grass green [in the home environment] is not particularly popular in rural areas, where presumably people see a lot of it. But for those from inner city areas, green ranks high on their list of favorites" (Vargas 1986:142).
\n
\nMedia. "Like the interstate highway system, fast food chains, telephones, televisions, and malls, the lawn occupies a central, and often unconsidered, place in America's cultural landscape." --Georges Teyssot ("The American Lawn," quoted in Spokesman-Review, May 28, 2000:F1)
Neuro-notes. Like the cylindrical, filamentous projections covering our scalp, we respond to\ngrass blades as we do to our own hair. The compulsion to feed, clip, and groom our yard space is\nprompted by the same preadapted modules of the mammalian brain which motivate personal grooming and hair care (see CINGULATE GYRUS). Like thick, healthy locks, well-groomed\nlawns bespeak health, vigor, and high status.
\n
\nSee also GOLF.
Copyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**LAWN DISPLAY**\n\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/lawn.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"30%\"}\\\n\\\n*The poetry of earth is ceasing never*. \\--Keats, *On the Grasshopper\nand Cricket*\\\n\\\n*Damn, I poured my whole life into this lawn, my heart, my soul, the\ntender feelings I\\'ve held back from my family . . . . Look, some people\nhoist a flag to show they love their country. Well, my lawn is my flag*.\n\\--Hank Hill, *King of the Hill* (quoted in The *Spokesman-Review*, May\n28, 2000, F1)\\\n\\\n\\\n***[Spatial\ncue](proxemi1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/proxemi1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***. A plot of carefully groomed grass, and any of several\ndecorative artifacts (e.g., white pickets or plastic pink flamingos)\nplaced upon its surface.\n\n*Usage*: Lawns mark territory and betoken status. Each year, Americans\nbuy an estimated 500,000 plastic pink flamingo ornaments to mark their\nyard space\\--and to provide tangible evidence that, \\\"This land is\nmine.\\\"\n\n*Evolution*. Two m.y.a. the first humans lived in eastern Africa on hot,\nflat, open countryside with scattered trees and bushes and little shade,\nknown as *savannah grasslands*. (***N.B.***: At this time, the human\nbrain was expanding faster than any brain ever had in animal history,\nand in the growing process seemingly locked in a fondness for level\ngrassland spaces.)\n\n*Verbal prehistory*. The word *lawn* itself may be traced to the ancient\nIndo-European root, lendh**-**, \\\"open land.\\\"\n\n*Today I*. To make earth more to our liking, we flatten and smooth its\nsurface to resemble the original rolling plains our ancestors walked\nupon during the critical Pleistocene epoch two m.y.a. *Neo-Savannah\nGrassland*\\--with its scattered bushes, trees, and lawns\\--is the\ndominant theme of housing tracts, campuses, cemeteries, entertainment\nparks, and shopping malls in almost every city today.\\\n\\\n*Today II*. So important are lawns as [**consumer\nproducts**](consprod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"} that, at the University of Florida, a \\$700,000 campus\nlaboratory\\--known as the\n[**TurfGrass**](http://www.turfgrass.org/){target=\"_top\"}\nEnvirotron\\--was fabricated so horticulturalists could watch grass\ngrow.\\\n\\\n*Today III*. \\\"Despite the view in some circles that lawns are a symbol\nof suburban conformity and repressed individualism, Americans\ntraditionally have equated a green space around the home with freedom\nand power, said Washington State University horticulturalist Ken\nStruckmeyer\\\" (Turner 2000:F8).\\\n\\\n*Flatland, China*. In 1999, Chinese leaders planted a few hundred square\nyards of grass from seed (shipped from USA\\'s Inland Northwest) on\nTiananmen Square. \\\"Across China, cities are planting thousands of acres\nof lawns, parks and golf courses \\[\\'to reverse decades of environmental\nruin and make drab cities more livable\\'\\] . . .\\\" (McDonald 1999).\n(***N.B.***: On Tiananmen square, knee-high metal signs warn visitors:\n\\\"Please don\\'t enter the grass.\\\")\\\n\\\n*Flatland, USA*. Taking the U.S. as a whole, 40 square feet of perfectly\nlevel shopping-center space has been constructed for every child born\nsince 1986. Due to our prehistory on grasslands, we prefer to conduct\nour lives on plane-paved surfaces. In Los Angeles, \\\". . . 70 percent of\nthe land area is devoted to the use of cars . . .\\\" (Mathews 1974). Some\n100,000 acres of land are now occupied, e.g., by vast, table-terraced\nsuperstores. (***N.B.***: Inside air temperatures average 72 degrees F.,\nthe warmth of the primeval savannah.) And spreading in front of houses\nand apartment buildings are closely cropped *micro-savannahs*, occupying\nan estimated 7.7 million acres of level, home-lawn plots.\\\n\\\n*Interior design*. \\\"Grass\n**[green](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/color.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\n\\[in the home environment\\] is not particularly popular in rural areas,\nwhere presumably people see a lot of it. But for those from inner city\nareas, green ranks high on their list of favorites\\\" (Vargas 1986:142).\\\n\\\n***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\n\\\"Like the interstate highway system, fast food chains, telephones,\ntelevisions, and malls, the lawn occupies a central, and often\nunconsidered, place in America\\'s cultural landscape.\\\" \\--Georges\nTeyssot (\\\"The American Lawn,\\\" quoted in *Spokesman-Review*, May 28,\n2000:F1)\n\n*Neuro-notes*. Like the cylindrical, filamentous projections covering\nour scalp, we respond to grass blades as we do to our own hair. The\ncompulsion to feed, clip, and groom our yard space is prompted by the\nsame preadapted modules of the **[mammalian\nbrain](mammal.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/mammal.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** which motivate personal grooming and **[hair\ncare](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/haircue.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\n(see **[CINGULATE\nGYRUS](cingulat.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cingulat.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**). Like thick, healthy locks, well-groomed lawns bespeak\nhealth, vigor, and high status.\\\n\\\nSee also\n[**GOLF**](golf.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/golf.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}.\n\nCopyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"LEG WEAR","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/legwear1.htm","html":"\n\n\nLEG WEAR
\n![\"Relating](\"legwear.jpg\")
\n
\nAlthough skirt hemlines are no longer much of a concern, form and structure between your waist and your feet is always a critical issue. --Véronique Vienne (1997:149)
\n
\nFashion statement. 1. Clothing worn a. to cover, and b. to modify the color, thickness, length,\nshape, and texture of the legs (see, e.g., BLUE JEANS). 2. Ornaments (e.g., anklets and cuffs) worn a. to attract notice, and\nb. to accent the leg's masculine or feminine traits.
Usage: What we place upon our legs accents their thickness or taper. Trousers widen the legs,\ne.g., while dresses bare the turn of an ankle. Skirts reveal, while pants conceal, vulnerable\nlandscapes of skin.
\n\nMedia. While fleeing from gorillas, giant lizards, and Martians, e.g., leading men (in pants and boots) must help\nleading women (in skirts and heels) as the latter twist their ankles, stumble, and fall\n to the ground.
\nSkirts, women. Though the earliest skirts may have been made of thong-tied animal hides, the oldest-known skirts were more provocative and revealing than leather. Evidence for the ancient string\nskirt consists of detailed carvings on Upper Paleolithic Venus figurines from Lespugue, France,\nestimated to be ca. 23,000 to 25,000 years old (Troeng 1993). The string skirt (not\nunlike the filamentous grass skirts of old Hawaii) revealed the legs and ankles, and when a woman walked, made\nsexually suggestive movements of its own as well (Barber 1991, 1994).
\n
\nSkirts, men. Japanese men wear kimonos, Samoan men wear sarongs, and bedouin men wear flowing robes. Men from Amazonia, Bali, Egypt, Fiji, Ghana, Greece, Hawaii, India, Kenya, Korea, Samoa, Scotland, and Tibet also wear skirts.
\n
\nStance. Leg wear suggests how solidly--or how lightly--we trod upon the earth. In tandem with\nheavy shoes, e.g., masculine cuffs define a solid connection with terra firma, as if a man "had\nboth feet on the ground." In thinner shoes and higher heels, feminine bare legs seem to lift a\nwoman above the earthly plain. (N.B.: From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the corporate world, a woman must\nbalance her femininity against the stability of her stance.)
Trousers I. The oldest-known pants were discovered on a glacier between Austria and Italy. The\ncrotchless leggings, made from animal hide whipstitched with sinew, were worn fur side out with\na leather loincloth. They belonged to a late-Neolithic wanderer known as the "Ice Man," who\ndied ca. 5,300 years ago. The deerskin pants covering his thighs and calves did not cling, but had\na loose fit to enable bending at the knees. Though he may have died in a fall, an artist's rendering\nof his leather cuffs and shoes suggests that, unlike the Venus figurine, the Ice Man's leg wear\nprovided a stable platform upon which to stand (Spindler 1994).
\n
\nTrousers II. As consumer products, pants show an Indo-European design of equestrian origin: "To judge from their first distribution, trousers were invented about 1000 B.C. in response to the chafing of tender parts incurred in the new art of horesback riding. The man's chemise was then shortened (shirt means 'cut short') to allow the straddling position" (Barber 1994:142).
See also ARM WEAR, BUSINESS SUIT, FOOTWEAR.
\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo by Robert Doisneau (copyright Rapho Guillumette)
LIMBIC SYSTEM
\n
\n![\"Modules](\"limbic.jpg\")
Neuro term. 1. Those interlinked modules and pathways of the brain in charge of emotions,\nfeelings, and moods. 2. The "entire neuronal circuitry that controls emotional behavior and\nmotivational drives" (Guyton 1996:752). 3. The emotional core of the human nervous system\n(Cytowic 1993).
\n\n\nUsage: A great deal of our nonverbal communication reflects happenings in the\nlimbic system (see, e.g., FACE, MAMMALIAN BRAIN). Nonverbal signs, signals, and cues\ndisclose limbic emotions and attitudes more openly and with greater honesty than words.
\n\n\nObservation. When shopping for consumer products, we heed limbic rather than\nrational thoughts.
\n\n\nEvolution. In human beings, the limbic system grew in tandem with the cerebral cortex\n(Armstrong 1986). Thus, ours is the most emotional--as well as the most intellectual--species on\nearth.
\n\n\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. The limbic system "plays a key role in the evolutionary survival and\neventual success of hominids" (Eccles 1989:97). 2. Regarding nonverbal behavior, the limbic\nsystem's a. amygdalar division promotes feeding, food-search, angry, and defensive behaviors\nrelated to obtaining food; b. septal division promotes sexual pleasure, genital swelling,\ngrooming, courtship, and maternal behavior; and c. thalamocingulate division promotes play,\nvocalization (e.g., the separation cry), and maternal behavior (MacLean 1993). 3. "While the\ncortex contains our model of reality and analyzes what exists outside ourselves, it is the limbic\nbrain that determines the salience of that information" (Cytowic 1993:156). 4. The cerebral\ncortex "has more inputs from the limbic system than the limbic system has coming from the\ncortex" (Cytowic 1993:161). 5. Many emotional systems, in addition to the limbic system, may\nexist in the brain (LeDoux 1996:103).
\n\n\nNeuro-notes. The limbic system includes the amygdala, anterior thalamic nucleus,\ncingulate gyrus, fornix, hippocampus, hypothalamus, mammillary bodies, medial\nforebrain bundle, prefrontal lobes, septal nuclei, and other areas and pathways of the brain. The\nhypothalamus, a key player, mediates nonverbal behaviors through the brain-stem reticular nuclei. \nWhen excited, the reticular nuclei arouse cerebral as well as spinal circuits. (N.B.: An\nimportant two-way link between the limbic system and brain stem is the medial forebrain bundle.)
\n\n\nCopyright 1999 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of illustration from Mapping the Mind\n(copyright Weidenfeld & Nicolson 1998)
LIPS
\n
\n![\"Lips](\"lips.jpg\")
He was a person of very striking aspect, with a white, lofty, and impending brow, large, brown, melancholy eyes, and a mouth which, unless when he forcibly compressed it, was apt to be tremulous, expressing both nervous sensibility and a vast power of self-restraint. --Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter)
\n
\nMood signals. 1. The muscular, fleshy, hairless folds surrounding the mouth opening, which may\nbe moved a. to express emotions, b. to pronounce words, and c. to kiss. 2. The most emotionally\nexpressive parts of the human body.
Usage: Lips give off telling cues about inner feelings and moods. So connected are lips a. to our\nvisceral nervous system and b. to companion muscles of our lower face, that we rarely keep them\nstill. Like hands, lips are incredibly gifted communicators which always bear watching.
\n
\nAnatomy I. Lip size (full or thin), curvature (sinuous or straight), and eversion (everted or inverted)\nvary in men and women, and in geographic populations as well. The principal lip muscle,\norbicularis oris, is a sphincter consisting a. of pars marginalis (beneath the margin of the lips\nthemselves), and b. pars peripheralis (around the lips' periphery from the nostril bulbs to the\nchin). (N.B.: P. marginalis is uniquely developed in humans for speech.) Contraction of\norbicularis oris tenses the lips and reduces their eversion.
Anatomy II. Lips may be moved directly by orbicularis oris and by direct labial tractor muscles\nin the upper and lower lips. Contraction of levator labii superioris alaeque nasi, levator labii\nsuperioris, and/or zygomaticus minor, e.g., elevate and/or evert the upper lip; while depressor\nlabii inferioris and/or platysma par labialis depress and/or evert the lower lip. The complexity of\n muscle interactions thus reflects the complexity of emotion blends.
\nAnatomy III. Lips may also be moved indirectly by nine (or more) other facial muscles (e.g., by\nzygomaticus major in laughing) through attachments to a fibromuscular mass known as the\nmodiolus. That so many facial muscles interlink via the modiolus makes our lips \nextremely expressive of attitudes, opinions, and moods.
\nEmbryology. On day 22, pharyngeal arches form, and by 20 weeks, orbicularis oris\n(and other muscles of expression) form from the 2nd pharyngeal arch.
\nInfancy. From 3-to-6 months, babies bring objects to their lips to be explored, and make sounds\nwith objects placed against their lips.
\nLipreading. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies show that the linguistic visual cues afforded by lip movements activate areas of auditory cortex in normal hearing individuals (Calvert et al. 1997).
\n
\nObservation. Unconscious tension in lips reflects how we truly feel\nabout, e.g., a boss's work assignment, a friend's off-hand comment, or a colleague's "helpful" idea. A slight\ndrooping at the mouth corners (through unconscious contraction of depressor anguli oris) may be the first\nvisible sign of (unvoiced) sadness or disappointment.
\n
\nPrimatology. Beginning with muscular contractions for suckling breast milk, the primate brain added the ability to grasp food items with everted lips. Chimps, e.g., use prehensile lips\nto pluck termites from twigs. (N.B.: Humans use their own prehensile lips to pluck french fries from\na bag.)
Neuro-notes I. The facial nerve's (i.e., cranial VII's) lower nucleus controls the pouted-, curled-,\nand tightened-lip expressions we unintentionally use to reveal our moods. Instructions for these\nsignals come from limbic modules, such as the amygdala and cingulate gyrus, by\nway of the brain stem. Because there is little or no conscious control from higher brain centers,\nlip movements provide trustworthy cues.
\nNeuro-notes II. Our brain devotes an unusually large part of its surface area to lips (see\nHOMUNCULUS). In the mind's eye, as a result a. of the generous space they occupy on the\nsensory and motor strips of our neocortex, and b. of the older paleocircuits linking them\nto emotional, feeding, and grooming centers of the mammalian brain, almost anything a\nlip does holds potential as a sign.
\nNeuro-notes III. Our human brain added precision to lip movements through nerve fibers\nlinked to the primary motor neocortex. Today, fiber links from this area descend through the\ncorticobulbar tract to motor neurons of the facial nerve, whose branches take charge of specific\nmuscle fibers of the lips. That we can whistle a tune (and that whistle languages are "spoken" in\nsome areas of the world) testifies to our lips' extremely high IQ as neurological smart parts.
\nSee also DISGUST, LIP-COMPRESSION, LIP-POUT, LIP-PURSE, SELF-TOUCH,\nTENSE-MOUTH.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**LIPS\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/lips.jpg\" height=\"50%\"\nwidth=\"25%\"}**\n\n*He was a person of very striking aspect, with a white, lofty, and\nimpending brow, large, brown, melancholy eyes, and a mouth which, unless\nwhen he forcibly compressed it, was apt to be tremulous, expressing both\nnervous sensibility and a vast power of self-restraint*. \\--Nathaniel\nHawthorne (*The Scarlet Letter*)\\\n*\\\nMood signals*. **1.** The muscular, fleshy, hairless folds surrounding\nthe mouth opening, which may be moved **a.** to express\n**[emotions](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**b.** to pronounce\n**[words](word1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, and **c.** to\n**[kiss](kiss1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/kiss1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. **2.** The most emotionally expressive parts of the\nhuman body.\n\n*Usage*: Lips give off telling\n****[cues](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/cue.htm){target=\"_top\"}****\nabout inner feelings and moods. So connected are lips **a.** to our\n*visceral nervous system* and **b.** to *companion muscles* of our lower\nface, that we rarely keep them still. Like\n**[hands](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hands.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nlips are incredibly gifted communicators which always bear watching.\\\n\\\n*Anatomy I*. Lip size (full or thin), curvature (sinuous or straight),\nand eversion (everted or inverted) vary in men and women, and in\ngeographic populations as well. The principal lip muscle, *orbicularis\noris*, is a sphincter consisting **a.** of *pars marginalis* (beneath\nthe margin of the lips themselves), and **b.** *pars peripheralis*\n(around the lips\\' periphery from the nostril bulbs to the chin).\n(***N.B.***: P. marginalis is uniquely developed in humans for\n**[speech](speech1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/speech1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.) Contraction of orbicularis oris tenses the lips and\nreduces their eversion.\n\n*Anatomy II*. Lips may be moved directly by orbicularis oris and by\n*direct labial tractor* muscles in the upper and lower lips. Contraction\nof *levator labii superioris alaeque nasi*, *levator labii superioris*,\nand/or *zygomaticus minor*, e.g., elevate and/or evert the upper lip;\nwhile *depressor labii inferioris* and/or *platysma par labialis*\ndepress and/or evert the lower lip. The complexity of muscle\ninteractions thus reflects the complexity of emotion blends.\n\n*Anatomy III*. Lips may also be moved indirectly by nine (or more) other\nfacial muscles (e.g., by *zygomaticus major* in\n**[laughing](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/laugh.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\nthrough attachments to a fibromuscular mass known as the *modiolus*.\nThat so many facial muscles interlink via the modiolus makes our lips\nextremely expressive of attitudes, opinions, and moods.\n\n*Embryology*. On day 22, **[pharyngeal\narches](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/pharynx.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nform, and by 20 weeks, orbicularis oris (and other muscles of\nexpression) form from the 2nd pharyngeal arch.\n\n*Infancy*. From 3-to-6 months, babies bring objects to their lips to be\nexplored, and make sounds with objects placed against their lips.\n\n*Lipreading*. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies show\nthat the linguistic visual cues afforded by lip movements activate areas\nof auditory cortex in normal hearing individuals (Calvert et al. 1997).\\\n\\\n*Observation*. Unconscious tension in lips reflects how we truly feel\nabout, e.g., a boss\\'s work assignment, a friend\\'s off-hand comment, or\na colleague\\'s \\\"helpful\\\" idea. A slight drooping at the mouth corners\n(through unconscious contraction of *depressor anguli oris*) may be the\nfirst visible sign of (unvoiced) sadness or disappointment.\\\n\\\n*Primatology*. Beginning with muscular contractions for suckling breast\nmilk, the **[primate\nbrain](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/primate.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nadded the ability to grasp food items with *everted lips*. Chimps, e.g.,\nuse *prehensile lips* to pluck termites from twigs. (***N.B.***: Humans\nuse their own prehensile lips to pluck french fries from a bag.)\n\n*Neuro-notes I*. The *facial nerve\\'s* (i.e., cranial VII\\'s) *lower\nnucleus* controls the pouted-, curled-, and tightened-lip expressions we\nunintentionally use to reveal our moods. Instructions for these signals\ncome from\n**[limbic](limbic.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/limbic.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** modules, such as the\n**[amygdala](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/amygdala.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nand **[cingulate\ngyrus](cingulat.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cingulat.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, by way of the brain stem. Because there is little or\nno conscious control from higher brain centers, lip movements provide\ntrustworthy cues.\n\n*Neuro-notes II*. Our brain devotes an unusually large part of its\nsurface area to lips (see\n**[HOMUNCULUS](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/homuncul.htm){target=\"_top\"}**).\nIn the mind\\'s eye, as a result **a.** of the generous space they occupy\non the sensory and motor strips of our neocortex, and **b.** of the\nolder\n**[paleocircuits](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/paleo.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nlinking them to *emotional*, *feeding*, and *grooming* centers of the\n**[mammalian\nbrain](mammal.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/mammal.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, almost anything a lip does holds potential as a\n**[sign](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sign.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Neuro-notes III*. Our **[human\nbrain](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/human.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nadded precision to lip movements through nerve fibers linked to the\nprimary motor neocortex. Today, fiber links from this area descend\nthrough the corticobulbar tract to motor neurons of the facial nerve,\nwhose branches take charge of specific muscle fibers of the lips. That\nwe can whistle a tune (and that whistle languages are \\\"spoken\\\" in some\nareas of the world) testifies to our lips\\' extremely high IQ as\nneurological smart parts.\n\nSee also\n**[DISGUST](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/disgust.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[LIP-COMPRESSION](compress.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/compress.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**,\n**[LIP-POUT](pout.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/pout.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**,\n**[LIP-PURSE](purse.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/purse.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**,\n**[SELF-TOUCH](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/selftouc.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[TENSE-MOUTH](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tensemou.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"LIP-COMPRESSION","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/compress.htm","html":"\n\n\nLIP-COMPRESSION
\n
\n![\"Thin-Lipped\"](\"compress.jpg\")
\n
\nFacial expression. A usually negative cue produced by pressing the lips together into a thin line (see\nTENSE-MOUTH).
Usage: A sudden lip-compression may signal the onset of \nanger, disliking, grief, sadness, or uncertainty.
\nObservation. Barely noticeable lip-clenching may signal unvoiced opposition or\ndisagreement. Like other lip cues, in-rolling is controlled by "gut reactive"\nspecial visceral nerves.
\nAnatomy. At rest, the lips make gentle contact, and the teeth are slightly separated (see BLANK\nFACE). In lip-compression, the prime mover is orbicularis oris (both pars peripheralis and\nmarginalis contract); the teeth may or may not touch.
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. In rage, "The mouth is generally closed with firmness . . ." (Darwin\n1872:236). 2. Apes express anger by staring, clenching the jaws, and compressing the lips\n(Chevalier-Skolnikoff 1973:80). 3. In chimpanzees, a compressed-lips face "typically accompanies aggression"\n(Goodall 1986:123). 4. "In an aggressive mood, the [bonobo chimpanzee's] lips are compressed in a tense face with frowning eyebrows and piercing eyes" (Waal and Lanting 1997:33). 5. In the Highlands of Papua New Guinea, when men were asked to show\nwhat they would do when angry and were about to attack, "They pressed their lips together" (Ekman\n1998:238).
\nNeuro-notes. Lip-compression is an unconscious sign controlled by the limbic system\nacting through emotionally responsive paleocircuits of the facial nerve (cranial VII).
\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**LIP-COMPRESSION\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/compress.jpg\" height=\"50%\"\nwidth=\"30%\"}**\\\n\\\n***[Facial\nexpression](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialx.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\nA usually negative cue produced by pressing the\n**[lips](lips.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/lips.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** together into a thin line (see\n**[TENSE-MOUTH](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tensemou.htm){target=\"_top\"}**).\n\n*Usage*: A sudden lip-compression may signal the onset of\n**[anger](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/anger.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\ndisliking, grief,\n**[sadness](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sadness.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nor\n**[uncertainty](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/uncert.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Observation*. Barely noticeable lip-clenching may signal unvoiced\nopposition or disagreement. Like other lip cues, in-rolling is\ncontrolled by \\\"gut reactive\\\" **[special visceral\nnerves](viscera1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/viscera1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Anatomy*. At rest, the lips make gentle contact, and the teeth are\nslightly separated (see **[BLANK\nFACE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/blank.htm){target=\"_top\"}**). In\nlip-compression, the prime mover is *orbicularis oris* (both *pars\nperipheralis* and *marginalis* contract); the teeth may or may not\ntouch.\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** In rage, \\\"The mouth is generally closed\nwith firmness . . .\\\" (Darwin 1872:236). **2.** Apes express anger by\nstaring, clenching the jaws, and *compressing the lips*\n(Chevalier-Skolnikoff 1973:80). **3.** In chimpanzees, a\n*compressed-lips face* \\\"typically accompanies aggression\\\" (Goodall\n1986:123). **4**. \\\"In an aggressive mood, the \\[bonobo chimpanzee\\'s\\]\nlips are compressed in a tense face with frowning eyebrows and piercing\neyes\\\" (Waal and Lanting 1997:33). **5.** In the Highlands of Papua New\nGuinea, when men were asked to show what they would do when angry and\nwere about to attack, \\\"They pressed their lips together\\\" (Ekman\n1998:238).\n\n*Neuro-notes*. Lip-compression is an unconscious sign controlled by the\n**[limbic\nsystem](limbic.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/limbic.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** acting through emotionally responsive\n**[paleocircuits](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/paleo.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nof the *facial nerve* (cranial VII).\n\nSee also\n**[LIP-POUT](pout.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/pout.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**,\n**[LIP-PURSE](purse.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/purse.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"LIP-POUT","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/pout.htm","html":"\n\n\nLIP-POUT
\n
\n![\"Pout](\"pout.jpg\")
Facial expression. To push the lower lip against the upper in a protruded look of\ndisappointment, displeasure, sadness, or uncertainty.
\n\n\nUsage: 1. Children throughout the world pout in sadness, frustration, and uncertainty. 2. Adults\nunthinkingly pout--or show fragments of the pouting cue (esp., contractions of the chin muscle [or\nmentalis])--when disagreeing with comments presented face-to-face, e.g., at a conference table. 3. In courtship, men and women may unwittingly evert their lips in a pouty look to signal\nharmlessness and availability (see LOVE SIGNAL).
\n\n\nAnatomy. We pout by contracting our chin's mentalis muscle, in tandem with direct labial tractor\nmuscles of the lower lip (depressor labii inferioris and platysma pars labialis). Pouting closes\noff the lower face a. by pressing the lips together, b. by pressing the tongue against the palate,\nand c. by constricting the pharynx in preparation to swallow (see ADAM'S-APPLE-JUMP) or\ncry.
\n\n\nEvolution. The lower lip everts and pushes upward in a familiar movement used first in nursing,\nand later in drinking from cups, glasses, and straws. As a feeding-related sign, pouting has roots\nin the mammalian sucking reflex. The lip-pout is often a component of the shoulder-shrug display.
\n
\nU.S. politics. Photos of President Bill Clinton taken during the Monica Lewinsky scandal often exhibit tense-mouth pouting and contraction of his chin's mentalis muscle (see TENSE-MOUTH).
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. ". . .protrusion of the lips, especially with young children, is\ncharacteristic of sulkiness throughout the greater part of the world" (Darwin 1872:237). 2. The\nlip-pout has been observed as a mood sign in old world monkeys and apes (van Hooff 1967). 3.\nPouted lips are used as submissive signals in Bushman and deaf-and-blind-born children (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1973, 1975), and in adults expressing shameful moods (Izard 1971). 4. A brief pout or\nmouth shrug (Morris 1994) reveals doubt or uncertainty (even as one says, e.g., "I am absolutely\nsure").
\nNeuro-notes. The lip-pout's feeding connection suggests control by diverse areas of the hindbrain\n(medulla and pons), midbrain, and forebrain (amygdala and hypothalamus). \nElectromyographic studies show "fairly continuous activity" in the chin's mentalis (Gray's Anatomy, 38th edition, 1995:795),\nreflecting a close link between this muscle and emotions of the mammalian brain.
\n\n\nSee also LIP-COMPRESSION, LIP-PURSE.
\n\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n\n","markdown":"**LIP-POUT\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/pout.jpg\" height=\"50%\"\nwidth=\"25%\"}**\n\n***[Facial\nexpression](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialx.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\nTo push the lower\n**[lip](lips.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/lips.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** against the upper in a protruded look of\ndisappointment, displeasure,\n**[sadness](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sadness.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nor\n**[uncertainty](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/uncert.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Usage*: **1.** Children throughout the world pout in sadness,\nfrustration, and uncertainty. **2.** Adults unthinkingly pout\\--or show\nfragments of the pouting cue (esp., contractions of the chin muscle \\[or\n*mentalis*\\])\\--when disagreeing with comments presented face-to-face,\ne.g., at a **[conference\ntable](table.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. **3.** In courtship, men and women may unwittingly\nevert their lips in a pouty look to signal harmlessness and availability\n(see **[LOVE\nSIGNAL](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig.htm){target=\"_top\"}**).\n\n*Anatomy*. We pout by contracting our chin\\'s *mentalis* muscle, in\ntandem with direct labial tractor muscles of the lower lip (*depressor\nlabii inferioris* and *platysma pars labialis*). Pouting closes off the\nlower face **a.** by pressing the lips together, **b.** by pressing the\ntongue against the palate, and **c.** by constricting the pharynx in\npreparation to swallow (see\n**[ADAM\\'S-APPLE-JUMP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/adajum.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\nor **[cry](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cry.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Evolution*. The lower lip everts and pushes upward in a familiar\nmovement used first in nursing, and later in drinking from cups,\nglasses, and straws. As a feeding-related\n**[sign](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sign.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\npouting has roots in the mammalian *sucking reflex*. The lip-pout is\noften a component of the [**shoulder-shrug\ndisplay**](shrugdis.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/shrugdis.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}.\\\n\\\n*U.S. politics*. Photos of President Bill Clinton taken during the\nMonica Lewinsky scandal often exhibit tense-mouth pouting and\ncontraction of his chin\\'s mentalis muscle (see\n[**TENSE-MOUTH**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tensemou.htm){target=\"_top\"}).\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** \\\". . .protrusion of the lips, especially\nwith young children, is characteristic of sulkiness throughout the\ngreater part of the world\\\" (Darwin 1872:237). **2.** The lip-pout has\nbeen observed as a mood sign in old world monkeys and apes (van Hooff\n1967). **3.** Pouted lips are used as *submissive signals* in Bushman\nand deaf-and-blind-born children (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1973, 1975), and in\nadults expressing *shameful moods* (Izard 1971). **4.** A brief pout or\n*mouth shrug* (Morris 1994) reveals doubt or uncertainty (even as one\nsays, e.g., \\\"I am absolutely sure\\\").\n\n*Neuro-notes*. The lip-pout\\'s feeding connection suggests control by\ndiverse areas of the hindbrain (medulla and pons), midbrain, and\nforebrain\n(**[amygdala](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/amygdala.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nand\n**[hypothalamus](hypo.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/hypo.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**). Electromyographic studies show \\\"fairly continuous\nactivity\\\" in the chin\\'s mentalis (*Gray\\'s Anatomy*, 38th edition,\n1995:795), reflecting a close link between this muscle and\n**[emotions](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nof the **[mammalian\nbrain](mammal.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/mammal.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nSee also\n**[LIP-COMPRESSION](compress.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/compress.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**,\n**[LIP-PURSE](purse.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/purse.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"LIP-PURSE","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/purse.htm","html":"\n\n\nLIP-PURSE
\n
\n![\"Broca's](\"purse.jpg\")
Still gazing at his hands, he pursed his lips a little, but this time made no hissing sound. --Joseph Conrad (Lord Jim; 1899)
\n
\nFacial expression. To evert, pucker, and round the lips in a look of disagreement, scheming, or\ncalculated thought.
Usage: The paramount message of lip-pursing is "thoughtful dissentience"--i.e., "I disagree." The\ntightly screwed-out lips of the pig snout show that a listener has gone beyond the pout of\nuncertainty to a more dissenting frame of mind. As a mood sign, the lip-purse reflects \nformation of an alternative verbal reply in the brain's primary speech center, Broca's area.
\n
\nAnatomy. In the lip-purse, orbicularis oris, buccinator, and direct labial tractor\nmuscles of the lips contract. The principal muscle, orbicularis oris, is a sphincter consisting a. of pars\nmarginalis (located beneath the margin of the lips themselves), and b. pars peripheralis (located around\nthe lips' periphery, from the nostril bulbs to the chin). Pars marginalis is uniquely developed in\nhuman beings for speech.
\n
\nObservation. Because the lip-purse signals mental resistance, speakers should immediately ask if listeners disagree before continuing a verbal argument. Clearing unvoiced resistance facilitates understanding. (N.B.: Moreover, listeners will appreciate your intuitive grasp of their thought processes.)
Primatology. In the brain of our closest living relative, the chimpanzee, a motor area analogous\nto Broca's controls the rounded, pursed-lip movements used to make facial grimaces and\nemotional calls (Lieberman 1991). The pant-hoot cry of excitement is a case in point (Goodall\n1990).
\nRESEARCH REPORT: "Apprehension, scheming, or mere disinclination to speak may be\nbetrayed by tightly screwed [i.e., 'pursing of the'] lips" (Peck 1982:254).
\nNeuroanatomy. Pursed-lips is a gestural fossil (from the PRIMATE BRAIN) which unwittingly\nappears when we disagree. As quarrelsome words form in Broca's area, a call goes out through\nlimbic (i.e., emotional) circuits to the brain stem's facial nerve (cranial VII). Forwarding the call,\nmotor branches of the facial nerve instruct our lips to round and purse in preparation to disagree.
\nNeuro-notes. Pursed-lips is an orofacial gesture controlled, in part, by Broca's area, a finger-sized\npatch of neocortex involved in the production of words. It is often the first sign of disagreement.
\nSee also TENSE-MOUTH.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**LIP-PURSE\\\n\\\n**{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/purse.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"35%\"}\n\n*Still gazing at his hands, he pursed his lips a little, but this time\nmade no hissing sound*. \\--Joseph Conrad (*Lord Jim*; 1899)\\\n\\\n***[Facial\nexpression](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialx.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\nTo evert, pucker, and round the\n**[lips](lips.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/lips.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** in a look of disagreement, scheming, or calculated\nthought.\n\n*Usage*: The paramount\n**[message](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/message.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nof lip-pursing is \\\"thoughtful dissentience\\\"\\--i.e., \\\"I disagree.\\\"\nThe tightly screwed-out lips of the *pig snout* show that a listener has\ngone beyond the\n**[pout](pout.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/pout.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** of\n**[uncertainty](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/uncert.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nto a more dissenting frame of mind. As a mood sign, the lip-purse\nreflects formation of *an alternative verbal reply* in the brain\\'s\nprimary speech center, Broca\\'s area.\\\n\\\n*Anatomy*. In the lip-purse, *orbicularis oris*, *buccinator*, and\ndirect *labial tractor* muscles of the lips contract. The principal\nmuscle, orbicularis oris, is a sphincter consisting **a.** of *pars\nmarginalis* (located beneath the margin of the lips themselves), and\n**b.** *pars peripheralis* (located around the lips\\' periphery, from\nthe nostril bulbs to the chin). Pars marginalis is uniquely developed in\nhuman beings for\n**[speech](speech1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/speech1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\\\n\\\n*Observation*. Because the lip-purse signals mental resistance, speakers\nshould immediately ask if listeners disagree before continuing a verbal\nargument. Clearing unvoiced resistance facilitates understanding.\n(***N.B.***: Moreover, listeners will appreciate your intuitive grasp of\ntheir thought processes.)\n\n*Primatology*. In the brain of our closest living relative, the\nchimpanzee, a motor area analogous to Broca\\'s controls the rounded,\npursed-lip movements used to make facial grimaces and emotional calls\n(Lieberman 1991). The *pant-hoot* cry of excitement is a case in point\n(Goodall 1990).\n\n***RESEARCH REPORT***: \\\"Apprehension, scheming, or mere disinclination\nto speak may be betrayed by tightly screwed \\[i.e., \\'pursing of the\\'\\]\nlips\\\" (Peck 1982:254).\n\n*Neuroanatomy*. Pursed-lips is a *gestural fossil* (from the **[PRIMATE\nBRAIN](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/primate.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\nwhich unwittingly appears when we disagree. As quarrelsome words form in\nBroca\\'s area, a call goes out through\n**[limbic](limbic.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/limbic.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** (i.e.,\n**[emotional](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\ncircuits to the brain stem\\'s facial nerve (cranial VII). Forwarding the\ncall, motor branches of the facial nerve instruct our lips to round and\npurse in preparation to disagree.\n\n*Neuro-notes*. Pursed-lips is an orofacial gesture controlled, in part,\nby Broca\\'s area, a finger-sized patch of neocortex involved in the\nproduction of\n**[words](word1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. It is often the first sign of disagreement.\n\nSee also\n**[TENSE-MOUTH](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tensemou.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"LIP-TOUCH","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/liptouch.htm","html":"\n\n\nLIP-TOUCH
\nGesture. 1. A brief or sustained tactile stimulation of the hypersensitive, fleshy folds around\nthe mouth. 2. A touch delivered to one or both lips with the knuckles, fingers, or tactile pads of\nthe fingertips, or with an object (e.g., a pencil or pen) held in the hands.
\nUsage: One of our most common self-touch cues, the lip-touch signals a variety of moods\nand mental states including anxiety, boredom, excitement, fear, horror, and uncertainty. \nStimulating the lips diverts attention, e.g., from a. disturbing thoughts and b. people who may\nupset us. As a self-consoling gesture, the lip-touch is equivalent to infntile thumb-sucking.
\nObservation. In a conversation, cross-examination, or interview, the lip-touch marks a nonverbal\nprobing point, i.e., an unexpressed feeling, opinion, or thought to be explored.
\n
\nSalesmanship. "Make a note: Do not touch the area between your nose and upper lip when you are lying to a prospect" (Delmar 1984:47).
Media. In the ninth inning of a nationally televised ball game at Busch Stadium, in which St.\nLouis Cardinal first baseman, Mark McGwire, hit his record-breaking 62nd home run of the year,\nMcGuire touched his lips with his glove, in deep emotion, while awaiting the end of the ball\ngame. (N.B.: In a nonverbal ritual before the game, McGwire rubbed his chest with the bat\nRoger Maris used to hit his own record 61st home run.)
