Your body language tells people as much as the words you speak

The body language we display is vitally important to communication. The study of body language has told us to look for broad signs that give definitive evidence of someone’s intentions and thought processes. So, if someone strokes their nose, they are telling a lie; if they cross their legs, they are being defensive.

The truth is that body language and its interpretation are much more subtle than this. Many researchers have looked into this aspect of human behaviour in detail. In the early 1970s, researcher Albert Mehrabian suggested that only seven per cent of communication was made up of the words that are spoken and 93 per cent of the meaning was transferred through non-verbal routes – 38 per cent through tone of voice and 55 per cent through body language.

The exact figures are disputed, but today researchers now generally suggest that 60 to 80 per cent of a message is transferred through non-verbal means.