The Most Popular Body Language Gestures

These common body language gestures will reveal a lot about a person when reading their body language.

Common Body Language Gesture 10: Legs Spread: Standing or sitting with the legs spread is the most common superiority / dominance position of men. Many men have a tendency of exaggerating this movement, thinking it makes them look more masculine. A lot of the time, however, it just looks comical if not plain stupid.

Common Body Language Gesture 9: One leg over a Chair Arm: This sitting position shows indifference and a lack of genuine interest. If someone you’re talking to adopts this position, you can assume they don’t care about what you’re talking about.

Common Body Language Gesture 8: Leaning forward: Leaning forwards is the universal sign of interest and will be received as a compliment from most people who are shown it.

Common Body Language Gesture 7: Head Nodding: The

universal sign of agreement and produces positive sensations. Try nodding your head and you will begin to feel more positive and agreeable. What’s more, head nodding is also contagious. Try nodding your head when you finish a sentence and you’ll find people are more likely to agree with you.

Common Body Language Gesture

6: Hands Behind Head: A body language gesture which will aggravate most people who see it. When someone holds their hands locked behind their head, supporting it, they are making a body language gesture which reveals feelings of arrogance and superiority. You’ll find some of the guys in the corporate executive offices show this gesture, though it is not to be advised.

Common Body Language Gesture 5: Chair Straddling: When someone straddles a chair, they are showing an aggressive body language gesture. They are attempting to dominate the conversation while symbolically protecting themselves with the chair.

Common Body Language Gesture 4: Pen in Mouth: Putting a pen or other object in the mouth is a clear sign of insecurity. If you ever sit in an exam room you will witness a lot of students showing this body language gesture when they come across a question they are not certain of the answer to.

Common Body Language Gesture 3: Tucking the head into the Shoulders: An obvious sign of fear. When someone ducks their head and raises their shoulders you can be certain they’re feeling afraid or insecure. We tuck our head into our shoulders in order to protect it from attack. If anyone ever shows you this gesture you should try to make them feel more comfortable.

Common Body Language Gesture 2: Head Shake: The sign of "No." Look out for people whose words say "yes" while shaking their head. Their body language is worth more than their words.

Common Body Language Gesture 1: Head Positions: There are three main head positions: head up, head down and head neutral. Head neutral is calm and produced. Head help high shows confidence or (when held particularly high) arrogance. Head held low shows insecurity and lack of confidence.