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. With adult strangers, girls show more hand-to-mouth gestures than\nboys (Stern and Bender 1974:245). 2. At 3-to-6 months, babies bring most objects to the mouth\nto be touched and explored (Chase and Rubin 1978:186).
\nNeuro-notes. Touching the mouth is emotionally analgesic (i.e., helps relieve physical and\npsychic pain). Our brain's cerebral neocortex devotes a disproportionately large part of its surface\narea to fingers, hands, and lips (see HOMUNCULUS). In the mind's eye, therefore, pressing \n"huge" fingertips against "enormous" lips is an efficient form of acupressure.
\nSee also FINGERTIP CUE.
\nCopyrightt © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**LIP-TOUCH**\n\n***[Gesture](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\n**1.** A brief or sustained *tactile stimulation* of the hypersensitive,\nfleshy folds around the mouth. **2.** A touch delivered to one or both\n[**lips**](lips.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/lips.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"} with the knuckles, fingers, or tactile pads of the\nfingertips, or with an object (e.g., a pencil or pen) held in the\n**[hands](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hands.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Usage*: One of our most common\n**[self-touch](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/selftouc.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ncues, the lip-touch signals a variety of moods and mental states\nincluding *anxiety*, *boredom*, *excitement*,\n***[fear](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/fear.htm){target=\"_top\"}***,\n*horror*, and\n***[uncertainty](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/uncert.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\nStimulating the lips diverts attention, e.g., from **a.** disturbing\nthoughts and **b.** people who may upset us. As a self-consoling\ngesture, the lip-touch is equivalent to infntile *thumb-sucking*.\n\n*Observation*. In a conversation, cross-examination, or interview, the\nlip-touch marks a nonverbal **[probing\npoint](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/probe.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\ni.e., an unexpressed feeling, opinion, or thought to be explored.\\\n\\\n*Salesmanship*. \\\"Make a note: *Do not touch the area between your nose\nand upper lip when you are lying to a prospect*\\\" (Delmar 1984:47).\n\n*Media*. In the ninth inning of a nationally televised ball game at\nBusch Stadium, in which St. Louis Cardinal first baseman, Mark McGwire,\nhit his record-breaking 62nd home run of the year, McGuire *touched his\nlips* with his glove, in deep\n[**emotion**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target=\"_top\"},\nwhile awaiting the end of the ball game. (***N.B.***: In a nonverbal\nritual before the game, McGwire *rubbed his chest* with the bat Roger\nMaris used to hit his own record 61st home run.)\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** With adult strangers, girls show more\n*hand-to-mouth* gestures than boys (Stern and Bender 1974:245). **2.**\nAt 3-to-6 months, babies bring most objects to the mouth to be touched\nand explored (Chase and Rubin 1978:186).\n\n*Neuro-notes*. Touching the mouth is emotionally *analgesic* (i.e.,\nhelps relieve physical and psychic pain). Our brain\\'s cerebral\nneocortex devotes a disproportionately large part of its surface area to\n*fingers*, *hands*, and *lips* (see\n**[HOMUNCULUS](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/homuncul.htm){target=\"_top\"}**).\nIn the mind\\'s eye, therefore, pressing \\\"huge\\\" fingertips against\n\\\"enormous\\\" lips is an efficient form of *acupressure*.\n\nSee also **[FINGERTIP\nCUE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/fingerti.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyrightt **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"LOOM","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/loom1.htm","html":"\n\n\nLOOM
\n![\"Designed](\"loom.jpg\")
\n
\nThe good knight-errant, even though he may behold ten giants with heads that not merely touch but rise above the clouds; and even though each of these giants may have two tallest towers for legs while his arms resemble the masts of huge and powerful ships; even though each may have eyes that are like great mill wheels and that glow more brightly than any glass furnace--in spite of all this, he is not to be in the least frightened but with highborn mien and intrepid heart is to give them battle and if possible vanquish and destroy them in a moment's time. --Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605:545)
\n
\nSize display. Gestures and messaging features which appear massive, magnified, and\npowerful--and often dangerous or imminently threatening to the mind.
Usage: The looming phenomenon gives innate meaning to nonverbal cues of size (see, e.g.,\nANTIGRAVITY SIGN, BROADSIDE DISPLAY, and HIGH-STAND\nDISPLAY; cf. CROUCH). Impressive mountains, large stones, and tall trees frequently are viewed with wonder and may be considered as sacred objects.
\n
\nEvolution. "Looming, on the other hand, is more recent in evolution than the tactile crouch, and it is at base a visual response. Without eyes to see it the loom literally would make no sense. But to those with eyes, the movements and postures of expansion evoke strong, automatic reactions. Big is innately threatening to the vertebrate eye itself" (Givens 1986:163).
\n
\nLiterature. "It was a body capable of enormous leverage--a cruel body" (F. Scott Fitzgerald [of Tom Buchanan], The Great Gatsby).
\n
\nPsychology. Our aversion to large animals or objects approaching rapidly may be innate (Thorndike 1940).
RESEARCH REPORTS. 1. A steady increase in the size of a shadow projected on a screen\nproduced avoidance movements in fiddler crabs, frogs, chicks, turtles, and human babies\n(Russell 1979). 2. "Absolute size--physical bulk itself--is a key biological variable in social status\nand in relations of dominance and submission" (Givens 1986:147). 3. "Egyptian pyramids, for\nexample, give iconic testimony to a pharaoh's superior status; while the Japanese bow (from the\nwaist) bespeaks humility through feigned shortness" (Givens 1986:146).
\nNeuro-notes. Nonverbal "big" threatens paleocircuits in the visual system, perhaps even within\nthe eye itself. Movements and postures of expansion evoke the strong, automatic reaction known\nas the looming response, seen in birds only three hours after hatching, and in puppies at two-weeks of age. At 14 days, babies will avoid a rapidly dilating shape projected to "loom" on a\nscreen--as if they already knew the danger portended by large, moving objects.
\nSee also BUSINESS SUIT.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nIllustration detail (copyright Smithsonian Institution)
Sexual icon. A drawing, photograph, or sculpted figure displaying male or female sexual traits.
\n\n\nUsage: Easily aroused by visual cues, men enjoy erotic pictures, images, and movies, more \nthan women do. Playboy (a magazine featuring the female form), e.g., outsells Playgirl (featuring\nthe male anatomy)--and both are read predominantly by men.
\nPrehistory I. The earliest sexual illustrations were realistic and abstract renderings of female and\nmale sex organs, painted on Upper Paleolithic cave walls in western Europe, ca. 34,000 to 12,000\nyears ago. (N.B.: The most common themes depicted on Paleolithic cave walls were food and\nsex, in that order.)
\n\n\n\nPrehistory II. Dating to ca. 25,000 years ago, female Venus figurines with exaggerated breasts,\nbuttocks, and tummies have been found across Europe from Spain to Russia. The figurines had\nless to do with beauty than with fertility.
\n\n\n\nMedia I. In U.S. college bookstores, the number one, two and three best-selling magazines,\nrespectively, are Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and Vogue, read by young women seeking to enhance\ntheir sex appeal and love signals.
\n\n\nMedia II. From 13 years of Playboy emerges a composite centerfold who likes a man to a. pick\nher up in his car, b. accompanied by his dog, c. with his stereo turned on, and d. offer her flowers\nbefore e. driving her to the beach where f. they watch the sunset and g. dance in the rain. (N.B.:\nFrom 1959 to 1995, the average weight of playmate centerfolds ranged from 82%-to-91% of the\naverage weights of American women of the same height and age. [Below 85% is considered\nmedically too thin.])
\n\n\n\nMedia III. Americans view an average of 9,230 sexually suggestive scenes a year on TV.
\n\n\nRESEARCH REPORT: A study in the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing found that\n"[U.S.] Women think men prefer bigger-bosomed women than men said they preferred. Similarly,\nmen are convinced that women want chestier guys than women said they\nliked" (Morin 1995:C5).
\n\n\n\nSee also BARBIE DOLL.
\n\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n\n","markdown":"**[LOVE SIGN]{#LOVE SIGN}**\n\n*Sexual icon*. A drawing, photograph, or sculpted figure displaying male\nor female sexual traits.\n\n*Usage*: Easily aroused by visual cues, men enjoy erotic pictures,\nimages, and movies, more than women do. *Playboy* (a magazine featuring\nthe female form), e.g., outsells *Playgirl* (featuring the male\nanatomy)\\--and both are read predominantly by men.\n\n*Prehistory I*. The earliest sexual illustrations were realistic and\nabstract renderings of female and male sex organs, painted on Upper\nPaleolithic cave walls in western Europe, ca. 34,000 to 12,000 years\nago. (***N.B.***: The most common themes depicted on Paleolithic cave\nwalls were *food* and *sex*, in that order.)\n\n*Prehistory II*. Dating to ca. 25,000 years ago, female *Venus\nfigurines* with exaggerated breasts, buttocks, and tummies have been\nfound across Europe from Spain to Russia. The figurines had less to do\nwith beauty than with *fertility*.\n\n*Media I*. In U.S. college bookstores, the number one, two and three\nbest-selling magazines, respectively, are *Cosmopolitan*, *Glamour*, and\n*Vogue*, read by young women seeking to enhance their sex appeal and\n**[love\nsignals](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Media II*. From 13 years of *Playboy* emerges a composite centerfold\nwho likes a man to **a.** pick her up in his car, **b.** accompanied by\nhis dog, **c.** with his stereo turned on, and **d.** offer her flowers\nbefore **e.** driving her to the beach where **f.** they watch the\nsunset and **g.** dance in the rain. (***N.B.***: From 1959 to 1995, the\n*average weight* of playmate centerfolds ranged from 82%-to-91% of the\naverage weights of American women of the same height and age. \\[Below\n85% is considered medically too thin.\\])\n\n*Media III*. Americans view an average of 9,230 sexually suggestive\nscenes a year on TV.\n\n***RESEARCH REPORT***: A study in the *Journal of Public Policy and\nMarketing* found that \\\"\\[U.S.\\] Women think men prefer bigger-bosomed\nwomen than men said they preferred. Similarly, men are convinced that\nwomen want chestier guys than women said they liked\\\" (Morin 1995:C5).\n\nSee also **[BARBIE\nDOLL](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/barbie.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"LOVE SIGNALS II","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/lovesig2.htm","html":"\n\n\nLOVE SIGNALS II
\n
\n![\"Coy](\"lovesig2.jpg\")
"In short, my son, note her every action and movement. If you report to me faithfully all these things, I shall be able to make out the hidden secret of her heart and discover how she feels with regard to my love; for I may tell you, Sancho, if you do not know it already, that among lovers exterior signs of this sort are the most reliable couriers that there are, bringing news of what goes on inside the heart." --Miguel de Cervantes (Don Quixote, 1605:566)
\n
\nCourtship. Any of several nonverbal signs exchanged during the recognition phase of\ncourtship.
Usage: In courtship's second stage, men and women seek nonverbal responses to signs beamed\nout during the earlier attention phase (see LOVE SIGNALS I). E.g., a man's bid for attention\n("I am here!"--"I am male!") is followed by efforts to determine, "Do you see me?" Recognition\ncues thus provide information about having been seen. They are the afferent\n(incoming) body signals received in response to the efferent (outgoing) cues previously sent.
\nResponsive eyes. As primates, we respond to changes in gaze direction, and in courtship,\nconcern with eyes and eye contact is extreme. At a singles bar, e.g., eyes dart about and\nmake rapid saccadic movements as they bounce from face to face in the crowd. Even a fleeting\nglance may suffice to answer the question: "I am female!" . . . Did you notice?.
\nResponsive pupils. One of our tiniest cues, pupil size, is measured with a pupillometer. The\ndevice detects dilation when we view attractive men and women, but constriction when we view\nthreatening or disliked people. Studies show that, while pupil size itself is out of awareness,\ndilation can be a tell-tale recognition cue (Hess 1975). (N.B.: That enlarged pupils unconsciously\ntelegraph sexual interest was appreciated by European women, who once dilated their eyes\nartificially with belladonna, a cosmetic extract of the nightshade family.)
\nNeuro-notes. As with many recognition signs, the hypothalamus plays a role in pupil size. \nThe hypothalamus coordinates our sympathetic nervous system's fight-or-flight\nresponse, over which we have little conscious control. Eye contact with an attractive woman or\nman thus registers as emotional stimuli pass from the posterior hypothalamus (Guyton 1996)\ndownward to sympathetic nerves in the spinal cord (T1-2), which control our pupil's dilator\nmuscle. Mutual gaze brings people together quickly and powerfully, as the physical distance\nseparating them seems to close. As we lock eyes with a lovely face, information flows from visual\nareas of the cerebral cortex to the hypothalamus, which influences our sexual behavior as a "prime\nnode" (LeVay 1993:60, 81). (N.B.: Mutual eye-contact is important in the courtship of our\nprimate relatives, as well. In marmosets, e.g., males must meet a female's attention-phase stare\nwith several seconds of returned gaze before mating can occur [LeVay 1993:60].)
\nBody response. Positive recognition signs include a. body alignment (e.g., aiming or\nsquaring the upper body with a partner), b. rapid eye-blink, c. facial flushing (N.B.:\nblush applied to a woman's cheeks simulates the red, rosy glow of sexual attraction as well), d. gaze-crossing (i.e., sweeping the eyes back and forth across a partner's view field--without\nactually looking or seeming to notice his or her presence--to test a willingness to be looked at), e.\nsubmissive gaze-down, f. head-toss, g. isopraxism (e.g., mirroring, postural echo,\nsynchrony), h. anxious self-touching, i. shoulder-shrugging, j. smiling, and\nk. nervous yawning. Negative recognition cues include a. cut-off (i.e., sideward gaze-aversion or angling the upper body away ["cold shoulder"], and b. no reaction (i.e., the most\ncutting cue of all: no response [see BLANK FACE]).
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. A study summarizing research on North American college students\nfound a. that women and men aligned upper bodies midway between direct (i.e., frontal) and\nindirect (i.e., turned 90 degrees away) with liked partners; and b. that women assumed open arm\npositions with men they liked and crossed arms with disliked men (men\ndid not show these signs; Vrugt and Kerkstra 1984). 2. "The next stage is recognition [Givens\n1978], or what Scheflen (1965) calls courtship readiness. If the response of one party . . . is a\nstare, blank face, negative facial expression, or orienting away, that ends it" (Burgoon et al.\n1989:325).
\nSee also LOVE SIGNALS III.\n\n\n
\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo (copyright Esther Bubley)
LUNCH
\n![\"Lunchtime](\"lunch.jpg\")
\n
\nRitual. The usually friendly patterns of eye contact, gestures, and words exchanged at\nmidday while consuming food products.
Usage: We "do lunch," schedule luncheon meetings, and conduct business over lunch because\neating together a. reduces anxiety as the parasympathetic nervous system switches to rest-and-digest, and b. promotes sociability through the reptilian principle of "acting alike" and "doing the\nsame thing" (see ISOPRAXISM).
\nCourtship. Because lunch is conducted in the light of day, it is an effective venue for the\nearly exchange of love signals. As in the more serious dinnertime rite (usually conducted after dark; see below, Media),\ncouples find eating together less stressful than conversing without the shared focus of utensiles, food, and drink.
\nMedia. "The next day, Vicki offers to cook Gary dinner at his apartment. Thinking quickly, Gary says his place is too messy; they decide to have dinner at the ranch instead." --Young and Restless (Soap Opera Digest synopsis, May 2, 2000:114)
\n
\nCorporate culture. Office rituals inevitably involve eating and drinking together. Nonverbally,\nfood consumption allies staff and draws employer and employees closer together. (But note that food is\nrarely served during the performance review.) To win friends and influence people in the firm, chocolates work better than words.
Ancient history. Food is a powerful symbol, as the Egyptian artists who drew ritual offerings of\nfood and drink on tomb walls understood 2,500 years ago.
\nPrehistory. Unlike other primates, human beings have been sharing edibles for at least two\nmillion years, as evidenced by arrangements of cut and broken big-game bones found in sites at\nOlduvai Gorge, Tanzania. The earliest-known ritual involving food is found in Upper Paleolithic\ncave paintings dating to between 34,000 and 12,000 years ago. The cave walls show big-game\nanimals speared or caught in what may have been "magical" traps (Wenke 1990).
\nSee also CONFERENCE TABLE, DANCE.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo by Robert Frank (copyright Robert Frank)
MAMMALIAN BRAIN
\n
\n![\"Ancient](\"mammal.jpg\")
\n
Evolution. 1. Any of several parts of the human brain to emerge during the mammalian\nadaptation a. to nocturnal (i.e., night) life, and b. to competition with reptilian foes. 2. Specifically, those forebrain\nareas at the heart of the limbic system which generate emotions for parental care, playfulness, and vocal calling (MacLean 1990).
\nUsage I: By ca. 150 m.y.a., our mammalian forbears had entrusted their evolutionary future to a\nnew and powerful form of arousal: emotion. In significant measure, the nerve network for emotions, feelings,\nand moods evolved from neural structures earlier committed to smell.
\nUsage II: That emotions are like aromas--pleasant or unpleasant--is because they were designed\nfrom an olfactory model. Nonverbally, this shows, e.g., in the curled-upper-lip display, which\nreveals a. nausea, should we smell a fowl odor, and b. disgust, as we listen to a colleague's\n"rotten" idea. When something looks, sounds, or smells "fishy," the muscles of our face telegraph\nthe reaction for all to see.
\nUsage III: The fourth great epoch of nonverbal communication took place during\nthe evolution of the mammalian brain. In earlier brains, body movements appeared as reflexes. \nNeither learning nor memory was required, e.g., to crouch from a looming object,\nstartle to a sound, or withdraw from a painful bite.
\nEmbryology. The mammalian brain is visible by the end of the 5th week of life, as nerve cells\nproject fibers from early nasal tissue to the front end of the rapidly growing cerebral hemispheres\n(i.e., the telencephalon). By week 6, olfactory bulbs begin to form, which eventually connect to\nan interpretive center for smell in the neocortex (in the neopallium or "new cloak") of the\ntemporal lobe. The olfactory "smell brain" (i.e., the paleopallium or "old cloak") has important\nlinks to the limbic system.
\n
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: In proportion to brain size, humans have the largest limbic system of\nany vertebrate, making them the most emotional animals yet to walk the earth. 1. The earliest\nmammals ". . . were 'reptiles' that were active at night" (Jerison 1976:11). 2. "The evolution of\nhearing and smell to supplement vision as a distance sense is sufficient reason for the evolution of\nan enlarged brain in the earliest mammals" (Jerison 1976:11-12). 3. "Progressive evolution of\nencephalization within the mammals came late in their history, in the last 50 million years of a time\nspan of about 200 million years" (Jerison 1976:7).
\n
\nConsciousness. \t Consciousness first appeared in vertebrates ca. 200 m.y.a., in mammals, according to neurophysiologist John Eccles of the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt (Bower 1992:234). To seek primordial self-awareness, we go to great lengths to quiet the verbal dialogue, e.g., through meditation, chanting, or staring into a candle flame, in order to re-enter the original consciousness which lies beneath the chatty stream in a region of the brain stem known as the thalamus. We experience a deeper-level, mammalian form of consciousness in the evolutionary older thalamus, which is the central processing station for all the senses (except smell) on their routes to the cerebral cortex. It is within the thalamus that a human's central nervous system first experiences consciousness of incoming sensations, before they are re-examined upstream in the neocortex.
Neuro-notes. 1. "The paleomammalian brain is represented by the limbic system . . ." (MacLean\n1975:75). 2. "The neomammalian brain is represented by the rapidly evolving neocortex and\nstructures of the brainstem with which it is primarily connected" (MacLean 1975:75).
\nSee also PRIMATE BRAIN, REPTILIAN BRAIN.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nIllustration detail from Getting There (copyright 1993 by William Howells)
MEATY TASTE
\n
\n![\"The](\"meaty.jpg\")
A stew with more beef than mutton in it, chopped meat for his evening meal, scraps for a Saturday, lentils on Friday, and a young pigeon as a special delicacy for Sunday . . . --Miguel de Cervantes (Don Quixote; 1605:25)
\n
\nIt's a fun product. When I meet someone at a party and tell them where I work, they smile. People love hot dogs. --Bob Schwartz, VP of Sales, Vienna Beef in Chicago (Jackson 1999:106; see below, Hot dogs)
\n
\n
\nFlavor cue. 1. The usually pleasant aroma and taste of cooked animal flesh (i.e., muscles and\nskin). 2. Intensely flavorful molecules created a. as myoglobin, the red pigment of raw steak,\nturns brown and a flavor-rich coating forms (as juices evaporate from the meat's surface), and b.\nas the browning reaction releases furans, pyrones, and other carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen\nmolecules which provide the complex oniony, nutty, fruity, chocolate, and caramel-like tastes we\nprefer to the bland taste of uncooked meat and raw vegetables (McGee 1990).
Usage I: The aroma of sizzling beefsteak basted with sage and garlic sauce is an irresistible\nchemical signal transmitted when a chef brushes the meat with seasonings and sears it with\nflame. According to McGee, "All cooked foods aspire to the [rich and flavorful] condition of fruit" (1990:304).
\nUsage II: In Nonverbal World, the essence of charbroiled steak evokes an\nemotional desire to approach the aroma. Among the most evocative of all chemical signals\nprocessed by the brain are those emanating from meats and meaty consumer products,\nsuch as the Big Mac® sandwich and fried Spam®.
\n
\nEvolution I. As did late-Devonian amphibians, early mammals of the Cretaceous and early primates\nof the Paleocene epoch passed through a predominantly flesh-eating stage. Acting in accordance\nwith a primeval chemical code, amphibians pursued fish (and fellow amphibians), while mammals\nand primates pursued mainly insects. With so many carnivores and insectivores on the \nfamily tree, we respond to meats with an extreme alertness, as if scripted to do so by the ancient\ncode.
\n
\nEvolution II. "Scientists\ntheorize that the shift to hunting and meat eating was a key adaptation that\nlet our ancestors spread beyond Africa and led to the dramatic increase in\nbrain size associated with our human lineage. This 'dietary revolution,' as one paleontologist put it, could have changed\nthe human facial structure by reducing the size of the molars, which\npreviously needed to be large to chew tubers and raw vegetables. As the\nprotruding jaw began to recede, more of the skull could be used to house the\nbrain. And a diet of fat-rich bone marrow could lead to the development of the\nbrain cells" (McCafferty 1999:22).
\n
\n![\"Meat](\"meaty2.jpg\")
\n
\n
\nHot dogs. 1. An estimated 20 billion hot dogs are consumed in the U.S. each year (Jackson 1999:110). 2. "But the hands-down wiener and still champion of frankfurter flackery is the annual Fourth of July hot-dog eating contest at Coney Island . . ." (Jackson 1999:110; as of June 1999, the record was 19 dogs consumed in 12 minutes [Jackson 1999:112]).
\n
\nKebabs. "A huge kebab made with 1,500 chickens was cooked at this tourist resort [in Limassol, Cyprus] Sunday [June 10, 2001] in a bid to make the Guinness Book of Records" (Anonymous 2001:A3).
\n
\nMedia. According to Scientific American magazine, in 1999 the per capita U.S. consumption of beef was 64.7 pounds (chicken = 49.2, pork = 48.8; Anonymous 2000D).
Prehistory I. Two m.y.a. our first human ancestor, Homo habilis, wandered east Africa's arid\nsavannah grasslands in search of ripe fruit, nuts, tubers, and berries--and small game, bird eggs,\ninsects, and edible grubs. It is likely that Homo's original "hunting instinct" involved the\ncorticomedial division of the amygdala, which plays a role in mammalian hunting\npsychology today (Carlson 1986:486).
\nPrehistory II. On the savannah, meat made up 20-to-30 percent of the early human diet, as it did\nthat of historical hunter-gatherers such as the !Kung San Bushmen of Botswana.
\n
\nPrehistory III. So appealing is the taste of cooked meat that ". . . after early humans migrated into Australia and the Americas, the heavyweight animals of these new continents were driven to extinction within a few thousand years" (Anonymous 2001F:A1), according to reports in Science (June 2001). Mammoths, camels, mastodons, and the glyptodont, as well as giant sloths, snakes, lizards, birds and marsupials, were hunted, cooked, and eaten to extinction, according to the now more widely accepted "blitzkrieg model" of anthropologists.
\n
\nRESEARCH REPORT: A craving known as meat hunger is a "widespread phenomenon among\npeoples living at a subsistence level [i.e., who are not vegetarians by choice]" \n(Simoons 1994:6). (N.B.: In the U.S., despite well-stocked produce displays, shoppers spend the\nlargest portion of their supermarket dollar on beef, chicken, fish, and pork.)
\n
\nNeuro-notes. 1. We crave meaty taste because the amphibian brain's hunger for flesh is\n older than the primate brain's "acquired taste" for fruits and nuts. 2. As it influenced\nthe pursuit, handling, and killing of game, the amygdala also stimulated the release of digestive juices in\npreparation for eating the kill. Thus, today, hidden aggressiveness in the meat-eater's code makes a\nsizzling steak more exciting than a bowl of fruit. This explains, in part, why (when possible and affordable)\nmeals throughout the world are planned around a meat dish.
See also GLUTAMATE, HERBS & SPICES, SHELLFISH TASTE.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[MEATY TASTE]{#MEATY TASTE}\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/meaty.jpg\"\nheight=\"35%\" width=\"25%\"}**\n\n*A stew with more beef than mutton in it, chopped meat for his evening\nmeal, scraps for a Saturday, lentils on Friday, and a young pigeon as a\nspecial delicacy for Sunday* . . . \\--Miguel de Cervantes (*Don\nQuixote*; 1605:25)\\\n\\\n*It\\'s a fun product. When I meet someone at a party and tell them where\nI work, they\n[**smile**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/zygosmi.htm){target=\"_top\"}.\nPeople love hot dogs*. \\--Bob Schwartz, VP of Sales, Vienna Beef in\nChicago (Jackson 1999:106; see below, *Hot dogs*)\\\n\\\n\\\n*Flavor cue*. **1.** The usually pleasant aroma and taste of cooked\nanimal flesh (i.e., muscles and skin). **2.** Intensely flavorful\nmolecules created **a.** as *myoglobin*, the red pigment of raw steak,\nturns brown and a flavor-rich coating forms (as juices evaporate from\nthe meat\\'s surface), and **b.** as the *browning reaction* releases\n*furans*, *pyrones*, and other carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen molecules\nwhich provide the complex oniony, nutty, fruity, chocolate, and\ncaramel-like tastes we prefer to the bland taste of uncooked meat and\nraw vegetables (McGee 1990).\n\n*Usage I*: The aroma of sizzling *beefsteak* basted with *sage* and\n*garlic sauce* is an irresistible chemical\n**[signal](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/signal.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ntransmitted when a chef brushes the meat with seasonings and sears it\nwith flame. According to McGee, \\\"All cooked foods aspire to the \\[rich\nand flavorful\\] condition of fruit\\\" (1990:304).\n\n*Usage II*: In **[Nonverbal\nWorld](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvworld.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nthe essence of charbroiled steak evokes an\n**[emotional](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ndesire to *approach* the aroma. Among the most evocative of all chemical\nsignals processed by the brain are those emanating from meats and meaty\n**[consumer\nproducts](consprod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, such as the **[Big\nMac](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/bigmac.htm){target=\"_top\"}**®\nsandwich and fried Spam®.\\\n\\\n*Evolution I*. As did late-Devonian amphibians, early mammals of the\nCretaceous and early primates of the Paleocene epoch passed through a\npredominantly *flesh-eating* stage. Acting in accordance with a primeval\n*chemical code*, amphibians pursued *fish* (and fellow *amphibians*),\nwhile mammals and primates pursued mainly *insects*. With so many\n*carnivores* and *insectivores* on the family tree, we respond to meats\nwith an extreme alertness, as if scripted to do so by the ancient code.\\\n\\\n*Evolution II*. \\\"Scientists theorize that the shift to hunting and meat\neating was a key adaptation that let our ancestors spread beyond Africa\nand led to the dramatic increase in brain size associated with our human\nlineage. This \\'dietary revolution,\\' as one paleontologist put it,\ncould have changed the human facial structure by reducing the size of\nthe molars, which previously needed to be large to chew tubers and raw\nvegetables. As the protruding jaw began to recede, more of the skull\ncould be used to house the brain. And a diet of fat-rich bone marrow\ncould lead to the development of the brain cells\\\" (McCafferty\n1999:22).\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/meaty2.jpg\"\nheight=\"50%\" width=\"28%\"}\\\n\\\n*Hot dogs*. **1.** An estimated 20 billion hot dogs are consumed in the\nU.S. each year (Jackson 1999:110). **2.** \\\"But the\n[**hands-down**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/palmdown.htm){target=\"_top\"}\nwiener and still champion of frankfurter flackery is the annual Fourth\nof July hot-dog eating contest at Coney Island . . .\\\" (Jackson\n1999:110; as of June 1999, the record was 19 dogs consumed in 12 minutes\n\\[Jackson 1999:112\\]).\\\n\\\n*Kebabs*. \\\"A huge kebab made with 1,500 chickens was cooked at this\ntourist resort \\[in Limassol, Cyprus\\] Sunday \\[June 10, 2001\\] in a bid\nto make the *Guinness Book of Records*\\\" (Anonymous 2001:A3).\\\n\\\n***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\nAccording to *Scientific American* magazine, in 1999 the per capita U.S.\nconsumption of beef was 64.7 pounds (chicken = 49.2, pork = 48.8;\nAnonymous 2000D).\n\n*Prehistory I*. Two m.y.a. our first human ancestor, *Homo habilis*,\nwandered east Africa\\'s arid savannah grasslands in search of ripe\nfruit, nuts, tubers, and berries\\--and *small game*, *bird eggs*,\n*insects*, and *edible grubs*. It is likely that *Homo\\'s* original\n\\\"hunting instinct\\\" involved the *corticomedial division* of the\n**[amygdala](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/amygdala.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nwhich plays a role in mammalian hunting psychology today (Carlson\n1986:486).\n\n*Prehistory II*. On the savannah, meat made up 20-to-30 percent of the\nearly human diet, as it did that of historical hunter-gatherers such as\nthe !Kung San Bushmen of Botswana.\\\n\\\n*Prehistory III*. So appealing is the taste of cooked meat that \\\". . .\nafter early humans migrated into Australia and the Americas, the\nheavyweight animals of these new continents were driven to extinction\nwithin a few thousand years\\\" (Anonymous 2001F:A1), according to reports\nin *Science* (June 2001). Mammoths, camels, mastodons, and the\nglyptodont, as well as giant sloths, snakes, lizards, birds and\nmarsupials, were hunted, cooked, and eaten to extinction, according to\nthe now more widely accepted \\\"blitzkrieg model\\\" of anthropologists.\\\n\\\n***RESEARCH REPORT***: A craving known as *meat hunger* is a\n\\\"widespread phenomenon among peoples living at a subsistence level\n\\[i.e., who are not vegetarians by choice\\]\\\" (Simoons 1994:6).\n(***N.B.***: In the U.S., despite well-stocked produce displays,\nshoppers spend the largest portion of their supermarket dollar on\n*beef*, *chicken*, *fish*, and *pork*.)\\\n\\\n*Neuro-notes*. **1.** We crave meaty taste because the **[amphibian\nbrain\\'s](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/amphibia.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nhunger for flesh is older than the **[primate\nbrain\\'s](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/primate.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\n\\\"acquired taste\\\" for fruits and nuts. **2.** As it influenced the\npursuit, handling, and killing of game, the amygdala also stimulated the\nrelease of digestive juices in preparation for eating the kill. Thus,\ntoday, hidden *aggressiveness* in the meat-eater\\'s code makes a\nsizzling steak more exciting than a bowl of fruit. This explains, in\npart, why (when possible and affordable) meals throughout the world are\nplanned around a meat dish.\n\nSee also\n**[GLUTAMATE](glutamat.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/glutamat.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, **[HERBS &\nSPICES](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/herb.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[SHELLFISH\nTASTE](shellfis.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/shellfis.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"MEN'S SHOES","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/mens.htm","html":"\n\n\nMEN'S SHOES
\n
\n![\"Neutral](\"mens.jpg\")
Three out of four women said their fellow has an old pair of shoes he should throw out, but won't. --A Johnson & Murphy footwear poll of U.S. women aged 25 to 44 (Bonino 1994:B1)
\n
\nEveryone has a shoe fetish. --Sonja Bata, founder of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto (Trueheart 1995:C10)
\n
\nClothing cue. A masculine style of footwear marked with messaging features\ndesigned to contrast with those of women's shoes (see CONSUMER PRODUCT).
Usage: In expressive style, men's leather shoes are a. dominant, b. submissive, or c. neutral.
\nStomping I. Dominant shoes are typified a. by thick, crepe-soled "beetle crushers" worn by\nEnglish Teddy boys of the 1950s; b. by middle-class Desert Boots® of the 1950s and 1960s; c. by\nurbane Timberland® boots of the 1970s; and d. by aggressive Doc Marten® boots worn by\nalienated young men and women of the 1990s. Dominant styles are robust--wide, thick, and\nheavy--to accent the size of the foot and its ability to stomp (see GOOSE-STEP).
\nStomping II. The oldest stomping shoes are sandals from ancient Egypt with pictures of enemies\npainted on the soles. More recently, by popularizing thick, buckled motorcycle boots in the\nmedia, Marlon Brando (The Wild One, 1954) and Peter Fonda (Easy Rider, 1969) furthered\nthe role of footwear as a fashion statement (i.e., with which to figuratively "stomp" the powers-that-be).
\nMincing. Men's submissive shoes are narrow, with lightweight uppers, thin soles, and tapering\ntoes. Styles include a. pointed "winkle-pickers" worn by British Mods of the 1950s; b. pointed-toed Beatle boots of the 1960s; and c. Gucci® loafers, the late-20th century's premier power\nslipper. Submissive styles are gracile to suggest vulnerability, and to downplay the foot's size and\nbluntness. Moreover, they stand wearers precariously on their metatarsal bones in a tip-toed\nposition. Unstable, high-heeled styles (e.g., the Beatle boot) make it harder for wearers to stomp.
\nHushing. The third prototype in men's footwear is the neutral shoe, which is neither dominant nor\nsubmissive, but fashionably bland and introverted. It is neither wide nor narrow, neither pointed\nnor blunt; the sole is neither thick nor thin, nor is the shoe obviously masculine or feminine. The\nneutral shoe is personified by dark-gray, brushed-pigskin Hush Puppies® (1950s-to-1990s [see below, Media]), and\nby Ivy League saddle shoes and penny loafers (1950s-to-1990s), worn by men and women alike.
\n
\nMedia. "When those technicolor [e.g., bubble gum pink, lemon yellow] Hush Puppies appeared on the New York runway, fashion wags went berserk. The shoes began appearing in GQ magazine. Stylists snapped them up to dress musicians for videos. They were used to accessorize pricey clothes with puffed-up designer labels. Forrest Gump wore them. Fashion insiders began publicly proclaiming their love for Hush Puppies" (Givhan 1995:C2).
Observation. Neutral shoes are a successful family of footwear, specialized neither for stomping,\nmincing, or showing attitude--but for comfort. The casual, low-profile, laid-back style makes\nneutral shoes unsuitable for fast-track careers, but convenient for projecting a non-rebellious, non-dominant, anti-corporate mood on campus or in the workplace.
\n
\nSee also BOOT\n.
Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[MEN\\'S SHOES]{#MEN'S SHOES}**\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/mens.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"25%\"}\n\n*Three out of four women said their fellow has an old pair of shoes he\nshould throw out, but won\\'t*. \\--A Johnson & Murphy footwear poll of\nU.S. women aged 25 to 44 (Bonino 1994:B1)\\\n\\\nEveryone *has a shoe fetish*. \\--Sonja Bata, founder of the Bata Shoe\nMuseum in Toronto (Trueheart 1995:C10)\\\n\\\n***[Clothing\ncue](adorn.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/adorn.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***. A masculine style of\n**[footwear](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/footwear.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nmarked with **[messaging\nfeatures](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/messafea.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ndesigned to contrast with those of **[women\\'s\nshoes](womens.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/womens.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** (see **[CONSUMER\nPRODUCT](consprod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**).\n\n*Usage*: In expressive style, men\\'s leather shoes are **a.**\n**[dominant](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/dominate.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**b.**\n**[submissive](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/submit.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nor **c.** *neutral*.\n\n*Stomping I*. Dominant shoes are typified **a.** by thick, crepe-soled\n\\\"beetle crushers\\\" worn by English Teddy boys of the 1950s; **b.** by\nmiddle-class Desert Boots® of the 1950s and 1960s; **c.** by urbane\nTimberland® boots of the 1970s; and **d.** by aggressive Doc Marten®\nboots worn by alienated young men and women of the 1990s. Dominant\nstyles are *robust*\\--wide, thick, and heavy\\--to accent the size of the\nfoot and its ability to stomp (see\n**[GOOSE-STEP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/goose.htm){target=\"_top\"}**).\n\n*Stomping II*. The oldest stomping shoes are *sandals* from ancient\nEgypt with pictures of enemies painted on the soles. More recently, by\npopularizing thick, buckled motorcycle boots in the\n**[media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nMarlon Brando (*The Wild One*, 1954) and Peter Fonda (*Easy Rider*,\n1969) furthered the role of footwear as a fashion statement (i.e., with\nwhich to figuratively \\\"stomp\\\" the powers-that-be).\n\n*Mincing*. Men\\'s submissive shoes are narrow, with lightweight uppers,\nthin soles, and tapering toes. Styles include **a.** pointed\n\\\"winkle-pickers\\\" worn by British Mods of the 1950s; **b.**\npointed-toed Beatle boots of the 1960s; and **c.** Gucci® loafers, the\nlate-20th century\\'s premier power slipper. Submissive styles are\n*gracile* to suggest vulnerability, and to downplay the foot\\'s size and\nbluntness. Moreover, they stand wearers precariously on their metatarsal\nbones in a tip-toed position. Unstable, high-heeled styles (e.g., the\nBeatle boot) make it harder for wearers to stomp.\n\n*Hushing*. The third prototype in men\\'s footwear is the neutral shoe,\nwhich is neither dominant nor submissive, but fashionably bland and\nintroverted. It is neither wide nor narrow, neither pointed nor blunt;\nthe sole is neither thick nor thin, nor is the shoe obviously masculine\nor feminine. The neutral shoe is personified by dark-gray,\nbrushed-pigskin Hush Puppies® (1950s-to-1990s \\[see below, *Media*\\]),\nand by Ivy League saddle shoes and penny loafers (1950s-to-1990s), worn\nby men and women alike.\\\n\\\n***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\n\\\"When those\ntechni[**color**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/color.htm){target=\"_top\"}\n\\[e.g., bubble gum pink, lemon yellow\\] Hush Puppies appeared on the New\nYork runway, fashion wags went berserk. The shoes began appearing in GQ\nmagazine. Stylists snapped them up to dress musicians for videos. They\nwere used to accessorize pricey clothes with puffed-up designer labels.\nForrest Gump wore them. Fashion insiders began publicly proclaiming\ntheir love for Hush Puppies\\\" (Givhan 1995:C2).\n\n*Observation*. Neutral shoes are a successful family of footwear,\nspecialized neither for stomping, mincing, or showing attitude\\--but for\ncomfort. The casual, low-profile, laid-back style makes neutral shoes\nunsuitable for fast-track careers, but convenient for projecting a\nnon-rebellious, non-dominant, anti-corporate mood on campus or in the\nworkplace.\\\n\\\nSee also\n**[BOOT](boot1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/boot1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** .\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"MINT","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/mint1.htm","html":"\n\n\nMINT
\nAroma cue. Any of several plants of the aromatic genus, Mentha, used in diverse consumer\nproducts (e.g., cakes, candies, cookies, and toothpaste).
