- Body language is an important form of communication — even if you're not always aware of it.
- The way you stand and gesture can make you seem more (or less) confident and attractive.
- Some body-language tweaks are easier to make than others.
It's generally easier to plan out exactly what you're going to say than it is to plan out how you're going to stand, what you'll do with your hands, and your facial expression.
And yet your body language — whether during a presentation or in an online dating profile picture — matters a lot. So it's worth paying attention to.
Below, find a series of common body-language mistakes that can make you seem less confident, more nervous, less attractive, and even more vulnerable to crime.
Your handshake is weak
Your handshake can reveal a lot about you. In a Psychology Today blog post, psychologist John D. Mayer cites two studies that demonstrate how.
A 2000 University of Alabama study found that people could predict the personalities of undergraduates they shook hands with. Specifically, the handshake raters intuited that the students with firm handshakes were more positive, more outgoing, and less socially anxious.
Meanwhile, a 2008 study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that, in mock interviews, students who had a firmer handshake at the beginning of the interview were ultimately perceived as more hireable.
You're curled up in into yourself
Research suggests that we're more attracted to people in expansive — as opposed to contracted — postures, even if we don't consciously realize it. Think arms spread wide as opposed to shoulders hunched or arms crossed.
A 2016 study found that men and women pictured in contractive positions on a dating app were selected less often than the same exact men and women pictured in expansive positions.
You're concealing your hands
When you keep your hands out of sight, according to the book "Crazy Good Interviewing" by John B. Molidor and Barbara Parus, it looks like you have something to hide. This includes keeping your hands in your lap or behind your back.
As Anita Barbee, a professor of social work, told Real Simple, "A person may be telling you one thing, but these cues indicate you're not getting the whole story."
See the rest of the story at INSIDER
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