GETTING A LEG UP ON BODY LANGUAGE 79honest and dishonest people will twitch and jiggle. The key factor to con-
sider is at what point do these behaviors start or change. For instance, years
ago Barbara Walters was interviewing Academy Awards nominee Kim
Basinger prior to the awards ceremony. Throughout the interview, Ms. Bas-
inger jiggled her feet and her hands seemed to be very nervous. When Ms.
Walters began to ask Ms. Basinger about some financial difficulties and a
questionable investment she and her then husband had made, Ms. Basinger’s
foot went from jiggling to kicking. It was instantaneous and remarkable.
Again, this does not mean she was lying or even intended to lie in response
to the question, but it was clearly a visceral reaction to a negative stimulus
(the question asked) and it reflected her disdain for the inquiry.
Anytime there is a shift from foot jiggling to foot kicking in a seated
person, according to Dr. Joe Kulis, it is a very good indicator that the
person has seen or heard something negative and is not happy about it
(see figure 27). While jiggling may be a show of nervousness, kicking is
a subconscious way of combating the unpleasant. The beauty of this be-
havior is that it is automatic, and most people don’t even recognize they
are doing it. You can use this nonverbal body signal to your advantage
by creating questions that will evince the leg-kick response (or any other
dramatic change in nonverbals) to determine what specific inquiries or
When a foot suddenly begins to kick, it is usually a good indicator of
discomfort. You see this with people being interviewed, as soon as a
question is asked they do not like.Fig. 27