\nUsage: Peppermint is used to flavor sweets, candies, and various liquor drinks. Spearmint is\noften used in cooking. The distinct flavor of mint does not blend well with other herbs. Mint\nadds a refreshing taste to fruits, and to certain cooked meats such as lamb.
\nEvolution. Many plant-odor signals (e.g., pyrazines) evolved as nontoxic warning signs (McGee\n1990:311). Ever popular true mints, including sage, rosemary, marjoram, oregano, and thyme,\nevolved strong odors of camphor, eucalyptol, and limonene (see COCA-COLA) to keep insects\nat bay.
\nAnatomy. Menthol (a crystalline alcohol obtained from peppermint oil) tricks heat-sensing organs (thermoreceptors) of the tongue and skin into sending messages to the brain that the sensation tastes and feels "cool" (Feldman 1991:192).
\n
\nConsumer product. Crest®, a toothpaste by Procter & Gamble, was introduced in 1955. The\nflavor of Regular Crest is primarily wintergreen, while Mint Crest is primarily spearmint. \nAccording to web documents published by Procter & Gamble, "Good flavor is important in toothpaste since people will not\nbrush regularly and carefully unless they like the taste." (N.B.: Crest is advertised on network\nTV and in family magazines. "Our TV schedule is split between daytime and nighttime\nprograms. Daytime programs enable us to reach a sizeable audience of homemakers, while\nnighttime shows provide broad exposure to an 'all family' audience." See MEDIA.)
Copyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**MINT**\n\n***[Aroma\ncue](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aromacue.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\nAny of several plants of the aromatic genus, *Mentha*, used in diverse\nconsumer products (e.g., cakes, candies, cookies, and toothpaste).\n\n*Usage*: Peppermint is used to flavor sweets, candies, and various\nliquor drinks. Spearmint is often used in cooking. The distinct flavor\nof mint does not blend well with other herbs. Mint adds a refreshing\ntaste to fruits, and to certain cooked meats such as lamb.\n\n*Evolution*. Many plant-odor signals (e.g., pyrazines) evolved as\nnontoxic warning signs (McGee 1990:311). Ever popular *true mints*,\nincluding *sage*, *rosemary*, *marjoram*, *oregano*, and *thyme*,\nevolved strong odors of *camphor*, *eucalyptol*, and *limonene* (see\n**[COCA-COLA](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/cocacola.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\nto keep insects at bay.\n\n*Anatomy*. Menthol (a crystalline alcohol obtained from peppermint oil)\ntricks heat-sensing organs (thermoreceptors) of the tongue and skin into\nsending messages to the brain that the sensation tastes and feels\n\\\"cool\\\" (Feldman 1991:192).\\\n\\\n*Consumer product*. Crest®, a toothpaste by Procter & Gamble, was\nintroduced in 1955. The flavor of Regular Crest is primarily\nwintergreen, while Mint Crest is primarily spearmint. According to web\ndocuments published by Procter & Gamble, \\\"Good flavor is important in\ntoothpaste since people will not brush regularly and carefully unless\nthey like the taste.\\\" (***N.B.***: Crest is advertised on network TV\nand in family magazines. \\\"Our TV schedule is split between daytime and\nnighttime programs. Daytime programs enable us to reach a sizeable\naudience of homemakers, while nighttime shows provide broad exposure to\nan \\'all family\\' audience.\\\" See\n**[MEDIA](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.)\n\nCopyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"MOTION ENERGY MAP","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/motion.htm","html":"\n\n\n![\"Happy](\"motion.jpg\")
\n
\nObservation tool. 1. A computerized rendering of facial energy patterns used to read\nemotions, feelings, and moods. 2. A digitalized camera image with which to display the\nfacial-muscle contractions of specific emotions (e.g., of sadness, anger, and fear).
Usage: Motion energy maps show which areas of the face move to express given emotions. \nThey may someday enable computers to recognize and respond to emotion cues of the\nface.
\n\n\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "In pilot tests with people making deliberate expressions of\nemotions, the computer read the emotions with up to 98 percent accuracy" (Goleman 1997:C1). \n2. "What we've done so far," said Georgia Tech computer scientist Irfan Essa, "is just the very\nfirst step in building a machine that can read emotions" (Goleman 1997:C9). 3. "Dr [Roz] Picard and her associates at M.I.T.'s Media Lab are developing prototypes of . . . [emotionally] sensitive machines that are not just portable, but wearable. 'A computer that monitors your emotions might be worn on your shoulders, waist, in your shoes, anywhere,' Dr. Picard said" (Goleman 1997:C9).
\n\n\nSee also FACE.
\n\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n\n","markdown":"**[MOTION ENERGY MAP]{#MOTION ENERGY MAP}**\n\n*{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/objects/motion.jpg\"\nheight=\"40%\" width=\"25%\"}\\\n\\\nObservation tool*. **1.** A computerized rendering of facial energy\npatterns used to read\n**[emotions](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nfeelings, and moods. **2.** A digitalized camera image with which to\ndisplay the facial-muscle contractions of specific emotions (e.g., of\n**[sadness](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sadness.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[anger](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/anger.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nand\n**[fear](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/fear.htm){target=\"_top\"}**).\n\n*Usage*: Motion energy maps show which areas of the face move to express\ngiven emotions. They may someday enable computers to recognize and\nrespond to **[emotion\ncues](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotionq.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nof the face.\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** \\\"In pilot tests with people making\ndeliberate expressions of emotions, the computer read the emotions with\nup to 98 percent accuracy\\\" (Goleman 1997:C1). **2.** \\\"What we\\'ve done\nso far,\\\" said Georgia Tech computer scientist Irfan Essa, \\\"is just the\nvery first step in building a machine that can read emotions\\\" (Goleman\n1997:C9). **3.** \\\"Dr \\[Roz\\] Picard and her associates at M.I.T.\\'s\nMedia Lab are developing prototypes of . . . \\[emotionally\\] sensitive\nmachines that are not just portable, but wearable. \\'A computer that\nmonitors your emotions might be worn on your shoulders, waist, in your\nshoes, anywhere,\\' Dr. Picard said\\\" (Goleman 1997:C9).\n\nSee also\n**[FACE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/face.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"MUSIC","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/music11.htm","html":"\n\n\nMUSIC
\n![\"Arboreal](\"music.jpg\")
\n
\nMusic hath charms to soothe a savage beast,
\nTo soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak. --Congreve (The Mourning Bride, I, 1)
\n
\n
\nAuditory signals. A usually pleasing, sequential arrangement of vocal or instrumental sounds.
Usage: Music produces a highly evocative, emotional message through harmony, melody,\nrhythm, and timbre.
\nAmusia. "Cases of amusia, i.e., loss of ability to produce or comprehend music--an abnormality\nas regards music analogous to aphasia as regards the faculty of speech--conclusively demonstrate\nthat the musical faculties do not depend on the speech faculty [i.e., one may suffer from amusia\nwithout aphasia, and vice versa, though some may suffer from both]" (Reiling 1999:218).
\nAnthropology. So diverse are the world's musical "languages" that some sociocultural anthropologists \nspecialize entirely in ethnomusicology.
\nHead bangers. 1. In a study of early-childhood head bangers, mothers described their children as ". . . prone to rhythmic activity in response to musical stimuli" (De Lissovoy 1962:56; see SELF-TOUCH, Neuro-notes). 2. ". . . all of the [33] subjects had a history of other rhythmic activities, such as head or body rolling, prior to the head banging" (De Lissovoy 1962:56). 3. Girls head banged 19-to-52, while boys head banged 26-to-121, times per minute (De Lissovoy 1962).
\n
\nLullaby. "A Chinese lullaby is just as soothing to a child as a German song or any other. When listening to lullabyes, breathing becomes shallow and regular like that of a sleeping person. The characteristics of this form of breathing are also in the structure of the lullaby" (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1970:439).
\n
\nPrehistory. "During the last two decades many investigators--Kussmaul, Stumpf, Preyer, Oppenheim, Knoblouch, Charcot, etc.--have conclusively demonstrated that the musical faculty\nis older than that of speech; that music is a primary and simple phenomenon, while speech is\nsecondary and complex" (Reiling 1999:218).
\n
\nSymphony. "The highs and lows of emotional experiences are touched in an ever-changing pattern that cannot be experienced in everyday life" (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1970:440).
\n
\n
The question: "Why is the sound of music so important in human courting rituals?"
\n
\nEthnographic background. Thousands of Endfesters arrived, who were 17-to-30 years old, mostly unmarried, urban, white, heterosexual fans of alternative rock music. Showing up in groups of 2, 3, and 4--all-male, all-female, or mixed female-and-male--they were visibly excited and definitely ready to rock.
\n
\nAdornment. Endfesters dressed to show off their essential male or female gender cues, and to display individuality, personality, and allegiance to the alternative lifestyle. Fans wore identity-proclaiming belts, boots, bracelets, caps and hats, cut-through jeans, dark glasses, earrings, necklaces, foot-revealing sandals, conspicuously displayed underwear, idiosyncratic watches, and screaming tatoos. Band members dressed mostly in black (see COLOR CUE, BLACK).
\n
\nHair. Endfesters went to great lengths to display head hair (see HAIR CUE). The most outstanding display was that of a young man's very well-groomed, magenta topknot, projecting stiffly above his close-cropped hair's jet-black sidewalls. Clearly visible from a distance of over 100 yards, his nonverbal message was aposematic, like the coloration of a stinging insect: "Danger, danger, danger!" (see HAT, Cap III).
\n
\nMedia. In poster photographs published in the August 5, 2000 Bremerton Sun newspaper, unsmiling, blank-faced band members of Third Eye Blind lean away to the side to show a defiant attitude. Unsmiling, blank-faced members of 3 Doors Down stare menacingly straight ahead (see EYE CONTACT, Usage). Unsmiling, blank-faced members of Papa Roach pose with their heads tilted sideward in a posture popularized by the method actor, James Dean (see SHOULDER-SHRUG, Media).
\n
\nMotion I. Because both our auditory and vestibular senses involve sensors housed within the ears, music powerfully suggests movement. The phrase "rock and roll," e.g., is a vestibular metaphor for the sound of music. The loud rock music at Endfest joined listeners as psychic "fellow travelers," and thus enhanced the rapport of strangers in the crowd.
\n
\nMotion II. Set to music, Endfester body movements took on a more palpable, emotional appeal. Submerged in the loud electronic beat, group isopraxism bourgeoned and enhanced as well.
\n
\nEmotion I. Not only were the rock-music lyrics spoken in heightened emotional voice tones, but the guitar and organ sounds, which mimic the sound-range of the human voice itself, also "spoke" to the crowd's feelings and moods.
\n
\nEmotion II. Singers used aggressive, angry voice tones to scream and shout--in order to target negative emotion centers of the brain's amygdala. Threatening sounds, venomous shrieks, and harmful, biting words put into the summer air, very amplified, from tensed throats, touched off feelings of group belonging and "togetherness" via the biological principle of aggression-out. Just as monkeys mob outsiders, by sharing dislike for and distrust of mainstream (i.e., non-alternative) values, Endfesters became a close-knit group in which courtship could take place.
\n
\nSpeech. Amplified (16 coaxial cables fed into the main stage), the words of the rock musicians \nfully engaged listeners' brains. Addressed to the crowd through eye contact, listeners felt emotionally and personally connected--not only to the singers but to each other as well.
\n
\nSound. In mating rituals throughout the world, auditory cues play a tactile role as they pave the way for physical touching itself (see AUDITORY CUE, Courtship).
\n
\nTouch. In the crowds surrounding Stage A, men formed ad hoc combat circles and pushed each other to and fro, with their hands held in aggressively pronated (i.e., palm-down) positions, as Harvey Danger played its hit song, "Flagpole Sitta." Surrounded by women, the pushing and shoving was not unlike the ritual clash of elk antlers in the season of the rut.
\n\n\n
Neuro-notes I. Research on amusia suggests ". . . that there is only one musical center in the\ncerebrum, and that it is situated in the anterior two-thirds of the first temporal convolution and in\nthe anterior half of the second temporal convolution of the left lobe, i.e., in front of the [speech-comprehension] center of\nWernicke" (Reiling 1999:218).
\nNeuro-notes II. "Larionoff has made numerous ingenious experiments on dogs, with a view of defining the localization of the auditory centers, and has come to the following conclusions:\nThere are several sensory musical centers situated in the posterior halves of the hemispheres, and\nseveral motor centers situated in the anterior halves of the hemispheres of the cerebrum. Of the\nsensory, two tone centers are situated in the temporal lobes, and one optic center, for the reading\nof notes, situated alongside of the center for ordinary reading, in the gyrus angularis. The motor\ncenter of notewriting probably develops alongside of the center for ordinary writing, in the\nsecond frontal convolution. The singing center is situated a little behind the motor center of speech of Broca, in the third frontal convolution, and is otherwise known as the center of\nKrause. The motor center presiding over the functions of performing on various instruments\ndevelops on exercising, in the anterior part of the central convolution alongside of the motor\ncenter of note writing. The center for playing wind instruments is developed in the region\ngoverning the movements of the lips, a little above the center of Krause . . ." (Reiling 1999:218).
\n
\nNeuro-notes III. PET studies of listening to familiar melodies show involvement of the right superior temporal cortex, the right inferior temporal cortex, and the supplementary motor area (Halpern and Zatorre 1999). Retrieval of a familiar melody activates the right frontal area and right superior temporal gyrus (Halpern and Zatorre 1999). No significant activity was observed in the left temporal lobe (Halpern and Zatorre 1999). "It is concluded that areas of right auditory association cortex, together with right and left frontal cortices, are implicated in imagery for familiar melodies" (Halpern and Zatorre 1999). "Retrieval from musical semantic memory is mediated by structures in the right frontal lobe" (Halpern and Zatorre 1999).
See also DANCE, TONE OF VOICE.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies, and Journal of the\nAmerican Medical Association)
\nPhoto of The Youngbloods in a tree in Marin County, California, by Linda McCartney (copyright 1992 by MPL Communications Limited; McCartney: "There were huge fungi growing around, and I remember we were breaking pieces off and carving faces in them.")
LAWN DISPLAY
\n
\n
\nThe poetry of earth is ceasing never. --Keats, On the Grasshopper and Cricket
\n
\nDamn, I poured my whole life into this lawn, my heart, my soul, the tender feelings I've held back from my family . . . . Look, some people hoist a flag to show they love their country. Well, my lawn is my flag. --Hank Hill, King of the Hill (quoted in The Spokesman-Review, May 28, 2000, F1)
\n
\n
\nSpatial cue. A plot of carefully groomed grass, and any of several decorative artifacts (e.g.,\nwhite pickets or plastic pink flamingos) placed upon its surface.
Usage: Lawns mark territory and betoken status. Each year, Americans buy an estimated 500,000\nplastic pink flamingo ornaments to mark their yard space--and to provide tangible evidence that, "This\nland is mine."
\nEvolution. Two m.y.a. the first humans lived in eastern Africa on hot, flat, open countryside with\nscattered trees and bushes and little shade, known as savannah grasslands. (N.B.: At this time, the\nhuman brain was expanding faster than any brain ever had in animal history, and in the growing\nprocess seemingly locked in a fondness for level grassland spaces.)
\nVerbal prehistory. The word lawn itself may be traced to the ancient Indo-European root, lendh-, "open land."
\nToday I. To make earth more to our liking, we flatten and smooth its surface to resemble the\noriginal rolling plains our ancestors walked upon during the critical Pleistocene epoch two\nm.y.a. Neo-Savannah Grassland--with its scattered bushes, trees, and lawns--is the\ndominant theme of housing tracts, campuses, cemeteries, entertainment parks, and shopping\nmalls in almost every city today.
\n
\nToday II. So important are lawns as consumer products that, at the University of Florida, a $700,000 campus laboratory--known as the TurfGrass Envirotron--was fabricated so horticulturalists could watch grass grow.
\n
\nToday III. "Despite the view in some circles that lawns are a symbol of suburban conformity and repressed individualism, Americans traditionally have equated a green space around the home with freedom and power, said Washington State University horticulturalist Ken Struckmeyer" (Turner 2000:F8).
\n
\nFlatland, China. In 1999, Chinese leaders planted a few hundred square yards of grass from seed (shipped from USA's Inland Northwest) on Tiananmen Square. "Across China, cities are planting thousands of acres of lawns, parks and golf courses ['to reverse decades of environmental ruin and make drab cities more livable'] . . ." (McDonald 1999). (N.B.: On Tiananmen square, knee-high metal signs warn visitors: "Please don't enter the grass.")
\n
\nFlatland, USA. Taking the U.S. as a whole, 40 square feet of perfectly level shopping-center space\nhas been constructed for every child born since 1986. Due to our prehistory on grasslands, we\nprefer to conduct our lives on plane-paved surfaces. In Los Angeles, ". . . 70 percent of the land area is devoted to the use of cars . . ." (Mathews 1974). Some 100,000 acres of land are now\noccupied, e.g., by vast, table-terraced superstores. (N.B.: Inside air temperatures average 72\ndegrees F., the warmth of the primeval savannah.) And spreading in front of houses and\napartment buildings are closely cropped micro-savannahs, occupying an estimated 7.7 million\nacres of level, home-lawn plots.
\n
\nInterior design. "Grass green [in the home environment] is not particularly popular in rural areas, where presumably people see a lot of it. But for those from inner city areas, green ranks high on their list of favorites" (Vargas 1986:142).
\n
\nMedia. "Like the interstate highway system, fast food chains, telephones, televisions, and malls, the lawn occupies a central, and often unconsidered, place in America's cultural landscape." --Georges Teyssot ("The American Lawn," quoted in Spokesman-Review, May 28, 2000:F1)
Neuro-notes. Like the cylindrical, filamentous projections covering our scalp, we respond to\ngrass blades as we do to our own hair. The compulsion to feed, clip, and groom our yard space is\nprompted by the same preadapted modules of the mammalian brain which motivate personal grooming and hair care (see CINGULATE GYRUS). Like thick, healthy locks, well-groomed\nlawns bespeak health, vigor, and high status.
\n
\nSee also GOLF.
Copyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**LAWN DISPLAY**\n\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/lawn.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"30%\"}\\\n\\\n*The poetry of earth is ceasing never*. \\--Keats, *On the Grasshopper\nand Cricket*\\\n\\\n*Damn, I poured my whole life into this lawn, my heart, my soul, the\ntender feelings I\\'ve held back from my family . . . . Look, some people\nhoist a flag to show they love their country. Well, my lawn is my flag*.\n\\--Hank Hill, *King of the Hill* (quoted in The *Spokesman-Review*, May\n28, 2000, F1)\\\n\\\n\\\n***[Spatial\ncue](proxemi1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/proxemi1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***. A plot of carefully groomed grass, and any of several\ndecorative artifacts (e.g., white pickets or plastic pink flamingos)\nplaced upon its surface.\n\n*Usage*: Lawns mark territory and betoken status. Each year, Americans\nbuy an estimated 500,000 plastic pink flamingo ornaments to mark their\nyard space\\--and to provide tangible evidence that, \\\"This land is\nmine.\\\"\n\n*Evolution*. Two m.y.a. the first humans lived in eastern Africa on hot,\nflat, open countryside with scattered trees and bushes and little shade,\nknown as *savannah grasslands*. (***N.B.***: At this time, the human\nbrain was expanding faster than any brain ever had in animal history,\nand in the growing process seemingly locked in a fondness for level\ngrassland spaces.)\n\n*Verbal prehistory*. The word *lawn* itself may be traced to the ancient\nIndo-European root, lendh**-**, \\\"open land.\\\"\n\n*Today I*. To make earth more to our liking, we flatten and smooth its\nsurface to resemble the original rolling plains our ancestors walked\nupon during the critical Pleistocene epoch two m.y.a. *Neo-Savannah\nGrassland*\\--with its scattered bushes, trees, and lawns\\--is the\ndominant theme of housing tracts, campuses, cemeteries, entertainment\nparks, and shopping malls in almost every city today.\\\n\\\n*Today II*. So important are lawns as [**consumer\nproducts**](consprod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"} that, at the University of Florida, a \\$700,000 campus\nlaboratory\\--known as the\n[**TurfGrass**](http://www.turfgrass.org/){target=\"_top\"}\nEnvirotron\\--was fabricated so horticulturalists could watch grass\ngrow.\\\n\\\n*Today III*. \\\"Despite the view in some circles that lawns are a symbol\nof suburban conformity and repressed individualism, Americans\ntraditionally have equated a green space around the home with freedom\nand power, said Washington State University horticulturalist Ken\nStruckmeyer\\\" (Turner 2000:F8).\\\n\\\n*Flatland, China*. In 1999, Chinese leaders planted a few hundred square\nyards of grass from seed (shipped from USA\\'s Inland Northwest) on\nTiananmen Square. \\\"Across China, cities are planting thousands of acres\nof lawns, parks and golf courses \\[\\'to reverse decades of environmental\nruin and make drab cities more livable\\'\\] . . .\\\" (McDonald 1999).\n(***N.B.***: On Tiananmen square, knee-high metal signs warn visitors:\n\\\"Please don\\'t enter the grass.\\\")\\\n\\\n*Flatland, USA*. Taking the U.S. as a whole, 40 square feet of perfectly\nlevel shopping-center space has been constructed for every child born\nsince 1986. Due to our prehistory on grasslands, we prefer to conduct\nour lives on plane-paved surfaces. In Los Angeles, \\\". . . 70 percent of\nthe land area is devoted to the use of cars . . .\\\" (Mathews 1974). Some\n100,000 acres of land are now occupied, e.g., by vast, table-terraced\nsuperstores. (***N.B.***: Inside air temperatures average 72 degrees F.,\nthe warmth of the primeval savannah.) And spreading in front of houses\nand apartment buildings are closely cropped *micro-savannahs*, occupying\nan estimated 7.7 million acres of level, home-lawn plots.\\\n\\\n*Interior design*. \\\"Grass\n**[green](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/color.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\n\\[in the home environment\\] is not particularly popular in rural areas,\nwhere presumably people see a lot of it. But for those from inner city\nareas, green ranks high on their list of favorites\\\" (Vargas 1986:142).\\\n\\\n***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\n\\\"Like the interstate highway system, fast food chains, telephones,\ntelevisions, and malls, the lawn occupies a central, and often\nunconsidered, place in America\\'s cultural landscape.\\\" \\--Georges\nTeyssot (\\\"The American Lawn,\\\" quoted in *Spokesman-Review*, May 28,\n2000:F1)\n\n*Neuro-notes*. Like the cylindrical, filamentous projections covering\nour scalp, we respond to grass blades as we do to our own hair. The\ncompulsion to feed, clip, and groom our yard space is prompted by the\nsame preadapted modules of the **[mammalian\nbrain](mammal.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/mammal.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** which motivate personal grooming and **[hair\ncare](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/haircue.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\n(see **[CINGULATE\nGYRUS](cingulat.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cingulat.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**). Like thick, healthy locks, well-groomed lawns bespeak\nhealth, vigor, and high status.\\\n\\\nSee also\n[**GOLF**](golf.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/golf.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}.\n\nCopyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"NEW CAR SMELL","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/newcar.htm","html":"\n\n\nNEW CAR SMELL
\n
\n![\"Touch](\"newcar.jpg\")
\n
In their language they do not say 'Give me a kiss' but they say 'Smell me'. --Rother's\n1890 description of the Khyoungtha hill people of India (Stoddart 1990:10)
\n\nAroma cue. A scented consumer product designed to mimic the leather, rubber, plastic,\nand vinyl aromas of a show-room-new motor vehicle interior.
\nUsage: We find the synthetic odor of new car smell pleasant because it contains chemical analogs\nof natural plant resins, animal esters, and sexual steroids.
\nEvolution. New car smell, which may be sprayed from aerosol cans, was developed by\nInternational Flavors and Fragrances of New York, which supplies odor cues for Downey Fabric\nSoftener® and Colgate's Irish Spring® soap.
\nSee also APOCRINE ODOR, ARPEGE®, BIG MAC®.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[NEW CAR SMELL]{#NEW CAR SMELL}\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/newcar.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"40%\"}**\n\n*In their language they do not say \\'Give me a kiss\\' but they say\n\\'Smell me\\'*. \\--Rother\\'s 1890 description of the Khyoungtha hill\npeople of India (Stoddart 1990:10)\n\n***[Aroma\ncue](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aromacue.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\nA scented **[consumer\nproduct](consprod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** designed to mimic the leather, rubber, plastic, and\n**[vinyl](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/vinyl.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\naromas of a show-room-new motor vehicle interior.\n\n*Usage*: We find the synthetic odor of new car smell\n**[pleasant](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nbecause it contains chemical analogs of natural plant resins, animal\nesters, and sexual steroids.\n\n*Evolution*. New car smell, which may be sprayed from aerosol cans, was\ndeveloped by [International Flavors and\nFragrances](http://www.iff.com/){target=\"_top\"} of New York, which\nsupplies odor cues for Downey Fabric Softener® and Colgate\\'s Irish\nSpring® soap.\n\nSee also **[APOCRINE\nODOR](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/apocrine.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[ARPEGE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/arpege.htm){target=\"_top\"}**®,\n**[BIG\nMAC](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/bigmac.htm){target=\"_top\"}**®.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"NICOTINE","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/nicotin1.htm","html":"\n\n\nNICOTINE
\n
\n![\"Bogie](\"nicotine.jpg\")
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)
\n
\n
\nAfferent cue. 1. A potent alkaloid drug (C10H14N2) of the tobacco plant, ingested by hundreds of\nmillions of men, women, and children in consumer products such as cigars, cigarettes, and snuff. \n2. 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\nworldwide epidemic of nicotine use.
\nUsage 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.
\nUsage 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.
\n
\nUsage 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.
\n
\nEvolution. Nicotine evolved as a communicative sign, i.e., as an insect-repelling secondary product.
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).
\nLater history. 1797: Cigarettes appear when Cuban cigar makers roll little cigars in paper wrappers\n(Trager 1992:354). 1883: Gold Flake cigarettes appear in London (Trager 1992:567). 1885:\nThomas Edison, a tobacco chewer, refuses to hire tobacco smokers (Trager 1992:585). 1925:\nOld Gold cigarettes appear, with the slogan, "Not a cough in a carload" (Trager 1992:773). \n1955: 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).
\nMedia. In the U.S. the advertising of cigarettes on television was banned in 1971, "abruptly\nremoving one of the major categories of broadcast income" (Jankowski and Fuchs 1995:106).
\n
\nNeuro-notes. 1. Nicotine ". . . mimics the neurotransmitter acetylcholine by acting at the\nacetylcholine site and stimulating the nerve cell dendrite" (Restak 1995:116). Nicotine leads to\nthe 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)
\n\nDetail of photo of Humphrey Bogart (copyright by the Ludlow Collection)
NONVERBAL LEARNING DISORDER
\nNLD. 1. A frequently misdiagnosed state of anxiety, confusion, and social withdrawal caused\nby inabilities to send and receive common gestures, facial expressions, and body-language\ncues. 2. NLD persons may a. misread everyday nonverbal signals, b. display awkward body\nmovements, and c. have difficulty associating visual signs in space and time.
\nUsage: NLD children rely on the concreteness of verbal speech and written words, and may be\nunable to process the subtleties of nonverbal expression.
\n
\n
Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**NONVERBAL LEARNING DISORDER**\n\n***[NLD](http://www.nldontheweb.org/links.htm){target=\"_top\"}***. **1.**\nA frequently misdiagnosed state of anxiety, confusion, and social\nwithdrawal caused by inabilities to\n**[send](efferen1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/efferen1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** and\n**[receive](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/afferent.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ncommon\n**[gestures](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[facial\nexpressions](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialx.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nand\n**[body-language](bodylan1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodylan1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** cues. **2.** NLD persons may **a.** misread everyday\nnonverbal signals, **b.** display awkward body movements, and **c.**\nhave difficulty associating visual signs in space and time.\n\n*Usage*: NLD children rely on the concreteness of verbal\n**[speech](speech1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/speech1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** and written\n**[words](word1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, and may be unable to process the subtleties of\nnonverbal expression.\\\n\\\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n***E-Commentary***: \\\"My learning disabled son\\'s biggest problem, now\nthat he is pushing 16, is lack of good social skills. He just isn\\'t\nresponding appropriately to cues. I am unsure whether it\\'s a lack of\nperception or a lack of ability to properly respond that is the\ndifficulty.\\\" \\--R.M., USA (4/11/00 11:19:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time)\\\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\\\n*Neuro-notes*. \\\"A 120-base pair duplication polymorphism in the\ndopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) shows preferential transmission with\nattention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) . . .\\\" Anonymous\n(2000C).\\\n\\\nSee also\n[**AUTISM**](autism1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/autism1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}, **[BODY DYSMORPHIC\nDISORDER](dismorp1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/dismorp1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, **[NONVERBAL\nLEARNING](nvlearn1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/nvlearn1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. Principal web link: ***[NLD on the\nWeb!](http://www.nldontheweb.org/links.htm){target=\"_top\"}***\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"NOSE","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/nose1.htm","html":"\n\n\nNOSE
\n![\"Hard](\"nose.jpg\")
\n
\nCleopatra's nose: had it been shorter, the whole aspect of the world would have been altered. --Pascal, Pensees, II
\n
\nJust need a nose job! --Kramer (Seinfeld, rerun of May 2, 2000)
Body part. That projecting part of the human face which contains the nostrils and organs of smell.
\nUsage: The nose is one of the most defining features of human identity and facial recognition.
\nAnatomy. Located at the center of our face, the nose is a rounded prominence of bone, gristle,\nfatty tissue, and flesh. Unlike animal noses, its freestanding shape reinforces the vertical height\nof our face and accents the stability of its features.
\n
\nCulture. 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.
\n
\nEmotion. 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.
\n
\nEvolution. Our triangular nose evolved in tandem with shrinkage of the primate's bony muzzle. \nBecause early primates depended more on sight than smell, their snouts gradually shortened. \nBecause 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." \nWomen's generally smaller noses--which may be further reduced with makeup to keep from\nupstaging the lips and eyes--give an appearance of "youth." (See LOVE SIGNAL.)
\nMedia. In magazine ads, the feminine nose "disappears" into the flatness of the face to\naccent the lips, eyes, and baby-smooth skin (Givens 1983).
\n
\nRespiration. Though our face is flatter today than that of our remote primate ancestors, we still require the air we breathe to be\ncleaned, warmed, and moistened before it enters our lungs. Thus, our nose projects like an\nair duct, prominently and for all to see.
See also FACIAL I.D.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**NOSE**\n\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/nose.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"38%\"}\\\n\\\n*Cleopatra\\'s nose: had it been shorter, the whole aspect of the world\nwould have been altered*. \\--Pascal, *Pensees, II\\\n\\\nJust need a nose job!* \\--Kramer (*Seinfeld*, rerun of May 2, 2000)\n\n*Body part*. That projecting part of the human\n**[face](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/face.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nwhich contains the nostrils and organs of\n**[smell](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aromacue.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Usage*: The nose is one of the most defining features of human identity\nand **[facial\nrecognition](facerec.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facerec.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Anatomy*. Located at the center of our face, the nose is a rounded\nprominence of bone, gristle, fatty tissue, and flesh. Unlike animal\nnoses, its freestanding shape reinforces the vertical height of our face\nand accents the stability of its features.\\\n\\\n*Culture*. In the Trobriand Islands, couples may gently bite noses while\nmaking love. Among Eskimos, Maoris, and Polynesians, touching another\\'s\nface or head with the tip of the nose is used as a friendly greeting.\\\n\\\n***[Emotion](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\nWhen we breathe deeply, or are emotionally aroused, our nostrils visibly\n*flare*. They may uncontrollably widen in anger, as well, when we listen\nto disaggreeable comments made by colleagues around a [**conference\ntable**](table.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}.\\\n\\\n*Evolution*. Our triangular nose evolved in tandem with shrinkage of the\nprimate\\'s bony muzzle. Because early primates depended more on sight\nthan smell, their snouts gradually shortened. Because we have no muzzle\nat all, our proboscis was left standing high and dry on the fleshy\nplain.\n\n*Gender*. The generally larger noses of men give an appearance of\n\\\"strength.\\\" Women\\'s generally smaller noses\\--which may be further\nreduced with makeup to keep from upstaging the\n[**lips**](lips.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/lips.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"} and\n[**eyes**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/eyes.htm){target=\"_top\"}\\--give\nan appearance of \\\"youth.\\\" (See **[LOVE\nSIGNAL](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.)\n\n***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\nIn magazine ads, the feminine nose \\\"disappears\\\" into the flatness of\nthe face to accent the lips, eyes, and baby-smooth skin (Givens 1983).\\\n\\\n*Respiration*. Though our face is flatter today than that of our remote\nprimate ancestors, we still require the air we breathe to be cleaned,\nwarmed, and moistened before it enters our lungs. Thus, our nose\nprojects like an air duct, prominently and for all to see.\n\nSee also **[FACIAL\nI.D.](facialid.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialid.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"NUT SUBSTITUTE","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/nut1.htm","html":"\n\n\nNUT SUBSTITUTE
\n![\"Nut](\"nut.jpg\")
\n
\nConsumer product. A baked or deep-fried food product (e.g., cookies, crackers, and Fritos®)\ndesigned to mimic the taste and crunchy texture of roasted nuts, seeds, or fruits (in the latter\ncase, e.g., stalks of the cashew plant).
Usage. As primates, we are seemingly pre-adapted to enjoy the flavor and texture of nut\nsubstitutes. Throughout the Middle East, e.g., crusty breads, pastries, and candies are liberally\nsprinkled or covered with whole seeds for their flavor, texture, and crunch. Papodams, tortilla\nchips, and Crackerjacks®--along with taro, yucca, sweet-potato, beet, parsnip, carrot, rutabaga,\ncelery-root, and seaweed chips--are among the thousands of ethnic cuisines designed to satisfy\nour need for culinary snap, crackle, and pop.
\nBig crunch. The largest potato chip manufactured by Homo sapiens--nearly two feet across--was\nmade in 1990 of potato flour at the Pringles plant in Jackson, Tennessee. Consumers, however,\nprefer smaller chips which have the look and feel of finger food. As primates, we are natural\nfinger-feeders who enjoy bringing edibles to our prehensile lips with the sensitive, tactile pads of\nour hands.
\n
\nExistential crunch. That crispy snacks so overpower us is because, as an existentialist\nphilosopher might say, they represent an "authentic" form of existence which transcends the desire\nfor softer, "unreal" foods, such as Twinkies®.
Global Crunch. The proclivity to commune with our inner-primate self through the tactile\nmedium of grinding is so powerful that, according to the U.S. Snack Food Association,\nAmericans munch an average 21.42 lbs. of chips, popcorn, pretzels, and so on, each year (Hall\nand Baumann 1994).
\nNeuro-notes. Our back teeth and the forward two-thirds of our tongue receive incoming crunch\nsensations from nut substitutes through branches of the facial nerve (cranial VII). Like flavor\ncues, texture cues are processed on two levels: a. consciously in the cerebral cortex and b. unconsciously in the limbic system. As crunching registers in the forebrain, nut substitutes \nprovide a pleasurable snack-food experience.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000, 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail from a Wheat Thins® box (copyright 1999 by Nabisco)
\t
\n\t
\n\n\n","markdown":"**NUT SUBSTITUTE**\n\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/nut.jpg\" height=\"40%\"\nwidth=\"25%\"}\\\n\\\n***[Consumer\nproduct](consprod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***. A baked or deep-fried food product (e.g., cookies,\ncrackers, and Fritos®) designed to mimic the\n**[taste](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/taste.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nand **[crunchy\ntexture](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/crunch.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nof roasted nuts, seeds, or fruits (in the latter case, e.g., stalks of\nthe cashew plant).\n\n*Usage*. As primates, we are seemingly pre-adapted to enjoy the flavor\nand texture of nut substitutes. Throughout the Middle East, e.g., crusty\nbreads, pastries, and candies are liberally sprinkled or covered with\nwhole seeds for their flavor, texture, and crunch. Papodams, tortilla\nchips, and Crackerjacks®\\--along with taro, yucca, sweet-potato, beet,\nparsnip, carrot, rutabaga, celery-root, and seaweed chips\\--are among\nthe thousands of ethnic cuisines designed to satisfy our need for\nculinary snap, crackle, and pop.\n\n***[Big](loom1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/loom1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}*** *crunch*. The largest potato chip manufactured by\n*Homo sapiens*\\--nearly two feet across\\--was made in 1990 of potato\nflour at the Pringles plant in Jackson, Tennessee. Consumers, however,\nprefer smaller chips which have the look and feel of *finger food*. As\nprimates, we are natural finger-feeders who enjoy bringing edibles to\nour prehensile\n**[lips](lips.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/lips.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** with the sensitive, tactile pads of our\n**[hands](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hands.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\\\n\\\n***[Existential\ncrunch](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/crunch.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\nThat crispy snacks so overpower us is because, as an existentialist\nphilosopher might say, they represent an \\\"authentic\\\" form of existence\nwhich transcends the desire for softer, \\\"unreal\\\" foods, such as\nTwinkies®.\n\n*Global Crunch*. The proclivity to commune with our inner-primate self\nthrough the tactile medium of grinding is so powerful that, according to\nthe U.S. Snack Food Association, Americans munch an average 21.42 lbs.\nof chips, popcorn, pretzels, and so on, each year (Hall and Baumann\n1994).\n\n*Neuro-notes*. Our back teeth and the forward two-thirds of our tongue\nreceive\n**[incoming](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/afferent.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ncrunch sensations from nut substitutes through branches of the *facial\nnerve* (cranial VII). Like flavor cues, texture cues are processed on\ntwo levels: **a.** *consciously* in the cerebral cortex and **b.**\n*unconsciously* in the **[limbic\nsystem](limbic.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/limbic.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. As crunching registers in the forebrain, nut\nsubstitutes provide a pleasurable snack-food experience.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000, 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\\\nDetail from a Wheat Thins® box (copyright 1999 by Nabisco)\n\n \n\n \n\n\\\n\\\n\\\n\\\n"} {"title":"ORIENTING REFLEX","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/orient1.htm","html":"\n\n\n
ORIENTING REFLEX
\n\n![\""What's](\"orient.jpg\")
\n
\nNeuro term. An unlearned response in which animals alert to new features of their\nenvironment, e.g., to novel sights, sounds, and smells in the speechless sense-surround of\nNonverbal World.
