Interpreting Body Language

One of the supposed easy to spot pre-violence indicators, is a person’s body language. In fact there have been countless books written on reading a person’s body language, whether to tell if they’re angry, sad, lying etc. Most of these books (and articles) have been written by FBI profilers and criminals interviewers etc. who have the luxury of observing the individuals they are questioning, on their own turf, in interview scenarios; where they control the time and pace of their interaction with the person whose motives, behaviors and actions they are trying to ascertain. Whilst they’re observations and conclusions surrounding body language and non-verbal cues are probably true and accurate, it would be wrong to believe that it is a simple job of translating these signals into real life, dynamic scenarios.

One of the funny things with interpreting body language, is that you probably already know a person’s intentions towards you if they are violent, without having to resort to checking off a list of body actions/behaviors. I remember being taught how to fold a map correctly, so that the enemy wouldn’t know where you were, or where you were trying to get to by the folds in the map – if you folded the map to look at a particular area then it would be obvious where you were, or trying to get to etc. I was also told never to put a finger on a map, as the dirt/sweat on your finger might leave a mark. I remember being very impressed at the thought that went into all of this, and then coming to the realization that if you were caught by the enemy, they obviously knew where you were, and didn’t really need to examine the creases and marks on your map to ascertain your location. It is normally very obvious when someone has harmful intent towards you, and interpreting specific signals is not really necessary.

Where an understanding of a person’s body language can be useful, is where somebody is hiding/disguising their violent/criminal intent towards us, and this is really something that is specific to certain types of violence e.g. the rapist who wants to convince a potential victim to leave the bar with them, the mugger who is trying to talk their victim into following them to a particular destination etc. Most of the time it will be verbal, rather than non-verbal cues that will alert us to their true intentions however there are certain non-verbal behaviors/actions that can help us gain a better overall picture of a person’s real motives.

It is usually pointless to try and examine facial expressions. This is because we see and interpret the world according to our emotional state e.g. if we are happy, we see other people as being happy whether they are sad or angry etc. A tight, forced grin, with the lips drawn back, which is a sign of aggression, will be interpreted as a happy smile, if the person viewing the face is in a positive/happy emotional state – if this is the case they have failed to pick up on the other signals that their aggressor is giving off, and are therefore so unaware of their predicament that they won’t be on the lookout for any particular pieces of body language. This really means that an individual’s body language can only be used as a means of confirming what you probably know already.

One of the things I always looked for when dealing with individuals who might become violent was an overall sense of anticipation, preparation and deliberation i.e. they were waiting or looking for something to happen e.g. people who were carrying weapons would often check the weapon, and make sure that any clothing that might restrict their draw would be clear – if somebody was constantly checking, patting down their pockets then it would be a good idea to either stay clear or apprehend them before they were able to escalate the situation. If somebody didn’t seem comfortable in the moment, then it was likely that they were planning or expecting something in the future – rarely good or positive. It is this overall sense of body language that I believe is more valuable than specific pieces relating to whether a person’s toes are pointing in or out, if they’re exposing their crotch/groin etc. These are things that may help an interviewer in a controlled environment etc. but are of little use to somebody interpreting a real time, dynamic situation that may well end in violence. Having a sense of whether a person is comfortable and easy in their present situation is a much better indicator of whether they have nefarious intentions towards you.       

Looking for specific non-verbal signals is a dangerous way to ensure your personal safety. Looking for verbal cues, and coupling them with a person’s body language is a much more productive approach. In saying this, most times interpreting a person’s demeanor and behavior only occurs when you hold suspicions about them, which means at the very end of the day, trusting your gut is your first and best line of defense.