EVERYTHING
WORTH
KNOWING
C
R
E
D
ITTHE FIRST WAY WE LEARN TO COMMUNICATE is through body
language — our facial expressions, our gestures and, when we’re older,
our postures. Even after we figure out how to speak, this non-verbal
communication still exerts a powerful and often unconscious influence
over our interactions, people’s first impressions of us and even our
impressions of ourselves.
Strike a pose.
BY TEAL BURRELL
Body Language
32 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
A Learned Body
Language?
David Matsumoto, a San Francisco
State University psychologist, led
a 2008 study to determine whether
body language is innate or learned in
childhood. He and his team examined
Olympic and Paralympic athletes
from over 30 countries. Specifically,
they studied judo competitors who
could see and those who’d been
blind since birth. It turned out all
athletes made similar gestures when
they won — arms raised wide, chest
out, head tilted back. But because
the blind athletes had always beenblind, they couldn’t have learned
those expressions. Another point for
arguing that body language is innate?
Just like those who can see, people
who are blind gesture when they talk,
even to others who are blind.
While some gestures may
come pre-programmed, culture
also exerts an influence.
In that same study of judo
athletes, the competitors
who lost a match carried
themselves differently
depending on their
homeland. Athletes from
Western countries, where
culture teaches people
to hide shame, showed a
more muted response and
didn’t slump their shoulders
as much. However, athletes fromthe same Western countries who
were blind slumped dramatically
in defeat.
Forced
smileMirroring
Angled
bodyCrossed
armsEye
contact