The concept of maintaining a stiff upper lip, in which sentiments are reined
in, dates back to the 1800s and is typical of the English approach to protect-
ing private feelings and keeping emotions private. The stiff upper lip comes
in handy when you want to maintain your dignity.An advantage of the stiff upper lip position is that it can make you look brave.
It can also make you look suspicious, as if you’re concealing hidden informa-
tion. As with all gestures, you need to consider the context before leaping to
a conclusion about the meaning of an individual gesture or expression.Research conducted by James Gross of Stanford University and Jane Richards
of the University of Texas at Austin, suggests that people who fight to conceal
their emotions are less able to recall what they see. Tim Dalgliesh, clinical
psychologist at the Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences
Unit in Cambridge, believes that keeping emotions under control is not a
bad plan. He postulates that it’s about keeping the balance between memory
and emotion, and reasons that it can be beneficial to suppress your emotions
in lieu of memory because giving vent to your upset may be worse. So if
you’re in the middle of your yearly appraisal and your boss is finding nothing
good to say about your performance, hold back the outraged shouts and
screams. You may not recall the specifics of his sentiments and that may
be no bad thing if it means you keep your job.Pouting for effect ..................................................................................
The pout is a very comprehensive gesture, indeed. Whoever’s pouting is
making it clear that disappointment, displeasure, frustration, or sadness is in
the air. The pout also reveals sexual interest, as well as uncertainty and
thought.Whatever the reason for the pout, the facial mechanism is the same. In
tandem you contract your chin muscle and the side muscles – the labial trac-
tors – of your lower lip. Your lips press together, your tongue rises against
your palate and your pharynx constricts as it prepares to swallow (see Figure
6-1). Of course, analysing the pout in this rather scientific way makes it seem
a very difficult expression to achieve, but it’s actually quite easy – so easy in
fact that Hollywood starlets and small children have mastered it. ‘You just
put your lips together and blow’ – advice I received one day from an atten-
dant in a ladies’ loo who had been observing my feeble efforts to achieve the
pout that Victoria Beckham had perfected.A displeasure pout is one in which the head drops down, eyes tighten, and
the forehead crinkles. When the lower lip pushes out you may be in for a
tantrum.94 Part II: Starting at the Top