Boban

Body language The basics of body language can be found in Darwin’s theory about facial expressions, which was published in his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). He believed that all the expressions are similar among humans, no matter where they live and which culture they belong to. Of course, facial expressions are just a part of body language. What is actually the body language? It is a system of nonverbal signs which we use every day. It can reveal a person’s character or emotions for those who can “read” it. As Ellgring says in his “Study of Nonverbal Behavior and its Applications in Europe”, “body language should not be regarded as a secret code separate from language, but rather as embedded into spoken language.” How to define it? One of the possible explanations is made by Argyle. According to him, “nonverbal behavior is part of learned motor skills which can be modified by appropriate training.” There are so many gestures across the world and the cultural diversity in this case is amazing. According to Thus Andree (1899) „ One could fill easily a book with the enumeration of the various greeting customs in different nations. The scientific value of such an undertaking however would be trifling. One would encounter an incredible diversity of more or less unexplainable peculiarities and one would wonder about the delicate etiquette of the greeting patterns and the waste of time involved.“ Why is it important to know body language rules? While voice is telling one story, the gesture can tell a completely different one. If you want to know someone’s emotional condition, it is not enough to listen what he/she is saying. The circumstances under which something is said are also important. Reading the body language can be used in areas of sale and marketing, but also in multiple aspects of private life. According to Allan Pease and his “Body language”, Albert Mehrabian found that a message is consisted from about 7 per cent verbal (words only), 38 per cent vocal (including tone of voice, inflection and other sounds) and 55 per cent non-verbal. Professor Birdwhistell found that non-verbal part of the message is even bigger – more than 65 percent. Some of the gestures are genetic, while others are culturally learned. Some of them are universal, like signs for “yes” and “no”. All of them often come in clusters, just like words come together in sentences. Not all of us can read body language signs. According to some opinions, women are more intuitive and generally more able to read gestures than man. The possible explanation is related to maternity – they have already capable of reading signs of their small children without verbal communication. Anyway, everyone can practice reading body language signs by sitting alone at parties and watching others and their behavior. Also, one of the ways is watching a TV without a sound. You can check every five minutes are you right by turning on the sound. One of the aspects of body language is body zones and space between two persons. Intimate distance is shorter in some European countries than in Western. Japanese tend to be close to each other and in their language there is even no word for privacy. It is the same with Arabs – they like to touch companions and for them, there is no concept of privacy in public space. Anyway, you can expect big differences between East and West. In America people can even seem unfriendly while respecting other’s privacy and intimate zone. In the biggest American cities intrusion is one of the biggest mistakes. In some cultures there is understanding for personal space of someone, while in other it is insulting if you are avoid being close to another person. HANDS and ARMS A little part of some person’s personality can be revealed by handshaking – it can be dominant or submissive. When we are talking about palm, there are also two basic palm positions – facing upwards which is related to truth and honesty, and facing down which is connected to holding down and restraining. A hand can be used as “mouth guard”, also. It is actually fist, hand or couple of fingers unconsciously set across the mouth of the person who is telling a lie. Fingers can be in mouth in situation where a person is feeling the pressure and trying to relieve it in a thumb/baby way. Hands on hips of a men can mean either aggression or male courtship signal, depends on a situation. Folded arms can be a sign of negative attitude or hiding from unpleasant situation, while partial arm cross means lack of confidence. EYES and HEAD There is a gesture called “eye rub” and it is used by people in situations when they are telling lies. Eyes can reveal sexual tension – pupils are dilated when a men/women is looking at potential sexual partner. Dilated pupils are often related with intimate gaze. If someone doesn’t like the conversation with you, he/she will use eye block gesture – instead of blinking, he/she will close the eyes for a second or longer trying to get you out of sight. During the interesting conversation, head tilts, but it is down if there is judgmental or negative attitude. Did you ever notice a gesture called “head toss”? It is one of the female courtship signals. LEGS Just like arms, leg crossed position can show negative, defensive or reserved attitude. Open legs of a female could be a courtship signal (just like rolling hips), but locking the ankles means that person is holding back an emotion or attitude. An example for territorial ownership gesture could be putting a foot on a bottom drawer of a desk. Cigarettes and glasses are often used as objects for gestures. Cigarettes are used for calming down, just like baby calms down with a thumb. Even a way of blowing smoke has a meaning – upwards means self-confidence and down means negativity. If a person lights up the cigarette