Can You Fake Body Language?

Our words enable us to have the ability to lie or deceive others. You might smile and tell your Uncle Henry you love his homemade pickled jalapeño jam when you really hate it. You might also tell your father-in-law you don’t mind him asking about your religious beliefs just to keep the peace. But while we try to hide how we feel with our words, our bodies are signaling our real feelings to the world. Here’s how to tell if someone’s happy, lying, or just plain uncomfortable (Pease and Pease, 2004):

TRUE HAPPINESS
A genuine smile can be hard to spot if you don’t know what you’re looking for. But if someone is truly happy, their smile will expose wrinkles around their eyes, the ends of the eyebrows will dip, and their eyelids will lower just a bit. In contrast, a fake smile occurs when a person smiles only with their mouth. Their face doesn’t follow it because it’s fake. They may bunch up their cheeks in an effort to force their smile to appear genuine but perky eyes are a dead-giveaway.

LIE DETECTOR
Did you know that women and men lie differently? Men are more like children when they lie; in other words, it’s more obvious. He may hide his hands in his pockets or cross his arms to hide his palms. For humanity, open palms signal honesty, truth, and submission. Where as hidden palms, quickly signal deception even if they’re telling you something different. The next time you think your guy is lying, check his palms. In addition, research has discovered that when men lie, they typically smile less than they usually do.

But when women are lying or trying to hide their real opinion, they immediately start multi-tasking. They’ll suddenly need to check their email or try to talk about a range of subjects when they want to avoid a particular subject or confrontation.

UNCOMFORTABLE
When people place their hands to their faces with their index fingers pointing up and the other fingers covering their mouth slightly, you can be rest assured that they’re having a critical discussion inside their head. However if they’re also tightly crossing their legs and have their other arm crossing their body, they are signaling to you that they don’t like what you’re saying. If their head is also down, it can signal hostility as well.  It’s something to think about the next time you see your boss or mother take this position.

You are now certified to use these mind-reading tricks on your closest relatives during the holidays.

Sources:
Pease, A. & Pease, B. (2004). The definitive book of body language: The hidden meaning behind people’s gestures and expressions. New York: Bantam Books.

By Brittany Roshelle Davis