Body language is a beautiful branch of behavioral sciences and studied by the Neurosciences of emotion, and they have yielded valuable data on the emotional response and brain development processes. In addition, it has helped us to understand the evolution of human communication, remembering that for thousands of years body language was the only one used, since verbal and written communication are quite young in terms of its historical appearance in our species, and of course, that is why this mode of communication contains so much information for those who know what to observe. And it is this fact that has also generated many myths about the scope and usefulness of it, reviewing the most current bibliography and the questions and affirmations that we see in our community; we elaborate this list of the most frequent myths in relation to body language.
1. Liars don't maintain eye contact
While for some liars, especially children, looking into the eyes of the interlocutors can be difficult, most people have no problem with this. In fact, this myth became so popular that many people keep eye contact on purpose when they are lying, so that others do not think they are doing it. Also, many times people are going to look at you to see if you believe it or not. What we must look for is an irregular eye contact, for example a prolonged and intense eye contact, since he wants to lie he must SEE, in itself receiver if his performance has borne fruit.
2.Crossed hands always mean a defensive attitude.
Not always. Crossing hands has many possible reasons more than just having a defensive attitude. For example, it may be cold and someone wants to warm up. In addition, when you are sitting in a chair without armrests, crossing your hands can be the most comfortable position possible. It is key to apply the rules of body language analysis where you have to take into account the environment, the context, among other things, before interpreting a gesture or posture. 3. A wrinkle-free smile around the eyes is a fake smile It's a wrong idea about Duchenne's smile. When someone doesn't have wrinkles around their eyes when they smile, the smile can be true, kind or other positive things. It may be that it is simply a little less spontaneous or intensive. There are factors that affect this facial expression, such as the use of Botox, widely used in aesthetics and that paralyzes the muscles by drastically reducing the intensity of the response of the facial muscles, the most reliable gesture would be the observation of the symmetrical ax of the corner of the lips, which in itself is the key to an expression of happiness.
4. You have to maintain an open / dominant body language / any other Well, that depends.
As we discussed before. If you have certain social problems, with status or otherwise, then it can be useful to take into account your body language to become aware of gestures or other unwanted behaviors, such as not maintaining any eye contact. However, it is often better to focus more on your attitude, values or way of thinking and try to improve yourself in these areas as a long-term strategy. When you do, your body language follows you in a natural way, so you will become more authentic and finally feel better about yourself.
5. The more eye contact, the better.
It is likely that you have heard this advice before, especially in the context of dating, but it is not natural and it is a little risky, since many people after reading about this, begin to stare, which is somewhat repulsive, or at least not very well received. The average amount of eye contact is about 30%-60%, it can be higher in intimate relationships and less when people don't know each other. Generally, if you are not close to 0% or 100% intensity, you will be fine acting in a natural way. In general, eye contact should relax every 4 to 5 seconds so that you don't look like a psychic trying to steal his thoughts. Conclusion: Body language is a reflection of what is happening in your brain, it will reflect the responses of your reptilian, limbic and Neo Cortex brains. Therefore, the key to having a strong Body language is that you exercise emotional honesty, that is, that you communicate with assertiveness what you feel, and from honesty you defend your rights. If you do, you can build trust through every conscious or unconscious gesture of your body.
