reaction, or output. The process is straightforward and simple, requiring no
prior experience or learned behaviour.
An example of inborn behaviour is the rapid raising and lowering of the eye-
brows as a sign of greeting, a gesture that can be seen around the world.
Stamping feet in anger and baring teeth when enraged also seem to be inborn
behaviours. It seems that no matter how far humans evolve from their prehis-
toric relatives, the basic urges and actions remain the same.
Learned gestures ..................................................................................
The English zoologist, human behavioural scientist, and author, Desmond
Morris, believes that human beings have an abundant variety of actions that,
in addition to being genetically inherited, are learned behaviours. Some of
these behaviours are discovered, others are absorbed, some are taught, and
still others are acquired in a combination of ways.
Discovering actions for yourself
Most people around the world are born with similar hands, arms, and legs,
and move and gesture with them in pretty much the same way. An African
warrior, a London banker, and a Minnesota farmer with their similar arms,
all discover, at some point in their lives, how to fold them across their chests.
No one taught them how to take that pose. During the growing up process,
as they became familiar with their bodies, they unconsciously discovered
they were able to do this. Most of the time you don’t even know how you
perform the gesture. When you cross your arms over your chest, which
one’s on top? See what I mean?
Absorbed actions
Observe a group of teenage girls, watch the guys in the boardroom, or the
celebrities on the red carpet and you notice that within each grouping a
similar pattern of behaviour exists. Humans are imitative characters, easily
influenced by the actions of others, especially if the others are considered
to be of a higher status. The higher the status, the more they’re copied.
Without being aware of it, the people within the individual groups reflect
one another’s actions, gestures, postures, and expressions.
You absorb most from those you admire.
Chapter 2: Looking Closer at Non-verbal Gestures 39