A for Alphabet

Glossary of non-verbal communication (and human behaviour) terms you may find useful.

Part 1, the As:

Abandonment: The act or feeling of being left behind or rejected, associated with non-verbal cues such as slumped posture, averted gaze, or self-soothing gestures like hugging oneself. Studies have explored the psychological ramifications of abandonment through the lens of psychoanalysis, highlighting its impact on attachment styles and emotional regulation.

Abduction: In body language, the outward movement of limbs, such as spreading arms to express openness or widening the stance to display dominance. Research highlights the significance of body language in communication, showing how these gestures can influence perceptions of confidence and authority.

Abrazo: A Spanish term meaning "embrace" or "hug." In body language, hugs signify intimacy, warmth, and acceptance, often used to express affection, comfort, or support in social or emotional contexts. The abrazo, particularly common in Latin American cultures, involves chests coming together with arms hooking around and hands patting the back.

Absorbed Actions: Actions that we emulate and adopt unconsciously from other members of our ingroup. Morris noted these vary culturally but spread easily among likeminded groups. Examples include mannerisms adopted within social or cultural groups.

Absolutes: Fixed or definitive beliefs, often seen in cognitive biases. In non-verbal communication, an "absolute" gesture could indicate unwavering conviction, such as a firm nod or clenched fist. However, no behaviour has an absolute meaning. Studies link absolutist thinking to anxiety and depression, showing how this cognitive style can exacerbate mental health issues.

Abstract Thinking: A cognitive process involving ideas and concepts rather than concrete objects. Related gestures might include touching the temple or steepling fingers, signalling deep thought. Research explores the multidimensionality of abstract concepts and their role in problem-solving and creativity.

Accentuation: The emphasis placed on verbal communication through gestures or tone, such as pointing a finger to reinforce a critical statement or raising eyebrows to highlight a question. The accentuation effect influences how differences are perceived, often amplifying distinctions between categories.

Acceptance: A psychological state of agreeing or approving, often seen in non-verbal cues like relaxed shoulders, open palms, or a gentle nod, signalling receptivity and understanding. Acceptance is a key emotion regulation strategy, with studies showing its effectiveness in reducing stress and improving mental health.

Acquiescence: Passive agreement or submission, often displayed through submissive body language, such as lowering the head, avoiding eye contact, or shrinking posture. Studies explore the psychological underpinnings of this tendency, highlighting its role in social conformity and decision-making.

Action Tendencies: Instinctive behavioural responses to emotions, such as clenching fists in anger or recoiling in fear. These are critical to understanding emotional body language and are often studied in the context of emotional regulation and expression.

Active Crowd: A group of people collectively engaged in purposeful activity, such as protests or performances, where emotions and non-verbal communication are amplified, e.g., clapping, chanting, or cheering. Crowd psychology examines these dynamics, showing how collective behaviour can influence individual actions.

Adam’s Apple: A noticeable cartilage in the throat, which may visibly move when someone swallows nervously, laughs, or speaks with emotion. Its movement can signal discomfort or anxiety, often observed in situations of stress or strong emotional reactions.

Adapted Modern Living: Adjustments made in behaviour or communication to align with contemporary social norms, such as digital communication or reduced physical gestures due to virtual interactions. This concept explores how modern lifestyles influence traditional behaviours and communication patterns.

Adaptive: The ability to adjust behaviours or emotions in response to changing environments. Adaptive non-verbal signals may include smiling in stressful situations to maintain social harmony. Research highlights the importance of adaptability in coping with stress and change.

Adaptors: Subconscious, often self-soothing gestures such as scratching, tapping, or rubbing one’s hands, commonly observed during stress or discomfort. These behaviours help individuals manage anxiety and are often studied in the context of stress responses.

Addressee: The intended receiver of the message.

Addresser: The sender (creator) of the message.

Adiposity: Refers to body fat, which can influence self-image and perceived confidence. Body posture or gestures may change based on one’s feelings about their appearance. Studies explore the social and psychological impacts of adiposity on self-esteem and body image.

Admiration: A feeling of respect or approval, often expressed through prolonged eye contact, a slight smile, or leaning forward in conversation. This emotion facilitates social learning and bonding within groups.

