The Book of Tells (Peter Collett)[unlocked]

THE BOOK OF TELLS
an air of perpetual grumpiness - it makes them look
dominant!
A good example of affected grumpiness may be seen in
the TV series, The Weakest Link, in which the presenter,
Anne Robinson, makes a point of not smiling. She also
uses another dominance tell: looking over the top of her
spectacles when she wants to make the contestants look
stupid. This is in fact one of her trademark tells, and it fits
very well with the role she's chosen to project of a rather
dominant and cold-hearted presenter. Looking over the
top of the spectacles works in this way because it draws
attention to the eyes - it says in effect, 'Look at me, I'm
lowering my glasses so that I can get a clear, unobstructed
view of you; there's nothing you can hide from me!' The
overlook tell is therefore a gesture of confrontation; it's a
prelude to what zoologists call an 'agonistic stare'. The
effect of the gesture is even stronger when it's accompanied
by a slight dip of the head, because this makes the
stare more threatening.
Thin lips are another sign of dominance because they
show that someone is determined. As we shall see later
on, smiling is a highly affiliative gesture - it's a sign of
openness and acceptance, and that's why it doesn't feature
in the roles played by Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef.
Researchers have found that men who are judged to be
dominant, and who have high levels of testosterone,
actually produce much smaller smiles, but that the same
relationship doesn't hold for women. 18 Some dominant
individuals never seem to smile at all. President Vladimir
Putin of Russia is a good example of a national leader
who's very sparing with his smiles. Although he's
athletic, Putin isn't very tall, and he has a small chin. Not
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