2015-01-30
572
93 per cent of our communication with others is non-verbal. What we actually say makes up only seven per cent of the picture! That’s what US scientist Ray Birdwhistell found out when he began to study body language back in the 1950s. He filmed conversations and then played them back in slow motion to examine gestures, expressions and posture1. When he noticed the same movements happening again and again, he realised that the body can talk too!
We use our bodies to send messages all the time. We nod instead of saying “Yes”, shrug our shoulders to mean “I don’t know”, or raise our eyebrows to show surprise.
But even when we don’t want other people to know how we’re feeling, our body language can give us away2. The way we sit or stand, the expression on our face can reveal3 far more than words.
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1 give away – выдавать, разоблачать (кого-л.)
2 posture – положение тела, поза
3 reveal – обнаруживать, показывать