Usage I: The orienting reflex (OR) is an innate, protective response designed to \nanswer the question, "What's that?" The automatic OR provokes both a cognitive and an emotional concern, and\nalso triggers immobility (i.e., the freeze reaction), when we are suddenly faced with a novel,\n unusual, or potentially dangerous person, place, or thing.
\n
\nUsage II: The messaging features of consumer products may be designed to provoke the OR. Attention-grabbing signals from commercial messages broadcast in the media trigger the OR as well.
Reptiles. In reptiles, orienting involves a. refocusing of the sense organs, and b. freezing of the\n body's gross-motor movements. A slowed heart rate (bradycardia) has been observed, as well, e.g., in iguanas and in\nthe death-feigning of hognose snakes (see BROADSIDE DISPLAY, Saurian size).
\nMammals. 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. That is, after the reptilian orienting reflex itself\noccurs, a mammal may voluntarily attend (i.e., look, listen, and sniff the air), produce facial expressions, and emit vocal mood\nsigns.
\nAnatomy 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 (i.e., from the primitive gill arches; see, e.g., EYEBROW-RAISE, FLASHBULB EYES, JAW DROOP). The trigeminal (cranial V, for chewing) 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\n(cranial XI, for turning the head and shoulder-shrugging) 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).
\nAnatomy II. In mammals and primates, NA mediates control of the pharynx, soft palate, larynx, and\nesophagus (see ADAM'S-APPLE-JUMP, THROAT-CLEAR). 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\n[Stephen W., Psychophysiology, 32 (1995), 301-318. Cambridge University Press. Printed in the\nUSA, Orienting in a defensive world: Mammalian modifications of our evolutionary heritage. A\nPolyvagal Theory])
\nAnatomy III. NA medites control of the heart and vocal\n intonation. Its efferent fibers mediate feeding and breathing, as well as some body movements, emotions, and forms of communication (e.g., growling; see SPECIAL VISCERAL NERVE). "The NA-vagus provides the vagal brake that\nmammals remove instantaneously to increase metabolic output to foster fight or flight behaviors.\nThe NA-vagus provides the motor pathways to shift the intonation of vocalizations (e.g., cry\npatterns) to express emotion and to communicate internal states in a social context." (Porges\n1995)
\nAnatomy IV. The NA mediates control of the heartbeat rate, the lung's bronchial tubes, and other visceral organs (Porges 1995).
\nEvolution. 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\nvagus nerve (cranial X) may have evolved from an ancient vertebrate \ngustatory response. "Gustation is the primary method for\nidentifying prey (including other appropriate food sources) and predators in aquatic\nenvironments" (Porges 1995; see AROMA CUE, TASTE CUE).
\nNeuro-notes I. The separation of the vagus nerve (cranial X) into a dorsal motor nucleus (DMNX, causing\nbradycardia) 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.)
\nNeuro-notes II. In mammals, the slowed heart-rate of the OR is of short duration due to their\nhigh oxygen needs. The ventrolateral motor nucleus of the vagus nerve brakes the bradycardia\n(Porges 1995).
\nNeuro-notes III. "With phylogenetic development, the viscerotropic organization of the vagal\nsystem has become more complex, and incorporates pathways from other cranial nerves\nincluding trigeminal, facial, accessory and glossopharyngeal. Thus, more specialized functions\nsuch as head rotation to orient sensory receptors toward the source of stimulation, mastication to\ningest food, and salivation to initiate gustatory and digestive processes are integrated into the\nvagal system" (Porges 1995).
\nSee also OBJECT FANCY, STARTLE REFLEX.
\nCopyright 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo by Sisse Brimberg (copyright 2000 by National Geographic Society)
PAIN CUE
\n![\"Childbirth\"](\"pain.jpg\")
\n
\nIf you had a hundred masks upon your face, your thoughts however slight would not be hidden\nfrom me. --Dante Alighieri, Purgatorio, Canto XV
Sign. A visible muscle contraction of the face or body in response to unpleasant sensations\nof suffering due to physical injury, trauma, or emotional distress.
\nUsage. Painful touches to the skin, e.g., may excite the midbrain's reticular area enough to produce a\nvisible response, such as a facial wince or a frown. A casual touch from someone we dislike can\nproduce the same response (because physical and psychic pain cross paths in Nonverbal World).
\nAnatomy. Pain may show in a. narrowed or closed eye openings with b. raised cheeks (as the\neye-orbit muscles contract); c. eyebrow-lowering with d. wrinkling on the bridge of the nose (as\ncorrugator and associated muscles contract); and e. a raised upper-lip with f. wrinkling at sides of\nthe nose (as levator muscles contract; Prkachin and Craig 1995).
\n
\nChest 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).
\n
\nCulture. 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).
\n
\n
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).
\n
\nSee also SPECIAL VISCERAL NERVE.
Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo by Wayne Miller (copyright Wayne Miller)
PLEASURE CUE
\nPleasure's a sin, and sometimes sin's a pleasure. --Byron (Don Juan I)
\n
\nHe 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
\n
\n![\"Andy](\"pleasure.jpg\")
\n
\nAfter 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)
\nAfferent signal. 1. An incoming auditory, chemical, tactile, vestibular, or visual sign that\nproduces enjoyment or delight. 2. A message addressed to the pleasure pathways of the brain.
Usage: Many nonverbal cues (see, e.g., BIG MAC, LOVE SIGNALS V, and NICOTINE) are\naddressed to pleasure areas of the brain.
\n
\nConsumer products. 1. According to trivia expert David Feldman, "'There is a certain sensual thrill to throwing shoes out of moving cars'" (Oldenberg 1989:C5; see BALANCE CUE, Consumer products I; and FEET, 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).
\n
\nMedia. 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).\n
RESEARCH REPORTS. 1. "The results of animal behavior studies suggest some\ninterchangeability between eating food, engaging in sexual behavior and self-administering drugs\n. . ." ("Food, Sex and Drugs Vie for Brain's Attention," Reuters Health, Jan. 28, 2000). 2. \n"'Common neurochemicals mediate food and drug response,' Dr. Marilyn Carroll of the\nUniversity of Minnesota pointed out. 'In animal studies, sweet and fat preferences predict\nalcohol self-administration. Giving preferred foods blocks drug self-administration. In humans,\ncigarette abstinence results in weight gain, and ethanol abstinence is associated with eating more\nsweets'" (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).
\nNeuro-notes. The pleasure pathway ". . . begins at the ventral tegmental area in the midbrain,\nwhich sits on top of the brainstem. In evolutionary terms, this region is very old; it began with\nthe vertebrates, which appeared 500 million years or so ago. The pathway extends to the nucleus\naccumbens, toward the front of the brain. This area is a traffic hub for signals to and from the\naddiction pathway and other parts of the brain. The nucleus accumbens is centrally located at the\nintersection of the striatum (where motion is begun and controlled) and the limbic system"\n(Powledge 1999:513).
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of As the World Turns photo (copyright by CBS-TV)
POSTURE
\n![\"Bowing](\"posture.jpg\")
\n
\nI raised my body erect again as one should walk, though my thoughts remained bowed\ndown and shrunken. --Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, Canto XII
Nonverbal sign. 1. A bearing, pose, or stance of the body or it parts: e.g., a crouched posture. 2.\nA fixed, stationary body position as opposed to a fluid body movement.
\nUsage: When sustained (i.e., held longer than two seconds), a body movement such as a bowed-head may be considered a posture. Though duration varies, postures frequently are more\nexpressive of attitudes, feelings, and moods than are briefer gestures and fleeting motions of the\nbody.
\n
\nPrimatology. "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).
\n
\nSalesmanship. "Your posture is almost military but not stiff and uncomfortable-looking. Your shoulders 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\njudges) identified four postural categories: a. forward lean ("attentiveness"); b. drawing back or\nturning away ("negative," "refusing"); c. expansion ("proud," "conceited," "arrogant"); and d. forward-leaning trunk, bowed head, drooping shoulders, and sunken chest ("depressed,"\n"downcast," "dejected") (Mehrabian 1972:19). 2. Frieda Fromm-Reichmann (1950) inferred\nfeelings from observing and imitating the postures of psychiatric patients (Mehrabian 1972:17). \n3. Albert Mehrabian proposed two primary dimensions of posture: a. immediacy, and b. relaxation (Richmond et al. 1991:63).
\nSee also ANGULAR DISTANCE, BODY WALL.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail from photo by Elliott Erwitt (copyright Magnum, Holiday)
POWER GRIP
\n![\"Power](\"power.jpg\")
\n
\nBody movement. 1. A manner of grasping an object tightly, in a usually closed fist, between the palm and\nfingers. 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, arousal, and fear employ the muscles and neural circuits of the\npower grip. Unlike its cerebral cousin--the precision grip--the power grip has its roots in a\nprimitive grasping reflex, and often signals an emotional rather than a reasonable response.
\nUsage II: Holding objects tightly (e.g., steering wheels, posts, and handrails) is curiously\npleasurable (perhaps as a holdover from our primate past and penchant for\nclimbing trees; see PRIMATE BRAIN). Thus, power-gripping sports such as baseball, tennis,\nand golf are very popular today (see BRANCH SUBSTITUTE).
\n
\nCulture. 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\nhis fingers tightly around any object placed in the palm of his hand" (Chase and Rubin\n1979:177).
\nEvolution. The power grip originated as a primate adaptation for climbing.
\n
\nNeuro-notes. In grasping a racket or a club,\nsensory feedback to the motor cortex may unconsciously tighten our grip. Stimulated by grasping,\npressure-sensitive tactile receptors cause further excitement and contraction of muscles to unwittingly increase the tightness of our grip.
See also HANDS, OBJECT FANCY.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail from photo by Jakob Tuggener
PROXEMICS
\n
\n
\nI have learned to depend more on what people do than what they say in response to a direct\nquestion, to pay close attention to that which cannot be consciously manipulated, and to look for\npatterns rather than content. --Edward T. Hall (1968:83)
. . . Every cubic inch of space is a miracle. --Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass, "Miracles")
\n
\nThe desire for personal mobility seems to be unstoppable--it is, perhaps, the Irresistible Force. --Charles Lave (1992)
\n
\n
\nSpatial signs, signals and cues. According to its founder, Edward T. Hall, proxemics is the study of humankind's\n"perception and use of space" (Hall 1968:83).
Usage: Like facial expressions, gestures, and postures, space "speaks." The prime directive of\nproxemic space is that we may not come and go everywhere as we please. There are cultural\nrules and biological boundaries--explicit as well as implicit and subtle limits to observe--everywhere.
\nBody space I. Scientific research on how we communicate in private and public spaces\nbegan with studies of animal behavior (ethology) and territoriality in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In\n1959, the anthropologist Edward Hall popularized spatial research on human beings--calling it\nproxemics--in his classic book, The Silent Language.
\nBody space II. Hall identified four bodily distances--intimate (0 to 18 inches), personal-casual\n(1.5 to 4 feet), social-consultive (4 to 10 feet), and public (10 feet and beyond)--as key points in\nhuman spacing behavior. Hall noted, too, that different cultures set distinctive norms for closeness in, e.g., \nspeaking, business, and courting, and that standing too close or too far away can lead to\nmisunderstandings and even to culture shock.
\n
\nBody 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."
\n
\nCrowded 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).
\n
\nCrowded 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).
\n
\nCrowded 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).
\n
\nCulture. In Japan, one may hand prow (i.e., face the palm-edge of one hand vertically forward in front of the nose), and bow 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).
\n
\nElevator 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 and loud vocalizations" (Waal et al. 2000:81).
\n
\nEscalator 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).
\n
\nLibrary 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).
\n
\nParking 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.\tOffice 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\nworking in even smaller, modular, 80-square-foot cubicles. (N.B.: For some prehistoric context, consider\nthat our hunter-gatherer ancestors spent their workdays on an estimated 440-square-mile expanse\nof open savannah.) Cubicles replaced the more exposed, "pool" desks which had earlier lined the\nfloors of cavernous group-occupied workrooms. Though maligned in Dilbert cartoons, cubicles at least\nprovide more privacy than the 1950s open workrooms, and offer needed respite from visual monitoring (which is known to be stressful to human primates).
\n
\nOffice space II.\t"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).
\n
\nRestaurant 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\nof an average-sized, 2,000-square-foot residences called a home (from the Indo-European root,\ntkei-, "settle" or "site"). (N.B.: Because there is no counterpart in primate evolution for a life lived\nentirely indoors, we bring the outdoors in. Thus, better homes and gardens include obvious replicas, as well as\nsubtle reminders, of the original savanna-grassland territory, including its warmth, lighting, colors,\nvistas, textures, and plants.)
\n
\nHome 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." \nThat we are terribly territorial is reflected in fences by the barriers they define. According\nto the American Fencing Association, 38,880 miles of chain link, 31,680 miles of wooden, and\n1,440 miles of ornamental fencing are bought annually in the U.S. (N.B.: Each year Americans\nbuy enough residential fencing to encircle the earth nearly three times.)
\nCity space I. Biologists call the space in which primates live their home range. The home range of\nhuman hunter-gatherers (e.g., of the Kalahari Bushmen in southern Africa) spreads outward ca. 15-to-20 miles in all\ndirections from a central home base. The home range of today's city dwelling humans \nincludes a home base (an apartment or a house) as well, along with favored foraging territories (e.g., a\nshopping mall and supermarket), a juvenile nursery (i.e., a school), a sporting area (e.g., a golf course), a work\nspace (an office building, e.g.)--and from two-to-five nocturnal drinking-and-dining spots. We\nspend most of our lives a. occupying these favorite spaces, and b. orbiting among them on habitually\ntraveled pathways, sidewalks, and roads.
\nCity 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).
\n
\nNational space. We live in one of ca. 160 sovereign nations which together claim 54% of earth's\nsurface, including almost all of its land and much of its oceans, waterways, and airspace. Over\nninety percent of all nations, including the U.S., have unresolved border disputes (see 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
\n
\nU.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).
\n
\nNeuro-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 (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, Climbing cues).
\n
\nNeuro-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.
\n
\nSee also ANGULAR DISTANCE, CONFERENCE TABLE, LOOM,\nSTEINZOR EFFECT, TOUCH CUE.
Copyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nPhoto by Sanford Roth (copyright Rapho Guillumette)
\n
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)
\n
\nThe subtlety of making impressions demands self-awareness . . . . --Mark H. McCormack (What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School, 1984:27)
\n
\nRelationship. A pleasant feeling of mutual trust, affinity, and friendship\nestablished through verbal and nonverbal means.
Usage: Rapport shows in a. reduced angular distance, b. direct body alignment,\nc. mutual eye contact, and d. palm-up cues; and in the e. eyebrow-flash, f. head-nod, g. laugh, h. shoulder-shrug, and i. zygomatic smile.
\nBusiness. "Don't exploit rapport; build it for future business" (Doreen K. Givens, N.D., personal communication).
\n
\nObservation. We use many of the same childlike cues sent and received in courtship to\nestablish rapport in business (e.g., to please customers, solicit clients, and woo colleagues; see\nLOVE SIGNAL).
\n
\nPersonal 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).
\n
\nWord origin. Rapport derives from Old French ("to bring back") via Latin ("to carry"), from\nthe 7,000 year-old Proto-Indo-European root, per-2, "fellow traveler" (Soukhanov 1993; see WALK). \nNonverbally, traveling together motivates bonding through feelings of isopraxism.
\n
\nRESEARCH 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, using the full range of\nseductive units to solicit a warm social bond which may be exploited economically. . ." (Givens\n1978A:358). 3. "More smiling, facial pleasantness, head nods, frequent and open gestures, and\neyebrow raises have the same effects as more gaze: They accompany a desire for intimacy. . ."\n(Burgoon et al. 1989:322).
Antonym: FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT. See also IMMEDIACY.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo by Robert Frank (copyright Robert Frank)
REPTILIAN BRAIN
\n
\n![\"Ancient](\"reptile.jpg\")
. . . 'She was full of reptiles.' --Joseph Conrad (Lord Jim)
\n
\n
\nEvolution. 1. Collectively, those early parts of the human brain which developed during the\nreptilian adaptation to life on land. 2. Of particular interest are modules of the forebrain which\nevolved to enable reptilian body movements, mating rituals, and signature displays.
Usage I: Many common gestures, postures, and nonverbal routines (expressive, e.g., of\ndominance, submission, and territoriality) elaborated ca. 280 m.y.a. in\nmodules of the reptilian brain. The latter itself evolved from modules and\npaleocircuits of the amphibian brain.
\nUsage II: In the house of the reptile, it makes a difference whether one crouches or stands tall. \nFlexing the limbs to look small and submissive, or extending them to push-up and seem dominant,\nis a reptilian ploy used by human beings today. Size displays as encoded, e.g., in boots,\nbusiness suits, and hands-on-hips postures, have deep, neural roots in the reptilian\nforebrain, specifically, in rounded masses of grey matter called basal ganglia.
\n
\nLiterature: "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)
\n
\nReptilian ritual. In Nonverbal World, the meaning of persistence (e.g., repeated\nattempts to dominate) and repetition (e.g., of aggressive head-nods or shakes of a\nfist) are found in underlying, reptilian-inspired rituals controlled by the habit-prone\nbasal ganglia (a motor control area identified as the protoreptilian brain or R-complex by Paul D. MacLean\n[1990]).
Reptilian routine. According to MacLean (1990), our nonverbal ruts start in the R-complex,\nwhich accounts for many unquestioned, ritualistic, and recurring patterns in our daily master\nroutine. Like a fence lizard's day--which starts with a cautious commute from its rock shelter,\nand ends with a bask in the sun--our workday unfolds in a series of repetitive, nonverbal acts. \nCountless 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.
\nPrehistory. As reptiles adapted entirely to life on land, terrestrial legs grew longer and stronger\nthan those of aquatic-buoyed amphibian ancestors. In the reptilian spinal cord and brain stem,\nantigravity reflexes worked to straighten limbs through extensor muscle contractions which lifted the\nbody higher off the ground. Advances in the forebrain's basal ganglia enabled reptiles to walk\nmore confidently than amphibians--and to raise and lower their bodies and broadsides in status\ndisplays. The reptile's high-stand display, e.g., presages our own pronated palm-down cues of emphasis while speaking.
\nNeuro-notes I. 1. The protoreptilian brain, as defined by MacLean, consists of systems a. in\nthe upper spinal cord, b. in the midbrain, and c. in the forebrain's diencephalon and basal ganglia\n(Isaacson 1974). 2. "The major counterpart of the reptilian forebrain in mammals includes the\ncorpus striatum (caudate plus putamen), globus pallidus, and peripallidal structures [including\nthe substantia innominata, basal nucleus of Meynert, nucleus of the ansa peduncularis, and\nentopeduncular nucleus]" (MacLean 1975:75).
\n
\nNeuro-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).
\n
\nSee also ISOPRAXISM, MAMMALIAN BRAIN.
Copyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nIllustration detail from Getting There (copyright 1993 by William Howells)
REST-AND-DIGEST
\n
\n![\"Relax](\"rest.jpg\")
\n
Other men live to eat, while I eat to live. --Socrates
\n\nRelaxation 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\nthe body digests food. 2. Physiologically, a rudimentary model for the sensation of happiness.
\nUsage: Many involuntary nonverbal signs (e.g., contracted pupils, moistened eyes (i.e.,\nglistening, 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\n(e.g., supinated fists) are visible in the visceral feelings and involuntary movements of\nour rest-and-digest response.
\n
\nU.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).
Observations. 1. Rest-and-digest-related cues (such positive signals as body alignment, eye contact, vocal satisfaction [e.g., "hmm," "ooh," and "um"], head-nods, and smiling) are often\nvisible in luncheon meetings around a conference table. 2. In courtship,\ncouples eat together to relax, to relate, and to respond in the rest-and-digest mode to offset feelings of stranger anxiety. (N.B.: Genital swelling is a rest-and-digest [i.e., a parasympathetic, response; see LOVE SIGNALS V].) \n3. In a restaurant, rest-and-digest paleocircuits contract the urinary bladder, thus prompting\nvisits to the restroom.
\nEvolution. Rest-and-digest is an ancient parasympathetic response pattern which, in the\naquatic brain, slowed heart beat rate (and ventricular force) to conserve bodily energy,\ne.g., to prepare a fish to digest its meal.
\nNeuro-notes. 1. The hypothalamus controls our rest-and-digest response. 2. "The actions of\nthe sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions are mediated by different neurotransmitters and are\nlargely antagonic, e.g., where one promotes contraction of smooth muscle, the other promotes\ndilation" (Damasio 1994:206).
\nAntonym: FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[REST-AND-DIGEST]{#REST-AND-DIGEST}\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/rest.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"27%\"}**\n\n*Other men live to eat, while I eat to live*. \\--Socrates\n\n*Relaxation response*. **1.** A pleasant feeling of calmness and\nwell-being experienced as **a.** heart rate slows, **b.** smooth muscles\ncontract, and **c.** glands secrete while the body digests food. **2.**\nPhysiologically, a rudimentary model for the sensation of\n**[happiness](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/happy.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Usage*: Many involuntary **[nonverbal\nsigns](nvcom.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nvcom.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** (e.g., *contracted pupils*, *moistened eyes* (i.e.,\nglistening, brought on by stimulation of the lacrimal glands), *slowed\nbreathing rate*, and *mouth-watering* (due to watery secretions of the\nsalivary glands \\[accompanied by increased swallowing\\])\\--along with\nsigns of relaxation (e.g., *warm, dry palms*; *lean-forward*;\n*lean-back*) and satiation (e.g., *supinated fists*) are visible in the\nvisceral feelings and involuntary movements of our rest-and-digest\nresponse.\\\n\\\n*U.S. politics*. \\\"He \\[Frank Meeks, owner of 59 Domino\\'s pizza\nfranchises in the Washington, D.C. area\\] recalls that Nov. 17, 1995,\nduring the government shutdown, was \\'pizza night\\' for Monica L.\nLewinsky and President Bill Clinton, according to Lewinsky\\'s day book\\\"\n(Schafer 1998:A5; see [**BIG\nMAC**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/bigmac.htm){target=\"_top\"}).\n\n*Observations*. **1.** Rest-and-digest-related cues (such positive\nsignals as **[body\nalignment](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/align.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[eye\ncontact](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/eyecon.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nvocal satisfaction \\[e.g., \\\"hmm,\\\" \\\"ooh,\\\" and \\\"um\\\"\\],\n**[head-nods](headnod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/headnod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, and\n**[smiling](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/zygosmi.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\nare often visible in luncheon meetings around a **[conference\ntable](table.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. **2.** In\n**[courtship](court1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/court1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, couples eat together to relax, to relate, and to\nrespond in the rest-and-digest mode to offset feelings of **[stranger\nanxiety](strange1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/strange1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. (***N.B.***: Genital swelling is a rest-and-digest\n\\[i.e., a parasympathetic, response; see **[LOVE SIGNALS\nV](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/lovesig5.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\\].)\n**3.** In a restaurant, rest-and-digest\n**[paleocircuits](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/paleo.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ncontract the urinary bladder, thus prompting visits to the restroom.\n\n*Evolution*. Rest-and-digest is an ancient *parasympathetic* response\npattern which, in the **[aquatic\nbrain](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aquatic.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nslowed heart beat rate (and ventricular force) to conserve bodily\nenergy, e.g., to prepare a fish to digest its meal.\n\n*Neuro-notes*. **1.** The\n**[hypothalamus](hypo.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/hypo.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** controls our rest-and-digest response. **2.** \\\"The\nactions of the sympathetic and parasympathetic divisions are mediated by\ndifferent neurotransmitters and are largely antagonic, e.g., where one\npromotes contraction of smooth muscle, the other promotes dilation\\\"\n(Damasio 1994:206).\n\nAntonym:\n**[FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT](fight.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/fight.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"SECONDARY PRODUCT","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/second1.htm","html":"\n\n\nSECONDARY PRODUCT
\n\n![\"Pleasant](\"second.jpg\")
\n
\nSign. 1. In botany, a chemical compound not essential to the structural or nutritional needs of a\nplant, but required for its ability to communicate. 2. A compound less involved in the matter or\nenergy of, e.g., an aromatic, spice, or medicinal plant, than in the information it transmits to\nother plants and animals.
Usage: Conceptually, secondary products may be used as models for the evolution of messaging\nfeatures found in diverse consumer product designs. Secondary plant products demonstrate the separate evolutionary paths taken by information, matter, and energy (see NONVERBAL\nINDEPENDENCE).
\n\n\nEvolution. Many of the estimated hundreds of thousands of thousands of secondary plant\nproducts (e.g., alkaloids, such as nicotine; cyanogenic compounds; flavonoids; insect anti-juvenile hormones; rare amino acids; rubber-like polymers; and terpenoids) evolved for\npurposes of defense against insects and other plant pests.
\n\n\nSee also AROMA CUE, HERBS & SPICES.
\n\n\nCopyright 1999 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**SECONDARY PRODUCT**\n\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/second.jpg\" height=\"40%\"\nwidth=\"25%\"}\\\n\\\n***[Sign](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sign.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\n**1.** In botany, a chemical compound not essential to the *structural*\nor *nutritional* needs of a plant, but required for its ability to\n*communicate*. **2.** A compound less involved in the *matter* or\n*energy* of, e.g., an aromatic, spice, or medicinal plant, than in the\n***[information](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/info.htm){target=\"_top\"}***\nit transmits to other plants and animals.\n\n*Usage*: Conceptually, secondary products may be used as models for the\nevolution of **[messaging\nfeatures](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/messafea.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nfound in diverse consumer product designs. Secondary plant products\ndemonstrate the separate evolutionary paths taken by information,\nmatter, and energy (see **[NONVERBAL\nINDEPENDENCE](nvind1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/nvind1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**).\n\n*Evolution*. Many of the estimated hundreds of thousands of thousands of\nsecondary plant products (e.g., alkaloids, such as nicotine; cyanogenic\ncompounds; flavonoids; insect anti-juvenile hormones; rare amino acids;\nrubber-like polymers; and terpenoids) evolved for purposes of defense\nagainst insects and other plant pests.\n\nSee also **[AROMA\nCUE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aromacue.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[HERBS &\nSPICES](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/herb.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"SHELLFISH TASTE","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/shellfis.htm","html":"\n\n\nSHELLFISH TASTE
\n
\n![\"Shrimp](\"shellfis.jpg\")
Honey and locusts were the viands that nourished the Baptist in the desert . . . . --Dante Alighieri (Purgatorio, Canto XXII)
\n
\nFlavor cue. 1. The usually pleasant aroma and taste of cooked arthropods, including shrimp,\nlobster, and crab. 2. A flavor, greatly enhanced by umami (Konosu et al. 1987; see\nGLUTAMATE), which "speaks" to the tongue as "meat" (see MEATY TASTE).
Usage: Human beings have a peculiarly powerful craving for the cooked muscle tissue of shellfish,\ninsects, spiders, and grubs. The appetite is deeply rooted in our primate past as insectivores.
\nEvolution I. The earliest-known Paleocene primate (Purgatorius), e.g., ate insects, which belong\nto the same biological phylum (Arthropoda) as lobsters and shrimp. Primates have been heavy\ninsect eaters throughout their 65-million years, and lemurs, lorises, and tarsiers (the least evolved\nof the living primates) eat mainly insects today. (N.B.: The evolutionary raw bar is open for our\nclosest primate relatives, as well. Chimpanzees, e.g., enjoy termites and lowland gorillas snack on\nants.)
\nEvolution II. Our love of arthropod flesh reaches further back in time than primates, however. \nThe saga began ca. 450 m.y.a. ago in Ordovician seas, when the giant lobster Pterygotus dined on\n(then) soft-headed vertebrates. For 100 million years shellfish ate vertebrates, until the latter's\nbony brain case formed in the late Devonian period. (N.B.: Our hardened skull may have\noriginated, in part, as a defense against giant lobsters.) The evolutionary table turned as harder-headed amphibians pursued arthropods on dry land, eating them instead.
\nPrehistory. It is likely that early humans ate arthropods whenever and wherever they could. \nModern hunter-gatherers, e.g., relish grubs, caterpillars, and tarantulas, roasted in coals until\ntheir meaty flesh is well-done. (N.B.: Today, U.S. urbanites cook long-tailed arthropods from the\nsea, and serve their succulent bodies in sauce made from reddened fruits of the nightshade family--they call the dish shrimp cocktail.)
\nAnthropology I. Theaters in parts of Mexico sell fried leaf-cutter ants as a crunchy snack food\n(see EXISTENTIAL CRUNCH). Fried ants taste like bacon, according to members of the New\nYork Entomological Society, who sampled ants and exotic insects at their 100th anniversary\nbanquet in 1992. Roasted kurrajong grubs from Australia resemble lean sausages, they\ndiscovered, and fried mealworms taste like honey-roasted nuts.
\nAnthropology II. 1. Feasting on gumbo, crab cakes, and lobster bisque marks an evolutionary\nvictory over Pterygotus and other giant arthropods. 2. The flavor of chocolate-covered ants is\nmade more pungent by pyrazine molecules given off as warning signs. (N.B.: Found in\nants, beetles, and butterflies as alarm pheromones, pyrazines have also been isolated as aroma cues in fried beef, cocoa, coffee, and roasted nuts [McGee 1990].)
\nChemistry. Synthetically duplicated, "snow crab flavor" consists of the chemical messaging features glycine, arginine, alanine, glutamate, inosine, monophosphate, sodium chloride, and\ndibasic potassium phosphate (Konosu et al. 1987).
\nSee also NUTTY TASTE.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[SHELLFISH TASTE]{#SHELLFISH TASTE}\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/shellfis.jpg\"\nheight=\"35%\" width=\"25%\"}**\n\n*Honey and locusts were the viands that nourished the Baptist in the\ndesert* . . . . \\--Dante Alighieri (*Purgatorio, Canto XXII*)\\\n*\\\nFlavor cue*. **1.** The usually pleasant aroma and taste of cooked\n*arthropods*, including shrimp, lobster, and crab. **2.** A flavor,\ngreatly enhanced by *umami* (Konosu et al. 1987; see\n**[GLUTAMATE](glutamat.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/glutamat.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**), which \\\"speaks\\\" to the tongue as \\\"meat\\\" (see\n**[MEATY\nTASTE](meaty.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/meaty.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**).\n\n*Usage*: Human beings have a peculiarly powerful craving for the cooked\nmuscle tissue of shellfish, insects, spiders, and grubs. The appetite is\ndeeply rooted in our primate past as *insectivores*.\n\n*Evolution I*. The earliest-known Paleocene primate (*Purgatorius*),\ne.g., ate insects, which belong to the same biological phylum\n(*Arthropoda*) as lobsters and shrimp. Primates have been heavy insect\neaters throughout their 65-million years, and lemurs, lorises, and\ntarsiers (the least evolved of the living primates) eat mainly insects\ntoday. (***N.B.***: The evolutionary raw bar is open for our closest\nprimate relatives, as well. Chimpanzees, e.g., enjoy *termites* and\nlowland gorillas snack on *ants*.)\n\n*Evolution II*. Our love of arthropod flesh reaches further back in time\nthan primates, however. The saga began ca. 450 m.y.a. ago in Ordovician\nseas, when the giant lobster *Pterygotus* dined on (then) soft-headed\nvertebrates. For 100 million years shellfish ate vertebrates, until the\nlatter\\'s bony brain case formed in the late Devonian period.\n(***N.B.***: Our hardened skull may have originated, in part, as a\ndefense against giant lobsters.) The evolutionary table turned as\nharder-headed amphibians pursued arthropods on dry land, eating them\ninstead.\n\n*Prehistory*. It is likely that early humans ate arthropods whenever and\nwherever they could. Modern hunter-gatherers, e.g., relish grubs,\n*caterpillars*, and *tarantulas*, roasted in coals until their meaty\nflesh is well-done. (***N.B.***: Today, U.S. urbanites cook long-tailed\narthropods from the sea, and serve their succulent bodies in sauce made\nfrom reddened fruits of the nightshade family\\--they call the dish\n*shrimp cocktail*.)\n\n*Anthropology I*. Theaters in parts of Mexico sell fried *leaf-cutter\nants* as a crunchy snack food (see **[EXISTENTIAL\nCRUNCH](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/crunch.htm){target=\"_top\"}**).\nFried ants taste like bacon, according to members of the New York\nEntomological Society, who sampled ants and exotic insects at their\n100th anniversary banquet in 1992. Roasted *kurrajong grubs* from\nAustralia resemble lean sausages, they discovered, and fried *mealworms*\ntaste like honey-roasted nuts.\n\n*Anthropology II*. **1.** Feasting on *gumbo*, *crab cakes*, and\n*lobster bisque* marks an evolutionary victory over Pterygotus and other\ngiant arthropods. **2.** The flavor of *chocolate-covered ants* is made\nmore pungent by pyrazine molecules given off as warning signs.\n(***N.B.***: Found in ants, beetles, and butterflies as *alarm\npheromones*, pyrazines have also been isolated as **[aroma\ncues](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/aromacue.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nin fried beef, cocoa, coffee, and roasted nuts \\[McGee 1990\\].)\n\n*Chemistry*. Synthetically duplicated, \\\"snow crab flavor\\\" consists of\nthe chemical **[messaging\nfeatures](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/messafea.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nglycine, arginine, alanine, glutamate, inosine, monophosphate, sodium\nchloride, and dibasic potassium phosphate (Konosu et al. 1987).\n\nSee also **[NUTTY\nTASTE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/nutty.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"SHOPPING","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/shop1.htm","html":"\n\n\nSHOPPING
\n![\"Bargain](\"355000.jpg\")
\n
\nPlastic shopping bags lower the wow-factor of whatever you're wearing. --Véronique Vienne (1997:156)
\n
\nHunting & gathering. The usually pleasurable act of wandering through stores in search of consumer\nproducts, services, and bargains.
Usage: Shopping is a uniquely human activity with a. prehistoric roots in hunting and gathering,\n b. primate roots in foraging, and c. neonatal roots in the grasping reflex (see OBJECT FANCY, Neuro-notes). U.S. adults spend ca. six percent of their waking\ntime (i.e., six hours a week) shopping (Sun et al. 1989). (N.B.: American women shop 40% more than American men\n[Sun et al. 1989].)
\nEvolution. As a nonverbal activity, the joys, challenges, and routines of shopping are \npartly innate. Wild primates, e.g., make daily foraging trips in search of food to consume and, seemingly, to enjoy. Chimpanzees, our\nclosest living relatives, use color vision to browse for nuts, fruits, and\nberries. By ca. two m.y.a., our earliest human ancestors (Homo habilis) spent less time hunting than foraging,\ngathering, and scavenging--in family groups--for whatever they could find (Blumenschine and Cavallo 1992). The landscape\nwas their mall.
\nToday I. We spend a great deal of our social time collectively browsing for apparel, colorful\nobjects, and edibles in shopping malls. In the U.S., e.g., nine out of ten (i.e., 94% of) adults report\nhaving visited a shopping center "last month" (Conn and Silverman 1991:127).
\nToday II. The shopping quest is rewarding--whether we actually buy or not. In the U.S., men\nbuy an average 35 articles of clothing a year, while women purchase 54 (Conn and Silverman 1991:32). For American women,\nthe favored item is clothing, while for men it is automobiles (Conn and Silverman 1991:128). Most American men\n(two-thirds) do not shop alone for their own clothes, but instead are accompanied by women (Conn and Silverman 1991:128).
\n
\nMedia. 1. The modern shopping mall, which borrows heavily from messaging features 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).\n
Pediatrics. Babies are pre-adapted for shopping. They arrive on earth ready to explore--i.e., to\nactively look, listen, and reach out to touch and handle colorful objects in their world. (N.B.: Forty\nsquare feet of shopping-center space has been constructed in the U.S. for every baby born since\n1986 [Conn and Silverman 1991:128].)
\nPsychology. 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). \nAccording to marketing psychologists, shoppers look around the front section directly inside a\nstore's entrance, but are less likely to buy goods displayed there than items located in areas to\ntheir right. (N.B.: Whether right or left-handed, we do more impulse buying on a shop's right-hand side [Kyriakos1992].)
\nPsychiatry. The uncontrollable urge to buy things is called oniomania.
\n
\nSee also WWW.Mallofamerica.com.
Copyright 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n
\n
SHOULDER WEAR
\n![\"Puffy](\"puffy.jpg\")
\n
\nClothing cue. Items of clothing, jewelry, or other decorations worn to showcase the appeal, gestures, and shape of the shoulders.
