Postures

Body language, the way in which individuals use their bodies subconsciously and purposefully to convey nonverbal messages to other, is particularly prevalent in ones posture use. Even for the novice body language translator, posture speaks volumes about a person. One does not even need to recognize that she or he is detecting a nonverbal message to get a vibe from ones stance.

Take, for instance, the woman who stands with her back erect and her head held high. This posture screams to the world that she is confident. Whereas, a woman who hunches her shoulders and looks down at the ground appears to be insecure. This is not always the case. Perhaps the scrunched up woman, for instance, just has back problems. Regardless, the message has been sent out and, misinterpreted or not, most people will interpret her posture as signifying a lack of self esteem.

Posture can also suggest to another person what type of mood the person being observed is in. For example, a sagging set of shoulders might say ‘sad’ while a set of crossed arms might indicate ‘angry.’ Posturing is all subjective, but there are definitely stances that will be interpreted by others. So be careful how you stand! You may just be ‘talking’ and not even know it.