Anger Body Language

In this post I will be talking about what is probably the easiest category of body language to recognize, anger.

I say that it is the most easily recognizable because more often than not the mannerisms that show during anger are fairly blatant. While there are some gestures that may be unique to individuals there are a set of movements that are very common to most people.

Clenched Fists – Clenched fists are a signal that a person is angry and potentially ready to fight.

Furrowed Eyebrows – Furrowed eyebrows is also a useful indicator when attempting to tell if a person is angry. This is when the inner eyebrows, the ends closest to your nose, press downward and inward towards the nose.

Nostril Flare – The nostril flare can also mean that a person is in a state of fury. This can allow more oxygen into the lungs in time of anger and thus in times of increased heart rate.

Spatial Invasion – Spatial invasion in this case is when one person who is angry with another, leans toward the other invading their personal space.

Narrowed Eyes – A person who is in a state of rage may narrow their eyes. This gesture is often seen with the before mentioned furrowed eyebrows.

Tightening Lips – An angry person may also tighten their lips, rolling them slightly inward. Sometimes this can be seen in combination with a frown.

Lowered Stance – A person in rage may also lower and “strengthen” their stance. When in a fight or preparing for a fight (whether verbal or physical) this is a movement to help stabilize the body for fighting.

Yelling – A person may yell or even let out a sort of roar or grunt during serious fits of anger.

Now, again I must reiterate that body language is contextual. Meaning seeing only one of these signs doesn’t necessarily mean that a person is angry. Since everyone is different people may also showcase their anger in different ways; whether it be violent “loud” motions, stomping their foot, biting their lower lip or anything else.

Below I have included a clip from the famous animation studio Pixar’s movie, Toy Story. In this clip we see an animator’s view and rendition of anger. You will see some of the gestures mentioned above in the character Woody’s actions. Enjoy.

References:
Angry Face - Pic -http://www.ziinews.com/
Toy Story - Youtube link -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXu6lQqhieA&feature=related

Unshutitus

The word unshutitus was created to mean an apparent inability for a human being to shut up. For example, when a teacher is instructing in class, and the students begin talking and continue to talk after the instructor asks for silence, the students have unshutitus.

To battle against unshutitus a student must listen and shut up in order for the instructor to continue their lecture. A person, who continuously speaks without giving others the chance to talk or in an attempt to lengthen a conversation that has already ended, is also said to have unshutitus.

Unshutitus is considered to be either a mental disease or an addiction. It should be avoided at all costs, for the health of relationships.

To see a similar word, you may click this link. Loud

Reference

The topic of the day, as you probably had noticed from the title, is reference. If you were to ask any animator worth their weight in awesomeness, if using reference for an animation was necessary, the vast majority would most assuredly give a resounding yes.

Body language is the same in the regard that in order to truly be able to distinguish between anger, sadness, contempt and all the other visible emotions, we must see them. Anyone can tell us in words what the micro-movements of sadness look like, but it isn’t until we see it in its true form that we can truly analyze it and thus gain experience from it.

Luckily for us we live in the age of easily created and received information. Digital media has grown so much, that one would be hard pressed to not be able to find reference. If in fact there were no reference for what a person needed, digital media is at the point where one could easily create the reference they needed and for a relatively low price.

Now, I am sure that some of the business people that may view this post might think about disregarding this as information meant only for animators. This is simply untrue. In order to truly learn body language for business or any other practical means, you must see real anger, sorrow, happiness and other emotions and mannerisms. After all if you were to build a business website focusing on social networking, there is a very good chance that you will reference other successful and sometimes unsuccessful social network websites in order to better your own website.

What I hope that animators get from this post is simply reinforcement of the need for reference in any work they may do, especially those that focus on facial emotions. For the business people, I hope that they understand the need to research outside resources in order to really understand how body language affects people and therefore how it can affects business.

To drive the "point" home as well as offer a bit of entertainment, I have provided a link below of a college sorority girl that is genuinely sad about something. While this video may make you laugh, I would like you to try your best to analyze the signs of sadness that the girl shows us. P.s. you may want to skip to 15 seconds in, that way you may actually see her face.

Crying Sorority Girl

References:
Picture: http://www.carrollk12.org/Assets/image/lhs/other/electronic_reference.jpg
Link: Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sd-j0rKeKw