Dr.Morris on Gaze and salutation Behaviour

Here is some stuff I found very interesting on gaze behaviour and salutation behaviour that I found in the amazing book “peoplewatching, The Desmond Morris guide to body language” by Dr. Desmond Morris.

on a conversation:

“The speaker starts his statement with a glance at his companion. Then, as he gains momentum of thoughts and words, he looks away. As he reaches the end of his comment, he glances back again to check on the impact of his words. While he has been doing this, his companion has been watching him, but now, as the listener takes over the talk and becomes the speaker, he, in turn, looks aways, glancing back only to check on the effect of his words.”

“A variant on this is the verbose companion, who talks so much and for so long that he cannot wait till the end of his statement to check reactions to what he is saying, and has to keep glancing back during the course of his speech.”

On Salutation displays. These are displays one makes when greeting someone else. Each normal greeting consists of 4 steps. The inconvenience display, the distant display, the close display and the grooming display. Here are some excerpts.

The distant display

“The main moment of greeting is when body contact is made, but before this comes the moment of first sighting. As soon as host and guest have identified eachother, they signify this with a recognition response. This consists of 6 visual Elements.
The smile, the Eyebrow flash, the Headtilt, the Hai, the Wave and the Intention Embrace. The first 3 almost always occur, and they are performed simultaneously. At the moment of recognition, the head tilts back, the eyebrows arc, and the face breaks into a large smile. The head tilt and the eyebrow flash may be very brief, they are elements of surprise.”

The close display.

“After the distant display, there is an approach interval followed by the key moment of body contact. There is much hugging, patting..etc. And of course, continuous smiling. There may even be eye-contact at close range. The precise intensity of the distant display depends on. The depth of the prior relationship, the length of the separation, the change that has taken place during the separation”.

“Unplanned greetings are far less elaborate. When we see a friend in the street we might just give him a distant display, a smile and a nod. That’s it.”

“As we part, we display again, often turning around for the final distant signal, before we dissapear.”

More to follow…