Check out Patti's thoughts on the subject of Speaker Showcase at the link below!
http://speakersponsor.com/speaker-showcase/
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.
Their Signature Stance Shows Off Their Style - But It Actually Reveals A Lot About Them, Too! - What's in a Pose?
There is no doubt that these stars manipulate their body language to portray a certain image. But do they realize just how much of themselves they are actually revealing? A closer look tells fans who has something to hide, who is looking for a fight and who wants you to know she is calling the shots!
BLAKE: STRIVING FOR SEXY
Blake Lively isn't fully comfortable according to Patti. The hand on the hip is something she's taken on to be more sexy - but it's not fully her, it's not relaxed. The real Blake is more private says Patti. The leg cross is a protective posture. There is part of her that she does not want to reveal.
KRISTEN: TOUGH CHICK
Kristen Stewart has the body language of a teenage boy according to Patti. The way she holds her shoulders out and down, like a rebel without a cause, is antagonistic. She is even fighting down to her feet! Her feet are apart, which is masculine. Women tend to do that only when they argue.
BEYONCE: SO IN CHARGE
Beyonce is the boss! Both hands on hips is a power pose according to Patti. She juts her hip so it is more come-hither. But the sex appeal does not stop there. This girl has major body confidence. The way her hands are palms-down on her hips says that she likes that she is a very curvy and a sensuous woman.
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.
Ashlee and Evan are Closer Than Ever
At the start of their romance last year, when Ashlee Simpson and Evan Ross stepped out at Hollywood's Roosevelt Hotel, "there was a tremendous amount of distance," observes Patti. "They are not in sync and hadn't figured out how to handle the relationship."
Patti gives this "pulling away" couple a 2 on the Life & Style True Love Rating scale.
But on a shopping run this summer, the now-engaged pair are in step and they are showing a playful, comfortable ease with each other according to Patti.
Patti gives this "leaning in" couple a 5 on the Life & Style True Love Rating scale.
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.
Can Body Language Indicate Personality Traits and Type?
Many of you know that I have been
researching the relationship between body language and the DISC personality
assessment for many years. After reading about movement analysis being used to
determine Putin’s decision making style I have been looking at some of the
newest research in personality and nonverbal communication. Here is a great
article on some of the research. I have several other articles if you search on
my blog for personality or DISC or gestures and speakers.
Note the yellow highlighted information.
The following article was posted on http://postnihilism.blogspot.com/2011/07/can-body-language-indicate-personality.html
Can Body Language Indicate Personality
Traits?
In
my previous discussion paper, “The Tarot as a Source of Ancient Personality
Theory”, one of the more interesting findings was that some characteristics of
the court cards, which are believed to represent people in your life, had to do
with the way people move, such as ‘graceful’, ‘swift’, ‘acute’, ‘slow’ and
‘clumsy’. As a result this researcher was lead to question whether personality
may actually be indicated in how a person moves and carries themselves.
However, current personality theory does not associate traits with physical
movement within any of the Five Factor Model of personality characteristics.
Even though people tend to use their first impressions about a person to make
quick judgments regarding personality, surprisingly little research is
available to further our understanding of how exactly this might work. In this
paper we will examine whether any current research on body language could lend
itself to personality theory and expand present knowledge in this area.
An interesting tool recently used in
assessment of personality and body language is Laban Movement Analysis. Created
by Rudolf Laban to describe interpret and document human movement for dancers,
actors, athletes and health professionals, LMA is also being incorporated by
psychologists into these theories by correlating movements with emotional state
and personality variables (Levy & Duke, 2003). LMA also takes a gender
based approach, finding subtle differences in the expression of particular
emotions between males and females. For example, in males anxiety may be
expressed by increased use of shrinking movements while dominance, achievement
and exhibitionism is expressed by decreased use of enclosing movements.
Females, in contrast, expressed anxiety by a decreased tendency to change back
and fourth between efforts and lack of emphasis in effort, as well as decreased
sagittal movements. Dominance and exhibition is expressed by a decreased use of
spreading movements. This indicates that there may be some subtle gender based
difference in emotional expression in body language.
