Body Language Expert Answers Questions From Twitter | WIRED

Former FBI agent and body language expert Joe Navarro once again answers the internet's burning questions about body language. Are micro expressions more pronounced over Zoom? Does eye contact mean something different in other cultures? What does it mean if your leg shakes?

Check out Joe's book "Be Exceptional"




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[maxputhoff]

"When a face looks neutral, it is perceived as negative."
This is known in academic circles as the "Bitchy Resting Face" effect.

[icarusbinns]

I’ve always hated making eye contact, and it would make me want to lash out whenever someone said “look at me”. I just… can’t. I cannot do it, and have the action be natural. My boss noticed and said, “You don’t have to look at my eyes. I can see it’s not comfortable for you.” And I appreciate that.

[jamesfleming]

One way of asserting dominance I've had older people do to me is they'll shake your hand and then keep ahold of your hand while talking to you. It's like subliminally saying "I'll decide when this conversation is over. You leave when I allow it"

[greefkarga]

Read this guy’s book, loved it. You can even answer these questions yourself once you read it.

[mariacargille]

Half of the reason I find Zoom calls so exhausting is precisely that need to telegraph emotions more obviously, smiling, nodding, etc, especially while taking notes. It's another thing to focus on, and the hyperawareness is draining.

[richeybaumann]

We always hear "practice what you preach", and it's not surprising that he is very good at using body language. He's expressive, confident, and communicates well.

[emilysmith]

“Social aardvark” is such a polite way to call someone a jackass… this has been incontrovertibly added to my vocabulary

[camouldsn]

As someone on the autism spectrum, I was happy when he mentioned that eye contact is a personal choice. It’s not entirely necessary for non verbal communication and I can simply have less eye contact if needed. :)

[konstantinkoychev]

It’s always very endearing to see foreigners talking about our very peculiar thing to have yes and no reversed in Bulgaria. It’s actually an issue for many Bulgarians when they speak another language - the non-verbal language doesn’t make the same instant switch as the verbal one and sometimes you have to force it, so to say. Sometimes I’ve had English-speaking friends look at me puzzled because I’ve kept my “Bulgarian” expressions in non-Bulgarian settings.

[letsgoballistic]

I envy the cleanness of those glasses. How come my glasses are always fine but then out of nowhere are like a windshield after a month with no wiper fluid.

[supersmashbrosevil]

I think this is the first time I see someone speaking about body language without ant pseudo psychology in it, very nice finally seeing someone talking about cultural and individual factors in body language

[sarahm]

I used to talk with a "close talking" peer while standing in the hallways at school pretty often and over the course of our conversation we would always end up moving a couple of meters because they would step into my personal space, I would step back to give a more comfortable talking distance, they would close the space, etc. I don't know how they never got the hint

[emhoj]

Thank you for your response to the eye contact question. Especially for autistic people where us avoiding eye contact is a common trait, people assuming we're being deceptive or rude or such can be very damaging.

Personally eye contact feels challenging to me and raises my hackles. But for some autists it's actually painful.

Body language can tell us a lot but eye contact isn't all that.

[jimr]

Wow. Quite incredible that even babies born blind naturally know body language/gestures. Simply amazing...

[MickRissling]

A prof I had a million years ago said, "there is no such thing as a neutral face" meaning what he means here in the video. Alway stuck with me.

[tiestofalljays]

On the eye contact thing: In the area I grew up (in West Africa), among the older/more traditional generation, younger people were expected to NOT look at their “elders” in the eye for a prolonged amount of time. It definitely is a cultural thing. I’m a white American dude who grew up in Africa - it’s always interesting comparing life in the US to what I experienced overseas for the first 18 years of my life haha.

[fleurmal]

When I was dating my husband I found out about the eye contact cultural difference. In his culture it is polite not to stare/look into someone's eyes. But I am used to no eye contact meaning someone doesn't want anything to do with you. So in his head he was being respectful while I was wondering if he didn't actually like me that much 😂

[e.s.r]

"All repetitive behaviours are self-soothing behaviours" I have ADHD and when I haven't taken my meds I jitter constantly... it's coping behaviour because I'm so understimulated that I'm literally in pain. I'm feeling the neurochemical part of pain. Autistic people do similar things in sensory pain. But when we do repetitive self-soothing behaviours, it's pathologised as 'stimming' (something only we and not 'normal' people do).

This man just laid down some truth here. 'Stimming' is a pain management technique and _everyone_ has the instinct. Neurodivergent people are just experiencing higher baseline discomfort a lot of the time, because public space and social culture aren't designed to include us.

[TsukiKatana]

I really appreciate the reminder to teach body language skills. I'm autistic and have the capability to learn rote. Learning what to look for, and when to read (or not) into things certainly needs to be taught for everyone, neurotypical and neurodiverse. Because I learned, I could explain to others who ask, "You're autistic, how did you know they were really mad about that?" I would love to see it taught in schools.

[beepbeep]

to elaborate on the mbti since he didn’t:
these personality tests have been disproven by psychologists and are meaningless. humans are far too complex to be categorized black/white into several boxes the way these tests do. most humans fall the in the “average” part of a spectrum rather than the extreme black/white.