Home of The Nonverbal Dictionary
A new center to study nonverbal behavior has been founded by an anthropologist, David B. Givens. The Center for Nonverbal Studies, La Jolla, CA, will work with top-flight anthropologists to examine the neurological tether associated with nonverbal cues. --Chronicle of Higher Education, Nov 21, 1997, A47 The Center maintains a News File of magazine, newspaper, and internet articles featuring research, observations, and commentary on nonverbal issues by members of its staff. Topics include GRIN...
Media
In his 1961 speech, FCC chairman Newton Minow called television nothing more than a vast wasteland (Jankowski and Fuchs 1995 125). From the end of World War II on, America was on an unbelievable program of homogenization--fast food, commercial air travel, the interstate highway system. And the crown prince of homogenization was network television. --Robert Thompson, professor of film and television at Syracuse University (DeBarros 2000 1A) Electronic signals. The great, bristling background...
See also Conference Table Dance
Givens Center for Nonverbal Studies) Detail of photo by Robert Frank (copyright Robert Frank) Not long ago I started detecting what seemed like facial expressions while looking at cars and I thought I was going nuts. G.L.-C (see below, E-Commentary) Consumer product. 1. A nose- or mouth-shaped grating of metal or vinyl, used as a decoration at the front of an automobile, truck, or bus. 2. The face of a motor vehicle, unwittingly designed to show attitude. Usage...
Love Signals I
Until she smiled on me. --Hartley Coleridge, Song And then it will come to pass that she will rest her eyes on the knight and he will rest his on her, and each will appear to the other as something that is nearer divine than human and, without knowing how or why it comes about, they will find themselves caught and entangled in love's inextricable net, with a deep pain in their hearts at not being able to put into words their longings and desires. --Miguel de Cervantes (Don Quixote, 1605 162)...
See also Object Fancy
Givens Center for Nonverbal Studies) Body movement. 1. A manner of grasping an object tightly, in a usually closed fist, between the palm and fingers. 2. To clutch, hold, or seize a bat, branch, club, or other object firmly with the hand. Usage I Our tight-fisted gestures given in anger, arousal, and fear employ the muscles and neural circuits of the power grip. Unlike its cerebral cousin--the precision grip--the power grip has its roots in a primitive...
Language of Love Shares Many Traits
With the same ethological methods they have long used in studies of animals, scientists are turning their attention to the nuances of human courtship rituals-otherwise known as flirting. By turning the ethologist's lens on human courtship, scientists are finding striking similarities with other species, suggesting that the nonverbal template used by Homo sapiens for attracting and approaching a prospective mate is to some extent part of a larger, shared animal heritage. A woman parades past a...
See also Blue Jeans Boot Mens Shoes Womens Shoes
Givens Center for Nonverbal Studies) Observation tool. 1. A computerized rendering of facial energy patterns used to read emotions, feelings, and moods. 2. A digitalized camera image with which to display the facial-muscle contractions of specific emotions (e.g., of sadness, anger, and fear). Usage Motion energy maps show which areas of the face move to express given emotions. They may someday enable computers to recognize and respond to emotion cues of the face....
See also Eyebrowlower
Givens Center for Nonverbal Studies) Detail of photo copyright by Linda McCartney. I will often fly great distances to meet someone face to face . . . . --Mark H. McCormack (What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School, 1984 9) Sign. The act of communicating a mood, attitude, opinion, feeling, or other message by contracting the muscles of the face. Usage The combined expressive force of our mobile chin, lip, cheek, eye, and brow muscles is without peer in...
New York Drops Its Game Face
By ALEX KUCZYNSKI September 16, 2001 NEW YORKERS have long kept their facial expressions guarded, for safety, privacy or emotional safekeeping. They are masters of the cocktail party grin, the passive subway-rider's gaze, the social smile, the cool stare. But in the days after two hijacked airplanes reduced the city's soaring symbols of good fortune to ashen rubble, New Yorkers abandoned their game face. Whether they were sitting in a coffee shop, walking down Fifth Avenue or riding the F...
Judicial Body Language Can Speak to Juries
By JIM KLAHN Associated Press Writer SEATTLE (AP) -- Unlike Justice, the blindfolded lady weighing the evidence on her scale, courtroom participants have to consider more than what they hear. What they see, especially when they see a judge doing it, also makes an impression on jurors and others in courtrooms, says anthropologist David B. Givens. A judge who turns his back, frowns and purses his lips when a defendant is testifying -- then faces the prosecutor openly, lifts his eyebrows and uses...
Your body doesnt know how to
Does his body say that he's an easy man to beat Does her body say that she's a phoney --Book jacket of Body Language (1970) Anatomical signs. 1. The bodily gestures, postures, and facial expressions by which a person communicates nonverbally with others (Soukhanov 1992 211). 2. Body language and kinesics are based on the behavioral patterns of nonverbal communication, but kinesics is still so new as a science that its authorities can be counted on the fingers of one hand (Fast 1970 9). Usage...
What Body Language Tell You That Words Cannot
News & World Report Interview With David Givens, Anthropologist The most successful lawyers, teachers and salespeople, among others, have one thing in common A capacity to understand nonverbal signals and use them advantageously. Q Mr. Givens, why is it important for people to understand body language that is, communication by means of movements and gestures A The best salespeople, the best teachers, the best business managers have an innate ability to read body language and put it to...
The Art of Flirting Whats Your Body Saying
When it comes to flirting what isn't said can often be much more important than what is. Before eyelash-batting Romeos and Juliets even open their mouths, body language has already sent a stream of signals to that certain someone across the bar. This nonverbal communication relays everything from let's meet up later to back off, loser David Givens is an anthropologist at the Center for Nonverbal Studies, in Spokane, Washington. He is also the author of Love Signals, a book that examines the...
Louder Than Words Reading Body Language
By Susan Glick Discovery.com, August 2000 The woman sits alone in a noisy cafe. Her legs are tightly crossed her fingers clasp the edge of the table her head is down. She speaks to the menu when she mumbles her order. She misses the smile the waiter sends in her direction. At a glance, you can guess how she is feeling. Her body language says it all. Like it or not, our bodies send out messages constantly. Sometimes the message is clear. Other times, the message is conveyed more subtlety. Often...