and extinguish it earlier than normally, this may mean he/she wants the conversation to be ended. SAME GESTURES – DIFFERENT MEANINGS The gesture used in America for “come here” in other cultures is used for beckon dogs. Because of that, it can be very offensive. In some countries it is rude to point to someone with one finger and they use pointing with whole hand. .In Filipino, Puerto Rican, Native American and many Latin American cultures lips are used for pointing, instead of fingers. If two men walk together holding hands this can mean homosexual relationship in some cultures, but in China this is the sign they are very close friends. In Middle East, just right hand is used for eating, greeting or smoking. Handshaking between man and women is not approved in Islamic culture. Americans usually shake hands two times with the same person – when they meet each other and when saying goodbye. But, Europeans do it several times a day. Arabs, Indians and people from Asia may continue to hold hands after handshaking. The American gesture for “goodbye” in some European countries is interpreted as “no”. The “OK” sign is “zero” in many European countries. The “V” sign means “peace” in America, “victory” in Germany and “up yours” in Britain. According to some opinions, this sign is related to English archers who used these two fingers for fire arrows. They were degraded by capturing and removing these fingers, so this sign means “I still have my shooting fingers”. In some African, Asian and Latin American cultures extended eye contact could be considered as “challenge”. In Asian, Hispanic and Middle Eastern eye contact is not the symbol of honesty, but disrespect. In Japan it is common to close your eyes during the meeting and this will be related only with carefully listening. In this country, crossing the legs while speaking to someone is not a good idea – it is rude to show sole of your feet to anyone. Nodding the head often means “yes”, but in Bulgaria it means disagreement. In Japan this means just politeness. One more interesting thing related to Japan – instead of blowing noses in handkerchief or tissue, they spit or snort. Kiss in the cheek is common thing in America, but not in Asian cultures. There it is too intimate for public space. Scandinavians will give you one kiss at the cheek, French will do it twice, and Arabs, Belgians, Dutch and Serbians will kiss you three times. The thumb is used in Malaysia for pointing and in some Islamic countries, Greece and Sardinia it is rude sexual signal. The smile is a sign of happiness, gratitude and affirmation in America, but Japanese smile even when they are ashamed or embarrassed. Touching the head in some cultures is inappropriate because of beliefs. Actually, these are countries that prefer touching during the conversation – Spain, Greece, India, Turkey, France, Italy, Russia and Middle East. Germans, Japanese, Americans, Portuguese, Scandinavians and Australians don’t like it. The biggest cultural differences are related to eye contact, insults, territorial gestures and touch. There are even different local gestures in one country – the numerous local body language signs exist in Japan, Arab countries and part of Asia. Facial expressions are always and everywhere the same, but in those tiny (or not so tiny) movements we can see all the luxury the body language can offer across the world. Here are the explanations for some of this hand gestures and their meaning in different cultures. H. Mediterranean: Small penis Bali: Bad Japan: Woman South America: Thin France: You can't fool me! O. The West: Ten; I surrender Greece: Up yours — twice! Widespread: I'm telling the truth The rest is for you, reader, to explore and find out the excitement in cultural differences. References 1. Ellgring, H. The Study of Nonverbal Behavior and its Applications: State of the Art in Europe. 2. Fast, J. Body Language, Pan Books Ltd, London, (1971). 3. Hinde, R.A. Non-Verbal communication, Cambridge University Press, (1972). 4. Özüorçun, F. The importance of body language in intercultural communications, EUL Journal of Social Sciences, (2013). 5. Pease, A. & Pease B. The definitive book of body language, Pease International, Australia, (2004). 6. Pease, A. Body language: How to read other`s thoughts by their gestures, Sheldon Press, London, (1984). 7. http://www.businessinsider.com/body-language-around-the-world-2015-3 8. http://www.samdiener.com/2009/10/body-language-in-different-cultures/ 9. http://healthvermont.gov/family/toolkit/tools%5CF-6%20Cultural%20Differences%20in%20Nonverbal%20Communic.pdf 10. http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/body-speaks.aspx Here are the references for the chapter about Italians 1. http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Clearinghouse/View-Articles/body-speaks.aspx 2. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/01/world/europe/when-italians-chat-hands-and-fingers-do-the-talking.html?_r=2 3. http://edition.cnn.com/2015/05/29/travel/experts-guide-to-italian-hand-gestures/ 4. https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2013/jul/02/how-speak-italian-with-hand-gestures 5. http://www.najboljeizitalije.rs/najbolje-iz-italije/zanimljivosti/italijanski-govor-tela-najinteresantniji-primeri.html 6. http://www.blic.rs/slobodno-vreme/zanimljivosti/italijani-koriste-cak-250-gestova-ruku-u-svakodnevnoj-komunikaciji/swle3mh 7. https://www.mrporter.com/journal/the-knowledge/italian-hand-gestures/597 8. Agliati, A. & Anolli, L. & Vescovo, A, Conversation Patterns in Icelandic and Italian People: Similarities and Differences in Rhythm and Accommodation, IOS Press, Amsterdam, (2005). 9. Ellgring, H. The Study of Nonverbal Behavior and its Applications: State of the Art in Europe. 10. Muller, C. Body-Language- Communication, De Gruyter Mouton, (2013).