Usage: Human shoulders are so expressive that, in every society, consumer products\nhave evolved to accent their masculine, feminine, dominant, or submissive messages.
\nFashion statement I. Like the round head atop our upright body, flat-lying shoulders stand out as\nconspicuous shapes set high and wide upon our frame. How we clothe them affects what they\nhave to say. Clothing worn across the shoulders accents natural signs, signals, and cues of, e.g., \nancestral high-stand and crouch displays. Military epaulets square, while décolleté\ndresses bare, the shoulders to show, respectively, the strength of a broadside or the softness of a\nshrug.
\nFashion statement II. Unless heavily muscled, bare shoulders cannot compete with shoulders\nartificially squared in a business suit. But they need not, for the messages are\n opposed. Like the shirtless collars and bow ties of the Chippendale dancers, tee-shirts,\ncamisoles, and tube-tops advertise submissive movements of the crouch display.
\nFashion statement III. Puffy sleeves keep shoulders lifted and permanently shrugged in a frozen\ngesture which seems to say, "I'm harmless: you may approach" (see LOVE SIGNAL). V-neck,\ncowlneck, boatneck, and scoop-neck sweaters reveal the collarbones (and the submissive throat\ndimple). Sleeveless sweaters and blouses display the deltoids. The surplice wrap dress\nforms a deep V over the clavicles and breastbone, and a camisole top's straps draw viewers' eyes\noutward and across the shoulders' soft skin. Fabrics such as taffeta, velvet, velour, silk, and\nUltrasuede® may be worn to mimic the softness itself.
\nAnatomy I. The a. soft skin, b. rounded shape (of our upper arm's deltoid area), and c. extreme\nflexibility of our shoulders have made this body region sexually appealing in men and women alike. \nClothing may be designed a. to bare one or both shoulders, b. to accentuate their roundness, or c.\nto allow them greater freedom of movement.
\nAnatomy II. Historically, women's clothing has drawn attention to every part--the flesh, muscle\ndefinition, and boney projections--of the feminine shoulder: a. the epidermal skin, b. the rounded deltoid muscles of the\nupper arm, c. the trapezius muscles of the back and neck, d. the collarbones (or clavicles),\nand e. the shoulder blades (or scapulas).
\nPrehistory. The world's oldest preserved textile garment is a 5,000-year-old linen shirt from an\nEgyptian tomb at Tarkhan (Barber 1994). The man's shirt was intentionally V-necked, perhaps to expose\nthe throat and clavicle bones. Ancient Egyptian women wore tubular, ankle-length jumpers with\nshoulder straps. While their breasts were sometimes hidden and sometimes exposed, the splendor of\ntheir upper arms, clavicles, and shoulders was left to show through the ages (Barber 1994).
\nSee also ARM WEAR, FOOTWEAR, NECKWEAR.
\nCopyright 1999 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nPhoto detail of Bette Davis in Bad Sister (originally The Flirt [Universal 1924]; copyright Kobal\nCollection, London)
SHOULDER-SHRUG
\n
\n![\"Defensive](\"shoshrug.jpg\")
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)
\n
\n
\nGesture. 1. To lift, raise, or flex-forward one or both shoulders in response a. to another\nperson's statement, question, or physical presence; or b. to one's own inner thoughts, feelings,\nand moods. 2. One of several constituents of the larger shoulder-shrug display.
Usage I: The shoulder-shrug is a universal sign of resignation, uncertainty, and submissiveness. \nShrug cues may modify, counteract, or contradict verbal remarks. With the statement, "Yes, I'm\nsure," e.g., a lifted shoulder suggests, "I'm not so sure." A shrug reveals misleading,\nambiguous, or uncertain areas in dialogue and oral testimony, and thus may provide a probing point,\ni.e., an opportunity to examine an unverbalized \nbelief or opinion.
\n
\nUsage 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).
\n
\nAnatomy. The trapezius and levator scapulae muscles lift the shoulder blades (scapulas). Trapezius\n(assisted by pectoralis major, p. minor, and serratus anterior) medially rotates (i.e., ventrally\nflexes) the shoulders, as well.
Football. On January 25, 1998, in an NBC Sports interview conducted after his team had won Super Bowl\nXXXII in San Diego, Denver Broncos quarterback, John Elway, shrugged his shoulders and said,\n"I can't believe it."
\nMedia. Actor James Dean's defensive shrug set his style apart from the stiffer performances of male\nleads 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\nwritten into the script. But they had not, for Dean's shrug, according to director Elia Kazan,\nwas "natural." Dean cringed all the time. As American Icon author, David Dalton, wrote,\n"Jimmy's body is a universe where gravitational pull stems from instability; fascination from\nasymmetrical shifts and awkward physical contortions formed under internal stress" (1984:53).
\n
\nObservations. 1. Responding to his father's question ("Do you have your lunch money?"), a son's left\nshoulder lifts slightly as he answers, "Yes." The father replies, "Better make sure." 2. Bowing\nforward, a finance director peeks around his boss's doorway and lifts his shoulders as he asks,\n"May I talk to you, sir?" 3. While conversing in a hotel bar, a man and woman flex, pitch, and\nroll their shoulders flirtatiously over cocktails (see LOVE SIGNALS III).
\n
\nOrigin. The shrug gesture originates from an ancient, protective crouch pattern innervated by\npaleocircuits designed for flexion withdrawal. The shoulder-shrug complex\nwas originally identified by Charles Darwin in 1872.
\n
\nOuter space. On July 11, 1996, while orbiting in the Russian spacecraft, Mir, U.S. astronaut Shannon\nLucid shrugged her shoulders, tilted her head, and gestured with her palm up as she answered questions about\nher 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).
\n
\nU.S. politics. On September 9, 1998, in Orlando, Florida, President Bill Clinton shrugged his\nshoulders and gazed-down at a public apology as he said, "I've done my best to be your\nfriend. But I also let you down, and I let my family down, and I let this country down."\n(Washington Post, September 10, 1998).
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "When a man wishes to show that he cannot do something, or\nprevent something being done, he often raises with a quick movement both shoulders" (Darwin\n1872:264). 2. Pulling in the shoulders is a response to spatial invasion (Sommer 1969). 3. The\nshrug is listed in two checklists of universal nonverbal signs: a. as "A fairly sudden raising of both shoulders"\n(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).
\nNeuro-notes. As a branchiomeric muscle, upper trapezius is emotionally responsive (i.e.,\n"gut reactive"; see PHARYNGEAL ARCH), and quite difficult to control by conscious means. Upper trapezius is innervated by the accessory nerve (cranial XI), a special visceral nerve which also feeds into the voice box (or larynx). Thus, shoulder-shrugs and\nvocal whines may be given at the same time.
\nSee also ADAM'S-APPLE-JUMP, HEAD-TILT-SIDE, PALM-UP, TONE OF VOICE.
\n
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
SHOULDER-SHRUG DISPLAY
\n
\n![\"Tim](\"shrugdi1.jpg\")
\n
\nGlobal body movement. Identified by Charles Darwin in1872, an interrelated set of 13 body motions,\nfrom the head to the toes, used worldwide to show helplessness, resignation, and\nuncertainty.
Usage: Individually or in combination, signs from the shoulder-shrug display (e.g. head-tilt-side, shoulder-shrug, and pigeon-toes)--suggest feelings of resignation,\npowerlessness, and submission. In courtship and rapport, the cues show\nharmlessness and friendly intent, thus inviting physical approach and affiliation.
\nConstituents. The shoulder-shrug display involves the entire body in a visual crouch. As\ndescribed by Darwin (1872), the display consists of 1. raised shoulders (elevated; trapezius and/or\nlevator scapulae muscles contracted), 2. head-tilt sideward (lateral flexion), 3. elbows bent and\nheld into the body (flexed and adducted), 4. upraised palms (forearms supinated; see PALM-UP),\n5. palm-show (wrist extended), 6. open hand (digits extended), 7. fingers spread (abducted), 8.\neyebrows raised (frontalis contracted; see EYEBROW-RAISE), and 9. mouth opened (digastric\nand suprahyoid contracted; see JAW-DROOP). A century later, 10. pouted lips (mentalis\ncontracted; see LIP-POUT), 11. knock-knees (tibial torsion), 12. bending forward at the waist\n(flexion, slight bowing; see BOW), and 13. pigeon-toeing (toes angled in) were added to the\ndisplay (Givens 1977).
\nOrigin. The shoulder-shrug display incorporates defensive crouch movements from the\nprotective tactile withdrawal reflex.
\nMedia. In TV news reports, as she approached, gazed at, and spoke to "commoners," England's\nPrincess Diana flexed her shoulders forward and tilted her head to the side, thus showing\ncompassion for those beneath her station. (N.B.: Nonverbally, Lady Diana connected by\ncurtseying back.)
\nNeuro-notes. Socioemotional stimuli for shrug-display cues involve the forebrain's\namygdala (LeDoux 1995, 1996) and basal ganglia (or "reptilian core"; MacLean\n1990). Submissive feelings find expression in coordinated muscle contractions designed to bend,\nflex, and rotate parts of our axial skeleton and appendicular skeleton, to "shrink" the body and show a\nharmless "lower" profile. (N.B.: Unlike the high-stand display, diverse motions of the\nshrug complex were designed for defense rather than for offense--for self-protection in a physical\nworld, as well as self-protection in a social world mediated by signs, signals, and cues.)\n\n\n
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nPhoto 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
\nIn quietness and in confidence shall be your strength. --Isaiah 15
\nAnd, as if satisfied, he was silent. --Dante Alighieri (Purgatorio, Canto XXIV)
\nNot heard. 1. Nonverbally, the condition or quality of being difficult or impossible to hear, as in\nwalking stealthily, swallowing a cry, curtailing bodily noises, and refraining from speech. 2.\nSynonyms include secretive (see DECEPTION CUE), reserved (see SUBMISSION), and\ntightlipped (which, in English, implies a conscious decision to withhold information).
\nUsage: Animals from reptiles to human beings have devised ingenious means to be silent in order to\navoid detection.
\nMedia. Dead air: "An unintended interruption in a broadcast during which there is no sound"\n(Soukhanov 1992:478).
\nPregnant pause. While giving a brief report at a conference table, important speaking points\nmay be dramatized by inserting a brief pause immediately after their delivery. In a lengthier report,\npauses may be used to separate main sections of the presentation; listeners feel refreshed by silence\nand pay renewed attention to vocalizations delivered after\na pause (see ORIENTING REFLEX).
\n
\nRESEARCH 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.
\nCopyright 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**SILENCE**\n\n*In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength*. \\--*Isaiah 15*\n\n*And, as if satisfied, he was silent*. \\--Dante Alighieri (*Purgatorio,\nCanto XXIV*)\n\n*Not heard*. **1.** Nonverbally, the condition or quality of being\ndifficult or impossible to hear, as in\n**[walking](walk1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/walk1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** stealthily, swallowing a\n**[cry](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cry.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\ncurtailing bodily noises, and refraining from\n**[speech](speech1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/speech1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. **2.** Synonyms include *secretive* (see **[DECEPTION\nCUE](deceive.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/deceive.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**), reserved (see\n**[SUBMISSION](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/submit.htm){target=\"_top\"}**),\nand\n**[tightlipped](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tensemou.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\n(which, in English, implies a conscious decision to withhold\ninformation).\n\n*Usage*: Animals from reptiles to human beings have devised ingenious\nmeans to be silent in order to avoid detection.\n\n***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\n*Dead air*: \\\"An unintended interruption in a broadcast during which\nthere is no sound\\\" (Soukhanov 1992:478).\n\n*Pregnant pause*. While giving a brief report at a conference table,\nimportant speaking points may be dramatized by inserting a brief pause\nimmediately after their delivery. In a lengthier report, pauses may be\nused to separate main sections of the presentation; listeners feel\nrefreshed by silence and pay renewed attention to vocalizations\ndelivered after a pause (see **[ORIENTING\nREFLEX](orient1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/orient1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**).\\\n\\\n***RESEARCH REPORT***: \\\"*Silences* also function to mark episode and\nposition boundaries \\[in conversations, e.g., when closing a topic\\]\\\"\n(Burgoon et al. 1989:409).\n\nSee also\n**[INVISIBILITY](invisib1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/invisib1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"SIT","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/sit1.htm","html":"\n\n\nSIT
\n![\"Flexed-Adducted\"](\"sit.jpg\")
\n
\nPosture. To rest with the torso in an upright position and the body supported largely on\nthe buttocks.
Usage: The manner of sitting at a conference table, e.g., transmits information about one's\nstatus (mental, physical, and social), feelings, and unvoiced opinions, attitudes, and moods.
\nPrimatology. Sitting is the usually favored position of primates.
\n
\nSalesmanship. "Do not wait to be asked to be seated" (Delmar 1984:42).
\n
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. The most detailed research on sitting positions is by the\nanthropologist Gordon W. Hewes (1957). 2. Male, North-American college students express\nuneasiness with changes in sitting posture (e.g., by assuming a more direct body orientation;\nVrugt, Anneke, and Kerkstra 1984). 3. Female, North-American college students show\nuneasiness by sitting still and arm-crossing (Vrugt, Anneke, and Kerkstra 1984). 4. In chairs and\ncouches, a. ankle-ankle\nlegs cross ("I am politely relaxed"; worldwide), b. knee-knee legs cross ("I am very relaxed";\nworldwide), c. ankle-knee legs cross ("I am assertively relaxed"; widespread), and d. legs twine ("I am\nslinkily relaxed"; widespread) have been identified as typical human sitting postures (Morris 1994:152-54).
Neuro-notes: As consumer products, couches are designed to recall the primate lap's\nprotopathic softness, and to stimulate pleasure areas for grooming, childcare, and sexuality in the\nmammalian brain's cingulate gyrus.
\n
\nSee also LOVE SIGNALS III (E-Commentary).
Copyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo (copyright the Loehr Collection)
![\"White](\"B46182.jpg\")
\n
\nSneakers that promise movement of athletic perfection. --Elizabeth Kastor (1994:30)
\n
\nWhen dressing casually, let sneakers determine the look of the clothes you're going to wear [--not the other way around]. -- Véronique Vienne (1997:156)
\n
\nFootwear. A casual sports shoe made with a usually colorful canvas or nylon upper, and a soft, thick\nsole of rubber, latex, or vinyl.
Usage I: Because they cover our very expressive feet, we are choosy about the brands, insignia, and\nstyles of the sneakers we wear (see MESSAGING FEATURE). (N.B.: As a nonverbal sign of\ngender, presence, and personality, sneakers communicate "who we are" much as do hair cues and hats).
\nUsage II: The large size, bold contrasts, and loud colors of running, training, and basketball shoes\n(all of which evolved from sneakers) suggest a. youth and physical fitness (often more theatrical\nthan real); b. identification with team sports (esp., e.g., with star players); and c. a preference for\ninformality and comfort.
\nUsage III. Sneakers are rarely worn beneath conference tables because a. they do not\nsupport the business suit's power metaphor, and b. their thick, cushioning soles suggest\n"awkwardness." (N.B.: Soles greater than one-eighth inch give a clumsy appearance, suggestive\n less of coordination, grace, and savoir-faire than are communicated by, e.g., thinner, more elegant leather soles,\nesp. those of Italian or British design. Visually, sole thickness is equivalent to the contrast between\nmittens and kid gloves.)
\n
\nAnatomy. Running shoes may be the most comfortable footwear yet designed by humans. Perhaps\nbetter than any shoe, Nikes cushion the estimated five million pounds of impact born each day by the modern\nfoot. (N.B.: The typical American, who walks seven and one-half miles a day, owns two and one-half\npairs of athletic shoes.)
Evolution. On humanity's shoe tree, the sneaker (or tennis shoe) is a recent offshoot. The word\n"sneaker" crept into English around 1875 as a label for a croquet shoe made in the U.S., whose\nvulcanized rubber sole had been attached to white canvas uppers (magically, it seemed) without\nstitches or thongs. The 1910-era American rubber-sole design known as Keds® paved the way\nfor a more modern species of footwear, the Nikes® ultralight running shoe of the 1970s. (N.B.:\nIn the mid-1990s, Americans spent ca. $12 billion a year on running shoes--yet nine out of ten\nwho owned them never ran.)
\nMedia. 1. Sneakers were popularized by James Dean in Guys and Dolls (1955), and by Elvis\nPresley's teen cohort in Jailhouse Rock (1957). In the 1950s sneakers broke the formality of\ncorporate leather shoes to express a kinder, gentler world for feet and the lifestyle for which they\nstand. 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).\n\n
\nSee also BLUE JEANS, BOOT, MEN'S SHOES, WOMEN'S SHOES.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[SNEAKER]{#SNEAKER}**\n\n***[{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/B46182.jpg\"\nheight=\"35%\" width=\"25%\"}\\\n\\\n](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/footwear.htm){target=\"_top\"}****Sneakers\nthat promise movement of athletic perfection*. \\--Elizabeth Kastor\n(1994:30)\\\n\\\n*When dressing casually, let sneakers determine the look of the clothes\nyou\\'re going to wear \\[\\--not the other way around\\]*. \\-- Véronique\nVienne (1997:156)\\\n\\\n***[Footwear](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/footwear.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\nA casual sports shoe made with a usually colorful canvas or nylon upper,\nand a soft, thick sole of rubber, latex, or\n**[vinyl](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/vinyl.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Usage I*: Because they cover our very expressive\n**[feet](feet.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/feet.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, we are choosy about the brands, insignia, and styles\nof the sneakers we wear (see **[MESSAGING\nFEATURE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/messafea.htm){target=\"_top\"}**).\n(***N.B.***: As a nonverbal\n**[sign](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sign.htm){target=\"_top\"}** of\ngender, presence, and personality, sneakers communicate \\\"who we are\\\"\nmuch as do **[hair\ncues](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/haircue.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nand\n**[hats](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hat.htm){target=\"_top\"}**).\n\n*Usage II*: The large size, bold contrasts, and loud colors of running,\ntraining, and basketball shoes (all of which evolved from sneakers)\nsuggest **a.** *youth* and *physical fitness* (often more theatrical\nthan real); **b.** identification with *team sports* (esp., e.g., with\nstar players); and **c.** a preference for *informality and comfort*.\n\n*Usage III*. Sneakers are rarely worn beneath **[conference\ntables](table.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** because **a.** they do not support the **[business\nsuit\\'s](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/busisuit.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\npower metaphor, and **b.** their thick, cushioning soles suggest\n\\\"awkwardness.\\\" (***N.B.***: Soles greater than one-eighth inch give a\nclumsy appearance, suggestive less of coordination, grace, and\nsavoir-faire than are communicated by, e.g., thinner, more elegant\nleather soles, esp. those of Italian or British design. Visually, sole\nthickness is equivalent to the contrast between mittens and kid\ngloves.)\\\n\\\n*Anatomy*. Running shoes may be the most comfortable footwear yet\ndesigned by humans. Perhaps better than any shoe, Nikes cushion the\nestimated five million pounds of impact born each day by the modern\nfoot. (***N.B.***: The typical American, who walks seven and one-half\nmiles a day, owns two and one-half pairs of athletic shoes.)\n\n*Evolution*. On humanity\\'s shoe tree, the sneaker (or *tennis shoe*) is\na recent offshoot. The word \\\"sneaker\\\" crept into English around 1875\nas a label for a croquet shoe made in the U.S., whose vulcanized rubber\nsole had been attached to white canvas uppers (magically, it seemed)\nwithout stitches or thongs. The 1910-era American rubber-sole design\nknown as *Keds®* paved the way for a more modern species of footwear,\nthe *Nikes®* *ultralight running shoe* of the 1970s. (***N.B.***: In the\nmid-1990s, Americans spent ca. \\$12 billion a year on running\nshoes\\--yet nine out of ten who owned them never ran.)\n\n***[Media](sneaker.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/sneaker.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***. **1.** Sneakers were popularized by James Dean in\n*Guys and Dolls* (1955), and by Elvis Presley\\'s teen cohort in\n*Jailhouse Rock* (1957). In the 1950s sneakers broke the formality of\ncorporate leather shoes to express a kinder, gentler world for feet and\nthe lifestyle for which they stand. **2.** \\\"Nike Air shoes with\npressurized air soles helped more than double sales from \\$1.7 billion\nin 1989 to \\$3.8 billion just five years later, with the help of a\ndetermined marketing effort led by NBA star Michael Jordan\\\" (McCall\n2000:A14).\n\nSee also [**BLUE\nJEANS**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/bluejean.htm){target=\"_top\"},\n**[BOOT](boot1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/boot1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, **[MEN\\'S\nSHOES](mens.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/mens.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, **[WOMEN\\'S\nSHOES](womens.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/womens.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"SOFT SIGN","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/softsign.htm","html":"\n\n\nNeuro cue. A gesture, body movement, or posture used clinically to diagnose a psychiatric\nor movement disorder.
\n\n\nUsage: Soft signs include, e.g., apraxia cues, eye-blink rates, and startle reflex\nsigns. Two generic types of soft sign have been identified: a. those involving motor systems\nsuggestive of early-life brain disturbances, and b. those involving less localized systems\nsuggestive of adult neural dysfunctions and behavioral disturbances (Woods 1992). "Both . . .\nappear to be clinically useful in [the psychiatric] patient population" (Woods 1992:446).
\n\n\nCopyright 1999 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)\t
\n\n\n","markdown":"**[SOFT SIGN]{#SOFT SIGN}**\n\n*Neuro cue*. A\n[**gesture**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target=\"_top\"},\n**[body\nmovement](bodymov1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/bodymov1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, or\n[**posture**](posture1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/posture1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"} used clinically to diagnose a psychiatric or movement\ndisorder.\n\n*Usage*: Soft signs include, e.g.,\n**[apraxia](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/apraxia.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ncues,\n**[eye-blink](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/eyeblink.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nrates, and **[startle\nreflex](startle1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/startle1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** signs. Two generic types of soft sign have been\nidentified: **a.** those involving motor systems suggestive of\nearly-life brain disturbances, and **b.** those involving less localized\nsystems suggestive of adult neural dysfunctions and behavioral\ndisturbances (Woods 1992). \\\"Both . . . appear to be clinically useful\nin \\[the psychiatric\\] patient population\\\" (Woods 1992:446).\n\nCopyright 1999 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"SOLITARY DINER'S GLANCE","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/foodgaz1.htm","html":"\n\n\nSOLITARY DINER'S GLANCE
\n![\"Level](\"foodgaze.jpg\")
\n
\nGaze direction. The tendency of a lone diner a. to look up in a cafe or restaurant, and b. to move\n the eyes horizontally across the view-field while taking a bite of food or drinking from a cup,\nbottle, or glass.
Usage: Solitary diner's glance resembles the cautious visual checking that goes on among unacquainted\nindividuals (e.g., in elevators and waiting rooms), though it occurs at regular intervals (i.e., usually with each bite or sip) and with\ngreater frequency. The behavior may be a protective response to stranger anxiety.
\nRESEARCH REPORT: Eibl-Eibesfeldt (1970) observed that individuals who ate alone looked\nup and around into the distance after each bite or two, alertly "scanning the horizon" against\nenemies, much as baboons and chimpanzees do in the wild.
\nSee also EYE CONTACT.
\nCopyright 1999 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo by Eddy Van der Elsken (Copyright Rapho Guillumette)
PROXEMICS
\n
\n
\nI have learned to depend more on what people do than what they say in response to a direct\nquestion, to pay close attention to that which cannot be consciously manipulated, and to look for\npatterns rather than content. --Edward T. Hall (1968:83)
. . . Every cubic inch of space is a miracle. --Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass, "Miracles")
\n
\nThe desire for personal mobility seems to be unstoppable--it is, perhaps, the Irresistible Force. --Charles Lave (1992)
\n
\n
\nSpatial signs, signals and cues. According to its founder, Edward T. Hall, proxemics is the study of humankind's\n"perception and use of space" (Hall 1968:83).
Usage: Like facial expressions, gestures, and postures, space "speaks." The prime directive of\nproxemic space is that we may not come and go everywhere as we please. There are cultural\nrules and biological boundaries--explicit as well as implicit and subtle limits to observe--everywhere.
\nBody space I. Scientific research on how we communicate in private and public spaces\nbegan with studies of animal behavior (ethology) and territoriality in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In\n1959, the anthropologist Edward Hall popularized spatial research on human beings--calling it\nproxemics--in his classic book, The Silent Language.
\nBody space II. Hall identified four bodily distances--intimate (0 to 18 inches), personal-casual\n(1.5 to 4 feet), social-consultive (4 to 10 feet), and public (10 feet and beyond)--as key points in\nhuman spacing behavior. Hall noted, too, that different cultures set distinctive norms for closeness in, e.g., \nspeaking, business, and courting, and that standing too close or too far away can lead to\nmisunderstandings and even to culture shock.
\n
\nBody 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."
\n
\nCrowded 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).
\n
\nCrowded 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).
\n
\nCrowded 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).
\n
\nCulture. In Japan, one may hand prow (i.e., face the palm-edge of one hand vertically forward in front of the nose), and bow 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).
\n
\nElevator 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 and loud vocalizations" (Waal et al. 2000:81).
\n
\nEscalator 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).
\n
\nLibrary 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).
\n
\nParking 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.\tOffice 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\nworking in even smaller, modular, 80-square-foot cubicles. (N.B.: For some prehistoric context, consider\nthat our hunter-gatherer ancestors spent their workdays on an estimated 440-square-mile expanse\nof open savannah.) Cubicles replaced the more exposed, "pool" desks which had earlier lined the\nfloors of cavernous group-occupied workrooms. Though maligned in Dilbert cartoons, cubicles at least\nprovide more privacy than the 1950s open workrooms, and offer needed respite from visual monitoring (which is known to be stressful to human primates).
\n
\nOffice space II.\t"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).
\n
\nRestaurant 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\nof an average-sized, 2,000-square-foot residences called a home (from the Indo-European root,\ntkei-, "settle" or "site"). (N.B.: Because there is no counterpart in primate evolution for a life lived\nentirely indoors, we bring the outdoors in. Thus, better homes and gardens include obvious replicas, as well as\nsubtle reminders, of the original savanna-grassland territory, including its warmth, lighting, colors,\nvistas, textures, and plants.)
\n
\nHome 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." \nThat we are terribly territorial is reflected in fences by the barriers they define. According\nto the American Fencing Association, 38,880 miles of chain link, 31,680 miles of wooden, and\n1,440 miles of ornamental fencing are bought annually in the U.S. (N.B.: Each year Americans\nbuy enough residential fencing to encircle the earth nearly three times.)
\nCity space I. Biologists call the space in which primates live their home range. The home range of\nhuman hunter-gatherers (e.g., of the Kalahari Bushmen in southern Africa) spreads outward ca. 15-to-20 miles in all\ndirections from a central home base. The home range of today's city dwelling humans \nincludes a home base (an apartment or a house) as well, along with favored foraging territories (e.g., a\nshopping mall and supermarket), a juvenile nursery (i.e., a school), a sporting area (e.g., a golf course), a work\nspace (an office building, e.g.)--and from two-to-five nocturnal drinking-and-dining spots. We\nspend most of our lives a. occupying these favorite spaces, and b. orbiting among them on habitually\ntraveled pathways, sidewalks, and roads.
\nCity 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).
\n
\nNational space. We live in one of ca. 160 sovereign nations which together claim 54% of earth's\nsurface, including almost all of its land and much of its oceans, waterways, and airspace. Over\nninety percent of all nations, including the U.S., have unresolved border disputes (see 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
\n
\nU.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).
\n
\nNeuro-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 (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, Climbing cues).
\n
\nNeuro-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.
\n
\nSee also ANGULAR DISTANCE, CONFERENCE TABLE, LOOM,\nSTEINZOR EFFECT, TOUCH CUE.
Copyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nPhoto by Sanford Roth (copyright Rapho Guillumette)
\n
SPECIAL VISCERAL NERVE
\n![\"Embryonic](\"visceral.jpg\")
\n
\nNeuro term. 1. A nerve linked to a facial, jaw, neck, shoulder, or throat muscle that once played a\nrole in eating or breathing. 2. A cranial nerve whose original role in digestion and respiration\nrenders it emotionally responsive today.
Usage: Special visceral nerves mediate those "gut reactive" signs of emotion we unconsciously\nsend through facial expressions, throat-clears, head-tilts, and shoulder-shrugs. Nonverbally\nthese nerves are indeed "special," because the muscle contractions they mediate are less easily\n(i.e., voluntarily) controlled than are those of the skeletal muscles (which are innervated by somatic nerves).
\nEvolution. Associated with the pharyngeal arches, special visceral nerves control the branchiomeric muscles which once constricted, or dilated, "gill" pouches of the ancient\nalimentary canal.
\nAnatomy I. Special visceral nerves include efferent fibers of a. the trigeminal nerve (cranial V,\nfor biting and chewing); b. the facial nerve (cranial VII, for facial expression); c. the\nglossopharyngeal nerve (cranial IX, for swallowing); d. the vagus nerve (cranial X, for tone of\nvoice); and the accessory nerve (cranial XI, for head-shaking and the shoulder-shrug).
\nAnatomy II. The paleocircuits of visceral nerves--which originally mediated the muscles for\nopening (i.e., dilating) or closing (i.e., constricting) parts of the primitive "gill" apparatus in\neating and breathing--are today linked to the limbic system.
\n
\nVagus nerve stimulation. "As the nerve is stimulated [by electrical current from an implanted VNS generator device to treat resistant depression], some people may experience a tingling sensation, hoarseness, or the urge to cough" (Cantor 2001).
\n
\nNeuro-notes. The special visceral motor column (in which special visceral nerves are rooted)\nlies in separate brain-stem and spinal-cord areas from the somatic motor column (which controls\nskeletal muscles). Overall, the structure of special visceral nerves in mammals is conservative\n(i.e., is much the same as it used to be in fishes; Walker 1986:223). The most conservative nerve of all\n(see Walker 1986:213) may be the glossopharyngeal (cranial IX), which renders cues such as the\nAdam's-apple-jump and throat constriction of the cry so sensitive, trustworthy, and\nrevealing of mood. In fishes, the vagus may have been formed from four separate nerves, each\nsimilar to the glossopharyngeal (Walker 1986:213), and may have worked mainly as muscle\nconstrictors. In reptiles, the accessory nerve split off from the vagus: "With the elaboration of the\ncucullaris to form the trapezius and sternocleidomastoid complex, we find that the special\nvisceral motor fibers that supply these muscles separate from the vagus to form a new cranial\nnerve, the accessory (XI)" (Walker 1986:223).
See also DISGUST.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nIllustration detail from Larsen 1993 (copyright 1993 by Churchill Livingstone)
SPEECH
\n![\"Speech](\"speech.jpg\")
\n
\nOut of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. --Matthew, XII, 34
\n
\nTalk on, my son; say anything that comes to your mind or to the tip of your tongue . . . --Miguel de Cervantes (Don Quixote, 1605:695)
\n
\nNixon: "But they were told to uh"
\nHaldeman: "uh and refused uh"
\nNixon: [Expletive deleted.] --Excerpt from the Nixon Tape Transcripts (Lardner 1997)
\n
\n
\nSpoken language. 1. A verbal and vocal means of communicating emotions, perceptions, and thoughts by the articulation of words. 2. The organization of systems of sound into language, which\nhas enabled Homo sapiens a. to transcend the limits of individual memory, and b. to store vast\namounts of information.
Usage I: Speech (and manual sign language, e.g., ASL) has become the indispensable means for\nsharing ideas, observations, and feelings, and for conversing about the past and future. Speech so\nengages the brain in self-conscious deliberation that we overlook our place in Nonverbal World.
\nUsage II: "Earth's inhabitants speak some 6,000 different languages" (Raloff 1995).
\nAnatomy. To speak we produce complex sequences of body movements and articulations, not\nunlike the motions of gesture. Evolutionary recent speech-production areas of the neocortex, basal\nganglia, and cerebellum enable us to talk, while evolutionary recent areas of the neocortex give\nheightened sensitivity a. to voice sounds (see AUDITORY CUE), and b. to positions of the fingers\nand hands.
\n
\nBabble. 1. "Manual babbling has now been reported to occur in deaf children exposed to signed languages from birth" (Petitto and Marentette 1991:1493). 2. "Instead of babbling with their voices, deaf babies babble with their hands, repeating the same motions over and over again" (Fishman 1992:66).
Evolution I. Spoken language is considered to be between 200-thousand (Lieberman 1991) and\ntwo-million (Gibson 1993) years old. The likely precursor of speech is sign language (see\nHANDS, MIME CUE). Our ability a. to converse using manual signs and b. to\nmanufacture artifacts (e.g., the Oldowan stone tools manufactured 2.4-to-1.5 m.y.a.) evolved in\ntandem on eastern Africa's savannah plains. Signing may not have evolved without artifacts, nor\nartifacts without signs. (N.B.: Anthropologists agree that some form of communication was needed to\npass the knowledge of tool design on from one generation to the next.)\n
\nEvolution II. Handling, seeing, making, and carrying stone implements stimulated the creation of\nconceptual categories, available for word labels, which came in handy, e.g., for teaching the\nyoung. Through an intimate relationship with tools and artifacts, human beings became information-sharing primates of the highest order.
\nEvolution III. Preadaptations for vocal speech involved the human tongue. Before saying\nwords, the tongue had been a humble manager of "food tossing." Through acrobatic maneuvers, chewed\nmorsels were distributed to premolars and molars for finer grinding and pulping. (The trick was\nnot getting bitten in the process.) As upright posture evolved, the throat grew in length, and the voice box was retrofit lower in the\nwindpipe. As a result the larynx, originally for mammalian calling, increased its vocal range as the\ndexterous tongue waited to speak.
\n
\nEvolution IV. ". . . the earliest linguistic systems emerged out of vocalizations like those of the great apes. The earliest innovation was probably an increase in the number of distinctive calls" (Foley 1997:70; see TONE OF VOICE, Evolution).
\n
\nGestural origin. "[David B.] Givens has called our attention to matters too often ignored: the biological imperative to communicate, present along the whole evolutionary track; the persistence, out of awareness, of very ancient bodily signals and their penetration of all our social interaction; and the powerful neoteny--human gestures and sign language signs make use of some of the same actions to signal semantically related messages. These same powerful influences, it seems from the study of sign languages, are beneath and behind language as we know it today. Thus it should be easier to construct a theory of gesture turning into language, complete with duality of patterning and syntactic structures, and thence into spoken language, than to find spoken language springing full grown from a species but one step removed from the higher apes" (Stokoe 1986:180-81).
Law. According to the Federal Rules of Evidence (Article VIII. Hearsay), "A 'statement' is (1) an oral or written assertion or (2) nonverbal conduct of a person, if it is intended by the person as an assertion" (Rule 801. Definitions).
\n
\nMedia. 1. According to the CBS Evening News show (October 17, 1995), the earliest known recording of a human voice was made on a wax cylinder in 1888 by Thomas Edison. The voice says, "I'll take you around the world." 2. The world's second most-recorded human voice is that of singer Frank Sinatra; the most recorded is that of crooner Bing Crosby (Schwartz 1995).
\n
\nSex differences I. "During phonological tasks [i.e., the processing of afferent (incoming), rhyming, vocal sounds], brain activation in males is lateralized to the left inferior frontal gyrus regions; in females the pattern of activation is very different, engaging more diffuse neural systems that involve both the left and right inferior frontal gyrus (Shaywitz et al. 1995:607).
\n
\nSex differences II: Recent finding. "Study: Women Listen More than Men [Associated Press, Copyright 2000]
\n"Nov. 28, 2000 — Score one for exasperated women: New research suggests men really do listen with just half their brains.
\n"In a study of 20 men and 20 women, brain scans showed that men when listening mostly used the left sides of their brains, the region long associated with understanding language. Women in the study, however, used both sides. Other studies have suggested that women "can handle listening to two conversations at once," said Dr. Joseph T. Lurito, an assistant radiology professor at Indiana University School of Medicine. "One of the reasons may be that they have more brain devoted to it." Lurito's findings, presented Tuesday at the Radiological Society of North America's annual meeting, don't necessarily mean women are better listeners. It could be that "it's harder for them," Lurito suggested, since they apparently need to use more of their brains than men to do the same task. "I don't want a battle of the sexes," he said. "I just want people to realize that men and women" may process language differently. In the study, functional magnetic resonance imaging — or fMRI — was used to measure brain activity by producing multidimensional images of blood flow to various parts of the brain. Inside an MRI scanner, study participants wore headphones and listened to taped excerpts from John Grisham's novel "The Partner," while researchers watched blood-flow images of their brains, displayed on a nearby video screen. Listening resulted in increased blood flow in the left temporal lobes of the men's brains. In women, both temporal lobes showed activity" (Source: Discovery.com News, December 12, 2000).
\n
\nVocal recognition. In his EMOVOX project ("Voice variability related to speaker-emotional state in Automatic Speaker Verification"), Prof. Klaus Scherer (Department of Psychology, University of Geneva) and his colleagues are researching the effects of emotion on speech to improve the effectiveness of automatic speaker verification (as used, e.g., in security systems).
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "The general model encompassing both spoken and signed languages to be presented here assumes that the key lies in describing both with a single vocabulary, the vocabulary of neuromuscular activity--i.e. gesture" (Armstrong, Stokoe, and Wilcox 1995:6). 2. "With all due respect to my esteemed colleague [Iain Davidson], our disagreement doesn't really rest so much on whether or not I see a Broca's area on [fossil cranium] 1470, whichever Homo it turns out to be . . . . Our disagreement really stems from whether or not the manufacture of stone tools gives us any insights to previous cognitive behavioral patterns, and as I wrote back in 1969, 'Culture: A Human Domain,' in CA [Current Anthropology], I think there are more similarities than not between language behavior and stone tool making, and I haven't retreated from this position, because I haven't seen effective rebuttal, just denial" (Ralph L. Holloway, posting on Anthro-L, June 21, 1996, 4:04 PM). 3. "We tend to perceive speech sounds in terms of 'articulatory gestures,' whose boundaries and distinctions correspond to articulatory (i.e., somato-motor) features, not just sound features . . ." (Deacon 1997:359-60).
\n
\nNeuro-notes I. Speaking is our most complex activity, requiring ca. 140,000 neuromuscular\nevents per second to succeed. No animal on earth can match a human's extraordinary\ncoordination of lips, jaws, tongue, larynx, pharynx, speech centers, basal ganglia, cerebellum,\nemotions, and memory, all required to utter a phrase.
