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What Your Street Style Pose Says About You

I was featured in "Refinery 29" today, which is a global fashion news magazine. I gave body language reads and descriptions of several different poses of people attending Fashion Week in New York. What's your street pose? What does it say about you?

To Cool to Stand, or Lean on Me
This stance shows a desire to look “Cool, relaxed and chill.”
The crossed feet are a unique cue, typically crossing means shyness or closure, but crossing the feet in a relaxed stance says “I am so comfortable that I don’t have to have my feet in position to flee or fight.” “I am not scared or threatened” The lean to the side also shows an ease and comfort. Only the subtle cues, sunglasses, one hand in the pocket and the other hand slightly covering the belly show her need to keep her privacy.

The walk away or Run Away, or “caught on tape” pose
“I don’t look good enough for a photo”
The feet move first under pressure and this stance, with the toes pointing away from the camera, the bowed head, and the slouched shoulders protecting the heart. The purse covering her stomach show I don’t think I look good enough, I am embarrassed.

The sassy model or look at me, or happy hoofer, Cheerleader leap
This pose shows you are super confident, joyful and love to be in the limelight.
I call this “up” body language. Upward body cues, up in the air foot, raised arms, upward facing palms, chest up and out, chin and head up are cues or happiness, joy and excitement. She loves herself from her head to her shoes!!! She knows she looks hot.

Red carpet, or the slimmer, or spanx my body, Am I ready for the red carpet?
The hand on the hip is a model technique. It lifts the chest up and up and elongates the upper torso making you look slimmer but because of the elbow out also making the viewer excited. (The elbow out creates a danger silhouette alerting the primitive brain sending it the message I am dangerous. The foot cross in this pose one foot protecting the other in a foot hug, show she knows how to pose the upper half of her body but behind the pose she is really not as confident.
She is not quite ready for the red carpet.

The prim and proper, “I know I am good, but you can’t have me.”
She knows how to take care of herself. She is confident but she doesn’t give it away for free.
The head tilted to the side shows her coyness, It says, “Aren’t I cute.” This is a woman who on one hand says, “come and get me and on the other says, but it won’t be easy.”
Notice how this poser is facing straight on to the photographer, the only poser to do so. She is protecting herself by crossing her feet and using her bag to shield her stomach or say shield herself, but the overall pose says I like myself. She is confident in every clothing and accessory choice. See how the belt is given attention and the bag is held at just the right placement to show it off, not to high and not sagging to low or too far in front to protect her pelvis.

http://www.refinery29.com/what-your-street-style-pose-says-about-you/slideshow?page=2#slide-1


Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://pattiwood.net/. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Nurses Are Aware of Body Language, Yet They are so Open to Training.

Nurses spend so much time with patients. In my master's program my boyfriend was shot in a hunting accident and lost 47 pints of blood in less than 24 hours. He was not supposed to live. He lost his kidney and his spleen and when they found the bullet in his heart his valve was replaced. All those months in the hospital the nurses cared for him. Years ago, When my best friend Roy was dying of AIDS nurses helped him. In fact, on the very last day of his life, the nurse helping him had a small accident and the needle with his blood nicked her finger, the staff was very concerned about her exposure. This was back when getting AIDS mint you had a year or two to live. She asked to speak to me and as I held Roy's had she asked me to tell her all about him. Her heart was so open she wanted to know all the good about the Man who may have inadvertently effected her health. When my friend Dominic had a stroke, the nurses in the brain trauma ICU when out their way not only to help him, put to talk to me and make sure I was OK. Yes I have a great respect for caring nurses. They are so open to learning more about body language so they can read the pain of their patients, and understand their needs.

My friend Michael's mother was a Nurse. Upon her death he formed a foundation to insure that nurses at her hospital would have excellent training and be recognized for their great work. Here is a link to the nurse caring website.

http://nursescaring.com/your-stories/


Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

Emily and the Bachelor Fight? The Body Language of the Bachelor and Emily

I was on Good Morning America today! Good Morning America was interested in a body language experts reads of the Bachelor. I had the crew in my house shooting the segment till late last night. The crew from ABC were real troopers.
To prepare for the interview. I watched the tape of the bachelor responding to Emily's questions concerning his ability and readiness to be a good father for her child and Monday night's show of them interacting.

