Body Language and Nonverbal Communication

Using 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

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My 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  Either they’re based on out-of-date research, or they’re filled with content that’s simply made up.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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Is it what you say or how you say it?

I’ve had a lot of occasion lately to give tips on presentation techniques, and I’ve noticed that at first concentrating on your own body language can make you feel very self-conscious.  This problem makes me thing of the old question, “which is more important, what you say or how you say it?”  Which will it be, style

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Why Human Touch Still Matters in Communication

Why Human Touch Still Matters in Communication

There’s a moment I’ve noticed after many live events that always fascinates me. People will come up after a presentation wanting to talk, and almost without thinking, many of them will touch my arm for a brief second while they’re speaking. Not aggressively. Not awkwardly. Usually it’s just a quick touch during a laugh or

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A Peek Into the Wierd World of People Reading

It’s only right for my first post that I give you a little glimpse into some of the arcana of reading people. Cracked.com has compiled a very funny list of some of the things you can tell about people just by looking at them:  http://www.cracked.com/article_19194_6-intimate-details-you-can-tell-just-by-looking-at-someone.html   (Beware!  The article might not be considered safe for work.  

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