Neuro-notes II. During the 1990-2000 Decade of the Brain, neuroscientists established that\nflaking a stone tool and uttering a word (e.g., handaxe) make use of the same--and\nclosely related--brain areas. So nearly alike, in fact, are the neural pathways for manual dexterity\nand speech that a handaxe itself may be deciphered as though it were a paleolithic word or\n petrified phrase. Because a. the word "handaxe," and b. the perception of the worked\nstone (for which it stands) both exist as mental concepts (the neural templates for each are\nlinked in the brain).
\nNeuro-notes III. Speech rests on an incredibly simple ability to pair stored mental concepts with\nincoming data from the senses. Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936; the Russian physiologist who\ndiscovered the conditioned response), e.g., observed dogs in his laboratory as they paired\nthe sound of human footsteps (incoming data) with memories of meat (stored mental concepts). \nNot only did the meat itself cause Pavlov's dogs to salivate, but the mental concept of meat--i.e., \nmemories of mealtimes past--was also called up by the sound of human feet. (N.B.: Pairing one\nsensation with memories of another [a process known as sensitization or associative learning] is\nan ability given to sea slugs, as well.)
\nNeuro-notes IV. Tool use itself probably increased concept formation. MRI studies, reveal that\nchildren who make early, skilled use of the digits of the right hand (e.g., in playing the violin)\ndevelop larger areas in the left sensory cortex devoted to fingering. Thus, Pleistocene\nyoungsters who were precociously introduced to tool-making may have developed enhanced neural circuitry\nfor the task.
\nSee also VERBAL CENTER.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo by Lennart Nilsson (copyright Black Star)
Vocal cues. 1. Mistakes in verbal fluency, including repetition, stuttering, mispronounced words,\nincomplete clauses, and throat-clearing.
\nUsage: Increased frequency in speech errors may indicate anger, anxiety, or stress (Mehrabian\n1974:89).
\n
\nHem and haw. 1. Hem: "A short cough or clearing of the throat made especially to gain attention, warn another, hide embarrassment, or fill a pause in speech" (Soukhanov 1992:841). 2. Haw: "An utterance used by a speaker who is fumbling for words" (Soukhanov 1992:829).
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Speech hesitations tend to occur at the beginnings of clauses, usually\nafter the first word (Boomer 1965). 2. "George Mahl of Yale University has found that errors\nbecome more frequent as the speaker's discomfort or anxiety increases" (Mehrabian 1974:89).
\nNeuro-notes. Emotion from the limbic system carries to the larynx and pharynx\nthrough special visceral (i.e., "gut reactive") nerves. Anxiety may also divert mental\nconcentration.
\nSee also ADAM'S-APPLE-JUMP, DECEPTION CUE, TONE OF VOICE.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[SPEECH ERRORS]{#SPEECH ERRORS}**\n\n*Vocal cues*. **1.** Mistakes in verbal fluency, including repetition,\nstuttering, mispronounced words, incomplete clauses, and\n**[throat-clearing](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/throat.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Usage*: Increased frequency in speech errors may indicate\n**[anger](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/anger.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nanxiety, or stress (Mehrabian 1974:89).\\\n\\\n*Hem and haw*. **1.** *Hem*: \\\"A short cough or clearing of the throat\nmade especially to gain attention, warn another, hide embarrassment, or\nfill a pause in speech\\\" (Soukhanov 1992:841). **2.** *Haw*: \\\"An\nutterance used by a speaker who is fumbling for words\\\" (Soukhanov\n1992:829).\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** Speech hesitations tend to occur at the\nbeginnings of clauses, usually after the first word (Boomer 1965).\n**2.** \\\"George Mahl of Yale University has found that errors become\nmore frequent as the speaker\\'s discomfort or anxiety increases\\\"\n(Mehrabian 1974:89).\n\n*Neuro-notes*.\n**[Emotion](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/emotion.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nfrom the **[limbic\nsystem](limbic.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/limbic.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** carries to the *larynx* and *pharynx* through\n**[special\nvisceral](viscera1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/viscera1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** (i.e., \\\"gut reactive\\\")\n**[nerves](viscera1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/viscera1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. Anxiety may also divert mental concentration.\n\nSee also\n**[ADAM\\'S-APPLE-JUMP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/adajum.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[DECEPTION\nCUE](deceive.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/deceive.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, **[TONE OF\nVOICE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tone.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"STARTLE REFLEX","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/startle1.htm","html":"\n\n\nSTARTLE REFLEX
\n![\"Kramer\"](\"startle.jpg\")
\n
\nI'm an eccentricity specialist. --Michael Richards (Kramer on Seinfeld)
Neuro term. 1. A sudden, involuntary movement made in response to a touch, an unexpected\nmotion, or a loud noise. 2. A set of automatic protective movements designed to withdraw the\nbody and its parts from harm.
\nUsage: Many defensive postures and submissive gestures (e.g., diverse movements of the\nshoulder-shrug display) derive from paleocircuits of the mammalian startle. Its status as a\nreflex explains why human beings (in all cultures) a. blink and grimace; b. flex the neck, elbows,\ntrunk, and knees; and c. elevate the shoulders when feeling physically, emotionally, or socially\nthreatened (Andermann and Andermann 1992:498).
\nMedia. Eccentric twisting, plunging, blinking, and flexing spasms made from 1989-98 by\nSeinfeld TV character, Cosmo Kramer are typical of people with an exaggerated startle response. \nIncreasing with anxiety and fatigue, the startle underlies such culturally recognized "startle\nsyndromes" as Indonesian latah, Japanese imu, and Lapland's Lapp panic (Joseph and Saint-Hilaire 1992:487-88).
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: The startle reflex is related to the Moro or "clamping" reflex of young\nprimates, which includes a. arm, leg, and spinal-column extension movements; b. head bowing\n(over the chest); and c. crying (McGraw 1943:19). Present in the human fetus after 30 weeks,\nthe startle is predominantly a flexor reflex, possibly rooted in the primitive orienting response\n(Joseph and Saint-Hilaire 1992:487).
\nNeuro-notes. Sudden movements, looming objects, or bright lights trigger midbrain optic\ncenters which automatically turn our faces and eyes toward what could be dangerous--before the\nforebrain knows, on a conscious level, danger even exists. The midbrain's auditory lobes,\nmeanwhile, are reflexively attuned to changes in sound. Located just below the optic-center\nlobes, these pea-sized areas control our auditory startle. Picked up by the cochlear nucleus, a\nscream received by the auditory lobes triggers the amygdala and circuits of the reticulospinal\ntract to activate the startle. Thus, recoiling from a karate yell, e.g., is a primal response prompted\nby paleocircuits of the amphibian brain.
\nSee also CHATTERING TEETH, FLEXION WITHDRAWAL.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of publicity photo (copyright 1998 by People Weekly)
STEINZOR EFFECT
\n
\n![\"Bodies](\"steinzor.jpg\")
Group dynamic. The finding that a. with minimal leadership, members of a discussion group\naddress most remarks to colleagues sitting across a conference table; b. with a strong leader,\nmembers address colleagues seated beside them; and c. where leadership is shared, no spatial\neffect is seen (Sommer 1967).
\n\n\nUsage: The Steinzor effect reveals a telling link between eye contact and dominance. We\nmay find it difficult, e.g., to gaze directly at, or to cross lines of sight with,\na dominant individual seated nearby at the same conference table.
\n\n\nRESEARCH REPORT: "In task discussions, people direct more comments to those seated\nacross from them in a circle or at a table, whereas in social discussions, they are more likely to\ntalk to the person seated next to them. The presence of a directive leader may also encourage\nmore talking to those in adjacent seats" (Burgoon et. al 1989:389).
\n\n\nSee also ANGULAR DISTANCE, PROXEMICS.
\n\n\nCopyright 1999 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n\n","markdown":"**[STEINZOR EFFECT]{#STEINZOR EFFECT}\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/steinzor.jpg\"\nheight=\"35%\" width=\"40%\"}**\n\n*Group dynamic*. The finding that **a.** with minimal leadership,\nmembers of a discussion group address most remarks to colleagues sitting\n*across* a conference table; **b.** with a strong leader, members\naddress colleagues seated *beside* them; and **c.** where leadership is\nshared, *no spatial effect* is seen (Sommer 1967).\n\n*Usage*: The Steinzor effect reveals a telling link between **[eye\ncontact](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/eyecon.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nand\n**[dominance](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/dominate.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\nWe may find it difficult, e.g., to gaze directly at, or to cross lines\nof sight with, a dominant individual seated nearby at the same\n**[conference\ntable](table.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\n***RESEARCH REPORT***: \\\"In task discussions, people direct more\ncomments to those seated across from them in a circle or at a table,\nwhereas in social discussions, they are more likely to talk to the\nperson seated next to them. The presence of a directive leader may also\nencourage more talking to those in adjacent seats\\\" (Burgoon et. al\n1989:389).\n\nSee also **[ANGULAR\nDISTANCE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/angular.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[PROXEMICS](proxemi1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/proxemi1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"STOMP","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/boot1.htm","html":"\n\n\nBOOT
\nBoots--boots--boots--boots--movin' up and down again! --Kipling, Boots
\n
\n
\nI had a driving interest in footwear and the artistic possibilities of making boots. A saddle is a saddle, you just see brown leather. But boots . . . you see red, yellow, fuchsia, and chartreuse. --D.W. Frommer, bootmaker (Hadley 1993; see COLOR CUE)
\n
\nClothing cue. 1. A usually heavy, protective covering for the foot, made of leather, rubber, or\nvinyl. 2. A conspicuous sign of authority and power designed to accent the foot's ability to stomp.
Usage: Nonverbally, boots suggest strength by adding a. stature (i.e., increasing a wearer's\nvertical height; see LOOM) and b. stability (i.e., giving steadiness to stance; see\nANTIGRAVITY SIGN).
\n
\nAnatomy. Boots give us a more powerful gait and commanding stance. The boot-shaft's\nsnug contact with pressure-sensitive Pacinian corpuscles of the lower leg provides tactile\nreassurance, while supporting the long tendons that drop into our feet from muscles above. \nBoots also stabilize the ankle joint. By adapting to the physical needs of our feet (and to the psychic\nneeds of our reptilian brain) Doc Martens® helped young men and women of the 1990s feel secure on the\nstreets.
Cowboy boots. Fashion trainer John Molloy found that women consider men in cowboy boots\nmore attractive than men in ordinary shoes. (N.B.: Standing on tiptoes shifts the body's center of\ngravity forward, causing cowboy-boot wearers to compensate by leaning forward as well. This\nmakes the human derrière--already prominent by primate standards--protrude an additional\n25% [see HIGH HEEL]). Originally adapted from the moderately high Cuban heel, American\ncowboy boots add ca. two inches to standing height. (N.B.: A man's business shoe has only a\n1/2-to-3/4 inch upper base of polyethylene, and a 1/2 inch layer of rubber attached below, called a\nheel lift, which works as a shock absorber.)
\nEvolution. Boots evolved from leather sandals, as straps grew longer and thicker to support a\nhuman's congenitally weak ankles. Sandals reaching above the ankle (the oldest status symbol for\nfeet yet discovered) were worn exclusively by Roman army officers. Gradually, the leather pieces\nwidened until they enclosed the entire foot.
\nMedia. By popularizing thick, buckled motorcycle boots, Marlon Brando (The Wild\nOne 1954) and Peter Fonda (Easy Rider 1969) furthered the role of footwear as a fashion\nstatement designed to figuratively "stomp" the establishment's powers-that-be.
\nPsychology. Blind-and-deaf-born children stamp their feet in anger (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1971:12).
\n
\nStamping. "In man, stamping the feet in anger seems also to be a ritualized attack movement" (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1970:96).
\nSee also BLUE JEANS, GOOSE-STEP, LEG WEAR, MEN'S SHOES.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**BOOT**\n\n*Boots\\--boots\\--boots\\--boots\\--movin\\' up and down again!* \\--Kipling,\n*Boots*\n\n***{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/B43976.jpg\"\nheight=\"35%\" width=\"25%\"}\\\n\\\n**I had a driving interest in footwear and the artistic possibilities of\nmaking boots. A saddle is a saddle, you just see brown leather. But\nboots . . . you see red, yellow, fuchsia, and chartreuse*. \\--D.W.\nFrommer, bootmaker (Hadley 1993; see [**COLOR\nCUE**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/color.htm){target=\"_top\"})\\\n\\\n***[Clothing\ncue](adorn.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/adorn.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}***. **1.** A usually heavy, protective covering for the\n**[foot](feet.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/feet.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, made of leather, rubber, or\n**[vinyl](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/vinyl.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n**2.** A conspicuous\n**[sign](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sign.htm){target=\"_top\"}** of\nauthority and power designed to accent the foot\\'s ability to stomp.\n\n*Usage*: Nonverbally, boots suggest strength by adding **a.** *stature*\n(i.e., increasing a wearer\\'s vertical height; see\n**[LOOM](loom1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/loom1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**) and **b.** *stability* (i.e., giving steadiness to\nstance; see **[ANTIGRAVITY\nSIGN](antigrav.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/antigrav.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**).\\\n\\\n*Anatomy*. Boots give us a more powerful gait and commanding stance. The\nboot-shaft\\'s snug contact with pressure-sensitive *Pacinian corpuscles*\nof the lower leg provides tactile reassurance, while supporting the long\ntendons that drop into our feet from muscles above. Boots also stabilize\nthe ankle joint. By adapting to the physical needs of our feet (and to\nthe psychic needs of our [**reptilian\nbrain**](reptile.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/reptile.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}) Doc Martens® helped young men and women of the 1990s\nfeel secure on the streets.\n\n*Cowboy boots*. Fashion trainer John Molloy found that women consider\nmen in cowboy boots more attractive than men in ordinary shoes.\n(***N.B.***: Standing on tiptoes shifts the body\\'s center of gravity\nforward, causing cowboy-boot wearers to compensate by leaning forward as\nwell. This makes the human derrière\\--already prominent by primate\nstandards\\--protrude an additional 25% \\[see **[HIGH\nHEEL](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/highheel.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\\]).\nOriginally adapted from the moderately high *Cuban heel*, American\ncowboy boots add ca. two inches to standing height. (***N.B.***: A\nman\\'s business shoe has only a 1/2-to-3/4 inch upper base of\npolyethylene, and a 1/2 inch layer of rubber attached below, called a\n*heel lift*, which works as a shock absorber.)\n\n*Evolution*. Boots evolved from leather sandals, as straps grew longer\nand thicker to support a human\\'s congenitally weak ankles. Sandals\nreaching above the ankle (the oldest status symbol for feet yet\ndiscovered) were worn exclusively by Roman army officers. Gradually, the\nleather pieces widened until they enclosed the entire foot.\n\n*Media*. By popularizing thick, buckled *motorcycle boots*, Marlon\nBrando (*The Wild One* 1954) and Peter Fonda (*Easy Rider* 1969)\nfurthered the role of footwear as a fashion statement designed to\nfiguratively \\\"stomp\\\" the establishment\\'s powers-that-be.\n\n*Psychology*. Blind-and-deaf-born children stamp their feet in anger\n(Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1971:12).\\\n\\\n*Stamping*. \\\"In man, stamping the feet in anger seems also to be a\nritualized attack movement\\\" (Eibl-Eibesfeldt 1970:96).\n\nSee also **[BLUE\nJEANS](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/bluejean.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[GOOSE-STEP](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/goose.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[LEG\nWEAR](legwear1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/legwear1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, **[MEN\\'S\nSHOES](mens.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/mens.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"STRANGER ANXIETY","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/strange1.htm","html":"\n\n\nSTRANGER ANXIETY
\n![\"Pucker](\"stranger.jpg\")
\n
\nEmotion. An innate anxiety, mistrust, or wariness of foreigners, newcomers, outsiders, or other\nunacquainted and unknown individuals.
Usage: A panoply of nonverbal signs reveals our anxiety as we interact with unfamiliar people. \nBefore city life, our ancestors spent most of their time dealing face-to-face with people they\nknew. Today, we spend a great deal of time interacting with strangers.
\n
\nPsychology. Our aversion to the intrusion of strangers into our usual areas may be innate (Thorndike 1940; see PROXEMICS).
Sweaty palms. "No social relationship is more stressful than the encounter with a stranger, an\nunknown and potentially threatening fellow human being. . . . studies of the galvanic skin\nresponse (e.g., McBride et al. 1965) indicate that anxiety increases in subjects, i.e., skin\nresistance decreases, as they are approached by strangers" (Givens 1978d:351).
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. A mild form of stranger anxiety is social jeopardy: "By saying\nsomething, the speaker opens himself up to the possibility that the intended recipients will affront\nhim by not listening or will think him forward, foolish, or offensive in what he has said"\n(Goffman 1967:37). 2. Among Zhun/twasi infants (of N.W. Botswana), responses to strangers\ninclude cling, cry, approach mother, gaze aversion, gaze at mother, pucker-face, mouth-hand,\nstare, smile, laugh, and touch (Konner (1972). 3. In western children, responses to strangers\ninclude sobering, slight frowning, and marked and pronounced puckering (as negative signs;\ninfants respond more negatively to adult than to child strangers; Lewis and Brooks 1974). 4. In a\nstudy of 150 adult encounters with unfamiliar adults, 90% (137) showed negative signs, e.g., "lip-compression, lip-bite, tongue-show, tongue-in-cheek; downward, lateral, and maximal-lateral\ngaze avoidance [see CUT-OFF]; hand-to-face, hand-to-hand, hand-to-body, and hand-behind-head\nautomanipulations; and postures involving flexion and adduction of the upper limbs" (Givens\n1978d:354). 5. "For a time, scientists thought almost all infants this age [6-to-8 months] were\ndistressed by unfamiliar people. It's now clear that babies react to new people in a wide variety\nof ways" (Chase and Rubin 1979:118).
\nSee alsoFIGHT-OR-FLIGHT, FREEZE REACTION.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo by Wayne Miller (Copyright Wayne Miller)
SUPERBALL®
\n![\"Superball](\"super.jpg\")
\n
\n. . . our little life is rounded . . . . --Shakespeare (The Tempest, IV, I)
Consumer product. A small, lively, spherical artifact of vinyl, designed to bounce\napproximately 90 percent as high as the point from whence it was dropped.
\nUsage: Considered a child's toy, adults too enjoy Superball's animated bounce. \nThe rhythmic, back-and-forth reciprocity of releasing and catching a Superball is a "whole brain"\nworkout which stimulates the entirety of the central nervous system (including circuits of the spinal cord, hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain).
\n
\nAnatomy. Made of Zectron®, the Superball contains 50,000 lbs. of compressed energy\n(source: WHAM-O package).
\n
\nHistory I. In the 1960s, a chemical engineer accidentally created a plastic product that bounced\nuncontrollably. Thus the Superball was born, followed by the Super Gold Ball, Super Baseball,\nand Super Dice. "In one celebrated incident, a giant, promotional Superball was accidentally\ndropped from of a 23rd floor hotel window in Australia. It shot back up 15 floors, then down\nagain into a parked convertible car. The car was totaled but the ball survived in perfect condition." \n(Source: www.wham-o.com)
\n
\nHistory II. During the 1960s, ca. 20 million Superballs were sold. However, the toy was so\ncopied by competitors (e.g., today, by Taiwan's Hi-Bouncing Ball) that WHAM-O® "bounced"\nthe product from its line. "If you're one of the countless others who've never been satisfied with\nmere copies, the wait is over! WHAM-O has brought back the original Superball." (Source:\nwww.wham-o.com)
\n
\nLiterature. "It's alive!" (Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, 1818)
Meaning. Through its shape, color, texture, and lifelike movements, the Superball has a great\ndeal to "say," especially to children--and to the young at heart. Nonverbally, its body-language motions are gestures which\ncarry information, attract our fancy, and catch our eyes (see MESSAGING FEATURE).
\n
\nRESEARCH REPORT: Our attraction to the zany body language of Superballs is due, in part, to\nthe unusual amount of energy they contain. According to the researcher, Margaret D. Campbell, ". .\n. when two superballs of different masses are dropped with the larger on the bottom, the smaller\none has its velocity increased by a factor of three and reaches a final height of nine times its\noriginal height." Thus, "The first collision will have only the effect of reversing the large ball's\nvelocity. For the second collision, involving both balls, we use the fact that the total momentum\nand the total kinetic energy of the two balls is the same before and after the collision, and,\nsolving for the final velocities, obtain the equations (where Mr = M1/M2 is the mass ratio):
V1f = [(Mr - 1) / (Mr + 1)]V1i + [2 / (Mr + 1)]V2i
\nV2f = [2Mr / (Mr + 1)]V1i + [(1 - Mr) / (Mr + 1)]V2i
\nor, if V1i = V2i = Vi
\nV1f = [(-Mr + 3) / (Mr + 1)] Vi
\nV2f = [(1 - Mr) / (Mr + 1)] Vi
\nand Mr -->0,
\nV1f = 3Vi . . . [and thus,] the smaller ball will gain three times the velocity it started with . . . ."
\n
\n
\nE-Commentary: "I am a high school student and basketball player, and I'm working on a science project. I need some advice. I know this might be off topic and not in your field, but anyway, I saw your report on the superball, and for my project I would like to manipulate the superball material into insoles for my shoes which, in theory (mine anyway), will improve my jumping ability. Do you think it would actually work? And if so, how could I manipulate the material into an insole? Would melting it change its ‘bouncy' properties? Any help would be greatly appreciated." –Jay (8/31/00 8:17:23 AM Pacific Daylight Time)\n
\n
Neuro-notes. Like many successful products, a Superball "speaks" to our senses. Its color targets\nthe ventral temporal lobe; when bounced it addresses the middle temporal gyrus. At a deeper\nlevel, via emotional modules linked to vision centers of the amphibian midbrain, lively\nmovements give the Superball its charming "personality." The diminutive size confers cuteness,\nand (like human skin itself) the smoothness of its vinyl contours pleases free nerve endings in our\nhands.
\nSee also BIG MAC®.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nImitation bouncy balls (various brands) amid fragments of Superball package (copyright 1999 by\nWHAM-O®)
SWAGGER-WALK
\n![\"Best](\"swagger.jpg\")
\n
\nI don't mean military courage, or civil courage, or any special kind of courage. I mean just that inborn ability to look temptations straight in the face--a readiness unintellectual enough, goodness knows, but without pose--a power of resistance, don't you see, ungracious if you like, but priceless--an unthinking and blessed stiffness before the outward and inward terrors, before the might of nature, and the seductive corruption of men--backed by a faith invulnerable to the strength of facts, to the contagion of example, to the solicitation of ideas. Hang ideas! --Joseph Conrad (Lord Jim, 1899)
\n
\nBroadside display. 1. A slight or moderate exaggeration in the side-to-side movements of\nwalking. 2. A usually masculine style of upper-body strutting. 3. A visual means of filling-up space or\noccupying a greater expanse of personal territory.
Usage: In greetings, a man may use the swagger-walk while approaching another man to demonstrate\npower, strength, and dominance. (N.B.: The swagger-walk is not generally used to greet a woman.) In a culturally elaborated version, African-American men may\ndrag one foot and limp from side-to-side in a pimp strut. The swagger-walk may be seen as men\nenter taverns or bars, to show "attitude" before engaging in rituals of courtship.
\nPrimatology. Our closest relatives, the great apes, show dominance by straightening and\nholding their arms away from the body as they swagger-walk from side to side.
\n
\nTransexuality. "I never mind the swagger of young men. It is their right to swank, and I know the sensation!" (Morris 1974:83).
Media. The best-known human swagger-walker was John Wayne, in such movie classics as Rio\nBravo (1959), The Alamo (1960), and The Green Berets (1968).
\n\nSee also GOOSE-STEP, STOMP.
\nCopyright© 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nPhoto copyright by Yevonde
SWEATY-PALMS
\n![\"Fear](\"sweaty.jpg\")
\n
\nEmotion cue. The excretion of eccrine-gland moisture onto the palmar surface of the hands in\nresponse to anxiety, stress, or fear.
Usage: Sweaty palms may be detected while shaking hands. It is reputed that former F.B.I.\ndirector J. Edgar Hoover would not hire candidates whose handshakes were moist and cold.
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Cannon's "emergency reaction" involves redistribution of blood\nfrom the skin and viscera to the muscles and brain (Cannon 1929; see FIGHT-OR-FLIGHT). 2. A college student's GSR\n(galvanic skin response) is greatest when he or she is approached frontally by a member of the\nopposite sex (McBride et al.1965; see STRANGER ANXIETY).
\n
\nNeuro-notes I. Like other body-motion cues, sweating requires the movement of body parts to deliver its watery substance to the skin's surface. Myoepithelial cells, which contain smooth-visceral-muscle-like organs, contract to squeeze the sweaty fluid through thin ducts in the skin. Myoepithelial "muscles" are innervated by sympathetic nerve fibers; the muscle-like organs also contract in response to adrenaline (Horne 1995:411).
Neuro-notes II. 1. "Studies in animals have established that the amygdala is critical for emotional\nconditioning [e.g., of the SCR or skin conductance response (i.e., sweaty palms)], whereas several\nhuman and nonhuman primate studies have established that the hippocampus and surrounding\nregions are necessary for establishing declarative knowledge" (Bechara et al. 1995:1115). 2.\n"Bilateral damage to the amygdala entirely blocked the ability . . . to acquire conditioned SCRs . .\n." (Bechara et al. 1995:1117). 3. The subject "failed to generate SCRs to the CSs [conditioned stimuli] in both the\nvisual and auditory experiments but was able to provide accurate and complete factual\ninformation regarding which stimuli had been followed by the US [unconditioned stimulus]" (Bechara et al. 1995:1117). \n4. The amygdala is "essential for the coupling of sensory stimuli with affect . . ." (Bechara et al.\n1995:1117).
\nSee also FACIAL FLUSHING.
\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\nDetail of photo copyright by Linda McCartney
Gesture. A palm-down cue in which a tabletop or level surface is struck by a\npercussive clap with the open hand.
\n\n\nUsage: The table-slap is used a. to accent a key speaking point; b. to object to another speaker's\nstatement; c. to demonstrate an emotion, e.g., anger or mirth; and d. to call attention to one's\nown presence.
\n\n\nObservations. In the workplace, table-slaps are visible at meetings around a conference table. In offices with cubicles, senior staff may table-slap the dividers of junior staff members at will,\nbut the latter may not slap a supervisor's partition, railing, or office door. On a subordinate's cubicle\npartition, the table-slap signals a. "I am here," b. "I have something to say," and c. "I am more\nimportant than you." Example: Hearing his boss slap, a senior executive in range establishes\neye-contact and slaps a nearby surface to answer the call. Each subsequently averts gaze,\napproaches the other with a swagger-walk, and leans on a junior staff member's partition\nto chat, before returning to private offices a short distance away.
\n
\nPrimatology. Slapping the ground with an open hand is a gesture directed by adult or young adult baboons at other baboons in the wild (Hall and DeVore 1972).
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Slamming an open hand on a tabletop is called a baton, a nonverbal\nsign used to emphasize a speaking point (Ekman and Friesen 1969). 2. The pound gesture is "A\nsharp blow by one hand against the other immobile hand or against an object such as a table"\n(Brannigan and Humphries 1972:61). 3. Slap ground is an aggressive gesture in langurs\n(Dolhinow 1972) and savannah baboons (Hall and DeVore 1972). 4. "The animal [a chimpanzee]\nraises one or both hands forward or to the sides and hits the ground or an inanimate object with a\nflat palm" (Berdecio and Nash 1981:30). "In this study the gesture always appeared to function\nas an attention getting device. In general, instances performed with the alert face served as play\ninvitations" (Berdecio and Nash 1981:30). 5. Palm-down ground-slapping is a threat gesture in\nchimpanzees (Pan troglodytes; Goodall 1990) and in bonobos (P. paniscus; Waal 1997).
\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[TABLE-SLAP]{#TABLE-SLAP}**\n\n*[**Gesture**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target=\"_top\"}*.\nA\n**[palm-down](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/palmdown.htm#PALM-DOWN){target=\"_top\"}**\ncue in which a tabletop or level surface is struck by a percussive clap\nwith the open\n[**hand**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hands.htm){target=\"_top\"}.\n\n*Usage*: The table-slap is used **a.** to accent a key speaking point;\n**b.** to object to another speaker\\'s statement; **c.** to demonstrate\nan emotion, e.g., anger or mirth; and **d.** to call attention to one\\'s\nown presence.\n\n*Observations*. In the workplace, table-slaps are visible at meetings\naround a **[conference\ntable](table.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**. In offices with cubicles, senior staff may table-slap\nthe dividers of junior staff members at will, but the latter may not\nslap a supervisor\\'s partition, railing, or office door. On a\nsubordinate\\'s cubicle partition, the table-slap signals **a.** \\\"I am\nhere,\\\" **b.** \\\"I have something to say,\\\" and **c.** \\\"I am more\nimportant than you.\\\" Example: Hearing his boss slap, a senior executive\nin range establishes\n**[eye-contact](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/eyecon.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nand slaps a nearby surface to answer the call. Each subsequently *averts\ngaze*, approaches the other with a\n**[swagger-walk](swagger1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/swagger1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, and *leans* on a junior staff member\\'s partition to\nchat, before returning to private offices a short distance away.\\\n\\\n*Primatology*. Slapping the ground with an open hand is a gesture\ndirected by adult or young adult baboons at other baboons in the wild\n(Hall and DeVore 1972).\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** *Slamming an open hand on a tabletop* is\ncalled a *baton*, a nonverbal sign used to emphasize a speaking point\n(Ekman and Friesen 1969). **2.** The *pound* gesture is \\\"A sharp blow\nby one hand against the other immobile hand or against an object such as\na table\\\" (Brannigan and Humphries 1972:61). **3.** *Slap ground* is an\naggressive gesture in langurs (Dolhinow 1972) and savannah baboons (Hall\nand DeVore 1972). **4.** \\\"The animal \\[a chimpanzee\\] raises one or\nboth hands forward or to the sides and hits the ground or an inanimate\nobject with a flat palm\\\" (Berdecio and Nash 1981:30). \\\"In this study\nthe gesture always appeared to function as an attention getting device.\nIn general, instances performed with the alert face served as play\ninvitations\\\" (Berdecio and Nash 1981:30). **5.** Palm-down\n*ground-slapping* is a *threat gesture* in chimpanzees (*Pan\ntroglodytes*; Goodall 1990) and in bonobos (*P. paniscus*; Waal 1997).\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"TACTILE CUE","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/touch1.htm","html":"\n\n\nTOUCH CUE
\n
\n
\nMost decide by "the touch," that is, the feel . . . . --Andrew Ure
\n
\nTouch is infrequent and usually consists of a slight tap on a woman's shoulder. Or he may run his arm around the waist of a woman visitor. Men are never touched by [TV talk-show host, Phil] Donahue. --Walburga von Raffler-Engel (1984:16).
\n
\nTactile signal. 1. Incoming: A sign received through physical contact with a body part (e.g., a\nhand or lip), causing it to feel (see HOMUNCULUS). 2. Outgoing: A sign of physical contact\n(e.g., of pressure, temperature, or vibration) delivered to a body part (see, e.g., KISS).
Usage I: Touch cues are powerfully real to human beings. If "seeing is believing," touching is\nknowing-- i.e., "knowing for sure." Touch cues are used worldwide to show emotion, e.g., in settings\nof childcare, comforting, and courtship, and to establish personal rapport.
\nUsage II: Self-touching is often seen in anxious or tense settings, as a form of self-consolation by means of self-stimulation (see below, Usage IV).
\nUsage III: "Soft" or protopathic touch--which is found in hairless (or glabrous) areas of our skin--is partly responsible for itching, tickling, and sexual sensations (Diamond et al.1985:4-6). Protopathic touch is ancient, but gives little information about the size, shape, texture, or location of a tactile stimulus.
\n
\nUsage IV: "Itch" sensations may trigger the spinal cord's rhythmic, oscillating scratch reflex. Scratching stimulates pain receptors (or nociceptors) which drown out (i.e., block) the itchy feeling. Primates often scratch themselves in anxious social settings and when intimidated by dominant rivals.
\n
\nUsage V: "Tickle" is a tingling sensation, considered both pleasant and unpleasant, which often results in laughter, smiling, and involuntary twitching movements of the head, limbs, and torso.
\n
\nAnatomy. The outer covering of skin is our body's largest "part." Skin makes up about 15% of the body's weight (ca. 23 lbs.), and occupies some 21 square feet of surface area (Wallace et al.1983:254). Pain and protopathic touch cues are received via free nerve endings in\nthe skin and hair follicles. More specialized nerve endings have evolved for finer touch and\ntemperature discrimination. Mechanoreceptors (including Pacinian corpuscles, Merkel's disks,\nand Meissner's corpuscles) sense pressure, stretching, and indenting of the skin. Thermoreceptors (Krause\nend bulbs for cold and organs of Ruffini for heat) are sensitive to changes in temperature.
\n
\nCulture. 1. According Edward Hall (1966), "contact cultures" (e.g., France, Latin America, and Saudi Arabia) use a greater frequency of aroma and touch cues than do "noncontact cultures" (e.g., Germany and North America), which use more visual cues. 2. The buttock pat, used in American football as a sign of encouragement, has spread to European sports (Morris 1994:14). 3. In Germany, Austria, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, the buttock slap--in which the right buttock pushes out as if or to be slapped with one's own right hand--is given as a sign of insult (Morris 1994:14).
Evolution. The most primitive, specialized tactile-sense organ in vertebrates is the neuromast, a\nfluid-filled pit in the skin of today's fishes, which picks up vibrations, heat, electrical, and (perhaps)\nchemical signals in the surrounding water. Each neuromast contains a hair cell, which, when\nmoved by water currents generated by a nearby fish, e.g., stimulates a sensory nerve. Through the\nneuromast, the current becomes a nonverbal sign of another fish's presence.
\n
\nHandshake. Grasping another's hand with a power grip is a widespread means of expressing congratulations, contractual agreement, farewell, and greeting. The handshake is European in origin (Morris 1994), although many cultures touch hands and other body parts with the hand(s) to greet family members and fellow tribesmen. These socio-emotional touch cues developed from tactile signs originally used in mammalian grooming and childcare. 1. "We do know that the full Hand Shake occurred as early as the 16th century because in Shakespeare's As You Like It there is the phrase: 'they shook hands and swore brothers'" (Morris 1994:125). 2. In the politician's handshake, two hands reach out to clasp and surround another's hand, like a glove, to intensify the emotions aroused by physical closeness and "friendship." According to Morris (1994:126), the glove handshake is widespread in "diplomatic, political and business circles." 3. A study reported in the July 2000 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that women ". . . who introduce themselves with an assertive gesture by way of a firm handshake were perceived as being intellectual and open to new experiences" (Lipsitz 2000:32).
\n
\nPrimates. "A troop of [at least 100] furious monkeys in India's northeastern state of Assam brought traffic to a standstill after a baby monkey was hit by a car on a busy street. . . . . The angry monkeys kept traffic at bay for more than a half hour as they tried to care for the infant. A local shopkeeper said: 'It was very emotional . . . some of them massaged its [broken] legs'" (Newman 2000:C14). \n
Space. When Apollo 11's pilot, Michael Collins, flew above the Moon, he felt he could "almost reach out and touch it" (Collins1988:5).
\n
\nSports. Many baseball players go through touch rituals before they come to bat. "Nomar Garciaparra, the shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, has a routine with his batting gloves [i.e., he compulsively adjusts and re-adjusts them] that would rival the machinations during the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace" (Wilkens 1998:E-3).
\n
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: In a review of studies of people touching one another, Vrugt and Kerkstra (1984) concluded that a. touching of opposite-sex acquaintances, "even at an early age," is avoided (p. 14); b. young adults, "as when bowling," touch each other more in mixed than in same-sex interactions (p. 14); c. "old" women touch more than "old" men, seemingly due to declining sexual interests (pp. 14-15); d. while greeting and departing, men "behave less intimately toward each other" than women behave toward each other (p. 15 [Author's note: But hugging has become more prevalent among U.S. men since the 1980s.]); and e. women "shrink less from being touched by strangers than men" (p. 15).
\n
\nNeuro-notes: We find pleasure in a carpet's softness, as it stimulates the poorly localized tactile\nsensations for soft or protopathic touch, carried by the anterior spinothalamic nerves (whose paleocircuits are\nphylogenetically older than those for the more precise sensations of pain and temperature, carried by the lateral\nspinothalamic nerves.
See also AROMA CUE, COLOR\nCUE, EMOTION CUE, TASTE CUE.
\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo (James Dean holds Julie Harris's hand; copyright by Warner Bros., Inc.)
FLEXION WITHDRAWAL
\n
Reflexive body movement. An automatic escape motion designed to remove a body part or parts\nfrom danger (e.g., flexing the neck to lower and protect the head).
\nUsage: Flexion withdrawal underlies many negative and submissive nonverbal signs (e.g., cues\nof disagreement, disliking, and fear; see BODY-BEND, BOW, CROUCH,\nGAZE-DOWN, HEAD-TILT-SIDE, and SHOULDER-SHRUG).
\nBusiness. Around a conference table, colleagues may reveal unvoiced negative \nfeelings in postures influenced by flexion withdrawal, e.g., pulling the hands and arms\nbackward, away from disliked speakers.
\nBiology. In mammals, the most primitive protective response is a flexion withdrawal, which\n"takes the head and neck away from the stimulus" (Salzen 1979:130).
\nEmbryology. The crouch posture is "a protective pattern characteristic of the early embryonic\nflexion response" (Salzen 1979:136). By 8 weeks, e.g., the human fetus already "knows" to\nwithdraw its head and neck when its mouth is touched. Defensive, coordinated flexing and\nwithdrawing movements have been seen in immature fish larvae, in marine snails, and in human\nembryos at eight weeks of age. ln four-legged animals whose brains have been surgically\ndisconnected from their spinal cords, almost any tactile stimulus will cause flexor muscles to\ncontract and withdraw a limb from whatever touched it (Guyton 1996).
\nAnatomy. Human arms and legs have highly developed flexor reflexes. Automatic escape\nmovements, coordinated by the spinal cord, can be triggered, e.g., by scalding pot handles--or by\nstrong emotions from the amygdala.
