The Book of Tells (Peter Collett)[unlocked]

THE BOOK OF TELLS
elongated and the eyes no longer appear round and staring.
Shrugging Tells
When Darwin came to apply the principle of antithesis to
humans he selected the shrug. 'With mankind,' he wrote,
'the best instance of a gesture standing in direct opposition
to other movements, naturally assumed under the opposite
frame of mind, is that of shrugging the shoulders.'
According to Darwin, the natural contrast to the feelings of
helplessness associated with the shrug is the frame of mind
associated with displays of indignation. In the case of the
shrug, he tells us, the shoulders are raised, the elbows
are pulled inwards, the hands are raised and the fingers
are extended. In contrast, displays of indignation are
characterized by a squaring of the shoulders. The chest is
expanded, the limbs are held rigid and the fists are
clenched.
This all seems very convincing, but it is in fact mistaken,
because displays of indignation are not the opposite of the
shrug. Indignation, as Darwin calls it, involves a raised
head, with the shoulders thrown back, whereas in the
shrug the shoulders are raised and the head is typically
placed to one side. The opposite of raising the head is
lowering the head, and the opposite of throwing the
shoulders back is curling them forward. What Darwin saw
as the act of indignation was really a display of
dominance. In man, raising the head and drawing the
shoulders back signals dominance, while lowering
the head and drawing the shoulders forward signals submission.
In the shrug, however, the head is placed to one
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