The Definitive Book of Body Language

We have a colleague, Bob, who enjoys playing chess. We chal-

lenged him to a competition, which we secretly videotaped for

later analysis of his body language. The video revealed that

Bob often rubbed his ear or touched his nose during the game,

but only when he was unsure of his next move. We discovered

that when we signalled an intention to move a chess piece by

touching it, Bob's body language would signal what he

thought about the proposed move. When he felt he could beat

a move, and had probably already thought of a counter move,

he'd signal his confidence by Steepling; when he was uncertain

or unhappy he'd use the Mouth Cover, Ear Pull or Neck

Scratch. This happened with such predictability that when we

secretly explained Bob's cues to the other members of our

chess group, soon most could beat poor old Bob by anticipat-

ing his thoughts from his body language. Bob has not been

offered a copy of this book.

The Double Meaning

During a videotaped role-play interview, our interviewee sud-
denly covered his mouth and rubbed his nose after he had been
asked a question by the interviewer. He used the Mouth Cover
for several seconds before answering, then returned to his open
pose. Up to that point in the role-play, the interviewee had kept
an open posture with his coat unbuttoned, palms visible,
nodding his head and leaning forward when he answered ques-
tions, so we thought the gestures might have been isolated or
out of context. On reviewing the videotape, we asked him
about the hand-to-mouth gesture and he said that when he
was asked the question, he thought he could have responded in
two ways: one negative, one positive. As he thought about the
negative answer and of how the interviewer might react to it,
he covered his mouth. When he thought of the positive answer,
however, his hand dropped away from his mouth and he

Why Bob Always Lost at Chess

Evaluation and Deceit Signals