Another study examined whether body
language could be linked to desire for control. In a study more than 700
participants were asked to sit and stand in a variety of positions (Rhoads,
2002). In addition, the same subjects completed need for control tests and the
results were correlated. Results indicated that people who crossed their arms
with the right arm in the dominant position, with the right shoulder elevated,
as well as which side they favor when they stand or sit was positively
correlated with desire for control. Highly controlling people are associated
with characteristics in the low agreeableness trait.
A very informative study covers a much
more holistic view of personality assessment based on body language.
Politicians giving speeches were transformed into animated stick figures and
shown to subjects, who rated the five personality factors of the figure based
on gestures (Koppensteiner & Grammer, 2010). Overall subjects were found to
be very adept at associating meaning to gestures and movements. Stick figures
with more low arm gesture activity interrupted with smaller periods of high
activity were regarded as more agreeable than stick figures with overall high
activity. High extraversion was associated with high overall activity and only
brief low activity periods. Stick figures with greater head movements were
considered less conscientious, more neurotic and less open compared to stick
figures with head movements with less amplitude. High openness was associated
with pronounced changes in movement direction, and round movements were
considered linked to less openness. Making smooth transitions in movement from
one activity peak to the next was associated with low neuroticism, whereas high
neuroticism was linked to sudden changes in gestures and making these changes
more often. Although further study is required to confirm if these traits are
consistent, it gives us considerable insight integrating particular movement
patterns with trait theory.
Overall we can start to see connections between body
language and personality. High extraversion seems to be connected to more
movement, broader, sweeping movements and increased saggital movement. High
neuroticism could be seen in shrinking, enclosing movements, decreased saggital
movement, more head movement and more sudden, jerky movement. Openness may be
linked with more profound changes in movement direction, and conscientiousness
with less head movements. Agreeableness may be linked to low periods of activity
with short periodic bursts of high activity, as well as displaying more
submissive body language such as crossing arms with the left arm dominant as
well as sitting and standing with the left shoulder favored relative to the
right.
Going
back to the original traits under consideration we could see swiftness as a
trait of high extraversion and slowness associated with low extraversion.
Graceful gestures could indicate a smoothness of movement linked to low
neuroticism. Finally, acute movement could also indicate increased confidence,
and hence low neuroticism, or it may indicate high neuroticism if gestures are
sharp and change frequently. It is surprising this has not been an area of more
intense research, since the research that has been done would seem to indicate
that this method of personality assessment is constantly employed by nearly
everyone, and deserves to be better understood.
References
Koppensteiner,
M. & Grammer, K. 2010. Motion patterns in political speech and their
influence on personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 44,
374-379.
Levy,
J. A. & Duke, M. P. 2003. The use of Laban Movement Analysis in the study
of personality, emotional state and movement style: An exploratory
investigation of the veridicality of “body language”. Individual Differences
Research, 1, 39-63.
Rhoads, S. A. 2002.
Using body language as a measurement of the personality trait of desire for
control. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B: The Sciences and
Engineering, 63, 2996
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.
Body Language Tips for an Expert Witness on the Stand
You are sitting in a hard chair on a raised platform being
asked question after question by a hard hitting attorney while a courtroom full
of people watch your every move. Welcome to the hot seat! As a physician
testifying as a defendant or serving as an expert witness, your experience on
the stand can be daunting. Understanding
how to use your nonverbal communication to feel confident and credible on the
stand will make a difference in the outcome.
Here are the keys to ensuring that your nonverbal
communication conveys the same message of impeccable integrity as your words.
It is important to know that how you hold your body can
actually change how you feel. You can influence how you look and feel on the
stand by consciously controlling your nonverbal cues.
Under stress the limbic brain normally makes us freeze,
flee, fight or faint or give up. Your body may react by freezing in place,
appear to be fleeing by pulling your body back, or folding your limbs in to
look small. Other reactions to stress may be to become tense and angry, going
limp and giving up. You can take steps to reduce those stress responses and
increase your credibility.
