68 I Can Read You Like a Book R
silence; and moving the hand quickly in a circle as a
way of saying, “Speed it up.” In the Austin Powers
movie, Dr. Evil clamps his fingers over his thumb to
suggest his hand is talking whenever he wants his
underlings to shut up.
ƒ Adaptors: Gestures to release stress, to adjust the
body as a way to increase the comfort level. Examples
are hand-wringing, neck rubbing, and curling the toes.
People often develop idiosyncratic adaptors; they also
can look very different depending on whether a man
or a woman is doing them. I’ll explore these facts
later.
ƒ Barriers: Postures and gestures we use when we
are uncomfortable. Examples include standing behind
a table, turning sideways, and, sometimes, crossing
arms while in conversation. Everyone has seen some-
one sitting smugly behind a desk appearing confident
and secure. Our primitive ancestors knew the value
of such barriering, long before we had desks, and left
us a legacy of natural techniques using only the body.
These concepts will help us speak a common language as we
spotlight body movements and reactions from scalp to sole.
Forehead
We use our faces, the organ of expression in Desmond Morris’s
terms, in ways that we rarely realize. Despite the variations, there
