50 Fun Facts About Body Language

In which Balkan country does shaking the head from side to side traditionally mean "yes" rather than "no"?

Bulgaria flips the code most of the world uses: a sideways shake signals agreement, and a single upward jerk of the head means refusal.

Which wartime leader popularised the palm-out V sign as a symbol of victory during the Second World War?

Winston Churchill took up the sign after Victor de Laveleye, broadcasting to occupied Belgium on the BBC, proposed V as a rallying emblem in 1941. Turned palm inward, the same gesture is a rude insult in Britain.

Which Star Trek actor based the Vulcan salute on a priestly blessing he saw as a boy in synagogue?

Leonard Nimoy peeked while the Jewish priestly blessing was given, with hands shaped like the Hebrew letter shin. He borrowed the shape for Spock in the 1967 episode Amok Time.

The shaka, a friendly sign with only the thumb and little finger extended, is the official gesture of which US state?

Hawaii wrote the shaka into law as its state gesture in 2024. Surfers had long since carried it around the world, where it is often known as "hang loose".

Which candidate refused make-up for the first televised US presidential debate in 1960 and looked pale on screen?

Richard Nixon was still recovering from a hospital stay, sweat showed on his face and his stubble stood out on black-and-white sets. He wore television make-up for the three debates that followed.

Which reptile names the "effect" in which people unconsciously copy a conversation partner's posture and gestures?

The chameleon effect covers speech patterns and attitudes as well as gestures. It shows up between friends and romantic partners alike, usually without either person noticing.

Which part of the eye, said to have been enlarged with belladonna drops for beauty, also widens with interest?

The pupil grows when something holds a person's attention, not only when the light dims. Belladonna drops work by blocking the eye muscles that would normally shrink it.

Tommie Smith and John Carlos made which silent gesture on the medal podium at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics?

Raising a fist got both sprinters suspended from the US team. They shared one pair of black gloves because Carlos had left his in the Olympic Village, so he lifted his left hand.

Which naturalist wrote the 1872 study The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals?

Charles Darwin insisted on illustrating the book with photographs, although his publisher warned they would "make a hole in the profits". It was his third major work on evolution.

Which insect shows nestmates the direction and distance of food by performing a figure-eight "waggle dance"?

The honeybee angles its run to match the food's bearing from the Sun, and a longer waggle means a longer flight. Nobel laureate Karl von Frisch was among the first to decode it.

Which term did anthropologist Edward T. Hall coin for the study of how people use personal space?

Proxemics sorts the space around a person into four zones: intimate, personal, social and public. Hall argued that the comfortable distance for each one shifts from culture to culture.

Which word for communication by touch also names the vibration feedback in smartphones and game controllers?

Haptics in business mostly means the handshake. Researchers watching people talk found touching rare in England, France and the Netherlands compared with countries further south.

Ray Birdwhistell, who disliked the phrase "body language", gave which name to the study of posture and gesture?

Kinesics was Birdwhistell's 1952 coinage, built on his view that body movements follow a grammar much as speech does. He reckoned words carry no more than about a third of a conversation's social meaning.

Which French neurologist gives his name to the genuine smile that crinkles the eyes as well as lifting the mouth?

Guillaume Duchenne found in the mid-19th century that a true smile also tightens the muscle around the eye, forming crow's feet. The look has since been nicknamed "smizing", or smiling with the eyes.

Which American psychologist's research on facial expressions and lying inspired the Fox crime drama Lie to Me?

Paul Ekman worked as scientific consultant on the series, whose lead character Cal Lightman is based on him. Off screen he advised police departments and anti-terrorism groups.

Which basic emotion shows on the face as a wrinkled nose and a curled upper lip?

Disgust is one of the expressions people recognise readily across cultures. Blind people pull the same face without ever having seen it, a sign that it is not simply copied from others.

Which psychologist devised the much-misquoted "7-38-55 rule" weighing words, tone of voice and facial expression?

Albert Mehrabian tested only how listeners judge a speaker's feelings when words and tone clash. Seminar slides turned that narrow result into the myth that words carry just 7% of any message.

Which comic-book superhero does Amy Cuddy use to illustrate the "power pose" she popularised in a 2012 TED talk?

Wonder Woman became the poster figure for standing tall before a job interview. The science has not held up: by 2016 co-author Dana Carney had abandoned the theory after other labs failed to repeat the effect.

In a 1988 test of the facial feedback hypothesis, what did volunteers hold between their teeth to force a smile?

A pen gripped in the teeth pulls the mouth into a grin, and those volunteers rated cartoons as funnier. A rerun across 17 labs in 2016 failed to find the effect, casting doubt on a textbook result.

Which Shakespeare tragedy names the "error" of mistaking a truthful person's nervousness for a sign of lying?

Othello reads his wife Desdemona's distress as proof of an affair when she is telling the truth. The term dates from the 1985 book Telling Lies, a warning that fear of being disbelieved looks like guilt.

In which Southeast Asian country is the wai, a slight bow with palms pressed together, the customary greeting?

Thailand's wai comes in degrees: the higher the hands and the lower the bow, the more respect it shows. The same gesture also says thank you or sorry.

In which Himalayan region is sticking out the tongue a sign of respect, linked to a legendary black-tongued king?

Tibet remembers Langdarma, a 9th-century king who persecuted monks and was said to have a black tongue. Showing a normal one is read as proof of not being his reincarnation.

The kowtow, kneeling and touching the head to the ground, was performed before the emperor of which country?

China reserved its grand version, the "three kneelings and nine kowtows", for the most solemn ceremonies. An Afghan envoy who refused to perform it in 1763 drew bitter complaints from the Qing court.

The head bobble, a wobble that can mean yes, maybe, okay or "I understand", is most associated with which country?

India uses the head bobble everywhere, and only context settles what it means. Most often it signals agreement or shows that the listener is following.

Scuba divers signal that all is well with the OK sign because, underwater, a thumbs-up tells a buddy to do what?

Ascend is what a raised thumb orders underwater, so divers are trained never to use it for approval. The ring-shaped OK sign works as both the question and the reply.

Japan's maneki-neko figurine, a familiar sight near shop entrances, raises one paw to make which gesture?

Beckoning is done palm down in Japan, folding the fingers down and back, which is why visitors often mistake the pose for a wave. Some figures made for Western markets turn the paw upward.

The pinched-fingers gesture, a show of disbelief made an emoji in 2020, is mainly associated with which country?

Italy has no single name for it: locals call it the purse hand, the finger tulip or the finger pinecone. Emigrants carried the gesture to Argentina and Uruguay, where it means much the same.

In which European country is the moutza, an open palm thrust at someone's face, the traditional gesture of insult?

Greece traces the moutza to a Byzantine punishment in which criminals were paraded on a donkey with cinders smeared across the face by an open hand. Locals now take care how they signal the number five.

The "finger heart", made by crossing the thumb and index finger, was popularised by pop idols from which country?

South Korea first knew the gesture in the 1990s as the "Timid V". It spread around the world with the Korean Wave in the 2010s and now has an emoji of its own.

Which Māori dance, performed by the All Blacks before rugby matches, features stamping feet and a protruding tongue?

Haka have opened New Zealand rugby internationals since 1905. Māori scholars reject the popular label of war dance: haka also welcome distinguished guests and mark funerals and great achievements.

The Latin phrase pollice verso, "with a turned thumb", describes a crowd signal at which ancient Roman spectacle?

Gladiator fights ended with the crowd's verdict on the loser, but the movies may have it backwards. One classicist argues that thumbs up meant death and a thumb tucked inside the hand meant mercy.

Which American ritual dropped its outstretched-arm Bellamy salute in 1942 because it resembled the Nazi salute?

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited with the right arm stretched towards the flag from 1892. Congress swapped in the hand over the heart in December 1942, a year after the United States entered the war.

Which book and film series gave pro-democracy protesters in Southeast Asia the three-finger salute?

The Hunger Games salute first appears when District 12 honours Katniss Everdeen for volunteering in her sister's place. Real protesters from Myanmar to Hong Kong later raised it against their rulers.

Which baseball team's Dusty Baker and Glenn Burke are most often credited with the first high five, in 1977?

