Most nonverbal cues vary wildly between people and situations, which makes them useless when applied to strangers. Only focusing on the obvious ones is worth the time.
Some obvious ones:
walking away to end a conversation
stepping back (wants space)
looking away and not responding (wants to be left alone)
Some inconsistent ones I frequently hear stated as facts
crossing arms is being defensive (they could just be cold!)
looking away, but still talking, is showing disinterest (they might have difficulty with maintaining eye contact)
Years ago I read something online about “target fixation” which can occur when walking past someone. It’s basically that thing when you lock eyes with someone walking towards you and neither of you can decide which way to go?
Anyway the thing I read said just look past the person, like just focus behind them and you can usually avoid this weird awkwardness. I’ve found it totally works!
Most nonverbal cues vary wildly between people and situations, which makes them useless when applied to strangers. Only focusing on the obvious ones is worth the time.
Some obvious ones:
Some inconsistent ones I frequently hear stated as facts
Years ago I read something online about “target fixation” which can occur when walking past someone. It’s basically that thing when you lock eyes with someone walking towards you and neither of you can decide which way to go?
Anyway the thing I read said just look past the person, like just focus behind them and you can usually avoid this weird awkwardness. I’ve found it totally works!
There are tons of cues that work as long as they are about what the person wants to do and not about how they are feeling or what led up to the cue.