Body Language in the Workplace
The Chicago Tribune online has a column today that discusses body language in the workplace. The author, Daneen Skube, seems to know her stuff, except when she writes this: However, the body is a powerful communication channel that is mostly ignored or dimly noticed at work, even though studies find body language carries 55 percent of the
Read MoreMore on TSA Behavioral Analysis
A while back I posted about the TSA’s plan to train agents to read body language. Apparently they’ve already begun to implement this in Boston’s Logan Airport. This recent story on NPR talks about it: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=139643652&m=139666500 Pay special attention to commentary by Paul Ekman, the brain behind the training. Also note a brief appearance by
Read MoreA Reader’s Question
Recently a reader sent me a question. I deleted the original email, but here’s the paraphrase: He said his sister always insists upon having her photograph taken with her legs tucked under her and her head tilted. He wanted to know what that said about her. It’s an interesting question because it says more about
Read MoreWhat The Eyes Reveal
The eyes are said to be windows to the soul. And it really is true that they can reveal a lot about what a person is thinking about on a moment to moment basis. The reason they can is that the movement of the eyes, where a person looks, is directly connected to certain types of thought processing. Psychologists
Read MoreThey Crossed Their Arms. What Does That Mean?
One reason I have a hard time recommending non-academic books on body language to people is that most of them give a false notion of what body language is and how to interpret it. Until very recently, most general-readership book tended to convey the idea that certain postures and gestures had specific meanings. The greatest
Read MoreI Finally Saw “Lie To Me.”
Considering how many people approach me after a show and tell me how much they enjoy the show “Lie To Me,” you’d think I would have seen it by now. Chalk that up to always working during prime time viewing hours. But last night I found an episode on “On Demand,” and checked it out.
Read MoreUsing Body Language To Spot Terrorists
Can airport security personnel be trained to spot the bad guys from behavioral clues? The science journal, Nature, casts a skeptical eye. Of particular interest to me is this passage: Most credibility-assessment researchers agree that humans are demonstrably poor at face-to-face lie detection. SPOT traces its intellectual roots to the small group of researchers who
Read MoreMy Three Favorite Books on Body Language (For Regular People)
I always have a hard time when people ask me to recommend books on body language or people-reading. Sadly, most of the books written for the general public are junk. Either they’re based on out-of-date research, or they’re filled with content that’s simply made up. It’s true! Some authors recognize that you don’t have the knowledge
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