This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The Dictionary of Body Language" by Joe Navarro. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Do you want to better understand nonverbal communication? Do you wish you could read people’s emotions using their body language?
In The Dictionary of Body Language: A Field Guide to Human Behavior, retired FBI Special Agent Joe Navarro offers a reference guide that explains a wide breadth of body language cues. The guide is intended to create a foundation you can use to study and interpret nonverbal communication.
Continue reading for an overview of this book that provides a broad introduction to body language.
Overview of The Dictionary of Body Language
In The Dictionary of Body Language: A Field Guide to Human Behavior, Navarro argues that being able to understand nonverbal communication can improve your relationships and your understanding of other people.
(Shortform note: In The Like Switch, Jack Schafer and Marvin Karlins expand on the benefits of understanding body language, arguing that this knowledge is essential for making friends and forging strong relationships. They note that our brains subconsciously pick up on nonverbal cues from others in every environment we enter, and these cues let us know who is and isn’t open to friendly connection. If we can become consciously aware of these cues, we can more actively determine who’s a good candidate for friendship. Likewise, we can effectively invite friendship from others by designing our body language to reflect openness and friendliness.)
Navarro’s study of body language began when he moved from Cuba to the United States as a child—he didn’t speak English, so he learned to communicate and read people using nonverbal cues. As an adult, he spent 25 years as a special agent in the FBI using his knowledge of body language to interrogate spies and high-profile criminals. Today, he’s a public speaker and author. The Dictionary of Body Language is a companion to his other book, What Every BODY Is Saying, which delves further into nonverbal communication.
We’ll touch on Navarro’s tips for understanding the context of body language cues—for instance, why you should assess body language cues collectively, not individually. Then, we’ll examine an assortment of body language cues that indicate emotion. These include:
- Repetitive actions that indicate anxiousness
- Tense postures that suggest anger
- Open body language that shows comfort and confidence
Tips for Understanding the Context of Body Language
Though you can use many body language cues to reliably and consistently assess someone’s emotional state, Navarro says there are some contextual factors to consider before forming conclusions based on your observations. In this section, we’ll explore two of his tips for assessing the context of body language cues.
Tip #1: Determine What’s “Abnormal” on an Individual Basis
Navarro states that, when you’re observing many body language cues, it’s important to consider whether the action is ordinary or unusual for the person doing it before ascribing any particular meaning to it. A cue that indicates a strong emotion for one person may just be a habitual behavior for another.
For example, sweating can be an indicator of high stress (as we’ll discuss later), but some people also just sweat more than others. Therefore, to accurately judge what it means if someone’s sweating a lot, you’d have to know what’s normal for that person.
Tip #2: Assess Body Language Cues Collectively
Some body language cues may have multiple meanings. Therefore, Navarro suggests taking a person’s whole body language into account before deciding what a particular cue means. The combination of cues will typically paint a clearer picture of someone’s emotional state than an isolated one.
For example, when someone smiles at another person, we typically perceive it as a cue of affection, kindness, or joy. However, a smile on its own doesn’t present the whole picture. If the person is displaying signs of tension or discomfort as well—if the muscles around their eyes are tense, their feet are pointed away from the person they’re talking to, and so on—then their smile may not represent true affection or friendliness, but forced friendliness that hides discomfort.
How to Read Emotions Through Body Language
In the previous section, we discussed Navarro’s general tips for assessing body language. Next, we’ll touch on many of the specific body language cues Navarro describes. We’ve grouped these cues based on the common emotions they indicate: stress and anxiety, boredom and impatience, disagreement and doubt, anger and irritation, discomfort and aversion, comfort and confidence, and excitement.
Stress and Anxiety: Repeated Actions
According to Navarro, many body language cues that signal stress and anxiety involve repeated actions. Repetition has a calming, settling effect on the nervous system. Therefore, if someone repeats the same behavior over and over in a short period of time, they’re likely attempting to soothe themselves.
Navarro names the following as common body language cues that involve calming, repeated actions:
Action #1: Massaging the Chest From the Shoulder and Across the Collarbone
Navarro describes how, when engaging in this calming, tactile action, people place a hand on the shoulder opposite (right hand to left shoulder or left hand to right shoulder). They then move their hand along the collarbone from their shoulder to their chest.
Action #2: Swaying the Torso Forward and Backward Starting at the Hips
Repeatedly swaying the upper body forward and backward while sitting down is frequently an indicator of intense psychological distress. Navarro asserts that you might observe this action in people attempting to calm themselves while experiencing a traumatic event.
However, in keeping with Tip #2 in the previous section, he states that this is also a common action undertaken by neurodivergent people (who aren’t necessarily in distress), such as people on the autism spectrum. So, context is important when assessing this cue.
Stress and Anxiety: Cooling Actions
Navarro argues that many cues that indicate anxiousness and stress (and our desire to soothe these feelings) have a cooling effect. When we’re feeling stressed, our bodies get uncomfortably warm. Therefore, we seek to return our bodies to a cooler, more comfortable temperature.
Before assessing the driving factor behind these behaviors, however, Navarro suggests considering the context of the situation. Specifically, he notes that a high ambient temperature may prompt these behaviors by making people feel warm. In this case, internal stress may or may not be involved, so use other cues to judge the person’s emotions.
The following body language cues calm by cooling, suggesting that the person displaying them may be overheated because of anxiety or stress.
Action #1: Increasing Airflow to the Body
According to Navarro, people will commonly try to cool their bodies when stressed by increasing airflow to their skin. For example, you might see a stressed, overheated person adjusting their hair to increase airflow to the head and neck: Men usually cool the top of their heads by threading their fingers through their hair, while women typically hold up their hair from the back of their neck.
Action #2: Sweating Profusely
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Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best book summary and analysis of Joe Navarro's "The Dictionary of Body Language" at Shortform.
Here's what you'll find in our full The Dictionary of Body Language summary:
- A former FBI Special Agent's guide to body language
- Why you should assess body language cues collectively, not individually
- The body language cues that indicate stress, boredom, anger, doubt, and more