Check the link to the segment on my YouTube station below. Today it is also on the GMA website if you go to the show you can just watch the bachelor segment. Here is my body language expert appearance on Good Morning America
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjqwVKGfsEg
Episode of the bachelor and comment on the chosen girl - Emily's body language

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://pattiwood.net/. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

The Bachelor and Emily Fight, What was their body language on the last few episodes.

Emily & the bachelor fight? The body language of the bachelor and Emily. I was on Good Morning America Today as a body language expert. I had the crew in my house shooting the segment till late last night. The crew where real troopers. last Emily & the bachelor fight. On episode of the bachelor. episode of the bachelor and comment on the chosen girl’s body language. Link to the interview to follow
One of the most telling cues occurs at the end of the interview with the shows host. They hug, but in that last little frame you can see Emily's elbow go up and almost wack him in the head. She elbows him out of her life!!
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

What Does Your Body Shape Say About You?

When I was teaching body language at Florida State
I talked about Sheldon's Body Shapes and Personality.
In one of the first attempts to do psychological profiling of criminals Sheldon
discovered that muscular men committed more crimes. It seems logical, but we can't assume all muscular men will commit crimes. Though it was content from the Kaplin Textbook for the actual research on the correlation between body shape and personality as stated by Sheldon is not seen as credible.
The idea that body shape means something about you,is interesting.

Personality based on Sheldon's Body Shapes

Sheldon Says there are three main body shapes,

"Endomorph | Ectomorph | Mesomorph | So what?



Sheldon noted three personalities based on their physical make-up.

Endomorph
The Endomorph is physically quite 'round', and is typified as the 'barrel of fun' person. They tend to have:

Wide hips and narrow shoulders, which makes them rather pear-shaped.
Quite a lot of fat spread across the body, including upper arms and thighs.
They have quite slim ankles and wrists, which only serves to accentuate the fatter other parts.
Psychologically, the endomorph is:

Sociable
Fun-loving
Love of food
Tolerant
Even-tempered
Good humored
Relaxed
With a love of comfort
And has a need for affection
Ectomorph
The Ectomorph is a form of opposite of the Endomorph. Physically, they tend to have:

Narrow shoulders and hips
A thin and narrow face, with a high forehead
A thin and narrow chest and abdomen
Thin legs and arms
Very little body fat
Even though they may eat as much as the endomorph, they never seem to put on weight (much to the endomorph's chagrin). Psychologically they are:

Self-conscious
Private
Introverted
Inhibited
Socially anxious
Artistic
Intense
Emotionally restrained
Thoughtful
Mesomorph
The mesomorph is somewhere between the round endomorph and the thin ectomorph. Physically, they have the more 'desirable' body, and have:

Large head, broad shoulders and narrow waist (wedge-shaped).
Muscular body, with strong forearms and and thighs
Very little body fat
They are generally considered as 'well-proportioned'. Psychologically, they are:

Adventurous
Courageous
Indifferent to what others think or want
Assertive/bold
Zest for physical activity
Competitive
With a desire for power/dominance
And a love of risk/chance
So what?
Psychological profiling based on anatomical features is generally not considered to be reliable these days. Nevertheless, such patterns do have some level of interest, and old theories are often ingrained in society, as well as being based on some form of observation.

The best approach is to use this as a test. When you meet a person who seems to fit in with the physical characteristics above, be curious to see if they also fit into the psychological profile. If it all works as predicted, then well and good (it may be that they are actually in a self-fulfilling prophesy, where they fit themselves to the appropriate model). Otherwise, look elsewhere for ways to understand the person.

Sheldon's original work included attempts to characterize criminals (in the style of Lombroso's original work in this area). Unsurprisingly, he found that a number were muscular mesomorphs, as violent crimes are likely to be carried out by strong men. The trap beyond this is to assume that all mesomorphs are criminal in nature. This is not unlike the work that 'proved' women to be less intelligent than men because they have smaller brains! "



See also






Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.