Accidental Language:
A study of body language
Morgan Hein
Anthropology 200
3/13/2012
I have been studying body language for the last eight or so months because I initially wanted to better understand people around me, and to fit in to social groups where I had previously felt uncomfortable. The process started with reading a book called “The Definitive Book of Body Language” by Allan and Barbara Pease. This book began a revolution in how I interacted with others because I could understand what people were really saying, and stop listening to what I heard. I learned that although most people don’t lie outright, they do omit quite a bit when only paying attention to audible communication. However, most people do not pay attention to what their body language is saying, or even know it is talking at all. This knowledge allowed me to begin to read how a person really felt and react accordingly, sometimes in direct conflict with what they were saying. On top of that I learned about how body language affects everyone near it, and how subconsciously people can be manipulated to act in a certain way just based on the body language they are receiving from those around them. My research paper is based on this concept, diving into the realm of body language and how I tested its use against three unsuspecting subjects.
I interviewed three individuals under the guise of practice for employment. During this interview, I sent different body language signs to each of them while also observing how they reacted to me. The questions asked of each individual were nearly identical, and there was very little variation in outside conversation during the interviews. Although this isn’t a scientific experiment, I wanted to reduce the outside variables as much as possible so hopefully the readings I received from them would be relevant to this study. The first individual I interviewed, Mike, I acted short-tempered. I gave him quick fake smiles and very little eye contact, along...