The Ultimate Body Language Book

gaming industry. He revealed some interesting findings as they apply to massive role playing games
such as “Second Life.” In these games, users create personalized characters and interact with other
players in a rule-free environment. Characters are free to interact as they please, have houses,
automobiles, jobs and attend social gatherings. There are no set parameters to these interactive games
yet Dr. Yee found that users still followed set non-verbal rules. That is, male characters tended to hold
larger distances between other males and females tended to hold less distance between themselves and
other females. Male characters also maintained less eye contact with other males whereas females did
not. His research also draws attention to other social norms such as avoiding interactions with more
eccentric characters. In one case, it was a naked character in a city park setting.
It seems therefore that non-verbal body language norms are so engrained in us through our culture and
genetics that we bring these into environments that aren’t even real showing that body language is
potent and ubiquitous!
Chapter 1 - Why The Study Of Body Language Is Important
The Types Of People You Will Read – Introverts
Vs. Extroverts
There are essentially two types of personalities that exist in the world around us. They are introverted
and extroverted each type have a subset called “OK” and “Not OK” (which is discussed next).
Introverted describes a personality that is inward thinking, they recover from life by being with
themselves and reflecting. The will normally enjoy nature or a good book, prefer quiet areas where not
a lot of people distract them. These people will often be found alone and prefer jobs that don’t involve
a lot of people and that they can do independently. Being introverted doesn’t mean that a person is
antisocial and it’s not a personality deficiency, it only means that someone is more comfortable being
alone with their own thoughts than being in the spotlight. Extroverted people are the very opposite.
They find social situations necessary and stimulating and “recharge” by hanging out with friends or
going out. The like being in busy places like malls or city cores, in acting outwardly and garnering
attention through telling jokes or acting funny.
Physiologists now believe that there is an actual physical difference between the nervous system of
introverts and extroverts. Introverts are more easily stimulated by social interactions and quickly
become oversaturated to the point where they become agitated and feel a need to withdraw. Extroverts
can’t find enough stimulation and constantly need to find people to be around, and socialize with, and
use social contact to feel satisfied. How you use your time most often will tell you which of the two
personality types you are. With every classification, there are variants however, and people can be a
mix of the two or can fall in at the extremities.
The body language of introverts in public places will be rigid; they will zone out more quickly or find
quiet places and park themselves. They are at ease being alone even when at parties and might even
take breaks away from the noise to ‘chill out’. They’ll spend more time at home and less time in
nightclubs. The nonverbal language of the introvert will show more closed body positions. Their
shoulders will pull in, they will orient their bodies away from others, they might be less animated and
they will often be the first to stop speaking and resort to listening or observing others instead. They
might even keep their distance more frequently, be soft spoken, initiate touch on others less and avoid
eye contact. Extroverts are the opposite and tend to spontaneously turn toward people, they will start up
conversations with random people, they will touch more in conversation and talk more frequently to