with anxiety and may signal
deception, disagreement,
fear, or uncertainty.
Culture. Diverse cultural gestures involve self-touching, as well. In Spain, e.\
g., holding a single long hair
between the thumb and forefinger, and lifting it vertically above the he\
ad is a sign of "frustration." "This
female gesture is a symbolic way of 'tearing your hair out' when feeling\
intensely frustrated" (Morris
1994:102).
Ethology. "They are called displacement activities because it was at one time th\
ought that they are
triggered by 'nervous energy' overflowing (displaced) from the strongl\
y aroused motivational systems"
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(Brannigan and Humphries 1969:408).
Evolution. Self-touch cues originated ca. 180 m.y.a. in
paleocircuits of the mammalian brain. As
gestures, they reveal the body's wisdom in coping, e.g., with
stranger anxiety, and with the daily stress
of life in
Nonverbal World.
Media. Hollywood stars once seemed robotic (i.e., stiff, wooden, and "unreal\
") until method actors such
as Marlin Brando and James Dean brought natural self-touch cues to the s\
creen. Brando, e.g., clasped his
neck as he groped for words in "The Wild One" (1954). Dean's
hand-behind-head gesture in "Giant"
(1956) "humanized" the actor (i.e., the squirm cue revealed his vulne\
rability). Earlier, in The Big Sleep
(1946), Humphrey Bogart blazed a trail by fingering his right earlobe \
with his right hand several times
while pondering deep thoughts. (N.B.: As host of The Tonight Show [1962-92], Johnny Carson's boyish
tie-fumble made him seem vulnerable, approachable, and friendly.)
Observations. Because self-touch cues reveal emotions (esp. insecurity and uncertai\
nty), they are best
avoided while establishing credibility with strangers. 1. In the conference room, a supervisor massages
his lower lip with his left hand as he raises his right hand to speak. 2. A child clasps her wrist as she asks
mother for a piece of candy. 3. A Brazilian Indian smiles nervously and pinches his abdomen as an
anthropologist takes his photo. 4. A CEO bows her head and covers her mouth with her hand as she hears
low sales figures for the month.
Primatology. "The more intense the anxiety or conflict situation, the more vigorous\
the scratching
becomes. It typically occurred when the chimpanzees are worried or frigh\
tened by my presence or that of
a high-ranking chimpanzee" (Lawick-Goodall 1968:329 [also recorded in g\
orillas, baboons, Patas
monkeys, and man "under similar circumstances"]).
Salesmanship. One signal of a prospect's skepticism: "Touching the mouth, or masking the mouth with
fingers or hand" (Delmar 1984:46).
U.S. politics. 1. "[President Richard M.] Nixon's 'Hand-In-Front-of-Body' [hand] clasp [i\
.e., holding onto
his own wrist below his belt while standing] could have been an anxiety \
signal" (Blum 1988:4-3). 2.
"Holding her own hand [palm-to-palm, thumb-over-thumb, with her elbows f\
lexed at 90 degrees, her
upper arms adducted against the sides of her body, and her forearms pull\
ed into her abdomen while
standing], Geraldine Ferraro seems to be seeking reassurance" (Blum 198\
8:4-7).
RESEARCH REPORTS: 1. Earlobe-pulling, arm-scratching, and rubbing a worry stone, have been
classed as adaptors: "residuals of coping behaviors that were learned very early in life" (\
Ekman and
Friesen 1969:62). 2. Rubbing the face is a reaction to spatial invasion (Sommer 1969). 3.
Automanipulation is a sign of "fearfulness" in children (McGrew 1972). 4. Self manipulations increase
with stress and disapproval (Rosenfeld 1973). 5. Hand self-manipulations increase as Japanese subjects
gaze into an interviewer's eyes, "reflecting the upsetting effects" of e\
ye-to-eye contact (Bond and Komai
1976:1276). 6. "When excessive distraction through sensory overload occurs, as in the \
isolated
schizophrenic patients, continuous and repetitive rubbing of one hand up\
on the other helps filter the
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overload by narrowing attention" (Grand 1977:206). 7. Motherless rhesus monkeys suck thumbs or toes,
clasp themselves, engage in head-banging, and show "symptoms similar to disturbed mental patients"
(Pugh 1977:200). 8. Self-orality, self-clasping, and self-grasping are common signs in motherless rhesus
monkeys reared in isolation (Suomi 1977). 9. "Body-focused hand movements are arguably one of the
most common types of nonverbal behavior produced by humans" (Kenner 199\
3:274). 10. "Tactile
stimulation may also serve a calming or reassuring function when it is s\
elf-directed" (Goodall 1986:125).
11. In public speaking, the most common touch may be finger-to-hand (Kenner 1993). 12. "Unconscious
face-touching gestures indicate disbelief in what is being said by the c\
ompanion" (Morris 1994:31).
Because the listener feels a mental conflict in voicing his disagreement\
, he performs "a minor act of self-
comfort" (Morris 1994:31). 13. Self-clasping gestures (along with upper-body rocking for comfort [see
BALANCE CUE]) are signs given by Romanian children raised in orphanages of the 198\
0s-90s
(Blakeslee 1995).
E-Commentary I: "Baboons have a gesture called a 'muzzle wipe' in which they wipe thei\
r hand across the bridge of the
nose. This is done in non-relaxed contexts. I'd describe it as their bei\
ng 'puzzled' or 'ambivalent' or 'startled' or 'nervous' or
'uncertain,' etc." --Janette Wallis, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry & B\
ehavioral Sciences, University of Oklahoma Health
Sciences Center (6/7/00 9:18:31
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