Body language proper (movements, gestures, and posture) CAN convey something about personality however. For example, when a person hunches her shoulders, drops her head, draws her chest inward and tenses her muscles, she is likely to be pessimistic of nature and full of discouragement, despondency, hatred, arrogance and jealousy.

A person who stands tall, with her weight evenly distributed and head held high, on the other hand, tends to be highly confident and to exhibit both physical and mental strength in finishing assigned tasks.

We WILL discuss the personality implications of posture in much greater detail throughout the book (and indeed, such an understanding is necessary to portray confidence through body language).

So Is It Like A Super-Hero Power?

Well – almost, but not quite. The practiced study of body language won’t give someone X-ray vision or the ability to fly, but to some extent it does equip us with the capability to read others’ minds.

That’s because a large portion of a person’s nonverbal cues are portrayed unconsciously.  Without knowing she is doing so, a person gives off clues to what she is thinking or feeling which the body language expert can pick up, often before the person herself is aware of these
thoughts and feelings! (So it’s a little like “mind reading”, but not quite).

However, no matter how carefully she studies and practices kinesics, she should not expect to become a psychic. While kinesics consists of many scientific findings, and while it gives us access to MUCH MORE of a person’s intended communications than the untrained observer picks up, it can not tell us ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING a person is thinking, nor can it predict the future with 100% certainty.

A Quick Analogy…….

The study of body language is kind of like being a really good student of chess …if you know the board and the way all the pieces can move, you’ll also quickly realize that there are only a limited number of things your opponent could be up to, and you’re in a reasonably good position to predict her next move.  And armed with this information…..you become a much more powerful interpreter of what your conversational companion is REALLY trying to say. 

Pretty cool, don’t you agree?