Pacifiers Part .1

As you probably noticed by the picture presented above, we are not going to be talking about the object parents place in their children’s mouths to stop them from screaming. What we will be talking about is the process of comforting ones self through physical gestures.

There are multiple forms of pacifying and one of these forms is shown in the photograph. Sometimes known as the “pain in the neck” gesture, this action of rubbing the back of ones neck is often an unconscious attempt to quell emotional discomfort as well as other unpleasant emotions.

“ The brain requires the body to do something that will stimulate nerve endings, releasing calming endorphins in the brain, so that the brain can be soothed.”

~ Joe Navarro

A few other emotions that the neck rub could be attempting to pacify are doubt, fear, insecurity or just concern.

Lets create a scenario where we might see this behavior. A group of friends is standing outside of their classroom door, enjoying their break waiting to get back to work. One of the friends brings up the possibility of going to a club later that night. Another friend doesn’t want to go, so he declines.

Teasing ensues, as does the discomfort of the one that doesn’t want to go to the club. It is at this point that we would probably see that the one that declined is rubbing the back of his neck because he is most likely feeling emotional discomfort and social pressure and his body is trying to comfort that stress by pacifying.

Noticing this behavior in the business world could potentially help you stop future problems by finding out what is stressing the person and if possible helping that person to alleviate their stress.

For the animators: If a character is in a very stressful situation you could easily add this to your characters movements. However try to make this movement subtle, especially when the character is speaking. Remember though, if the rest of the characters movements fight the pacifying motion then you may not give the intended feeling of discomfort.

References & Sources:

Navarro, P. (April 15th, 2008). What everybody is saying. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers