Myths About Body Language

March 1, 2010

Interview with Janine Driver, author of the book You Say More Than You Think: Use the New Body Language to Get What You Want!, the 7-day Plan

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Mike Carruthers:
When it comes to body language a lot of the things that people assume to be true are actually myths.

Janine Driver:
A big one is when someone’s lying they decrease their eye contact – come on now, really? Because my grandmother, and my great grandmother they knew that when you’re going to lie you give a little extra eye contact – we all know that.

Janine Driver, author of the book You Say More Than You Think, says people make assumptions about you based on your body language. For example if you put your hands in your pockets people perceive that as a lack of confidence or nervousness.

But I will say if you’re going to put your hands in your pockets stick your thumbs out because people believe that when you have your thumbs sticking it it’s a sign of confidence. Why? Because the big leaders, President John F. Kennedy would have his hand in his pocket with his thumb sticking out.

What’s fascinating, says Janine, is when you hide your thumb you’re sending the message that you’re insecure, whether you are or not.

Newborn babies what do they do? They suck their thumbs or they hide their thumbs inside their fists. Madonna had a big falling out with her brother and he wrote this book saying when Madonna, when she hides her thumb inside of her fist it’s a signal for him that she needs reassurance. Well why would you ever hide your thumbs? You don’t want to send that message.

Another big body language myth is that our eyes go up and to the right when we’re lying.

That’s untrue, scientifically proven wrong. Our eyes don’t go in one direction or another when we’re lying because we’re not mind readers. We don’t know how you’re processing my question.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here