One of the bigger challenges I have when I give lectures is making people see that there is a difference between what body language means and what it “says” to others. This was borne out again recently after a program I gave at a Community College in Indiana. During the talk I had explained that […]
Author Archive | Christopher Carter
Sherlock Holmes and People Reading.
!My first introduction to the character of Sherlock Holmes wasn’t a pleasant one. We had to read “The Speckled Band” in a High School English class. Early in the story, Sherlock deduces that another character had taken a long ride in a dog cart (a kind of carriage) to reach london. He could tell this […]
A Quick Body Language Trick.
Here’s a bit of body-language trivia that you can have some fun with. Sometimes. OK, the opportunity probably won’t come up that often if you’re a student, but if you’re in business you’ll be able to ring it out every once in a while. Here’s the trick: Just by looking at somebody you are able […]
A Question About Romance
I got this email from a subscriber to my newsletter: How do I tell if a guy likes me? I have a feeling you’ll tell me what I already know, that he’ll sit closer to me or look directly at me or something but I’m curious as to if there’re other signs. I’m overweight and often down […]
A Little Romance
Considering how many college campuses I appear at, it’s hardly surprising that one of the questions I get asked most frequently is “How can I tell if he or she is interested in me?” Somepeople do seem to have an innate gift for reading the non-verbal cues that signal romantic interest. Alas, most of the rest of […]
I Get Questioned By The Police
It’s not what you’re thinking. After last night’s show a man approached me with a question I actually get pretty often. He wanted to know if I trained law enforcement professionals how to read and interpret body language. The event I was entertaining for was an annual meeting of an association of telecommunications cooperatives, so the […]
You Mean I Can’t Let My Hair Down At The Office Party?
I get to a lot of office Christmas parties. Of course I’m there as an entertainer, so I always have to be using my best body language. But since I don’t know anybody or have any particular allegiances, I also get to ply my favorite hobby: watching people. It always amazes me how many employees […]
A Good Handshake Brings In The Money
Dan Ariely is a behavioral economist. As I understand it, he studies the psychological and behavioral elements of how we make our economic choices. Recently, he described a fascinating experiment the illustrates the incredible power of body language. In brief, he took a scruffy college student, dressed him like a bum, and set him to panhandling on […]
What the Eyes Reveal: Myth vs. Fact
What the Eyes Reveal: Myth Vs. Fact. It happened again yesterday. I was discussing how body language help you tell when somebody is lying, when the person I was talking to said, “I’ve heard that when a person is lying his eyes look up and to the left.” “Where did you learn this,” I asked. […]
It’s Not Just Humans Who Express Through Body Language
Actually body language is even more important for animals, since they can’t express through language. But the photos in this story are particularly striking. The baby gorilla was rescued from poachers, and you can see from its body language how it starts off being terrified, but eventually becomes comfortable with its rescuers, and then eventually forms […]