Adoration: Intense affection or admiration, often accompanied by soft eyes, a tilted head, or clasped hands. This emotion is associated with strong positive feelings towards someone or something.

Adrenalin: A stress hormone released in fight-or-flight situations, often causing visible non-verbal signs such as dilated pupils, increased heart rate, or trembling hands. Research explores the physiological and psychological effects of adrenalin in stress and emergency situations.

Aesthesia: An experience of sensation, stimulation by appreciation of the visual display.

Aesthetic Behaviour: Actions influenced by a desire for beauty or harmony, such as choosing appealing clothing or maintaining graceful movements to convey attractiveness. The brain’s visual cortex plays a significant role in processing visual stimuli, which has been vital for survival over years of evolution. Studies show that aesthetic experiences can enhance psychological well-being and promote health.

Aesthetic Selection: The psychological preference for visually pleasing traits or behaviours, influencing mate selection or social approval. From as early as three months of age, humans associate outer beauty with positive internal qualities. Research indicates that aesthetic preferences can impact social and reproductive success.

Affect Displays: Non-verbal expressions of emotion, such as facial expressions, gestures, and body language, that convey feelings to others. Ekman & Friesen categorized these displays, noting their synchronization with other behaviours, such as the arms aloft and smiling behaviour of a winning athlete.

Affection Displays: Emotional expressions, such as smiling, frowning, or crying, often visible in facial expressions and body language. Public displays of affection can reveal intimate dynamics of relationships and vary widely across cultures.

Affective Empathy: The ability to feel and share the emotions of others, often demonstrated through matching facial expressions, mirroring body language, or comforting touch. Research highlights the importance of empathy in social functioning and its role in promoting prosocial behaviour.

Affective Realism: A cognitive bias where one’s mood influences perception, potentially affecting how non-verbal signals are interpreted. Barrett's research suggests that emotions are social constructs shaped by feedback loops with our body.

Affiliation: The psychological need to belong to a group, often accompanied by mirroring gestures or adopting group-specific non-verbal behaviours. The hormone oxytocin is linked to feelings of social safeness and affiliation.

Affiliator: A person who seeks and enjoys social connections, often displaying open body language, smiles, and other inviting behaviours. This role is crucial for group cohesion and rapport, using empathetic and calm body language to smooth difficult situations.

Affirmation: Positive reinforcement or agreement, which can be expressed non-verbally through head nods, clapping, or thumbs-up gestures. Affirmations can boost self-esteem and resilience, with studies showing their effectiveness in improving mental health.

Agitation: Restlessness or irritation, displayed through fidgeting, pacing, or tapping feet. Agitation can be a sign of underlying medical conditions or psychological distress and is often managed through both non-pharmacological and pharmacological interventions.

Aggression: Hostile behaviour, often signalled by clenched fists, glaring eyes, or invading personal space. Signs of aggression include direct and prolonged eye contact, constricted pupils, and sudden arm movements.

Agreeableness: A personality trait linked to warmth and cooperation, often seen in non-verbal cues like smiling, nodding, and open gestures. It is one of the five major dimensions of personality structure.

Air-Grasp Baton: A non-verbal gesture where the hand moves as if grasping an invisible object, often used to emphasise speech or signal determination. This gesture represents the desire for control.

Alexithymia: Difficulty identifying or expressing emotions, potentially leading to reduced affect displays or flat facial expressions. This condition can occur with other psychiatric conditions and affects emotional awareness and social attachment.

Allokine: A variant of a bodily unit of communication, such as a gesture.

Alphabet: the pictorial code by which individual characters stand for individual sounds (or combinations of).

Alter-Adaptors: Actions made in response to stress caused by another's actions, such as stepping back and tensing the jaw when confronted with an angry finger jab.

Alternative Intention Movements: Actions suggesting different directions or movements, such as rocking and swaying. These movements are used in dancing and by individuals torn between wanting to stay and leave, such as a nervous public speaker.

Alienation: A feeling of disconnection or isolation, often accompanied by closed-off body language, such as crossing arms or turning away from others.

Allo-Contact: Touching behaviours between individuals, such as a pat on the back or a handshake, which can signal support, affection, or social bonding.

