The Steps to Reading Body Language 35
context to figure out the guy was lying....” The assumption they
embrace is that an involuntary movement can be understood out of
context, for example, pupil movement. The pupils enlarge to take in
more information and contract to block it out.
That action does give you a clue about the person’s emotional
state, but without context you will not know if the pupils dilated
because of sexual arousal or fear, or if they narrowed to pinpoints
because of disgust.
Context contains a number of elements in addition to gestures
and facial expressions, such as space, time, and even smell.
What to expect
At the end of the session on reading body language, my students
look at everyone differently. From their prisoners or employees to
their in-laws, they have a more intelligent understanding of what
the other chimps are saying to them.
They, and now you, will look at newsreels of Adolf Hitler’s
wild, flailing arms and see something that his desperate followers
did not. You will understand why, years after his insane despotry,
many people still call him a communications genius; you will per-
ceive the mechanisms that allowed him to be effective. You will
also see gestures that bleed sickness.
You will regain something your primitive ancestors used daily:
a second sight to body language.