“On August 4, 2001, Mohamed al Kahtani was denied U.S. entry at Orlando International Airport. On September 11, 2001, while three planes carried five hijackers, United Flight 93 carried only four. These four were overpowered by passengers, sparing a potential target in Washington. Federal investigators believe that al Kahtani was meant to be Flight 93’s fifth hijacker.Why did Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector Jose Melendez-Perez turn away al Kahtani on August 4? The inspector said there was something “chilling” about Kahtani. Melendez-Perez was quoted in the 9/11 Commission Report as saying, “My first question to the subject [through the interpreter] was why he was not in possession of a return airline ticket. The subject became visibly upset… in an arrogant and threatening manner, which included pointing his finger at my face.” Thus, though the two didn’t share a spoken language, Melendez-Perez used nonverbal cues to help make his decision.Melendez-Perez, like many professionals, relied on his intuition to understand nonverbal behavior. Can we formalize our understanding of nonverbal behavior, so that it can be used by the many, instead of the intuitive few? This is the goal of the MITRE-Sponsored Research (MSR) project “Understanding (Arabic) Nonverbal Behavior.” Our objective is to make information from nonverbal behavior interpretable and usable for a broad range of work tasks, including field-based activities, video analysis interpreting behavior and intent, airport screening, and immigration, customs, and border patrols.”See more of this article at http://www.mitre.org/news/the_edge/summer_08/friedland_loehr.html
Whether Obvious or Subtle, Nonverbals Are UsefulWhat kinds of nonverbal behavior might be of use? We can consider three types, along a continuum from obvious to subtle.

http://www.zencollegelife.com/10-hand-gestures-you-should-know-when-traveling/

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional – The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.

A distinctive pattern of nonverbal behaviors characterizes high-status persons. A recent meta-analysis ( a study of many research studies) shows these three factors.

• facial expressiveness,
• greater bodily openness (what I refer to as open body windows)
• smaller interpersonal distances (that is high status people approach others at closer distances.)Think about it this way – a boss, by virtue of their status can come into your cubical and interact closely. A lower status person might stand outside the cubical and ask to enter and stand further away. Powerful people come in and interact closely as behaviors that are characteristic of higher status persons (Hall, Coats, & LeBeau, 2005)

Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional – The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.