The Definitive Book of Body Language (24 page)

The hand covers the mouth as the brain subconsciously instructs it to try to suppress the deceitful words that are being said. Sometimes this
gesture might only be several fingers over the mouth or even a closed fist, but its meaning remains the same.

The Mouth Cover

Some people try to disguise the Mouth Cover gesture by giving a fake cough. When actors play gangsters or criminals, they often use this gesture when discussing criminal activities with other gangsters or when being interrogated by the police, so that the audience knows they're being secretive or dishonest.

If the person who is speaking uses this gesture, it indicates that they could be lying. If they cover their mouth while
you
are speaking, it can show they might feel
you
are hiding something. One of the most unsettling sights a conference speaker can see is his audience using this gesture while he's speaking. A speaker should stop and ask, “Would someone like to ask a question?” or “I can see some people disagree. Let's take questions.” This allows the audience's objections to be brought into the open, giving the speaker the opportunity to qualify statements and answer questions, just as he would do if they had their arms crossed.

The Mouth Cover may appear as innocuous as the “Shhh” gesture, where one finger is placed vertically over the lips; this gesture would likely have been used by the person's mother or father when he was a child. As an adult, the person uses it in an attempt to tell themselves not to say something they're feeling. The point is that it alerts you to something that is being withheld.

If your parents or minders used this gesture when you were a child, there's a good chance it's now in your adult repertoire

Sometimes the Nose Touch can be several quick rubs below the nose or it may be one quick, almost imperceptible nose touch. Women perform this gesture with smaller strokes than men, perhaps to avoid smudging their makeup.

The Nose Touch

The important thing to remember is that this type of action should be read in clusters and in context; the person could have hay fever or a cold.

Scientists at the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago found that when you lie, chemicals known as catecholamines are released, causing tissue inside the nose to swell. They used special imaging cameras that show blood flow in the body to reveal that intentional lying also causes an increase in blood pressure. This technology indicates that the human nose actually expands with blood during lying, and is known as the “Pinocchio Effect.” Increased blood pressure inflates the nose and causes the nerve endings in the nose to tingle, resulting in a brisk rubbing action to the nose with the hand to satisfy the “itch.”

You can't see the swelling with the naked eye, but this is what appears to cause the Nose Touch gesture. The same phenomenon occurs when a person is upset, anxious, or angry.

American neurologist Alan Hirsch and psychiatrist Charles Wolf did an extensive analysis of Bill Clinton's testimony to the grand jury on his affair with Monica Lewinsky and found that, when he told the truth, he rarely touched
his nose. When he lied, however, he gave a split-second frown before he answered and touched his nose once every four minutes for a grand total of twenty-six nose touches.

“I did not have sexual relations with that woman!”

Studies with body-imaging cameras have revealed that a man's penis also swells with blood when he tells a lie. Maybe the grand jury should have pulled Bill's trousers down instead.

Grand Jury prosecutor:
“Mr. Clinton—why did the chicken cross the road?”

Bill Clinton:
“What do you mean by chicken? Could you define ‘chicken,’ please? And I did not cross the road with
that
chicken.”

The itch of a person's nose is normally satisfied by a deliberate rubbing or scratching action, as opposed to the light strokes of the Nose Touch gesture. As with the Mouth Cover, the Nose Touch can be used both by the speaker to disguise his own deceit and by the listener who doubts the speaker's words. An itch is usually an isolated repetitive gesture and is incongruent or out of context with the person's overall conversation.

“See no evil,” said one of the wise monkeys. When a child doesn't want to look at something, he'll cover his eyes with one or both hands. When an adult doesn't want to look at something distasteful, the Eye Rub is likely to occur. The Eye Rub is the brain's attempt to block out the deceit, doubt, or distasteful thing it sees, or to avoid having to look at the face of the person who is being lied to. Men usually rub their eyes vigorously and, if the lie is a real whopper, they will often look away. Women are less likely to use the Eye Rub—instead, they will use small, gentle touching motions just below the eye, because they either have
been conditioned as girls to avoid making robust gestures, or to avoid smudging makeup. They also avoid a listener's gaze by looking away.

“I just can't see it.”

“Lying through your teeth” is a commonly used phrase. It refers to a gesture cluster of clenched teeth and a false smile, combined with the Eye Rub. This gesture is used by movie actors to portray insincerity and by “polite” cultures such as the English, who prefer not to tell you exactly what they're thinking.

Imagine you tell someone, “It only costs $300” and the person grabs their ear, looks away to the side, and says, “It sounds like a good deal to me.” This is a symbolic attempt by the listener to “hear no evil”: trying to block the words he is hearing by putting the hand around or over the ear or tugging at the earlobe. This is the adult version of the Hands-Over-Both-Ears gesture used by the child who wants to block out his parent's reprimands. Other variations of the Ear Grab include rubbing the back of the ear, the Finger Drill—where the fingertip is screwed back and forth inside the ear, pulling at the ear-lobe, or bending the entire ear forward to cover the ear hole.

“I don't want to hear it.”

The Ear Grab can also be a signal that the person has heard enough or may want to speak. As with the Nose Touch, the Ear Grab is used by a person who is experiencing anxiety. Prince Charles often uses both the Ear Grab and the Nose Touch when he enters a room full of people or walks past a large crowd. His anxiety is revealed here and we have never seen a photo or film footage of him using these gestures when he is in the relative safety of his car.

In Italy, however, the Ear Grab is used to indicate that someone is effeminate or gay.

The index finger—usually of the writing hand—scratches the side of the neck below the earlobe. Our observations of this gesture reveal the person scratches an average of five times. Rarely is the number of scratches less than five and hardly ever more than five. This gesture is a signal of doubt or uncertainty and is characteristic of the person who says, “I'm not sure I agree.” It is very noticeable when the verbal language contradicts it; for example, when the person says something like, “I can understand how you feel,” but the Neck Scratch indicates they don't.