Body Language

[icor1031]

Forgive me if I am asking the wrong group, I assume this falls under psychology.

My question is, what is the difference in a person's attitude when comparing crossing the arms, to clenching onto the (both) arms with your hands? In what situations is the one done over the other?

I have a book on body language, but it's not clear on this point.

Thank you.

[Gord Ben]

Hi icor1031,

Both poses symbolise a defensive stance.

However, in the first case - arms crossed - it generally shows defiance, and the person might be a bit more agressive and overconfident. Normally, in this case the person wants to demonstrate superiority - like a policeman standing on duty.

While in the second case - hands clenched - generally means that he is holding back something (like anger or disagreement). He appears to be not so overconfident and maybe a bit more passive.

[voodoo scientist]

I would separate the stances into two dimensions: one hand and one arm dimension.

The arm dimension would run from relaxed arms falling down the person's sides to tightly crossed arms. Generally speaking, people cross their arms when they are feeling combative, but doesn't necessarily tell you anything about whether it's aggressive or defensive out of context.

The hand dimension would run from open palms to clenched fists. This is really similar to the arm dimension and sends mostly the same signals, but again it's hard to argue that this tells you anything about their intent, only that they might have taken a combative stance on the issue.

This is really all you can know from that information. Body language is not very exact. It's generally true that people engage in a limited amount of "body language behavior," but the exact meaning attributed by the agent to the behavior is subject to very large individual differences. Some people will clench their fists when aggressive, some when defensive. Some will cross their arms when defensive, some when aggressive. It is useful for determining their perspective, and then combining that perspective with prior knowledge of the agent as well as the context. It's all about narrowing down the options and approximating.