Culture: The Big External Influence 57
way, can you imagine the additional social pressure each one had to
remain a smoker after years, or even a few months, of repeating
this pattern Monday through Friday?
As this example shows, then, you can have very narrow social
norms, as well as very broad ones, such as those associated with
your service in the military or your national heritage (for example,
you put your hand over your heart when you pledge allegiance to
the flag).
These types of social norms and cultural rituals are an overlay for
everyone who is alive. In reading body language, therefore, you
absolutely have to consider them. Think in terms of what distinctive
traits or marks you can identify based on how they identify each other.
In practicing your identification skills, pay attention to what
people do at all kinds of events associated with a culture. Whether
they are rites of passage, such as a wedding or funeral, or enter-
tainment, they showcase ritual behavior of that culture. Weddings
and funerals provide formal examples of how people in that group
display love and grief as an overlay to the involuntary ways that all
human beings express love and grief. Sporting events exhibit how
people in a culture demonstrate support. Do they cheer and
applaud their own team more than they boo and throw beer cans at
the opponent? The differences are the basis for sub-cultural stereo-
types such as “Phillies’ fans” who seem to boo with their whole
bodies. As for Hollywood culture, the Academy Awards are a good
occasion to see how ritual is not always synchronous with an actor’s