Allostatic Load: The cumulative stress on the body from adapting to repeated challenges, which can influence non-verbal signs such as fatigued posture, tension in the face, or restless movements.

Allurement: The act of attracting or enticing others, often through deliberate non-verbal cues like prolonged eye contact, subtle smiles, or preening behaviours.

Altruism: Selfless concern for others, often signalled by comforting gestures, warm smiles, or protective body movements. Altruism can be influenced by emotional closeness and often selects for kin and ingroups.

Amazement: A strong emotional reaction, often expressed through wide eyes, an open mouth, or raised eyebrows. Amazement is similar to surprise but typically lasts longer and may include additional gestures like placing a hand over the mouth. Studies show that amazement can enhance memory retention and increase social bonding.

Ambady, Nalini: A psychologist known for her work on thin-slice judgments, studying how brief observations of behaviour can reveal personality traits and emotions. Her research has demonstrated that people can make accurate judgments about others' traits and states from very brief exposures to their behaviour.

Ambience: The surrounding atmosphere, which can influence mood and non-verbal communication, such as relaxed posture in a calming environment. Research indicates that ambient factors like lighting, scent, and sound can significantly affect emotional states and social interactions.

Ambiguity Aversion: The preference for certainty over uncertainty, reflected in body language such as hesitating gestures, shrugging, or anxious fidgeting when faced with unclear situations. Studies have shown that ambiguity aversion can lead to risk-averse decision-making and is influenced by individual differences in tolerance for uncertainty.

Ambivalent Signals: Mixed or contradictory non-verbal cues, such as smiling while avoiding eye contact, often indicating internal conflict or uncertainty. These signals can make communication confusing and may lead to misunderstandings.

Amimia: The absence of facial expressions, often associated with neurological or psychological conditions like Parkinson’s disease or depression. Research on Parkinson’s disease shows that amimia can impair social interactions and emotional communication.

Amplification: The process of exaggerating non-verbal cues to emphasise emotions or messages, such as dramatically widening eyes to show surprise or spreading arms to signal excitement. Amplification can enhance the clarity and impact of communication.

Amplifying Gestures: Exaggerated movements that emphasise verbal communication, such as raising arms while describing something large. These gestures add meaning and relevance, often allowing the inference of meaning that the initial gesture alone doesn't. For example, if a person crosses their arms, it doesn't carry enough meaning on its own; however, with amplified gestures such as withdrawing the feet, lowering the chin, and tensing the jaw, the initial gesture becomes more relevant.

Amusement: A light emotional state expressed through laughter, relaxed posture, or playful gestures. Amusement can enhance social bonds and reduce stress. Studies show that laughter and amusement can improve mood and increase social cohesion.

Amygdala: A brain region thought to involve emotion processing, influencing reactions such as fear, anger, or joy, often reflected in non-verbal cues. The amygdala may play a key role in the fight-or-flight response and in storing emotional memories.

Anchor Point: A stable posture or position that conveys confidence or control, such as firmly planting both feet on the ground. Anchoring can influence/increase perceptions of authority and stability.

Androstadienone: A pheromone-like compound found in sweat, linked to subconscious attraction and mood regulation. Research suggests that androstadienone can influence mood and increase sexual attraction.

Anger: An intense emotion associated with glaring eyes, flared nostrils, or clenched fists. Anger is one of the so-called universal facial expressions and can be accompanied by aggressive body language.

Anguish: Severe emotional pain, often visible through wrinkled brows, downturned lips, or a collapsed posture. Anguish can be a response to extreme stress or loss.

Angular Distance: The spatial relationship between people or objects, often influencing perceived intimacy or dominance in non-verbal interactions. Proxemics studies explore how physical distance affects communication and social dynamics.

Anhedonia: The inability to feel pleasure, often observed through flat facial expressions, lack of engagement, or minimal affect displays in body language. Anhedonia is a common symptom of depression.

Ankle Lock: A subtle body language gesture where one locks their ankles while seated, often indicating nervousness or restraint. This gesture can signal discomfort or anxiety.

Annoyance: A mild irritation, frequently expressed through pursed lips, sighing, or eye rolls. Annoyance can escalate to anger if not addressed.

