Does body language tell us more than what we say verbally? Is our body language learned or does it happen naturally? There are many different thoughts on this, some say there is a difference in the meaning of facial expression between cultures, while others say it is subjective. I think body language tells us a lot but can be interpreted in different ways. Are we telling people more about ourselves or our thoughts than we mean? We usually know when someone is happy, sad, excited, angry, scared or surprised by their facial expressions, but what else do their face and the rest of their body tell us? By understanding facial and body movements and positioning, many psychologists and law enforcement trainers tell us we can tell what people are thinking, whether they are dishonest, annoyed or just plain bored. An article from the American Psychological Association by Matsumoto and Hwang (2011) explains that we have microexpressions over which we have no control. Their article cites Porter and ten Brinke (2008) who state that when we try to be deceptive about our emotions is when these microexpressions usually occur. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essaySusan Krauss Whitbourne PH. D. (2012) states in a Psychology Today article that simply not combing your hair can say a lot about your emotional state. He goes on to explain how our posture shows that we are confident simply by keeping our heads high and our backs straight. If we are bored or anxious, we tend to wave our hands and cross our arms tightly if we are angry. This would be a good example of how body language could be subjective. How do we know if someone is angry or just cold? We may cross our arms for many reasons other than being angry. Whitbourne also says that shaking our legs and tapping our feet can show that we are anxious. The eyes also say a lot. Our pupils, which we cannot control, dilate when we are deceived or attracted by someone. Businessballs.com, as well as many other articles, indicates the way you look during a conversation can tell if you are deceiving or remembering facts. Looking to the right is usually a sign of deception or invention. If you are recalling a fact or a memory you are looking to the left. This is the opposite for left-handed people, so you would need to know whether a person is left-handed or right-handed in order to make sense of eye movement. There are those who say that our feelings are not reflected in our facial expressions. Both BBC.com and psychoscience.org conducted research that showed that a tribe in New Guinea saw threat and aggression in facial expressions that we would consider a scary facial expression. The article goes on to say that all cultures recognize certain expressions and the feelings associated with them. I think we can understand how people feel or what they think through body language on some occasions. It is something that can be easily manipulated. The example of the crossed arms shows how a gesture can mean something that has nothing to do with emotions or what we are thinking, yet someone could sense anger in us when we are simply cold. If we think about what we are doing, we can change our facial expressions, look in a different direction, not look at someone for too long, stand differently, or anything else that would change the basic signals we send with body language. I have a hard time looking at someone when I talk to them because of something that happened to me as a teenager, but.