Outdated Body Language Indicators

Both verbal communication and non-verbal communication are important for people to understand each other. Though body language is important, more and more people are beginning to make wrong assumptions about it. One is that body language is the same for everybody.

However, if you are a Singaporean, chances are you may have different gestures compared to an American simply because of culture! Aside from that, here are some other body language myths.

You can tell what a person is thinking through their body language

It’s already known that what we’re thinking about can manifest on our body language unconsciously. So even if you lie, your body language might show otherwise. But is that really the case? Actually, it’s not necessarily true all the time. Sometimes we just have habits that even if we’re not lying, for example, we still do them. That means you won’t be able to pinpoint what a person is thinking all the time even if you watch their gestures. 

Looking to the right indicates lying

The belief that eye direction is related to lying came about as a result a certain neuro-linguistic system invented in the 1960s. The thing is though, there has not been any solid evidence of this to be true. There have even been many studies that disprove this claim as well. These separate studies found that there is no correlation at all between eye direction and the telling of a lie.

Liars avoid eye contact

Another common myth is that a person will not make eye contact when he/she tells a lie. But those who are already good liars and manipulators can actually make direct eye contact. Plus, there can be many different reasons why a person will not make eye contact with you. He might just be shy, or maybe he has a short attention span. That’s why you can’t easily say that people avoid eye contact when lying.

“Body language makes 93% of communication”

Although body language is just as important as words when it comes to communication, 93% is definitely too big of a number. In fact, there is no proven exact number! This myth came as a result of a misunderstanding of a certain study. It’s been concluded in the study that 55% of information is shown through the face, 38% in the voice, and 7% in words. That’s why people assumed that they can just add the 55 and 38 to mean that body language is 93% in communication.

Fidgeting signals nervousness

This can be true, but not in all cases. One of the main signs of nervousness is fidgeting, but that doesn’t mean you’re already nervous once you start doing it. For one, you might just fidget as a habit. This is again why you can’t directly know what a person is thinking or how a person feels just by looking at his/her body language.