Body language



Body language is a broad term for forms of communication using body movements or gestures instead of, or in addition to, sounds, verbal language, or other forms of communication. It forms part of the category of paralanguage, which describes all forms of human communication that are not verbal language.

Paralanguage, including body language, has been extensively studied in social psychology. In everyday speech and popular psychology, the term is most often applied to body language that is considered involuntary, even though the distinction between voluntary and involuntary body language is often controversial. For example, a smile may be produced either consciously or nonconsciously.

Terminology
Voluntary body language refers to movement, gestures and poses intentionally made by a person (i.e., conscious smiling, hand movements and imitation). It can apply to many types of soundless communication. Generally, movement made with full or partial intention and an understanding of what it communicates can be considered voluntary.

Involuntary body language quite often takes the form of facial expression, and has therefore been suggested as a means to identify the emotions of a person with whom one is communicating.

Origins of body language
The relation of body language to animal communication has often been discussed. Human paralanguage may represent a continuation of forms of communication that our non-linguistic ancestors already used, or it may be that it has been changed by co-existing with language. Some species of animals are especially adept at detecting human body language, both voluntary and involuntary: this is the basis of the Clever Hans effect (a source of artifact in comparative psychology), and was also the reason for trying to teach the chimpanzee Washoe American Sign Language rather than speech &mdash; and perhaps the reason why the Washoe project was more successful than some previous efforts to teach apes how to dance.

Body language is a product of both genetic and environmental influences. Blind children will smile and laugh even though they have never seen a smile. The ethologist Iraneus Eibl-Eibesfeldt claimed that a number of basic elements of body language were universal across cultures and must therefore be fixed action patterns under instinctive control. Some forms of human body language show continuities with communicative gestures of other apes, though often with changes in meaning. More refined gestures, which vary between cultures (for example the gestures to indicate "yes" and "no"), must be learned or modified through learning, usually by unconscious observation of the environment.

Social uses
Body language is important in one-on-one communications, and may be even more important in group communications. In group situations, often only one person at a time is speaking, while non-verbal communication is coming from each individual in the group. The larger the group, the more impact body language may have.

Body language is a factor in human courtship as a subconscious or subtle method of communication between potential mates. Researchers such as Desmond Morris have extensively studied and reported on courtship behaviour. (see also: Flirting)

Examples

 * Showing one's palms to the listener may indicate openness and honesty; hiding the palms may mean deceit &mdash; possibly because in earlier times, showing open palms proved that one had no hidden weapons. Open palms with raised shoulders exaggerate the expression, indicating "I have nothing to hide".


 * Moving the hands close to the mouth or touching the nose may indicate deceit. Children sometimes hide their hands in their pockets or behind their backs when telling a lie.


 * Pointing at another person (with any part of the body, e.g. leg or knee) implies interest in or acceptance of that person. Pointing the body away implies disinterest and the desire to focus attention in the other direction.


 * Silence itself can often be a form of paralanguage. Silence while avoiding direct eye contact is often taken to mean that a person is thinking about a problem that emotionally affects them. In Western culture, not looking into an individual's eyes is taken to mean deceit. However, in some other cultures, including many in Africa, making direct eye contact is seen as rude and aggressive.