Reading Body Language

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Part I: In the Beginning Was the Gesture
Adaptors
Adaptors include changes in posture and other movements, made with little
awareness. These body adjustments are to perform a specific function, or to
make the person more comfortable. Because they occur with such a low level
of awareness, they’re considered to be the keys to understanding what someone
really thinks. Adaptors principally comprise body-focussed movements,
such as rubbing, touching, scratching, and so on.
Example: Shifting body and/or feet position when seated.
The significance given to adaptors may be overstated as well as oversimplified.
Many adaptor movements, such as shifting position while seated, may
be simply a way of resolving a specific physical situation, such as being
uncomfortable, rather than revealing emotions and attitudes.
Inborn responses
A newborn baby latches onto its mother’s breast and begins to suckle. A
child born blind and deaf smiles, frowns, and cries. These reactions aren’t
taught. Inborn responses to specific stimuli such as these require no practice
or knowledge and are performed unconsciously, unprompted, and without
self-analysis.
Some movements are so familiar that you take them completely for granted.
Asked how to do them and you wouldn’t have a clue. Take for example, interlocking
fingers. Every person has a dominant thumb, which consistently rests
on top of the other when you interlock your fingers. If you were asked which
of your thumbs rests on top you probably wouldn’t know and would have to
have a look to find out. This doesn’t mean that you can’t reverse the position
and put the other thumb on top. Do it and see what happens. Feels strange,
awkward, and not quite right, doesn’t it?
The study of animal behaviour, especially as it occurs in a natural environment,
was pioneered by Irenaus Eibl-Eibesfeldt, an Austrian scientist and
head of the Max Planck Institute for Behavioural Physiology in Germany. His
interest in humans as ‘signal carriers’ significantly contributed to the field of
Human Ethology, including the study of inborn actions.
The way an inborn action works is like this. Think of your brain as being programmed
like a computer. It’s encoded to connect precise reactions with particular
stimuli involving inputs and outputs. The stimuli, or input, triggers a