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Why Do We Widen Our Eyes in Fear and Surprise and Narrow Our Eyes in Anger and Disgust?

Why do we widen and narrow our eyes when we feel different emotions?
Eye widening vs. Eye narrowing

Eye widening - Fear and Surprise - The eye widening increases light and sensitivity, expands our field of vision and we see more of what we like or what is threatening.

Eye narrowing - Anger and Disgust - The eye narrowing squint reduces light and sharpens our focus on the source of our displeasure.


Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
     

Who Makes More Eye Contact The Listener or the Speaker?

Who makes more eye contact the listener or the speaker? 

The listener does and should make the most eye contact in a regular conversation. The speaker actually breaks eye contact to signal they are beginning to speak and the listener makes the most eye contact to signal he is listening. 

Researchers postulate (such a fun word) that the higher cognitive load necessary for thinking of what to say and how to say it requires that the speaker break eye contact and  "rest" from the load it takes to make continuous eye contact.

Other research suggest that eye accessing cues used to access certain kinds of information in the brain take priority over looking at the listener. In my programs I recommend that if you want to be a good listener maintain eye contact 70 percent of the time.

Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
     

What does cutting hair after a traumatic event mean non verbally? What does it mean when a woman cuts her hair?

What does cutting hair after a traumatic event mean non verbally?
No matter what the length our hair it tells the world who we are, without us having to say one word. Hair cutting can then symbolize any transition. It makes sense that when our outside lives change, we have been hurt, we end a relationship, we get ready for our wedding or perhaps a long trip to the outback or a new job that we change our hair, one of the first things people see and notice about us. What’s on top of our head reflects are thoughts and our emotions.
Some women who have been traumatized, victimized cut their hair as a symbolic self-beating or mutilation to show the world their pain, their victimization. It says, “I have been scarred and cut on the inside, so let my head show my inner hurt.” Sometimes its bulk and ability to cover us, makes it a security blanket, or shield that protects us from close observation and harm and cutting it away can says, “I am vulnerable to harm, I cannot protect myself.”
Historically, hair was seen as a holding power, some even going so far to believe it acted as a sense organ or antenna and or held memories. Across ancient history you find often that when people where conquered or enslaved their hair was cut to show others they were enslaved. It was understood that hair show power and that cutting it would serve as punishment. Think of the biblical story or Sampson and Delilah cut Sampson hair and the undefeatable Sampson was defeated. So cutting your hair brutally would symbolically say, “I have no longer have power.”
For many women, long hair is a fantasy women, “I am a fairy tale princess feature. We were raised on the perfect fantasy princess and Cinderella, Sleeping beauty, Snow White, and Ariel, they all have long hair. Sometimes our long hair feels like a beauty fantasy builder, Evolutionary psychology research shows that women’s hair is a signal for mate selection, there is significant correlation between hair length and age, (younger women tend to have longer hair than older women) and hair length and quality can act as a cue to a women’s you and health. So if a women has been sexually abuse would want to cut off what she may mistakenly believe her is the part of her that attracted harm so it says, “I cut my hair to show I am not longer want to be sexually attractive, in fact I am ugly so be repelled”  
Finally, some women cut their hair to symbolically cut off the old and start anew.  The hair cutting for them can is a symbolic freeing from chains, a liberation or merely shedding of an “old skin” or simplifying, making life easier and gaining time. So symbolic a women that cuts her hair can be symbolically shedding of the societal standards of beauty, cutting off expectations that she will act like a traditional women, changing how she looked in the past, and embracing a new self.








Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
     

A Body Language Expert Breaks Down This Group's Collective Gesture

A Body Language Expert Breaks Down
This Group's Collective Gesture

Here's an image that Kentucky University basketball fans can probably relate to after Sunday's last-second loss in the NCAA Tournament to the University of North Carolina.


Video of fans riding an emotional rollercoaster at a sports bar during the last 20 seconds of the game — which ended in a two-point defeat for Kentucky and a trip to the Final Four for UNC— went viral on Twitter after the game. As the weight of the loss settled in, many expressed their dismay with the same non-verbal cue: hands on the top of the head, elbows out to the side.

The pose actually resembles a conventional "power pose" — but with one subtle change, body language expert Patti Wood told ATTN:
This is actually a "slight variation in a cue that means almost exactly the opposite to what they're using it for in this instance," Wood said.
Traditionally, the "crown-and-cape" pose — as Wood defines it — is used when a person wants or has power over a situation. Think about a business executive leaning back in their chair, hands behind their head and elbows extended outward.



The hand placement is important from a body language perspective, Wood explained. Most of the Kentucky fans have their hands on the top of their head, as opposed to behind their head, and that's meant "to protect from a blow." "What's interesting is that combination of the elbows out with the hands on top of the head for protection," Wood said. "It's a mixture of, 'Oh my god, we had the power and we lost it.' You've got the combination of the cape, which would have been a win, and the hands on top — we lost the win."

If you watch the video, you can understand where that emotional combination comes from. Down three points with 10 seconds on the clock, Kentucky's Malik Monk gets the ball and makes an impressive shot from the three-point line, tying up the game.


Then UNC's Luke Maye answers by hitting the game winning shot with less than a second left on the clock, ripping the rug out from under Kentucky fans' feet.

"There's a unity of emotion — you're feeling it as a group together and that's what that photo is showing," Wood said. "You're all feeling that same loss in that moment."

Link to actual article: 


Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.
     

T.I. & Tiny Faking Their Love - All For Show!

Patti read the body language of T. I. & Tiny as they celebrated their daughter's birthday....read her insights below:

Hmm. T.I. and Tiny looked like the picture-perfect couple while celebrating their daughter’s birthday together on March 26. But HollywoodLife.com showed their family photo to a body language expert, and we’ve learned there may be more to the photo than meets the eye. Get all the details here!

“If you look at the full ‘effect’ of his face, T.I. is showing displeasure and the fingers of his hand that would normally be held curled and held tightly together to show connection and affection, are spread out and held straight, with no bend at the knuckles. He is posing. Tiny is in bliss as she looks at her daughter. She is happy being with her daughter, but not necessarily with her estranged husband,” body language expert Patti Wood tells HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY.


These shocking claims are based on a photo T.I. shared from his daughter Princess Heiress‘ birthday party over the weekend. In the picture, he’s posing with estranged wife, Tiny, and their kids. “Brought Disney World to US!!!! #GodisGood #HappyBirthdayHeiress#ProudPops #TodayWasAGreatDay,” he captioned the image on March 26. Obviously, he seemed very happy to be with his family, but according to Patti Wood, it was all for show.


Patti Wood, MA - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at www.snapfirstimpressions.com.