Dominant Body Language

Dominant Body Language

Dominant body language is closely related to aggressive body language but at a lesser emotional level. The ultimate goal of dominant body language is to impress power over another, but not necessarily in an aggressive manner, more so in an authoritative manner. A person demonstrating dominant body language will often try to make their body appear bigger then what it really is, especially men. Often times they will cross their arms with their hands under their biceps in an attempt to push them out more to give a larger appearance. Men and women will hold their hands on their hips with elbows out wide while standing chest out and chin up. You will see many mothers in this position when disciplining their children. A great example of using dominant body language over another is a detective over a suspect in an interrogation room. In interrogation rooms, you will often see the detective standing making the suspect sit to give them a dominating height over the suspect in an attempt to intimidate the suspect. The detective may pace the room, much like marking territory, designating where exactly the suspect is to sit also while walking around or coming up behind the suspect, leaning over the suspects shoulder and talking rather than sitting at the table with the suspect. By invading the personal space of the suspect they make the suspect feel uncomfortable with the added height and being talked down to, and the detective achieves a dominant stance as well as dominance over the territory. The detective makes a point to make sure the suspect knows they are on the detective's territory and working from the detective's rules. Social norms such as cussing and name-calling go out the window in a detective's attempt to dominate the situation. They will dominate the suspect in other fashions as well, such as having a folder in front of them, leaving the suspect to wonder what type of evidence the detective actually has against them. Tape recorders, although used in the line of any interrogation, are also another way to non-verbally dominate another by leaving the suspect knowing that anything they say is being recorded. You will also see a detective use facial expressions to taunt, control, and dominate the situation. It can be in the form of stare downs, rolling of eyes every time the suspect says something, yawning, squinting at the suspect while holding a stare down, as well as smirking at the suspect's responses.

Defensive Body Language

Defensive Body Language

Defensive body language expresses a person's feeling of physical or emotional threat or personal space being invaded. Automatically when a person feels like they are at risk of physical attack, they cower to protect vital body organs. They may curl up in a ball and tuck their head in. Men when faced with attack by a female almost always aim to protect their groin first. If you even pretend like you are going to strike a man, watch how fast they protect the family jewels by either lifting a leg with a knee cross protection, or their hands drop to cross in front of their crotch. When faced up against another man, men will generally post in a fending off stance with arms drawn out and jaw/nose region protected. They will harden their muscles in order to withstand an attack better. Another common body language signal that will tell you if a woman is uneasy is, if carrying a purse or a bag, the grip will become tighter and it will be drawn in close to their body. Some people, when uneasy, will display defensive body language by putting a barrier between them and the person or situation that is making them uncomfortable. This could be a chair, table, or even holding a package out in front of them making an obstacle between them and the perceived threat. They may grip their keys in between their fingers to use as a weapon if a situation were to arise. Another defensive body language cue is when someone becomes stiff or rigid. They will attempt to not make a single move with their body to draw attention to themselves while at the opposite side of the spectrum, a person in a defensive mode will scan a room or location for an escape route, or may even flee the room if the perceive the threat level too high. Some individuals when faced in a possible threatening situation may not ever exhibit signs of defensive body language, and instead present with either submissive or aggressive body language.