GETTING A LEG UP ON BODY LANGUAGE 69a particularly accurate barometer of how comfortable we feel around
another person; we don’t use it if we feel uncomfortable (see figure 22).
We also cross our legs in the presence of others when we are confident—
and confidence is part of comfort. Let’s examine why this is such an hon-
est and revealing lower limb behavior.
When you cross one leg in front of the other while standing, you re-
duce your balance significantly. From a safety standpoint, if there were a
real threat, you could neither freeze very easily nor run away because, in
that stance, you are basically balanced on one foot. For this reason, the
limbic brain allows us to perform this behavior only when we feel com-
fortable or confident. If a person is standing by herself in an elevator
with one leg crossed over the other, she will immediately uncross her legs
and plant both feet firmly on the floor when a stranger steps into the el-
evator. This is a sign that the limbic brain is saying, “You can’t take any
chances; you may have to deal with a potential threat or problem now, so
put both feet firmly on the ground!”
When I see two colleagues talking to each other and they both have
their legs crossed, I know they are comfortable with each other. First,
We normally cross our legs when we feel
comfortable. The sudden presence of
someone we don’t like will cause us to
uncross our legs.Fig. 22