For many years I have been reading the nonverbal cues of celebrity couples to see what is going on in their relationships. One set of cues that you can use to read your relationship are Tie signs.
Tie signs are Nonverbal cues that communicate intimacy and signal the connection between two people. Tie signs can be objects such as wedding rings or tattoos like a I love Sarah heart, that are symbolic of another person or the relationship, actions such as sharing the same drinking glass, or touch behaviors such as hand-holding. My most visited article on this blog and on my website is what playing with a wedding ring means. Guess what, playing with a wedding ring is a low tie sign!
Walid A. Afifi and Michelle L. Johnson, “The Nature and Function of Tie-Signs,” in The Sourcebook of Nonverbal Measures: Going beyond Words, ed. Valerie Manusov (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005): 190. Talk about touch behaviors Tie signs. They are what I look at the most frequently as they can communicate much about a relationship based on the area being touched, the length of time, and the intensity of the touch. I often look for mutual touch in couple photos. Kisses and hugs, for example, are considered tie signs, but there are so many kinds of kisses and hugs. a kiss on the cheek is different from a kiss on the mouth and a full embrace is different from a half embrace. (Look at my blog posts on Hugs and their definition and what different Kisses mean.)
If you consider yourself a “people watcher,” start noticing the various tie signs you see couples people use and what they might say about the relationship.
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - 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. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert
