Body Language: Pacifying Behaviors

A pacifying behavior calms a person down. Briefly touching the head in any way is often a pacifying behavior. Most often people will touch their nose, mouth, ears, or back of neck. If a person is not comfortable, is lying, or disagrees they sometimes exhibit these behaviors.

I was at a dock and saw another person come up to a man sitting down. The person said that their "boat stalled and needed to be towed, could you give me tow?", the man said in friendly way "sure, not a problem", but as the person left, the man rubbed the back of his neck, which is a pacifying behavior and shows he was not very happy he had to leave his steamed clams and go tow someone.

Knowing body language is an important part of Thrivalism.

Body Language: Space (Proxemics)

How much space a person takes up generally illustrates their level of dominance/aggression. There are many ways people take up space.

• Leg Splay: Legs wide apart while sitting down shows dominance and subtle aggression.
• Arm Splay: Arms wide apart such on a couch or table shows dominance and sometimes subtle aggression.
• Wide Stance: Some police personnel are told to stand with their feet together when talking with people so that they will not be perceived as authoritarian. Indeed, a wide stance with feet apart is a sign of dominance, sometimes aggression, and authoritarianism.
• Hooding: With arms up, the fingers are interlaced behind the head, and elbows pointed out, this is another sign of dominance.
• Personal Belongings: When personal belongings are spread out, they are claiming more property and are exhibiting dominance.

On the contrary, people who take up less space are often less dominant.
One should avoid taking a lot of space using the above tactics when in the presence of "superiors" like bosses and teachers. These people do not like when their supposed "sub-ordinates" seem more dominant and will develop an unfriendly bias towards the dominant people.

Knowing body language is an important part Thrivalism.

Body Language: Foot Direction

When talking to another person, the direction that one or both of their feet is pointing indicates where they really want to go. When one foot is pointed to another person or the exit, chances are, they have little interest in the current conversation and and want to leave; this is especially true if both feet are pointed away from the person speaking.

As with all interpretation of body language, avoid conclusions with only one sign, cross link it with other signs.

Knowing body language is an important part of Thrivalism.

Body Language: Pupil Dilation

Knowing body language is an empowering thing to know. It allows you to read people better and establish better rapport.

Pupil dilation is one of the few things we cannot control, thus it is one of the most truthful expression of the body.

Our pupils dilate (get bigger) when we are looking at something we like, something pleasant. Conversely, our pupils contract when we are looking at something we do not like, something unpleasant. In a way, the body wants to let in more of what is good and less of what is bad.

Savvy advertisers realize that subconsciously we are more attracted to a person with dilated pupils than with contracted pupils. These advertisers Photoshop larger pupils on people in their ads.

If I remember correctly from my research, some ancient Egyptian women would put a pupil dilating herb in their eyes to make themselves look more attractive.

There is good reason why a classic date is in a darkly lit setting. It dilates pupils, therefore making the couple more attractive.

As with all body language signs, the observer must establish a baseline for those signs. You must know what the average pupil size is for the subject you are reading. Once you know that, anything outside of the norm can be read in combination with other body language signals.

Knowing body language is an important part of Thrivalism.