You want to be aware of the dance between you and the
opposing counsel, instead of being reactive to the opposing team’s attorney.
Use the following tips to be an effective credible witness.
Space
You want to look powerful, like a true
expert, but not appear arrogant. Instead of going still and getting small, take
up space and get big. When you need a shot of confidence put your arms on the
armrest of your chair, or stretch out your feet a bit. Research says that women on the stand tend to
perch, on the edge of the seat arching their backs, making them look less
powerful. Men tend to slouch, relying more on the backrest, making them appear
disrespectful. Purposefully vary your position to be in control, but when you
feel stressed, get big.
Openness
Imagine that there are “windows” on the front of your body, the
windows of the knees,
pelvis, heart, mouth, eyes, and palms of the hands. These body windows can be
open or closed. You want to keep your windows open to look honest and unafraid.
The most important window for credibly is the palms of the hands. The limbic
brain of the viewer senses danger and dishonesty when the palms of someone’s
hands are hidden. Keep your hands open and in
view on the table or the arms of the chair. Gesture normally, but don’t use
sharp, cutting or poking motions that can be read as symbolic weapons.
Stay Up
When you’re confident and honest your gestures move up, your head
comes up, your shoulders come up and back, you sit and move in a way that
directs your energy upward.
People who are afraid and or are lying have difficulty moving and
staying up.
Get Grounded
When people are nervous, they tend to either move a lot or freeze.
Here’s a trick: when you’re in the thick of the most difficult questions, and
want to achieve the highest levels of cognition, place both feet firmly on the
ground slightly apart. This placement
actually makes it easier to utilize both hemispheres of the brain
— the rational and the creative-emotional. If you feel yourself freeze, move
your feet apart and/or forward to feel strong.
Lean into It
We tend to pull back when we are fearful or offended by a
question. Lean forward as you listen to show you are interested and confident.
You can lean forward with your head, your upper torso, or your whole body to
show you are connecting to what the lawyer is saying and you are not afraid.
Lean in when you are being questioned by your team to show respect. But don’t
overdo it, you’re not trying to “get in their face.” So don’t lean forward
quickly or aggressively, just aim for gentle timely leans.
Speak with Strength
Everyone, but especially women, should be sure that their voices
stay strong until the end of each sentences. Going up high in pitch at the end
of your sentences makes you sound unsure of yourself. Practice answering
questions with a confident voice going down in pitch, steady and strong in
volume, to the end of your sentences.
Match Your Movement and Your Words
Make sure your gestures and movements match what you are saying.
If you say “That is accurate” and shake your head “no” the jury will believe
your body language, not your words. Be careful of being too scripted or
automatic. If your emotion and facial expressions and gestures do not match you
seem inauthentic.
Keep Your Hands Away
From Your Face
Be careful of showing “stress cues.” When we are feeling stressed the nerve
endings fire at the tip of the nose, edge of the ears, around the mouth, and
eyes. You may have an urge to touch or rub your face. Don’t! It makes you look uncertain or
dishonest. If you need to comfort yourself, briefly place a hand on your leg
out of view which will help you feel anchored.
Mind Your Mouth
The mouth
is the source of truth and lies. Avoid licking your lips or pressing your lips
tightly together. Keep hydrated and keep your lips relaxed.
Giving a
deposition or testifying in a trial is an experience that is part of being an
EM physician. Knowing the nonverbal
messages that people use to ascertain whether you are telling the truth will
help ensure that you are perceived as being the credible witness that you are.
Ms. Patti Wood, MA, CSP is a body language consultant and
professional speaker, and the author of eight books, including “Success Signals
Understanding Body Language” and “SNAP Making the Most of First Impressions
Body Language and Charisma.” She is interviewed by national media every week,
including CNN, FOX NEWS, The Today Show, The History Channel, The Wall Street
Journal, Forbes and Psychology Today. You can contact her at Patti@PattiWood.net.
Dr. Sagan is an emergency physician and an attorney based in
Woodmere, New York. He can be reached at DougSegan@Yahoo.com.
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.
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