Baby and Toddler Body Language: Get A Grip

When first born, a baby will often keep his hands tightly clenched or wrapped tightly around any finger within reach. This is an instinctive response and will fade in time. As they grow, children become more in control of their movements and young infants are often fascinated with their own hands. By watching your child's hands, it is possible to read their mood. for example, a relaxed and happy child will have relaxed and open hands. Should he become upset or angry, his hands will become rigid with his fingers extended.

The grasping reflex in newborn babies is surprisingly strong. The grip can be so firm that it is possible to lift the baby in the air as they steadfastly cling to your fingers. Although it is tempting to test this particular reflex, a word of warning: As with most instinctive newborn reactions, this fades very quickly. A tightly clinging baby one day could become a falling one the next.

On The Side

If you want to appear to be really, truly listening to someone else, angling the head to the side is a move you'll want to add to your bag of body language tricks. When you employ this gesture, you appear to be lifting  an ear, as though to say, "I'm doing everything I can to take in each and every word that comes out of your mouth." It doesn't matter which way you angle your head - left or right works equally well. And keep in mind, this is just a slight angling of your noggin; you're not trying to touch one ear to your shoulder in an effort to prove that you can hear just fine out of the other one.

Although this gesture is used to emphasize listening skills, it's also employed when people are expressing sympathy. You might see someone say, "I'm so sorry" as her head tilts to the side. What's this all about? Are these people offering - nonverbally- to listen to the other person's troubles? Sort of, but in this case, the head tilt is more a way of showing that you feel for the other person's pain without making it your own.

The head tilt can also come in handy if you want to appear innocent. Let's say your husband has accused you of scratching his beloved motorcycle. You honestly had nothing to do with the damage to his bike. You're upset and feeling more than a little defensive - two emotions that could easily lead to you throwing your head back in an effort to appear rather dominant. While you're well within your rights to express your indignation, your real goal is to end the fight before it goes too far. To defuse the situation quickly, try angling your head to the side while you stick to your story. You'll appear much more innocent (which you are, after all), and this might be all it takes to convince your mate that he's got it all wrong.

Angling your head to the side is another way to play the cutesy, coy card with a member of the opposite sex. Not only does this gesture make you appear innocent and harmless, it's also a good way to show that you're a good listener.

Slightly tilting your head to the side indicates that you're absorbed in a conversation and are listening intently to the other person.

Shifting Seats

Is it possible to tell from a person's midsection that she is feeling anxious? What do you look for - a tightening of the stomach, or rhythm of a heart pounding so hard you can see the person's chest pulsating? While these are genuine ways to read high levels of anxiety, you'd have to be pretty darn close to a person to assess these types of changes. There's an easier way to tell from the torso if someone's feeling uncomfortable: Watch how she moves in her seat.

At some point, you've no doubt seen a woman receiving unwanted attention from a man in a social setting. If the woman is seated, she might appear to sink back into her seat (if the guy is in front of her), or slide her torso off to the side. What she's really doing is curving her spine away from the guy in an attempt to increase the space between herself and him.

Shifting the spine away from a person you'd rather not deal with is akin to angling (turning) yourself in the opposite direction. Both carry the same message: go away. Even if the shifter remains polite, her spine is telling you all you need to know - she hasn't been won over, and it's not likely she's going to change her mind.

Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are

 

 
Amy Cuddy wasn’t supposed to become a successful scientist. In fact, she wasn’t even supposed to finish her undergraduate degree. Early in her college career, Cuddy suffered a severe head injury in a car accident, and doctors said she would struggle to fully regain her mental capacity and finish her undergraduate degree.
But she proved them wrong. Today, Cuddy is a professor and researcher at Harvard Business School, where she studies how nonverbal behavior and snap judgments affect people from the classroom to the boardroom. And her training as a classical dancer (another skill she regained after her injury) is evident in her fascinating work on "power posing" -- how your body position influences others and even your own brain.

"Using a few simple tweaks to body language, Harvard researcher Amy Cuddy discovers ways to help people become more powerful."

TIME Game Changers, March 19, 2012