The Book of Tells (Peter Collett)[unlocked]

TELLS
sometimes be taken to extremes. In the animal world, for
example, there are macro-tells, like the male fiddler crab's
enormous red claw, which is even bigger than his body,
and which he waves around whenever he wants to
intimidate other males or impress the females. In our
society there are men who pump iron and take bodyenhancing
drugs so that they look more muscular, and
women who submit to the surgeon's knife in order to
enhance their bum or increase the size of their breasts.
Over-sized claws, large biceps and massive breasts are all
weapons in the escalating war of dominance and
attraction - they are designed to attract attention, to get the
message across, to outclass the competition and ultimately
to enable the individual to gain access to limited resources
like food, shelter or sexual partners.
Micro-tells
There are two situations where signals get smaller. One is
where there's a deliberate attempt to ensure secrecy, and
the other is where there's unintended disclosure of what's
going on in someone's head. By their very nature, secret
signals are targeted at selected individuals - in order to
remain secret it's essential that only certain people get the
message and that everyone else doesn't. Very often this is
achieved by using a miniature signal and by attaching it to
an everyday action that doesn't attract attention. Lovers
sometimes communicate in code, using special words or
tiny signs when they're with other people - in this way
they can exchange loving signals without anyone else
knowing. In a similar fashion, members of secret societies
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