Body Language Message Clusters

Body language is one of the most silent forms of communication that can convey a lot of information in just the slightest of actions, such as gestures, facial movements, arm movement.  No matter the form, studies have shown that approximately 55% of what you are saying is coming from this silent communication.  Your body is your own communication tool.

Such silent communication signals come from what is termed as “message clusters” where body language is read in these clusters makes it far easier to understand the communication intention as opposed to trying to interpret individual elements.

These types of message clusters include: aggressive, bored, closed, deceptive, defensive, emotional, evaluating, openness, power, readiness, relaxed, romantic and submissive.  Quite the collection of silent language dictation.  Let’s look at all of these clusters further.

Aggressive

These gestures and signals coming from the silent communicator is oftentimes quite easy to determine that there will be a potential fight or that someone really wants to hurt you physically.  If we cannot pick up on these signals, the window of opportunity to remedy and mediate the situation will be lost.

The predominant threatening body signals include facial and attack where most of the aggression exerting from a person who is the aggressor provides facial clues like sneered lips, full snarls, pursed lips and disapproving frowns.

Generally when someone has progressed to the attack phase, there are strong visual signals which cannot be confused with any other body language signals.  Such visual signals include clenching of the fists, lowering of the body in a strike mode and other signals like redness in the face.

Invasion

Another form of aggression is in the invading of one’s personal space which in a sense is similar to one country attacking another.

Such invasion tactics include displaying false friendships.  This is done under the cloak of friendship where one person moves in on another through friendly gestures into the zone regularly reserved for a person’s real friends.  A dilemma will arise with the person on the receiving end of this tactic as to accept or deny the tactic.

This type of invasion will crumble the recipient’s comfort zone, which in turn provides the attacker with a greater ability to render the first strike, which many times is unrecoverable.  Types of comfort zone invasion include unwanted touching in a person’s comfort zone like their arm or back is invasion.