The Los Angeles Dodgers pair slapped hands after Baker's 30th home run of the season. Burke raised an arm over his head in greeting and Baker, not knowing what to do, smacked it.

Which singer popularised heavy metal's "sign of the horns" soon after joining Black Sabbath in 1979?

Ronnie James Dio said he copied the sign from his grandmother, who used it to ward off the evil eye. He wanted a trademark to match the peace sign flashed by the band's previous singer, Ozzy Osbourne.

Which physicist stuck out his tongue at a photographer after a 1951 birthday party, creating a famous portrait?

Albert Einstein liked the cheeky shot so much that he asked for nine prints of his own. It was taken as he left his 72nd birthday celebration at the Princeton Club.

Which politician's diamond-shaped hand pose, the "Raute", filled a giant 2013 election billboard in Berlin?

Angela Merkel said the pose answered "the question, what to do with your arms", and that she liked its symmetry. Opponents attacked the 2,400-square-metre banner as a cult of personality.

Which European ruler is so often painted with one hand tucked into his waistcoat that the pose is linked to his name?

Napoleon Bonaparte did not invent the pose: British portraits had used it through the 18th century to mark an upper-class sitter. One etiquette guide said it showed "manly boldness tempered with modesty".

Which French painter's canvas Oath of the Horatii is the real origin of the "Roman salute" later adopted by fascists?

Jacques-Louis David dreamed up the outstretched-arm oath for his 1784 painting. No Roman text describes such a gesture, and surviving Roman art shows nothing much like it.

Which city's transit system ran posters against manspreading with the slogan "Dude, stop the spread please"?

New York transit bosses aimed the campaign at men who sit with legs wide apart and cover more than one seat. Madrid went further in 2017 and banned taking up extra seats outright.

Which animal was Clever Hans, the German "maths genius" who was really reading his trainer's body language?

The horse tapped out sums with a hoof, stopping when his questioner's posture and face relaxed at the right number. Psychologist Oskar Pfungst exposed the trick in 1907; the trainer never knew he was giving cues.

Which household pet shows trust and affection by slowly blinking at an owner instead of staring?

A cat lowers its eyelids or blinks slowly when it feels relaxed and comfortable, the reverse of a direct stare. Eyes, ears, tail, coat and posture all carry signals of their own.

Which great ape drums on its chest with cupped hands, a display that honestly signals body size to rivals?

Gorilla chest-beating is only step five of a nine-part display that opens with hooting and ends with palms thumping the ground. The sound of the beat varies with the size of the animal.

Which everyday reflex is so contagious that it can spread between species, passing from people to their pet dogs?

Yawning jumps the species gap only once a dog is old enough: those over seven months catch a yawn from a person, while younger puppies stay immune.

In which animals did University of Parma researchers first study "mirror neurons", which fire when watching an action?

Macaque monkeys had electrodes placed in the brain area that controls hand and mouth actions. Newborn macaques can copy a human's facial movements, though only during a short window after birth.

Which animal behaviour sees tigers and goats curl back the upper lip to draw in scents?

The flehmen response carries scents and pheromones to a special organ above the roof of the mouth. With lip curled and nostrils closed, the animal often holds the grimace for several seconds.

In which card game is a "tell" a change in behaviour that hints at how strong a player's hand is?

Poker players sometimes fake a tell to push opponents into a bad decision. Meeting a rival's eye, for instance, can be a way of disguising a weak hand.

Which machine, nicknamed the lie detector, records blood pressure, pulse, breathing and skin conductivity?

The polygraph assumes that lying leaves a reliable trace in the body, an idea science has largely discredited. A 2003 US National Academy of Sciences review found little basis for expecting high accuracy.

In which Pacific country did tests on isolated Fore villagers suggest that facial expressions are universal?

Papua New Guinea's Fore people had no writing and little contact with outside media, so they could not have learned the expressions from films or photographs. They still read emotions from faces as outsiders did.

Which Sanskrit word names the hand gestures of Hindu and Buddhist art, such as the raised palm of fearlessness?

Mudra means "seal", "mark" or "gesture". The raised-palm abhaya pose was probably a sign of goodwill towards approaching strangers long before Buddhism arose.