\nNeuro-notes. Jumping to sound involves body-flexion movements configured in paleocircuits\nof our amphibian brain. Through their nerve fibers, auditory-lobe impulses reach down to\nexcite spinal networks of interneurons and motor neuronsin charge of muscles that flex our\nshoulders and arms, and bow our heads in the protective crouch posture.
\n
\nSee also NONVERBAL RELEASE.
Copyright 1999 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of Auguste Rodin's Eve (photo copyright Descharnes & Descharnes)
PROXEMICS
\n
\n
\nI have learned to depend more on what people do than what they say in response to a direct\nquestion, to pay close attention to that which cannot be consciously manipulated, and to look for\npatterns rather than content. --Edward T. Hall (1968:83)
. . . Every cubic inch of space is a miracle. --Walt Whitman (Leaves of Grass, "Miracles")
\n
\nThe desire for personal mobility seems to be unstoppable--it is, perhaps, the Irresistible Force. --Charles Lave (1992)
\n
\n
\nSpatial signs, signals and cues. According to its founder, Edward T. Hall, proxemics is the study of humankind's\n"perception and use of space" (Hall 1968:83).
Usage: Like facial expressions, gestures, and postures, space "speaks." The prime directive of\nproxemic space is that we may not come and go everywhere as we please. There are cultural\nrules and biological boundaries--explicit as well as implicit and subtle limits to observe--everywhere.
\nBody space I. Scientific research on how we communicate in private and public spaces\nbegan with studies of animal behavior (ethology) and territoriality in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In\n1959, the anthropologist Edward Hall popularized spatial research on human beings--calling it\nproxemics--in his classic book, The Silent Language.
\nBody space II. Hall identified four bodily distances--intimate (0 to 18 inches), personal-casual\n(1.5 to 4 feet), social-consultive (4 to 10 feet), and public (10 feet and beyond)--as key points in\nhuman spacing behavior. Hall noted, too, that different cultures set distinctive norms for closeness in, e.g., \nspeaking, business, and courting, and that standing too close or too far away can lead to\nmisunderstandings and even to culture shock.
\n
\nBody 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."
\n
\nCrowded 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).
\n
\nCrowded 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).
\n
\nCrowded 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).
\n
\nCulture. In Japan, one may hand prow (i.e., face the palm-edge of one hand vertically forward in front of the nose), and bow 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).
\n
\nElevator 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 and loud vocalizations" (Waal et al. 2000:81).
\n
\nEscalator 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).
\n
\nLibrary 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).
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\nParking 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.\tOffice 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\nworking in even smaller, modular, 80-square-foot cubicles. (N.B.: For some prehistoric context, consider\nthat our hunter-gatherer ancestors spent their workdays on an estimated 440-square-mile expanse\nof open savannah.) Cubicles replaced the more exposed, "pool" desks which had earlier lined the\nfloors of cavernous group-occupied workrooms. Though maligned in Dilbert cartoons, cubicles at least\nprovide more privacy than the 1950s open workrooms, and offer needed respite from visual monitoring (which is known to be stressful to human primates).
\n
\nOffice space II.\t"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).
\n
\nRestaurant 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\nof an average-sized, 2,000-square-foot residences called a home (from the Indo-European root,\ntkei-, "settle" or "site"). (N.B.: Because there is no counterpart in primate evolution for a life lived\nentirely indoors, we bring the outdoors in. Thus, better homes and gardens include obvious replicas, as well as\nsubtle reminders, of the original savanna-grassland territory, including its warmth, lighting, colors,\nvistas, textures, and plants.)
\n
\nHome 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." \nThat we are terribly territorial is reflected in fences by the barriers they define. According\nto the American Fencing Association, 38,880 miles of chain link, 31,680 miles of wooden, and\n1,440 miles of ornamental fencing are bought annually in the U.S. (N.B.: Each year Americans\nbuy enough residential fencing to encircle the earth nearly three times.)
\nCity space I. Biologists call the space in which primates live their home range. The home range of\nhuman hunter-gatherers (e.g., of the Kalahari Bushmen in southern Africa) spreads outward ca. 15-to-20 miles in all\ndirections from a central home base. The home range of today's city dwelling humans \nincludes a home base (an apartment or a house) as well, along with favored foraging territories (e.g., a\nshopping mall and supermarket), a juvenile nursery (i.e., a school), a sporting area (e.g., a golf course), a work\nspace (an office building, e.g.)--and from two-to-five nocturnal drinking-and-dining spots. We\nspend most of our lives a. occupying these favorite spaces, and b. orbiting among them on habitually\ntraveled pathways, sidewalks, and roads.
\nCity 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).
\n
\nNational space. We live in one of ca. 160 sovereign nations which together claim 54% of earth's\nsurface, including almost all of its land and much of its oceans, waterways, and airspace. Over\nninety percent of all nations, including the U.S., have unresolved border disputes (see 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
\n
\nU.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).
\n
\nNeuro-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 (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, Climbing cues).
\n
\nNeuro-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.
\n
\nSee also ANGULAR DISTANCE, CONFERENCE TABLE, LOOM,\nSTEINZOR EFFECT, TOUCH CUE.
Copyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nPhoto by Sanford Roth (copyright Rapho Guillumette)
\n
TICKLE
\n![\"Tickle](\"tickle.jpg\")
\n
\nTouch cue. Tickle is a tingling, tactile sensation, considered both pleasant and unpleasant, which results in laughter, smiling, and involuntary twitching movements of the head, limbs, and torso.
Usage I: Tickling, a playful cue, is often seen in child-child, parent-child, and male-female (i.e., \ncourting) pairs. Its harmless-seeming, "unserious" nature has made tickling an ideal form of\ncommunication in courtship's fourth (or touch) phase. The two tickle types are a. knismesis (a light tickle\nwhich may or may not produce laughter), and b. gargalesis (a heavy tickle which usually\nproduces the laugh response). Examples of light tickle include touching the sole of the foot with a feather, and feeling a fly walk about on one's knee. An example of heavy tickling is indenting the skin of another's ribs or waist with one's poking fingertips. (N.B.: In the Middle Ages prolonged tickling was used as a form of torture.)
\n
\nUsage II: Tickling produces laughter, which releases euphoria-promoting brain chemicals, such as endorphin, enkephalin, dopamine, noradrenaline, and adrenaline. Mutual laughter stimulated by tickling can promote bonding and strengthen emotional ties. Tickling reinforces psychological closeness through the physical medium of touch. Tickling the neck, armpits, and sides of the abdomen may also arouse sexual feelings, as it stimulates nonspecific erogenous areas of the skin.
Word origin. "Tickle" comes from Middle English tikelen, "to touch lightly."
\nConsumer product. Tickle Me Elmo® ". . . laughs and shakes when tickled. Tickle Elmo once\nto make him giggle. Tickle him a second time to make him laugh longer. Tickle Elmo a third\ntime to make him shake and laugh uncontrollably. There is an auto shut-off for longer battery life\n(batteries included)" (Plush Elmo ad by Fisher Price).
\nRESEARCH REPORTS. While the philosophers Plato and Aristotle speculated about tickling, the first scientific study was published in1872 by Charles Darwin. 1. "Everyone knows how immoderately children laugh, and how\ntheir whole bodies are convulsed, when they are tickled" (Darwin 1872:197). 2. "The\nanthropoid apes . . . likewise utter a reiterated sound, corresponding with our own laughter, when\nthey are tickled, especially under the armpits" (Darwin 1872:197-98). 3. "Such movements [i.e.,\njerking away], as well as laughter from being tickled, are manifestly reflex actions . . . ."\n(Darwin 1872:198). 4. A study in Nature Neuroscience (Nov. 1998) by University College\nLondon researchers determined a. that during self-tickling, areas of the cerebellum are active\n(causing the anticipation of tickle cues), but b. that cerebellar areas are not active when \nsubjects are tickled by experimenters (thus causing an emotional, surprise response).
\n
\nInnateness. Recent studies suggest that, like laughter, which first appears in infants between 23 days and four months, the tickle response is innate. Studies of deaf-and-blind-born children, for example, show normal bodily responses to being tickled. Because tickle sensations travel through the same nerves as tactile impulses for pain and itch, they stimulate similar movements of tactile-withdrawal and scratching, both of which are innate as well.
Anatomy. The most ticklish areas of the body for light-tickle sensations (based on the duration of laughing and smiling) are, in order, a. underarms, b. waist, c. ribs, d. feet, e. knees, f. throat, g. neck, and h. palms. Though heavy tickling usually produces laughter, most people say they dislike being tickled.
\n
\nEvolution. Tickling and breathy, laugh-like panting exhalations appear in the human being's closest primate relatives, the great apes. The primate tickle response may have evolved, in part, from the mammalian scratch reflex, which utilizes ancient vertebrate pathways for pain. The scratch reflex produces rhythmic movements of the limbs, designed to remove the irritating sources of itch stimulated, for instance, by mosquitoes and flies. Tickling a dog's abdomen produces repeated movements of the hind limb to rid the body of imagined fleas. The withdrawal response, an innate escape motion designed to remove a body part from danger, produces an involuntary movement away from a tickler's annoying fingertips.
\n
\nErogenous tickle. Like other forms of touching, tickling may stimulate sexuality as an erotic\nstimulus to the skin (see feet). Touching nonspecific erogenous areas of the neck, armpits, and\nsides of the abdomen, e.g., may produce pleasurable tickling sensations. Touching specific\nerogenous zones (i.e., the mucocutaneous skin of the genital regions; see LOVE SIGNALS V) may\nstimulate acute sexual sensations. (N.B.: Specialized mucocutaneous end-organs appear to be\ninvolved in experiencing tactile pleasure from erogenous zones.)
Neuro-notes. Tickle (and itch) sensations are produced through mild stimulation of the nerve\nendings (group C unmyelinated fibres) for pain (i.e., group C unmyelinated fibres). As noted above, heavy tickling by oneself of one's own body does not lead to laughter. Imaging studies suggest that the brain's cerebellum anticipates the tickling movements, and thus unconsciously nullifies the required element of surprise. The reason human beings laugh while being tickled is still unknown. Tickle's laughter may be prompted by a neural link between vocalizing and grooming in the cingulate gyrus of the mammalian brain.
\n
\nCopyright 1999 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo by Eve Arnold (copyright Magnum)
TOUCH CUE
\n
\n
\nMost decide by "the touch," that is, the feel . . . . --Andrew Ure
\n
\nTouch is infrequent and usually consists of a slight tap on a woman's shoulder. Or he may run his arm around the waist of a woman visitor. Men are never touched by [TV talk-show host, Phil] Donahue. --Walburga von Raffler-Engel (1984:16).
\n
\nTactile signal. 1. Incoming: A sign received through physical contact with a body part (e.g., a\nhand or lip), causing it to feel (see HOMUNCULUS). 2. Outgoing: A sign of physical contact\n(e.g., of pressure, temperature, or vibration) delivered to a body part (see, e.g., KISS).
Usage I: Touch cues are powerfully real to human beings. If "seeing is believing," touching is\nknowing-- i.e., "knowing for sure." Touch cues are used worldwide to show emotion, e.g., in settings\nof childcare, comforting, and courtship, and to establish personal rapport.
\nUsage II: Self-touching is often seen in anxious or tense settings, as a form of self-consolation by means of self-stimulation (see below, Usage IV).
\nUsage III: "Soft" or protopathic touch--which is found in hairless (or glabrous) areas of our skin--is partly responsible for itching, tickling, and sexual sensations (Diamond et al.1985:4-6). Protopathic touch is ancient, but gives little information about the size, shape, texture, or location of a tactile stimulus.
\n
\nUsage IV: "Itch" sensations may trigger the spinal cord's rhythmic, oscillating scratch reflex. Scratching stimulates pain receptors (or nociceptors) which drown out (i.e., block) the itchy feeling. Primates often scratch themselves in anxious social settings and when intimidated by dominant rivals.
\n
\nUsage V: "Tickle" is a tingling sensation, considered both pleasant and unpleasant, which often results in laughter, smiling, and involuntary twitching movements of the head, limbs, and torso.
\n
\nAnatomy. The outer covering of skin is our body's largest "part." Skin makes up about 15% of the body's weight (ca. 23 lbs.), and occupies some 21 square feet of surface area (Wallace et al.1983:254). Pain and protopathic touch cues are received via free nerve endings in\nthe skin and hair follicles. More specialized nerve endings have evolved for finer touch and\ntemperature discrimination. Mechanoreceptors (including Pacinian corpuscles, Merkel's disks,\nand Meissner's corpuscles) sense pressure, stretching, and indenting of the skin. Thermoreceptors (Krause\nend bulbs for cold and organs of Ruffini for heat) are sensitive to changes in temperature.
\n
\nCulture. 1. According Edward Hall (1966), "contact cultures" (e.g., France, Latin America, and Saudi Arabia) use a greater frequency of aroma and touch cues than do "noncontact cultures" (e.g., Germany and North America), which use more visual cues. 2. The buttock pat, used in American football as a sign of encouragement, has spread to European sports (Morris 1994:14). 3. In Germany, Austria, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East, the buttock slap--in which the right buttock pushes out as if or to be slapped with one's own right hand--is given as a sign of insult (Morris 1994:14).
Evolution. The most primitive, specialized tactile-sense organ in vertebrates is the neuromast, a\nfluid-filled pit in the skin of today's fishes, which picks up vibrations, heat, electrical, and (perhaps)\nchemical signals in the surrounding water. Each neuromast contains a hair cell, which, when\nmoved by water currents generated by a nearby fish, e.g., stimulates a sensory nerve. Through the\nneuromast, the current becomes a nonverbal sign of another fish's presence.
\n
\nHandshake. Grasping another's hand with a power grip is a widespread means of expressing congratulations, contractual agreement, farewell, and greeting. The handshake is European in origin (Morris 1994), although many cultures touch hands and other body parts with the hand(s) to greet family members and fellow tribesmen. These socio-emotional touch cues developed from tactile signs originally used in mammalian grooming and childcare. 1. "We do know that the full Hand Shake occurred as early as the 16th century because in Shakespeare's As You Like It there is the phrase: 'they shook hands and swore brothers'" (Morris 1994:125). 2. In the politician's handshake, two hands reach out to clasp and surround another's hand, like a glove, to intensify the emotions aroused by physical closeness and "friendship." According to Morris (1994:126), the glove handshake is widespread in "diplomatic, political and business circles." 3. A study reported in the July 2000 Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that women ". . . who introduce themselves with an assertive gesture by way of a firm handshake were perceived as being intellectual and open to new experiences" (Lipsitz 2000:32).
\n
\nPrimates. "A troop of [at least 100] furious monkeys in India's northeastern state of Assam brought traffic to a standstill after a baby monkey was hit by a car on a busy street. . . . . The angry monkeys kept traffic at bay for more than a half hour as they tried to care for the infant. A local shopkeeper said: 'It was very emotional . . . some of them massaged its [broken] legs'" (Newman 2000:C14). \n
Space. When Apollo 11's pilot, Michael Collins, flew above the Moon, he felt he could "almost reach out and touch it" (Collins1988:5).
\n
\nSports. Many baseball players go through touch rituals before they come to bat. "Nomar Garciaparra, the shortstop for the Boston Red Sox, has a routine with his batting gloves [i.e., he compulsively adjusts and re-adjusts them] that would rival the machinations during the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace" (Wilkens 1998:E-3).
\n
\nRESEARCH REPORTS: In a review of studies of people touching one another, Vrugt and Kerkstra (1984) concluded that a. touching of opposite-sex acquaintances, "even at an early age," is avoided (p. 14); b. young adults, "as when bowling," touch each other more in mixed than in same-sex interactions (p. 14); c. "old" women touch more than "old" men, seemingly due to declining sexual interests (pp. 14-15); d. while greeting and departing, men "behave less intimately toward each other" than women behave toward each other (p. 15 [Author's note: But hugging has become more prevalent among U.S. men since the 1980s.]); and e. women "shrink less from being touched by strangers than men" (p. 15).
\n
\nNeuro-notes: We find pleasure in a carpet's softness, as it stimulates the poorly localized tactile\nsensations for soft or protopathic touch, carried by the anterior spinothalamic nerves (whose paleocircuits are\nphylogenetically older than those for the more precise sensations of pain and temperature, carried by the lateral\nspinothalamic nerves.
See also AROMA CUE, COLOR\nCUE, EMOTION CUE, TASTE CUE.
\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo (James Dean holds Julie Harris's hand; copyright by Warner Bros., Inc.)
TREE SIGN
\n
\n![\"Tree](\"tree.jpg\")
I wonder about the trees:
\n\nWhy do we wish to bear
\n\nForever the noise of these
\n\nMore than another noise
\n\nSo close to our dwelling-place? --Robert Frost (The Sound of Trees)
Signal. A message emitted by the bark, branches, crown, leaves, or trunk of a perennial woody\nplant (see EFFERENT CUE).
\nUsage: People of all ages find something elementary and comforting in trees, which have long\nbeen symbols of transcendental beliefs among traditional folk such as the Druids. Taking the\nworld as a whole, the custom of climbing trees is still widespread, especially among those young\nenough to mend after a fall. (N.B.: The phone number of Tree Climbers International, a\nvoluntary association of human beings dedicated to arboreal climbing, is 404/659-TREE.)
\nWord origin. The word tree comes from the ancient Indo-European root deru-, derivatives of\nwhich include endure, trust, and truth.
\nAnthropology. An arboreal theme is rooted in human perception, language, and thought. Trees\nand tree-climbing have become psychic planks in the mind's evolutionary platform, not only of\nDruids but of modern folk as well. Bark and limbs still appeal to hands, and even now a\nhuman's primate eyes seek shelter and safety overhead in branches and boughs. Thus influenced\nand inspired, Claude Monet painted willows, while poets have celebrated oaks, and municipal\ngovernments have lined their city streets with sycamores, maples, and elms.
\n
\nArchaeology. Included in the 5,300 year-old Copper Age "Iceman's" equipment were a. an arrow quiver reinforced by a hazel wood spine, b. 14 arrows made of viburnum wood, c. a backpack made of an arch of hazel wood and two slats of larch, d. a copper-bladed ax with a handle made of yew, and e. two eight-inch tall canisters made of birch bark (Rensberger 1992; see CONSUMER PRODUCT).
\n
\nCulture. In the British Isles, knuckle touch-wood--rapping the knuckles on a wooden surface (e.g., on top of a conference table)--offers "protection." "This is an ancient superstitious practice dating back to the days of tree-worship, when it was the custom to touch the sacred oak to placate the powerful Tree Spirits. The roots of the mighty oak were thought to descend into the underworld" (Morris 1994:151).
\n
\nEvolution I. The earliest tree yet discovered by humans is a 40-foot-high, fossilized Eospermatopteris,\nunearthed in Gilboa, New York, near Manhattan. Now on display at the Smithsonian, the oldest\ntree dates back ca. 365 million years to the Middle Devonian Period of the Paleozoic Era, ca. 363\nmillion years before the arrival on earth of the first fossil human, Homo.\n
Evolution II. Trees have a very special meaning. Human beings, along with lemurs, monkeys and apes,\nevolved from a long line of tree climbing primates, a biological order of agile\nmammals with grasping hands, which originated ca. 65 m.y.a. in the Paleocene Epoch of\nthe Cenozoic Era.
\n
\nMedia. To focus world attention on the plight of redwood trees, activist Julia Hill lived in an ancient redwood named "Luna" for 738 days, beginning on December 10, 1997. Explaining the significance of her bold gesture and months of survival on a wooden platform 180' above terra firma in northern California's Humboldt County, Hill invoked the nonverbal medium of touch: "'They [the redwoods] touched me unlike any malls, cars, make-up and magazines,' said Hill, who brought the audience to laughter by simulating the first time she hugged a redwood. 'It was a spiritual level that no cathedral, church or money could touch in me'" (Tran 2000).
\n
\nOregon Heritage Tree. 1. "BROOKINGS, Ore.--A sequoia tree planted on the spot where a Japanese bomb fell in the southern Oregon forest in 1942 will be named an Oregon Heritage Tree" (Anonymous 2001D). 2. "Nubou Fujita, who dropped firebombs on Oregon forests during WWII, returned in 1992 to plant a sequoia tree in a peace ceremony" (Anonymous 2001D). 3. "He [Fujita] died in 1997 and his daughter scattered some of his ashes near the tree" (Anonymous 2001D).
Sacred trees. 1. Nonverbally, the great size of trees is a factor in their worship (see LOOM). 2. Important in the sacredness of trees, as well, is a spatial concept, i.e., of being at the center (see PROXEMICS): "The tree cult is most clearly present in Ireland where there was a special term for the sacred tree, bile. Each tribe had a sacred tree, or grove of trees, probably at an inauguration site near the centre of the tribal territory . . ." (Eliade 1959).
\nSee also BRANCH SUBSTITUTE, GREEN, HERBS & SPICES, POWER GRIP.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**TREE SIGN\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/tree.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"35%\"}**\n\n*I wonder about the trees:\\\nWhy do we wish to bear\\\nForever the noise of these\\\nMore than another noise\\\nSo close to our dwelling-place?* \\--Robert Frost (*The Sound of Trees*)\n\n***[Signal](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/signal.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\nA message emitted by the bark, branches, crown, leaves, or trunk of a\nperennial woody plant (see **[EFFERENT\nCUE](efferen1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/efferen1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**).\n\n*Usage*: People of all ages find something elementary and comforting in\ntrees, which have long been symbols of transcendental beliefs among\ntraditional folk such as the Druids. Taking the world as a whole, the\ncustom of climbing trees is still widespread, especially among those\nyoung enough to mend after a fall. (***N.B.***: The phone number of Tree\nClimbers International, a voluntary association of human beings\ndedicated to arboreal climbing, is 404/659-TREE.)\n\n*[**Word**](word1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"} origin*. The word *tree* comes from the ancient\nIndo-European root *deru-*, derivatives of which include *endure*,\n*trust*, and *truth*. \n\n*Anthropology*. An arboreal theme is rooted in human perception,\nlanguage, and thought. Trees and tree-climbing have become psychic\nplanks in the mind\\'s evolutionary platform, not only of Druids but of\nmodern folk as well. Bark and limbs still appeal to\n**[hands](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/hands.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nand even now a human\\'s primate eyes seek shelter and safety overhead in\nbranches and boughs. Thus influenced and inspired, Claude Monet painted\nwillows, while poets have celebrated oaks, and municipal governments\nhave lined their city streets with sycamores, maples, and elms.\\\n\\\n*Archaeology*. Included in the 5,300 year-old Copper Age \\\"Iceman\\'s\\\"\nequipment were **a.** an arrow quiver reinforced by a *hazel wood*\nspine, **b.** 14 arrows made of *viburnum wood*, **c.** a backpack made\nof an arch of hazel wood and two slats of *larch*, **d.** a\ncopper-bladed ax with a handle made of *yew*, and **e.** two eight-inch\ntall canisters made of *birch bark* (Rensberger 1992; see [**CONSUMER\nPRODUCT**](consprod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}).\\\n\\\n*Culture*. In the British Isles, *knuckle touch-wood*\\--rapping the\nknuckles on a wooden surface (e.g., on top of a [**conference\ntable**](table.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/table.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"})\\--offers \\\"protection.\\\" \\\"This is an ancient\nsuperstitious practice dating back to the days of tree-worship, when it\nwas the custom to touch the sacred oak to placate the powerful Tree\nSpirits. The roots of the mighty oak were thought to descend into the\nunderworld\\\" (Morris 1994:151).\\\n\\\n*Evolution I*. The earliest tree yet discovered by humans is a\n40-foot-high, fossilized *Eospermatopteris*, unearthed in Gilboa, New\nYork, near Manhattan. Now on display at the Smithsonian, the oldest tree\ndates back ca. 365 million years to the Middle Devonian Period of the\nPaleozoic Era, ca. 363 million years before the arrival on earth of the\nfirst fossil human, *Homo*.\n\n*Evolution II*. Trees have a very special meaning. Human beings, along\nwith lemurs, monkeys and apes, evolved from a long line of tree climbing\n*primates*, a biological order of agile mammals with grasping hands,\nwhich originated ca. 65 m.y.a. in the Paleocene Epoch of the Cenozoic\nEra.\\\n\\\n***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\nTo focus world attention on the plight of redwood trees, activist Julia\nHill lived in an ancient redwood named \\\"Luna\\\" for 738 days, beginning\non December 10, 1997. Explaining the significance of her bold gesture\nand months of survival on a wooden platform 180\\' above terra firma in\nnorthern California\\'s Humboldt County, Hill invoked the nonverbal\nmedium of\n[**touch**](touch1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/touch1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}: \\\"\\'They \\[the redwoods\\] touched me unlike any malls,\ncars, make-up and magazines,\\' said Hill, who brought the audience to\nlaughter by simulating the first time she hugged a redwood. \\'It was a\nspiritual level that no cathedral, church or money could touch in me\\'\\\"\n(Tran 2000).\\\n\\\n*Oregon Heritage Tree*. **1.** \\\"BROOKINGS, Ore.\\--A sequoia tree\nplanted on the spot where a Japanese bomb fell in the southern Oregon\nforest in 1942 will be named an Oregon Heritage Tree\\\" (Anonymous\n2001D). **2.** \\\"Nubou Fujita, who dropped firebombs on Oregon forests\nduring WWII, returned in 1992 to plant a sequoia tree in a peace\nceremony\\\" (Anonymous 2001D). **3.** \\\"He \\[Fujita\\] died in 1997 and\nhis daughter scattered some of his ashes near the tree\\\" (Anonymous\n2001D).\n\n*Sacred trees*. **1.** Nonverbally, the great size of trees is a factor\nin their worship (see\n[**LOOM**](loom1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/loom1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}). **2.** Important in the sacredness of trees, as well,\nis a spatial concept, i.e., of being at the *center* (see\n[**PROXEMICS**](proxemi1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/proxemi1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}): \\\"The tree cult is most clearly present in Ireland\nwhere there was a special term for the sacred tree, *bile*. Each tribe\nhad a sacred tree, or grove of trees, probably at an inauguration site\nnear the centre of the tribal territory . . .\\\" (Eliade 1959).\n\nSee also **[BRANCH\nSUBSTITUTE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/branch.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[GREEN](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/color.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[HERBS &\nSPICES](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/herb.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[POWER\nGRIP](power1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/power1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright **©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"VEHICULAR STRIPE","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/vstripe.htm","html":"\n\n\nVEHICULAR STRIPE
\n
\n![\""Speed"](\"vstripe.jpg\")
\n
It was an effort to make the car look longer and lower. --Harley Earl (Patton 1992:185)
\n\n\n\nProduct cue. 1. A horizontal pinstripe, painted by hand or by mechanical means, running the\nlength of a motor vehicle just below the windows. 2. Any of several thin, linear markings a. of\nchrome stripping or vinyl, or b. stamped as embossments or indentations, running along the\nsides of an automobile or truck body.
\n\n\nUsage: Vehicular stripes decorate virtually all U.S. automobiles produced since 1927. Through\nan optical illusion, horizontal stripes suggest that cars are both "longer" and "lower" to the\nground. Horizontal stripes also suggest greater "speed."
\n\n\nEvolution. The vehicular stripe originated as a messaging feature around the body (or\n"beltline") of the 1927 LaSalle. According to its inventor, Harley Earl, "This strip was placed\nthere to eat up the overpowering vertical expanse of that tall car" (Patton 1992:185).
\n\n\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "Earl dictated that a single highlight should run the length of the car,\nlike a theme or plot" (Patton 1992:185). 2. Originally, "These encircling lines were painted by\nhand instead of by mechanical means because a rule line is a 'dead' line, and a perfect, rule line\nlacked the insouciant raciness a hand drawn line gives a finished automobile" (Patton 1992:185).
\n\n\nNeuro-notes. We are highly stimulated by edges, lines and linear details (perhaps from a primate\nfascination with branches and trees). Just as the linear necktie (see NECKWEAR) creates an\nillusion of greater verticality and physically imposing height (see HIGH-STAND DISPLAY), the\nautomobile pinstripe creates an illusory vision of length and "speed." This is because one layer of\nour primary visual cortex contains specialized orientation-selective neurons, which respond only\nto vertical or horizontal lines, or to linear angles between the two.
\n\n\nSee also CONSUMER PRODUCT, VEHICULAR GRILLE.
\n\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n\n","markdown":"**[VEHICULAR STRIPE]{#VEHICULAR STRIPE}\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/vstripe.jpg\"\nheight=\"35%\" width=\"38%\"}**\n\n*It was an effort to make the car look longer and lower*. \\--Harley Earl\n(Patton 1992:185)\n\n*Product cue*. **1.** A horizontal pinstripe, painted by hand or by\nmechanical means, running the length of a motor vehicle just below the\nwindows. **2.** Any of several thin, linear markings **a.** of *chrome*\nstripping or\n**[vinyl](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/vinyl.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\nor **b.** stamped as embossments or indentations, running along the\nsides of an automobile or truck body.\n\n*Usage*: Vehicular stripes decorate virtually all U.S. automobiles\nproduced since 1927. Through an optical illusion, horizontal stripes\nsuggest that cars are both \\\"longer\\\" and \\\"lower\\\" to the ground.\nHorizontal stripes also suggest greater \\\"speed.\\\"\n\n*Evolution*. The vehicular stripe originated as a **[messaging\nfeature](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/messafea.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\naround the body (or \\\"beltline\\\") of the 1927 LaSalle. According to its\ninventor, Harley Earl, \\\"This strip was placed there to eat up the\noverpowering vertical expanse of that tall car\\\" (Patton 1992:185).\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** \\\"Earl dictated that a single highlight\nshould run the length of the car, like a theme or plot\\\" (Patton\n1992:185). **2.** Originally, \\\"These encircling lines were painted by\nhand instead of by mechanical means because a rule line is a \\'dead\\'\nline, and a perfect, rule line lacked the insouciant raciness a hand\ndrawn line gives a finished automobile\\\" (Patton 1992:185).\n\n*Neuro-notes*. We are highly stimulated by edges, lines and linear\ndetails (perhaps from a primate fascination with branches and trees).\nJust as the linear necktie (see\n**[NECKWEAR](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/neckwear.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\ncreates an illusion of greater verticality and physically imposing\nheight (see **[HIGH-STAND\nDISPLAY](highstan.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/highstan.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**), the automobile pinstripe creates an illusory vision\nof length and \\\"speed.\\\" This is because one layer of our primary visual\ncortex contains specialized *orientation-selective* neurons, which\nrespond only to vertical or horizontal lines, or to linear angles\nbetween the two.\n\nSee also **[CONSUMER\nPRODUCT](consprod.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/consprod.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**, **[VEHICULAR\nGRILLE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/vegrille.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"VERBAL CENTER","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/verbal1.htm","html":"\n\n\nVERBAL CENTER
\n
\n![\"Where](\"verbal.jpg\")
"The question is," said Alice, "whether you can make words mean so many different things."
\n"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be the master--that's all." --Lewis Carroll (Through the Looking-Glass)
\n
\nNeurologists have found a tiny area of tissue--about 1 centimetre square--near to Wernicke's area that lights up only when consonants are heard. --Rita Carter (1998:150)
\n
\n
\nNeuro term. A component of the brain, such as Broca's or Wernicke's area, which governs\nthe use of manually articulated (i.e., signed) or vocally articulated (i.e., spoken) language. Also, an association (arcuate) fiber link, such as the arcuate fasciculus, connecting verbal components.
Usage: Verbal centers are used to control the production and/or comprehension of linguistic\ncommunication and words.
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Wernicke's area. A supplementary-auditory module of the neocortex (in the left temporal lobe; specifically, Brodmann's areas 39, 40,\nposterior 21 and 22, and part of 37) identified as involved in the understanding of auditory words. Damage to this area (called Wernicke's aphasia) produces problems in deciphering the meanings of the speech sounds one hears (even of one's own speech sounds). According to a recent study, Wernicke's area is not unique to Homo (see below, Neuro-notes).
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Evolution I. 1. "The evolutionary origin of human language may have been founded on this basal\nanatomic substrate, which was already lateralized to the left hemisphere in the common ancestor\nof chimpanzees and humans 8 million years ago" (Gannon 1998:220). 2. Regarding endocasts of Homo habilis skulls: "There was a further development of the inferior frontal lobule in the Broca area, but most remarkable was the rounded fullness of the inferior parietal lobule [corresponding to part of Wernicke's area]" (Eccles 1989:23).
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\nEvolution II. In non-human primates, Broca's area controls muscles of the face and vocal tract. 1. "The homologue of Broca's area in nonhuman primates is the part of the lower precentral cortex that is the primary motor area for facial musculature" (Lieberman 1991:106). 2. In monkeys, the link between Broca-like and Wernicke-like areas is not as massively connected as it is in humans (Aboitiz and Garcia 1997).
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\nNonverbal speech areas. With regard to language, relationships between the right (nonverbal) and left (verbal) hemispheres are still poorly understood, with more deference being paid by researchers to the left-hand (i.e., dominant) side. 1. In the right cerebral hemisphere, modules control the production and interpretation of the nonverbal communication that accompanies words, e.g., facial expressions, voice tones, and gestures of the arms and hands. (Some of the latter, hand gestures are actually more verbal than nonverbal [see, e.g., MIME CUE].) 2. Prosody--the emotional content of speech--is right hemispheric in human beings with left-hemisphere verbal centers. 3. The right (or non-dominant) hemisphere is less involved in literal meanings of a speech element than it is with interpreting the figurative meanings conveyed by, e.g., hesitations, humor, metaphor, poetry, and voice tone. 4. Damage to the right parietal lobe's angular gyrus and supra-marginal gyrus results in a. problems using spatial concepts, b. difficulties dressing one's own body, c. feeling spatially disoriented, d. inability to draw simple 3D pictures, and e. neglect of left-handed body parts and objects to the left.
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\nStuttering. "But the stutterers were far less left-dominant; activation in their brains was shifted toward the right in both the motor and auditory language areas, revealing an inherent difference in the way the two groups [normal and stutterers] process language" (Barinaga 1995:1438).