Anosmic: Lacking a sense of smell, which could reduce sensitivity to olfactory social cues like pheromones. Anosmia can affect social interactions and personal hygiene awareness.

ANS (Autonomic Nervous System): The system controlling involuntary responses, such as sweating, pupil dilation, or heart rate, all of which play roles in non-verbal communication. The ANS is crucial for the body's stress response.

Apocrine Glands: Sweat glands associated with hair-covered areas, such as the scalp, armpits, and groin. They secrete a concentrated fatty sweat, particularly under emotional stress. In men, these glands release androsterone, a chemical weakly linked to sexual attraction.

Appalled: A response to something shocking or unpleasant, which may be accompanied by a disgusted facial expression, eye blocking, head turning, or covering the face with hands.

Appeasement: The display of submissive or compliant body language to reduce conflict, such as inward-turned shoulders, head lowered, or appeasement smiles. Appeasement behaviours can de-escalate tense situations.

Apprehension: A feeling of unease or fear that something bad may happen. Common behaviours include rubbing limbs, cautious movements, and "exit-minding" (scanning for ways out).

Archetype: An original type from which similar things are patterned.

Archipallium: Also known as the archicortex, this is the oldest part of the brain's cortex, associated with primal functions.

Arms Akimbo (or Hands on Hips): A posture with hands on hips, often signalling confidence, dominance, curiosity, or status, depending on the thumb direction.

Arms Aloft: A gesture of raised arms signifying joy, energy, or celebration. If elbows are higher than the shoulders, it indicates excitement; if lower, it may signal apology or warning.

Arms Behind Back: A posture associated with confidence, authority, or even arrogance, as it exposes the ventral region. Clenched or tightened hands may indicate restraint or mental discomfort.

Arousal: A state of heightened energy, driven by factors such as anxiety, imagination, or sexual attraction. Physiological signs include dilated pupils and increased self-touching.

Arrector Pili Muscles: Microscopic muscles attached to hair follicles that cause "goosebumps" when stimulated such as by fear or cold.

Artifacts: Objects in the environment or on a person (created by humans) that influence nonverbal communication, such as clothing, accessories, tools, or personal belongings.

Artifactual Medium: Any human artifact that assists/develops the existing message and its delivery.

Artificial Aggression: The display of aggressive behaviour without actual aggression, often used to intimidate or assert control.

Artificial Appeasement: Feigning compliance, agreement, or happiness to maintain social ease. Fake smiles are a common example.

Artificial Intelligence: the development and existence of machines with the ability to replace and extend our mental functions.

Associative Memory: The ability to associate stimuli (e.g., smells, images, or gestures) with related concepts or memories, playing a key role in learning and behaviour.

Astonishment: A fleeting emotion of surprise triggered by unexpected events, often accompanied by wide eyes, raised eyebrows, and an open mouth.

Asymmetry: A lack of balance or symmetry in facial expressions or gestures, often indicating incongruence, dishonesty, or emotional conflict.

Asynchronous: Temporal communication (that takes place over time as opposed to simultaneously).

Asynchrony: The lack of synchrony in actions or postures between two people, possibly indicating disagreement or communication barriers.

Attachment: A term from Bowlby's theory, describing the human need for closeness and emotional bonds, especially between caregivers and infants. Early attachment experiences shape future emotional regulation and relationships.

Attribution Effect: The tendency to form lasting assumptions about someone based on a single observed action or event, especially if it is negative.

Audioception: The sense of hearing or the ability to detect sounds.

Auditory: Relating to hearing; includes auditory processing and perception, which may unconsciously pick up emotional tones or key words in conversations.

Auditory Learners: Individuals who learn best through oral presentations or discussions. They often use phrases like "I hear you" or "sounds good".

Augmented Reality: Interactive natural experience enhanced/altered by computer technology.

Austin, Gilbert: An early writer on nonverbal communication and rhetoric, notable for his contributions to understanding gestures and their significance.

Auto-Contact: Self-touching gestures, such as stroking or hugging oneself, often performed for comfort or to mimic the touch of others.

Autobiographical Memory Bias: The tendency to shape one's self-identity based on personal recollections of past actions.

Look out for the other letters.