What you say communicates only about half of what people hear.
According to UCLA professor Albert Mehrabian, 55% of the message you convey comes from your body language.
That's why studying body language has such a long history.
None other than Charles Darwin wrote the first academic investigation into body language, his "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals," published back in 1872.
Over the past century science has made lots of advances into understanding the many social meanings of body language. Here are 17 of the most useful findings, pulled from Psychology Today, research journals, and a few awesome books.
Max Nisen contributed research to an earlier version of this article.
The shoulder shrug is a universal signal of not knowing what's going on.
According to Barbara Pease and Allan Pease, authors of "The Definitive Book of Body Language," everybody does the shoulder shrug.
The shrug is a "good example of a universal gesture that is used to show that a person doesn't know or doesn't understand what you are saying," they write.
"It's a multiple gesture that has three main parts," they continue. "Exposed palms to show nothing is being concealed in the hands, hunched shoulders to protect the throat from attack, and raised brow, which is a universal, submissive greeting."
Open palms are an ancient display of honesty.
Ever notice how when someone swears to tell the truth in a court of law, they put one hand on a religious text and raise their other hand into the air, palm facing whoever they're speaking to?
That's because, the Peases write in "The Definitive Book of Body Language,"an open palm has been associated with "truth, honesty, allegiance, and submission" throughout Western history.
"Just as a dog will expose its throat to show submission or surrender to the victor," they write, "humans use their palms to show that they are unarmed and therefore not a threat."
A pointed finger with a closed hand is an attempt at displaying dominance.
If someone is closing their palm and pointing with their index finger, then they're trying to display dominance, though it doesn't always work out.
"The Palm-Closed-Finger-Pointed is a fist where the pointed finger is used like a symbolic club with which the speaker figuratively beats his listeners into submission,"the Peases write. "Subconsciously, it evokes negative feelings in others because it precedes a right overarm blow, a primal move most primates use in a physical attack."
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