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Copyright© 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**VERBAL CENTER\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/objects/verbal.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"35%\"}**\n\n*\\\"The question is,\\\" said Alice, \\\"whether you* can *make words mean so\nmany different things.\\\"\\\n\\\"The question is,\\\" said Humpty Dumpty, \\\"which is to be the\nmaster\\--that\\'s all.\\\"* \\--Lewis Carroll (*Through the Looking-Glass*)\\\n\\\n*Neurologists have found a tiny area of tissue\\--about 1 centimetre\nsquare\\--near to Wernicke\\'s area that lights up only when consonants\nare heard*. \\--Rita Carter (1998:150)\\\n\\\n\\\n*Neuro term*. A component of the brain, such as *Broca\\'s* or\n*Wernicke\\'s area*, which governs the use of manually articulated (i.e.,\nsigned) or vocally articulated (i.e.,\n**[spoken](speech1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/speech1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**) language. Also, an association (arcuate) fiber link,\nsuch as the *arcuate fasciculus*, connecting verbal components.\n\n*Usage*: Verbal centers are used to control the production and/or\ncomprehension of linguistic communication and\n**[words](word1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/word1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_parent\"}**.\\\n\\\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n***VERBAL CENTERS***\\\n\\\n*Angular gyrus*. A visible bulge on the cerebral cortex marking regions\nof the occipital, parietal, and temporal lobes (behind Wernicke\\'s area)\nwhich link visual word recognition with other linguistic abilities.\\\n\\\n*Arcuate fasciculus*. A tract of association fibers connecting Broca\\'s\nand Wernicke\\'s areas. In a less robust form, the arcuate fasciculus may\npredate\\--and thus may be a preadaptation for\\--speech. Similar tracts\nof association fibers (the superior longitudinal fasciculus, inferior\nlongitudinal fasciculus, and uncinate fasciculus) found in the\nright-brain hemisphere connect nonverbal centers of the cerebral\ncortex.\\\n\\\n*Basal ganglia*. \\\"It is likely that the enlargement of the prefrontal\ncortex reflects, in part, its role in speech production. The rewiring\nappears to involve the [**basal\nganglia**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/basal.htm){target=\"_top\"};\ndata from recent comparative studies suggest that basal ganglia circuits\nmay be the key to the unique brain bases of human speech and syntax\\\"\n(Lieberman 1991:106-07).\\\n\\\n*Broca\\'s area*. A premotor module of the neocortex (in the lower\nlateral frontal lobe; specifically, Brodmann\\'s areas 44 and 45)\nidentified in 1861 by Paul Broca as essentially involved in the\nproduction and control of human speech. Damage to this area (called\nBroca\\'s aphasia) produces problems in speaking (while comprehension of\nanother\\'s speech is left unimpaired). According to Philip Lieberman,\nBroca\\'s area \\\". . . has no functional equivalent in nonhumans\\\"\n(Lieberman 1991:24; but see below, *Evolution I* and *II*). Recently, a\nlanguage module immediately anterior to Broca\\'s area has been\nidentified, which suggests that the Broca module may be involved in\nsequencing complex articulations which are not just limited to speech.\nBroca\\'s area does not seem to control syntax (i.e., the combinatorial\nor grammatical arrangement of speech elements; see below, *Neuro-notes\nII)*.\\\n\\\n*Insula*. Some regard the insula as a verbal center (see, e.g., Ardila\n1999). Damage to the left insula may result in language disturbances,\nincluding Broca\\'s aphasia, conduction aphasia, speech apraxia, mutism,\nand the word-deafness of Wernicke\\'s aphasia (Ardila 1999). (\\\"Then on\nthe other hand, recent studies of anatomical connections of the insula\npoint to an important viscero-limbic role and it has been suggested that\nthe insula may influence verbal motivation and verbal affect\\\" \\[Ardila\n1999\\].)\\\n\\\n*Planum temporale*. \\\"The planum temporale (PT) is a key site within\nWernicke\\'s posterior receptive language area in the left hemisphere of\nthe human brain and is thought to be an epicenter within a dispersed\nmosaic of language-related regions in the cerebral cortex. The left\nhemisphere predominance of the PT is more pronounced than any other\nhuman brain asymmetry\\\" (Gannon 1998:220). (See below, *Neuro-notes*.)\n\n*Wernicke\\'s area*. A supplementary-auditory module of the neocortex (in\nthe left temporal lobe; specifically, Brodmann\\'s areas 39, 40,\nposterior 21 and 22, and part of 37) identified as involved in the\nunderstanding of auditory words. Damage to this area (called Wernicke\\'s\naphasia) produces problems in deciphering the meanings of the speech\nsounds one hears (even of one\\'s own speech sounds). According to a\nrecent study, Wernicke\\'s area is not unique to *Homo* (see below,\n*Neuro-notes*).\\\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\\\n*Embryology*. \\\"It is important to recognize that the speech areas of\nthe human brain are already formed before birth . . .\\\" (Eccles\n1989:87).\n\n*Evolution I*. **1.** \\\"The evolutionary origin of human language may\nhave been founded on this basal anatomic substrate, which was already\nlateralized to the left hemisphere in the common ancestor of chimpanzees\nand humans 8 million years ago\\\" (Gannon 1998:220). **2.** Regarding\nendocasts of *Homo habilis* skulls: \\\"There was a further development of\nthe inferior frontal lobule in the Broca area, but most remarkable was\nthe rounded fullness of the inferior parietal lobule \\[corresponding to\npart of Wernicke\\'s area\\]\\\" (Eccles 1989:23).\\\n\\\n*Evolution II*. In non-human primates, Broca\\'s area controls muscles of\nthe face and vocal tract. **1.** \\\"The homologue of Broca\\'s area in\nnonhuman primates is the part of the lower precentral cortex that is the\nprimary motor area for facial musculature\\\" (Lieberman 1991:106). **2.**\nIn monkeys, the link between Broca-like and Wernicke-like areas is not\nas massively connected as it is in humans (Aboitiz and Garcia 1997).\\\n\\\n*Nonverbal speech areas*. With regard to language, relationships between\nthe right (nonverbal) and left (verbal) hemispheres are still poorly\nunderstood, with more deference being paid by researchers to the\nleft-hand (i.e., dominant) side. **1.** In the right cerebral\nhemisphere, modules control the production and interpretation of the\nnonverbal communication that accompanies words, e.g., [**facial\nexpressions**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/facialx.htm){target=\"_top\"},\n[**voice\ntones**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/tone.htm){target=\"_top\"}, and\n**[gestures](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/gesture.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nof the arms and hands. (Some of the latter, hand gestures are actually\nmore verbal than nonverbal \\[see, e.g., **[MIME\nCUE](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/mimecue.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\\].)\n**2.** *Prosody*\\--the emotional content of speech\\--is right\nhemispheric in human beings with left-hemisphere verbal centers. **3.**\nThe right (or non-dominant) hemisphere is less involved in literal\nmeanings of a speech element than it is with interpreting the figurative\nmeanings conveyed by, e.g., hesitations, humor, metaphor, poetry, and\nvoice tone. **4.** Damage to the right parietal lobe\\'s angular gyrus\nand supra-marginal gyrus results in **a.** problems using spatial\nconcepts, **b.** difficulties dressing one\\'s own body, **c.** feeling\nspatially disoriented, **d.** inability to draw simple 3D pictures, and\n**e.** neglect of left-handed body parts and objects to the left.\\\n\\\n*Stuttering*. \\\"But the stutterers were far less left-dominant;\nactivation in their brains was shifted toward the right in both the\nmotor and auditory language areas, revealing an inherent difference in\nthe way the two groups \\[normal and stutterers\\] process language\\\"\n(Barinaga 1995:1438).\\\n\\\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n***E-Commentary***: \\\"I have two questions about the arcuate fasciculus,\nthe fiber bundle from Wernicke\\'s area to Broca\\'s area. Can anyone help\nme? **1.** Are there also fibers going in the opposite direction, from\nBroca\\'s area to Wernicke\\'s (we know that many cortico-cortical\nconnections are bidirectional\\--what about this one?)? **2.** How many\nfibers are we talking about? **3.** A third question: What can anyone\ntell me about connections between Wernicke\\'s area and the angular\ngyrus? (Bidirectional? How many fibers?) Thanx loads.\\\" \\--Syd Lamb,\nLinguistics and Cognitive Science, Rice University Houston TX 77251-1892\nUSA; smlamb@OWLNET.RICE.EDU (Sydney M Lamb) (Tue Jan 30 14:02:03 1996)\\\n\n------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n\\\n*Neuro-notes I*. In most humans, Wernicke\\'s area is significantly\nlarger in the left hemisphere than it is in the right. Its asymmetry\ndwarfs that of most other cerebral-cortex modules. And yet, though\nspecialized for language, Wernicke\\'s area is not unique to *Homo*.\nRecently, e.g., Patrick Gannon and his colleagues measured the\ncorresponding area of chimpanzee brains. After spreading apart 15 chimp\nbrains at the temporal lobe (i.e., at the sylvian fissure), they\nmeasured the planum temporale, and found it to be larger on the left\nthan on the right in 14 cases (Gannon et al. 1998).\\\n\\\n*Neuro-notes II*. \\\"Lesions to Broca\\'s area and its vicinity do not\naffect semantic abilities, nor do they disrupt basic syntactic\nabilities. Most notably, Broca\\'s aphasics combine lexical meaning into\npropositions, create and analyze sentences of considerably complex\nstructure, and are also able to synthesize and analyze words\nmorphophonologically. It thus follows that most human linguistic\nabilities, including most syntax, are not localized in the anterior\nlanguage areas\\--Broca\\'s area and deeper white matter, operculum, and\nanterior insula\\\" (Grodzinsky2000).\\\n\\\n*Neuro-notes III*. **1.** \\\"We can assert unequivocally: no\ncombinatorial language abilities reside in the non-dominant cerebral\nhemisphere\\\" (Grodzinsky2000). **2.** \\\"Thus the evidence is that this\nside of the brain has an important an role in communication, but makes\nno syntactic contribution to language use\\\" (Grodzinsky2000).\n\nCopyright**©** 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**)\n"} {"title":"WAITING TIME","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/wait1.htm","html":"\n\n\nWAITING TIME
\nTime talks. --Edward T. Hall (The Silent Language)
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\nUntil the early 1300s, the length of an hour in London could vary from 38 minutes to 82 minutes. It wasn't because they had lousy clocks in the Middle Ages. They just had a different attitude toward the passage of that mysterious thing called time. --Curt Suplee (1994:H1)
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\nNever check your watch at a party, unless it's time to go. --Véronique Vienne (1997:156)
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\nChronemic cue. The number of minutes, hours, days, or weeks spent between a scheduled\nappointment and a meeting with a business associate, medical professional, program\nadministrator, or friend.
Usage: Waiting time varies across cultures. Appointments with business executives or\ngovernment officials in Latin America, e.g., may require longer waiting times than are customary for U.S. workers. The different cultural norms for time spent waiting may trigger anger and strain rapport. (N.B.: Waiting time is usually less with\nattractive, liked, and high-status individuals.)
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\nCultural differences. 1. "In northern Europe, the people are exact and precise about time, much like Americans on the East Coast. The northern Germans and Swiss are particularly punctual" (Vargas 1986:127). 2. "In South America, most people know no other way of living and never explain or apologize [for being late]. To my upper Midwest sensitivity, their lack of respect for clock time is almost unbelievable" (Vargas 1986:127).
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\nMedia. "In Italy . . . television stations make no effort to begin their programs on the hour or half hour. One program is run until finished, and a new one begins with no concern for clock times or schedules" (Vargas 1986:127).
Salesmanship. "It is vitally important that you do not hesitate or pause in your entrance" (Delmar 1984:31).
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\nTime sense. Along with balance, hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch, human beings have a highly developed sense of time. So time oriented has our species become that we define distance in chronometric terms. By international agreement, ". . . the meter is defined as the distance light travels in 1/299,792,458 of a second" (Itano and Ramsey 1993:64).
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\nRESEARCH REPORTS. As a nonverbal sign, waiting time (in the U.S.) has eight levels of\nduration: immediate, very short, short, neutral, long, very long, terribly long, and forever (Hall\n1959).
Copyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nWALK
\n![\"On](\"walk.jpg\")
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\nHe even walked like a crab, as if he were cringing all the time. --Elia Kazan, commenting on actor James Dean (Dalton 1984:53)
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\nBody movement. To travel by taking steps with the legs and feet, at a pace slower than jogging,\nsprinting, or running.
Usage: While we walk on our hind limbs to commute from point A to point B, the manner and\nstyle of our gait (e.g., marching, mincing, or swaggering) telegraphs information about our\nstatus, feelings, and moods. Our bipedal walk's two-point rhythm provides the neurological\nfoundation for a. music's syncopated beat, and b. the oscillating movements of dance.
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\nAnthropology. A bipedal stride enabled our human ancestors to cover great distances on\nAfrican grasslands ca. three m.y.a. Survival required that they stay continually on the move\n(Devine 1985). The earliest physical evidence for human-style walking dates back 3.5 m.y.a. to the tracks of three upright ancients (probably australopithecines) who strolled across a bed of fresh volcanic ash one day on the east-African savannah, in what is now Laetoli, Tanzania. The footprints are nearly identical to those of modern humans, only smaller.
Evolution. Our legs originated ca. 400 m.y.a. from the lobe fins of Devonian fishes resembling\ncrossopterygians.
\n
\nMedia I.\t "I am in the moment, living the experience,\t\t when I am walking." --Joy Evans (Washington Post,\tNovember 25, 1995)\n
Media II.\t The scariest movie monsters walk upright like human beings. Their resemblance to people renders them even more terrible than ordinary land (i.e., quadrupedal), air, and sea monsters. Bipedal dynosaurs (e.g., Velociraptor and Tyrannosaurus in the 1993 movie Jurassic Park), insectoids (Aliens, 1996), and primates (King Kong, 1933) resonate with horrific images of the upright human form.\n
\nPediatrics. Babies begin advancing one limb at a time on all fours between the 6th and 9th\nmonths of life, to crawl for the sheer pleasure of movement (Chase and Rubin 1979). Infants are born with two walking reflexes. The plantar reflex causes an infant's lower limbs to contract the extensor muscles when their feet touch a horizontal surface. Held under the arms, a baby can support its own weight and take several steps forward. The plantar reflex lasts for two months, and is not present in all infants. When a baby's leg touches the side of a flat surface, it will automatically lift its leg and place its foot on the horizontal plane. This, the tactile placing reflex, is also present in many other terrestrial vertebrates.
\nPhilosophy I. Followers of Aristotle (384-322 BC), who founded the Lyceum in 335 BC, were known as peripatetics because they walked and underwent "restless practices" (Flew 1979:265) as they thought and shared ideas, rather than merely sitting in place.
\nPhilosophy II. The two-point rhythm of walking's stride clears the mind for thinking. (N.B.:\nPerhaps, after telling the spinal circuits to "take a walk," the forebrain shifts to automatic pilot, so to speak, freeing\nthe neocortex to ponder important issues of the day.) Many philosophers were lifetime walkers,\nwho found that bipedal rhythms facilitated creative contemplation and thought. In his short life, e.g., Henry David\nThoreau walked an estimated 250,000 miles--ten times the circumference of earth.
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\nU.S. politics. "The black-footed species [of Pacific albatross, nicknamed "gooney bird"] . . . has a more distinctive walk--head down and clavicles hunched like shoulders. 'After [Richard Milhous] Nixon visited here [Midway Island] during Vietnam, the black-footed species' distinctive method of walking suddenly looked familiar,' says [U.S. Fish and Wildlife manager Rob] Shallenberger. 'Since then, it's been referred to as the Nixon walk'" (Friend 2000:54).
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RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "The legs of an amphibian served the same function as the inertial\nforce of water for a swimming animal, providing a fulcrum that enabled early amphibians to be\nlittle more than fish that swam on land" (Jerison, 1976:11). 2. Basal ganglia initiate movement\nand ". . . are responsible for the automatic movements we make without thinking" (Restak,\n1995:16).
\nNeuro-notes I. The natural rhythm of our upright, bipedal gait is coordinated by\nthe same spinal paleocircuits which programmed the oscillatory swimming motions of the early\nfishes (Grillner 1996).
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\nNeuro-notes II. Something deep in our vertebrate soul finds walking for its own sake an evolutionary necessity. \nImpulses to go on walkabout are coordinated by oscillatory circuits of the spinal cord, by excitatory\ncenters of the aquatic midbrain, and by the basal ganglia of the reptilian forebrain. (N.B.:\nNeurologically, our nonverbal nature lies in movement.)
See also ARM-SWING, GOLF, RAPPORT, SWAGGER-WALK.
\nCopyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nDetail of photo by George Rodger (copyright Magnum)
\t
\nThat I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly . . . --D.H. Lawrence
\n![\"Shoes](\"B27981.jpg\")
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\nI do not buy shoes. I covet them. --Elizabeth Kastor (1994:28)
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\nBesides, one look at the shoes, he [George Masters, "Stylist to the Stars"] said, told him all he needed to know about a woman. --Robert McG. Thomas, Jr. (1998:A6)
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\nClothing cue. A feminine style of footwear marked with messaging features\ndesigned to contrast with those of men's shoes (see, e.g., HIGH HEEL).
Usage: In expressive style, women's shoes a. reveal, b. conceal, or c. mask the feminine foot.
\nBare. Women's revealing shoes bare the toes, heel, ankle, and (or) top of the foot (i.e., the\ninstep). Revealing shoes call attention to a woman's thinner bones, smaller joints, and delicate\nachilles tendons. Examples include a. 1920s low-cut pumps, with straps buttoned or buckled\nacross the instep; b. 1930s high heels with ankle straps and peep-toes; and c. pointed, stiletto\nheels of the 1950s and 60s (which may reveal toe cleavage, i.e., the hollow between the\nbig toe and 2nd digit).
\nBind. Concealing shoes cover, yet do not hide, the feet. Rather, they enhance the foot's feminine\nsilhouette, contour, and shape. A concealing shoe's laces and close, binding fit transmit a\nsuggestive, erotic message of tight containment. Types of concealing shoes include a. ankle-high\nbuttoned boots of the 1900s; b. 1970s mid-calf boots, cut close to the leg; and c. tight, patent-leather, ankle-high shoes worn by pop singers of the 1980s (e.g., Madonna).
\nMask. Revealing and concealing shoes proclaim femininity, individuality, and sexual allure. The\nlady's masking shoe, in contrast, covers the foot but suggests little about sexuality,\nindividuality, or mood. Indeed, because they are visually quiet, masking shoes downplay\npersonality by discouraging its notice. Often worn with socks, "sensible" shoes tend to be boxy, sturdy, and\nsquared-off (i.e., masculine).
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\nMedia. 1. In the Washington Post Magazine, Elizabeth Kastor poetically describes the expressive force of women's shoes: "Ahhhhh, shoes. Such potent symbols of sexuality and fertility. Think of Cinderella. Think of the old woman who lived in a shoe and her numerous children. Think of the dancer in the movie 'The Red Shoes' whose feet--and conflicted desires--danced her to death. Think of tying shoes to the back of the wedding car. Think of shoes as a narrow space in which something is inserted . . ." (Kastor 1994:29). 2. "[Sonja] Bata [founder of the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto] says [Edward] Maeder [museum director] is absolutely right [about his statement, 'Skinny shoes survived because people couldn't wear them'], adding that women always have saved shoes of their childhood and youth and marriage, when their feet were at their daintiest" (Trueheart 1995:C10).\n
Observations. 1. 2,600 years ago, Greek women favored white and red, snug-fitting leather\nshoes, and owned as many as 20 pairs at a time. 2. Forty to 60 new styles of women's\nshoes appear each year in U.S. shopping malls (Fleishman 1994). 3. "In the marriage rituals of the Middle Ages, the father passed the bride's shoe to the groom . . ." (Kastor 1994:30). 4. Today, American women buy an average five pairs of\nshoes a year (American men average two).
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\nPersonality. Women's shoes display more "personality" than do men's. Many styles, e.g., are given personal names, such as the Nordstrom line's "Angelique," "Gretta," and "Bree." "So, how does it work? 'Well, say there's a tailored-type boot, and it looks like the kind of shoe a woman might wear to a concert,' he [Richard Leeker, a vice president and "senior line builder" at Brown Group] says, 'Well, we call it "Concert"'" (Fleishman 1994:F4).
Evolution I. The slimness of women's footwear evolved from a narrow shoe known as the\npoulaine (originally from Poland), popular with men in the 12th and 15th centuries. So long was\nthe tip of its tapering toe--and so suggestive when wagged back and forth--that in 1468, the Pope\ncondemned the poulaine as "a scoffing against God." Near the end of the 15th century, the\nmasculine version of the poulaine was driven to extinction by a wider, broad-toed shoe, shaped\nlike the bill of a duck, which completely replaced it.
\nEvolution II.\tWhile the poulaine died out, its message lived on, and the submissive meaning of\nslim, pointed toes ("I am harmless--you may approach"; see, e.g., BARBIE DOLL) is still fashionable\ntoday. Narrow pumps and high heels, e.g., which incorporate the poulaine's timid taper, are among the\nmost popular and attractive of women's shoes.
\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[WOMEN\\'S SHOES]{#WOMEN'S SHOES}**\n\n*That I am part of the earth my feet know perfectly . . .* \\--D.H.\nLawrence\n\n***{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/objects/B27981.jpg\"\nheight=\"35%\" width=\"25%\"}\\\n\\\n**I do not buy shoes. I covet them*. \\--Elizabeth Kastor (1994:28)\\\n\\\n*Besides, one look at the shoes, he \\[George Masters, \\\"Stylist to the\nStars\\\"\\] said, told him all he needed to know about a woman*. \\--Robert\nMcG. Thomas, Jr. (1998:A6)\\\n\\\n*Clothing cue*. A feminine style of\n**[footwear](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/footwear.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nmarked with **[messaging\nfeatures](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/messafea.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\ndesigned to contrast with those of **[men\\'s\nshoes](mens.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/mens.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}** (see, e.g., **[HIGH\nHEEL](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/highheel.htm){target=\"_top\"}**).\n\n*Usage*: In expressive style, women\\'s shoes **a.** *reveal*, **b.**\n*conceal*, or **c.** *mask* the feminine\n**[foot](feet.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/feet.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\n*Bare*. Women\\'s revealing shoes bare the toes, heel, ankle, and (or)\ntop of the foot (i.e., the *instep*). Revealing shoes call attention to\na woman\\'s thinner bones, smaller joints, and delicate achilles tendons.\nExamples include **a.** 1920s low-cut *pumps*, with straps buttoned or\nbuckled across the instep; **b.** 1930s *high heels* with ankle straps\nand peep-toes; and **c.** pointed, *stiletto heels* of the 1950s and 60s\n(which may reveal *toe cleavage*, i.e., the hollow between the big toe\nand 2nd digit).\n\n*Bind*. Concealing shoes cover, yet do not hide, the feet. Rather, they\nenhance the foot\\'s feminine silhouette, contour, and shape. A\nconcealing shoe\\'s laces and close, binding fit transmit a suggestive,\nerotic message of tight containment. Types of concealing shoes include\n**a.** ankle-high buttoned boots of the 1900s; **b.** 1970s mid-calf\nboots, cut close to the leg; and **c.** tight, patent-leather,\nankle-high shoes worn by pop singers of the 1980s (e.g., Madonna).\n\n*Mask*. Revealing and concealing shoes proclaim femininity,\nindividuality, and sexual allure. The lady\\'s masking shoe, in contrast,\ncovers the foot but suggests little about sexuality, individuality, or\nmood. Indeed, because they are visually quiet, masking shoes downplay\npersonality by discouraging its notice. Often worn with socks,\n\\\"sensible\\\" shoes tend to be boxy, sturdy, and squared-off (i.e.,\nmasculine).\\\n\\\n***[Media](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/media.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\n**1.** In the *Washington Post Magazine*, Elizabeth Kastor poetically\ndescribes the expressive force of women\\'s shoes: \\\"Ahhhhh, shoes. Such\npotent symbols of sexuality and fertility. Think of Cinderella. Think of\nthe old woman who lived in a shoe and her numerous children. Think of\nthe dancer in the movie \\'The Red Shoes\\' whose feet\\--and conflicted\ndesires\\--danced her to death. Think of tying shoes to the back of the\nwedding car. Think of shoes as a narrow space in which something is\ninserted . . .\\\" (Kastor 1994:29). **2.** \\\"\\[Sonja\\] Bata \\[founder of\nthe Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto\\] says \\[Edward\\] Maeder \\[museum\ndirector\\] is absolutely right \\[about his statement, \\'Skinny shoes\nsurvived *because* people couldn\\'t wear them\\'\\], adding that women\nalways have saved shoes of their childhood and youth and marriage, when\ntheir feet were at their daintiest\\\" (Trueheart 1995:C10).\n\n*Observations*. **1.** 2,600 years ago, Greek women favored white and\nred, snug-fitting leather shoes, and owned as many as 20 pairs at a\ntime. **2.** Forty to 60 new styles of women\\'s shoes appear each year\nin U.S. shopping malls (Fleishman 1994). **3.** \\\"In the marriage\nrituals of the Middle Ages, the father passed the bride\\'s shoe to the\ngroom . . .\\\" (Kastor 1994:30). **4.** Today, American women buy an\naverage five pairs of shoes a year (American men average two).\\\n\\\n*Personality*. Women\\'s shoes display more \\\"personality\\\" than do\nmen\\'s. Many styles, e.g., are given personal names, such as the\nNordstrom line\\'s \\\"Angelique,\\\" \\\"Gretta,\\\" and \\\"Bree.\\\" \\\"So, how\ndoes it work? \\'Well, say there\\'s a tailored-type boot, and it looks\nlike the kind of shoe a woman might wear to a concert,\\' he \\[Richard\nLeeker, a vice president and \\\"senior line builder\\\" at Brown Group\\]\nsays, \\'Well, we call it \\\"Concert\\\"\\'\\\" (Fleishman 1994:F4).\n\n*Evolution I*. The slimness of women\\'s footwear evolved from a narrow\nshoe known as the *poulaine* (originally from Poland), popular with men\nin the 12th and 15th centuries. So long was the tip of its tapering\ntoe\\--and so suggestive when wagged back and forth\\--that in 1468, the\nPope condemned the poulaine as \\\"a scoffing against God.\\\" Near the end\nof the 15th century, the masculine version of the poulaine was driven to\nextinction by a wider, broad-toed shoe, shaped like the bill of a duck,\nwhich completely replaced it.\n\n*Evolution II*. While the poulaine died out, its\n**[message](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/message.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nlived on, and the\n**[submissive](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/submit.htm){target=\"_top\"}**\nmeaning of slim, pointed toes (\\\"I am harmless\\--you may approach\\\";\nsee, e.g., **[BARBIE\nDOLL](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/barbie.htm){target=\"_top\"}**) is\nstill fashionable today. Narrow pumps and high heels, e.g., which\nincorporate the poulaine\\'s timid taper, are among the most popular and\nattractive of women\\'s shoes.\n\nSee also **[ARM\nWEAR](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/armwear.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[LEG\nWEAR](legwear1.htm){tppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/doder1/legwear1.htm\"\ntarget=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/**[Center for Nonverbal\nStudies](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"}**[](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"} {"title":"WORD","url":"https://ns1.omnitech.net/data/Nonverbal/word1.htm","html":"\n\n\nWORD
\n![\"Verbal](\"word.jpg\")
\n
\n"I will say it to you in one word," Don Quixote answered, "and that word is the following: 'Set free at once that lovely lady whose tears and mournful countenance show plainly that you are carrying her away against her will and that you have done her some shameful wrong.'" --Miguel de Cervantes (1605:455-56)
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\nWe should have a great many fewer disputes in the world if words were taken for what they are, the signs of our ideas only, and not for things themselves. --Locke, Essay on Human Understanding
There are no words. --Zinedine Zidane, French soccer player (after France beat Brazil to win the 1998 World Cup; Wilner 1998:C1)
\n
\n
\nVerbal signal. 1. In speech, an articulated sound or sounds uttered a. to convey information, b.\nto express emotion, c. to suggest ideas or opinions, or d. to greet a person, place, or thing. 2. In manual sign language, an articulated body movement or movements used to communicate as in speech\n(above). 3. In writing, an alphabetical, ideographic, pictographic, or symbolic version of a\nverbal sound or body motion which may be stored, e.g., through inscriptions carved in stone,\ncharacters printed on paper, or images saved on computers.
Usage I: Words have diverse uses as labels for objects (e.g., "walnut"), directions ("west"), and\nactivities ("walk"). Some words (e.g., "the") have linguistic uses rather than referential\nor conceptional meanings. Words are spoken, signed, or written in the sequential order governed\nby cultural rules, syntax, and grammar.
\nUsage II: A great deal of our verbiage is about artifacts (e.g., Big Macs®, blue jeans, and\nshoes), i.e., about items in the ever-growing stockpile of material goods we possess or dream of\nowning. The partnership between consumer products and words may be as ancient as Oldowan\nstone tools and the likely labels our ancestors used to articulate knowledge of their design. (N.B.: Echoing prehistory, artifacts and brand names form a natural partnership in the mind--and\nin the media--today.)
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\nUsage III. Words themselves may become consumer products: "Protecting English against the erosion of time has been a recurring theme in attempts to save the language from decay. The time capsule entombed by Westinghouse at the 1939-40 New York World's Fair was an attempt to preserve Anglo-American civilization for a time when the language would be as dead as Sumerian" (Bailey 1991:223).
Anthropology. "To know the 'true name' of a thing was thought to be a source of power over it in many traditions" (Deacon 1997:321).\n\n
\nAnimal behavior. Studies of apes, dogs, parrots, and sea lions have "demonstrated that other animals can acquire and use words" (Lieberman 1991:113). Studies of chimpanzees have shown that humans are "not, after all, the only tool-making animals" (Goodall 1990:5).
\n
\nAstronomy I. "At its 17th general assembly in 1979, the IAU [International Astronomical Union] decided that, except for one high mountain already named for Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell, only feminine names will identify Venusian surface features" (Lupfer 1993:3).
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\nAstronomy II. "In general, neither the names of politicians, philosophers or military figures of the last two centuries, nor the names of people associated with any still-practiced religion, are accepted [as names for newly discovered comets]" (Lupfer 1993:3).
\n
\nAuthor's note: When asked about the irony of using words to study nonverbal communication, I answer that words help raise nonverbal issues to a more conscious awareness. (N.B.: As Joseph Conrad prefaced in The Nigger of the "Narcissus": it is "by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel--it is, before all, to make you see.")
\n
\nEvolution. The earliest words may have been nouns. A noun (Middle English name, from Indo-European no-men-, "name") is used to label persons, places, animals, plants, qualities, actions,\nand things.
\n
\nGesture origin. "We take the view that language is based in gesture--that is, bodily movement to which human beings attach meaning" (Armstrong et al.1995:3). [Author's note: Words themselves are produced by articulated body movements of the vocal tract.]
Infancy. At ca. 18 months, toddlers display a keen interest in naming things, and their\nvocabulary of nouns rapidly grows.
\n
\nLiterary criticism. "The very act of naming something is an attempt both to define it and possess it" (Cohen 1993:3). \n
Literature. ". . . words clothed in reason's garb . . . ." --John Milton (Paradise Lost, Book II; 1667) \n
\nMedia. In the beginning was the Pause, which became the Real Thing. 1929: "The Pause that\nRefreshes." 1961: "Things go Better with Coke." 1969: "It's the Real Thing." 1982: "Coke is\nit!" 1993: "Always the Real Thing." 1995: According to a Gallup Organization poll, over 60%\nof the Chinese population say they have heard the brand name, Coca-Cola®.
\n
\nOdd object words. 1. The word "chad," of unknown origin, is the name for a small, circular piece of paper or cardboard produced by a paper punch (source: The American Heritage Dictionary). 2. \n\nThe word "gry," for a measurement which is the equivalent of 0.008 inches, comes from the Greek word for a speck of dirt beneath a fingernail (source: The Dent Dictionary of Measurement). 3. "Jun," the name of a single star located in the constellation Cepheus, belongs to movie star Johnny Depp, according to the International Star Registry in Ingleside, Illinois (Cohen 1993:3). 4. Some 1,474 other names for "crayfish," including, Danish signalkrebs, Mayan bab, and two Aboriginal Australian manual signs for the arthropod, have been compiled by C. W. Hart, Jr., in his 1994 Dictionary of Non-Scientific Names of Freshwater Crayfishes (Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution).
\n
\nPET imaging. 1. "In this positron emission tomography study we examined the pattern of neural activation associated with performance on number-letter sequencing [NLS], a purported measure of working memory included in the new Wechsler scales for memory and intelligence. After controlling for basic audition, verbalization, and attention, areas of activation were observed in the orbital frontal lobe, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and posterior parietal cortex. This is highly consistent with reports from the literature on activation patterns associated with working memory. More activation peaks were observed in the right hemisphere, suggesting the participants utilized visualization of the verbal information" (Haut et al. 2000; italics added by D. Givens to emphasize the neural link between verbal and nonverbal). 2. Activation was demonstrated in the right posterior temporal lobe, right orbital frontal region, right posterior parietal cortex, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right posterior premotor cortex, right posterior parietal cortex, and the precuneus midline; regarding the precuneus midline, slightly greater on the left) (Haut et al. 2000). 3. "In conclusion, this study provides support for NLS as a task with a working memory component. Beyond basic verbal attention span, participants used areas of the brain associated with temporary storage, active maintenance, and organization of information. Despite the verbal nature of the task, there was a large degree of right hemisphere activation, which may have been a result of utilization of visuospatial components of working memory. At this point, clinicians should be cautious with interpretations regarding laterality of deficits when observing deficient performance on NLS, despite its apparent verbal nature" (Haut et al. 2000; italics added).
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\n\n
\nE-Commentary: "Prior to becoming an attorney, I was a police detective for a number of years. I am continually amazed how attorneys at depositions are typically so focused on their outlines [i.e., on words] than they completely ignore nonverbal, and even verbal, indicators that practically give-away the case. My presentation focuses on spotting and using these observations to determine where to probe for the truth and what to do with it when you get it." H.L., USA (8/9/99 4:21:15 AM Pacific Daylight Time)
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Neuro-notes II. At the highest level, word order is overseen by circuits of the prefrontal cortex,\nwhich guides the sequential processing needed to build an artifact or utter a phrase. Regulating\nspeech sounds is the inferior frontal gyrus (Brodmann's areas 44/45). Controlled by the frontal\nlobes, our fingers and speech organs follow the correct sequences required to produce oral statements and \n material tools.
\n
\nNeuro-notes III. The supplementary motor area of the neocortex is involved in sequential processing, as well, both for verbal and some nonverbal (e.g., mime-cue) articulations. "We have found a group of cells in the cerebral cortex of monkeys whose activity is exclusively related to a sequence of multiple movements performed in a particular order. Such cellular activity exists in the supplementary motor area . . . . We propose that these cells contribute a signal about the order of forthcoming multiple movements, and are useful for planning and coding of several movements ahead" (Tanji and Shima 1994:413).\n
Neuro-notes IV. 1. "Object-naming is unique to man because the anatomical basis of the ability [the\nangular gyrus] is also unique to man" (Lancaster 1968:454). 2. As reported in the November 17, 1994 issue of Nature, word recognition resides in the anterior fusiform gyrus of the inferior temporal lobe, according to Gregory McCarthy and colleagues at Oxford University. 3. "In both studies, generation of color words selectively activated a region in the ventral temporal lobe just anterior to the area involved in the perception of color, whereas generation of action words activated a region in the middle temporal gyrus just anterior to the area involved in the perception of motion" (Martin et al. 1995:102 [Science]).
\nNeuro-notes V. "Scientists at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md., have found that knowledge about the names of animals and tools--two broad categories of objects--gets handled by largely separate networks of brain regions" (Bower 1996:103).
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\nNeuro-notes VI. Concrete words are processed more efficiently than abstract words (Kiehl et al. 1999). According to fMRI data, word processing involves the bilateral fusiform gyrus, the anterior cingulate gyrus, the left middle temporal gyrus, the right posterior superior temporal gyrus, and the left and right inferior frontal gyrus (Kiehl et al. 1999). Abstract and concrete word processing both involve the right anterior temporal cortex (Kiehl et al. 1999). "The results are consistent with recent positron emission tomography [PET] work showing right hemisphere activation during processing of abstract representations of language. The results are interpreted as support for a right hemisphere neural pathway in the processing of abstract word representations" (Kiehl et al. 1999).
\n
\nSee also HUMAN BRAIN, NONVERBAL WORLD, VERBAL CENTER.
Copyright © 1998 - 2001 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\nAmerican Heritage Dictionary (Third Edition) entry for "word" (copyright 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Co.)
YAWN
\n
\n![\"Deep](\"yawn.jpg\")
Sign. 1. A sudden, deep inhalation of air accompanied by an open mouth, tightened cheek muscles,\neye closure, and tearing. 2. An involuntary deep breath due to sleepiness, fatigue, boredom, or\nemotional conflict. 3. A socially contagious gaping behavior, often difficult to suppress.
\n\n\nUsage: Usually a sign of drowsiness, yawning also occurs, e.g., in tense business meetings as a sign\nof mild anxiety, disagreement, or uncertainty. When alert listeners yawn in response to\ncontroversial suggestions or ideas, the yawn signals a probing point, i.e., an opportunity to\nexplore unverbalized objections or clarify unvoiced concerns.
\n\n\nRESEARCH REPORTS: 1. "I have also noticed that under slight fear there is a strong tendency to\nyawn" (Darwin 1872:291). 2. Yawning is a displacement sign of mild conflict (Tinbergen\n1951). 3. In primates, yawning appears in stress or conflict situations (Altmann 1967). 4. Yawning\nis seen in uneasy or aggressive chimpanzees, gorillas, gibbons, baboons, rhesus monkeys, patas\nmonkeys, and (rarely) vervet monkeys (Lawick-Goodall 1968). 5. Yawning is a sign of stress or\napathy in bonnet macaques (Rahaman and Parthasarathy 1968). 6. In humans, the yawn includes\n"closing of the eyes and lowering of the brows" (Brannigan and Humphries 1972:58). 7. In a tense\nsetting, adrenaline lowers the blood's oxygen level and yawning speeds reoxygenation (Hill 1977).
\n\n\nNeuro-notes. Yawning is a reflexive, highly contagious act. Babies born without a brain above the\nmidbrain (i.e., anencephalic infants) can still yawn (and stretch). Stimuli associated, e.g., with\ntiredness, the sight of others yawning, or social stress pass a. from higher brain centers, b. to\nrespiratory centers in the brain-stem's medulla, and then c. to somatic motor nuclei of the trigeminal\n(cranial V) and facial (cranial VII) nerves. Excitement of motor fibers in the facial nerve and in the\ntrigeminal's mandibular branch opens the mouth widely and stimulates activity in the phrenic (cervical\n3, 4, and 5) nerves to the diaphragm, and intercostal (thoracic 1-12) nerves to the external intercostal\nmuscles, causing a deep inspiration followed by deep exhalation.
\n\n\n\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/Center for Nonverbal Studies)
\n\n","markdown":"**[YAWN]{#YAWN}\\\n\\\n{border=\"0\"\ntppabs=\"http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/objects/yawn.jpg\" height=\"35%\"\nwidth=\"25%\"}**\n\n***[Sign](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/sign.htm){target=\"_top\"}***.\n**1.** A sudden, deep *inhalation of air* accompanied by an open mouth,\ntightened cheek muscles, eye closure, and tearing. **2.** An involuntary\n*deep breath* due to sleepiness, fatigue, boredom, or emotional\nconflict. **3.** A socially contagious *gaping* behavior, often\ndifficult to suppress.\n\n*Usage*: Usually a sign of drowsiness, yawning also occurs, e.g., in\ntense business meetings as a sign of *mild anxiety*, *disagreement*, or\n**[uncertainty](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/uncert.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\nWhen alert listeners yawn in response to controversial suggestions or\nideas, the yawn signals a **[probing\npoint](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/probe.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\ni.e., an opportunity to explore unverbalized objections or clarify\nunvoiced concerns.\n\n***RESEARCH REPORTS***: **1.** \\\"I have also noticed that under slight\nfear there is a strong tendency to yawn\\\" (Darwin 1872:291). **2.**\nYawning is a *displacement* sign of *mild conflict* (Tinbergen 1951).\n**3.** In primates, yawning appears in *stress or conflict* situations\n(Altmann 1967). **4.** Yawning is seen in *uneasy* or *aggressive*\nchimpanzees, gorillas, gibbons, baboons, rhesus monkeys, patas monkeys,\nand (rarely) vervet monkeys (Lawick-Goodall 1968). **5.** Yawning is a\nsign of *stress or apathy* in bonnet macaques (Rahaman and Parthasarathy\n1968). **6.** In humans, the yawn includes \\\"closing of the eyes and\nlowering of the brows\\\" (Brannigan and Humphries 1972:58). **7.** In a\ntense setting, *adrenaline* lowers the blood\\'s oxygen level and yawning\nspeeds reoxygenation (Hill 1977).\n\n*Neuro-notes*. Yawning is a reflexive, highly contagious act. Babies\nborn without a brain above the midbrain (i.e., *anencephalic* infants)\ncan still yawn (and *stretch*). Stimuli associated, e.g., with\ntiredness, the sight of others yawning, or social stress pass **a.**\nfrom higher brain centers, **b.** to respiratory centers in the\nbrain-stem\\'s medulla, and then **c.** to somatic motor nuclei of the\n*trigeminal* (cranial V) and *facial* (cranial VII) nerves. Excitement\nof motor fibers in the facial nerve and in the trigeminal\\'s mandibular\nbranch opens the mouth widely and stimulates activity in the *phrenic*\n(cervical 3, 4, and 5) nerves to the diaphragm, and *intercostal*\n(thoracic 1-12) nerves to the external intercostal muscles, causing a\ndeep inspiration followed by deep exhalation.\n\nSee also\n**[CRY](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal3/cry.htm){target=\"_top\"}**,\n**[FEAR](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/fear.htm){target=\"_top\"}**.\n\nCopyright 1998, 1999, 2000 (David B. Givens/[**Center for Nonverbal\nStudies**](http://members.aol.com/nonverbal2/index.htm){target=\"_top\"})\n"}![\"A](\"blush.jpg\")
![\"Proprietary](\"decision.jpg\")
![\"A](\"facerec.jpg\")
![\"Broth](\"B21690.jpg\")
![\"Let's](\"rapport.jpg\")