Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2975: Devon Still & Daughter Leah - A Body Language of Affection and ... (PHOTO)

Devon Still, a defensive tackle for the Cincinnati Bengals, is shown here with his daughter Leah Sari. In June 2014, Leah was diagnosed with stage IV neuroblastoma (cancer).

A strong body language signal of affection is a leaning toward and touching of heads. This can occur during a hug or other contact such as a lateral leaning with a picture pose or during cuddling. Parents who hug/make contact with their children with routine head tilts and head touches have higher degrees of affection and empathy compared those parents who do not commonly tilt and/or touch heads during hugs/contact.

The distinction of affection and its relationship to love is imperative. For those for whom we have sincere affection, we always have love - yet not all for whom we love do we have affection.

God bless you Leah. Stay strong and heal quickly.

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2974: André Benjamin on Playing Jimi Hendrix - Body Language of Embarrassment - David Letterman

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2972: Rachel Respess, Destrehan High School Teacher Arrested and Smiling Incongruent with Emotional Context

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2701: Cuddling, Romance, Affection and Foot-Shunning - Body Language Tells

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2847: Eric Cantor, Concession Speeches and Low Affection

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2768: Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Martin - and the VERY UNconscious Uncoupling foretelling their Conscious Uncoupling

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2901: Sadie doesn't want her brother to grow up - Body Language of Sincere Affection 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis No. 2649: How a Kiss can Change the World - Body Language of Affection 

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2:  Body Language of Blake Lively and Penn Badgley  Strongly Suggests an Impending Break-up in Near Future 

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Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2299: Rihanna & Chris Brown at 2013 Grammys - What Their Body Language Says

This image of Chris Brown and Rihanna at the 2013 Grammys last night is screaming full of body language. Rihanna's head and neck leaning towards Brown with contact is highly consistent for affection. This head touch is seen ubiquitously in romantic love, and this nonverbal can be seen in all types of non-romantic love as well - as long as there is true affection present. Chris Brown is not reciprocating - there is no head-leaning at all. 

Note also that Brown's hand/arm - although around his partner is not making contact. When sincere affection is present, we should see touching with full palmar (palm of hand) contact. There is none here however. 

It looks as though Brown's about to, or just finished, an "I love you" display with his left hand. 

Rihanna's single-armed cross is a common truncated form of the more common double arm cross. It's particularly common in children, gay men and women signaling a closed-off, defensive or low-confidence emotional tone. 

Brown's legs are configured in what is known as a "Seated Crotch Display". This common lower limb nonverbal can indicate both an alpha-male dominance display (its meaning here) as well as a signal of sexual attraction. In the sexual context, the crotch is pointed towards the person of interest. Women world-wide commonly find this nonverbal display overused and distasteful. Men tend to be oblivious when they use this (to their great detriment) - particularly in business scenarios - as it often destroys rapport 

The bottom line here is that Rihanna has significant and sincere affection towards Chris Brown, although (surprise) she feels significantly defensive about displaying this emotion in public. Chris Brown on the other hand, shows no affection at all - but lots of alpha male behavior directed away from Rihanna.

See also:

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2242: Rihanna & Chris Brown at Lakers Game - Body Language of Dominance, "Ownership",  Narcissism and Submission

Nonverbal Romance and Dating Secret # 202: Revealed in a Kiss - Prince Albert and Princess Charlene

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2: Body Language of Blake Lively and Penn Badgley  Strongly Suggests an Impending Break-up in Near Future

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2203: A Body Language Metric of Intimacy and Affection -  How Do YOU cuddle?

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2142:  Mitt Romney's face wipe by stranger -  Preening as a signal of Affection

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 1911:  Preening as a Signal of Affection-Attraction  

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 1808: Time Magazine's  Breast Feeding, Dr. William Sears, and Attachment Parenting Controversy - Shows Emotional Dissonance at Best

Nonverbal Communication Secret # 1423:  Head First Affection &  Head Surrogate Hugs

Nonverbal Communication Analysis # 2086:  Kyra Sedgwick, Kevin Bacon, Love and Sincerity

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Negotiation Body Language Secret # 391: Hillary Clinton and Aung San Suu Kyi

U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is show here hugging Myanmar's (Burma's) pro-democracy opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. The Burmese leader is the winner of numerous awards including the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Although the two women have not known each other very long, their new friendship is quite sincere. Three classic signals of a truly affectionate hug are clearly demonstrated in this image: head touching, eye closure and full contact with the palms of their hands. A sincere embrace is very difficult to fake, and friendship among leaders is all too rare.

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Negotiation Body Language Secret # 361: Another Bonding Adjunct During Laughter

Although many people are unaware of it, a primary role of laughter is a means of bonding more than it is a result of humor. This is a fundamental staple of Psychology 101. I pointed out in a post a few days ago (Negotiation Body Language Secret # 501: Bonding and Rapport Facilitators - The Laughing Lean) that women will often lean towards each other as the laughter maximizes and peaks. This nonverbal promotes bonding and builds rapport even further. In the above image, Herman Cain is leaning a bit towards Mitt Romney during a break at a recent Republican debate in Orlando, Florida. Sometimes when women or lovers do this, their heads will even touch - although such head touching is rare among straight men.

The shoulder or arm touch is a similar bonding adjunct. This nonverbal is seen commonly with both sexes. Discretion must be exercised though, so as to avoid evoking patronizing feelings. In some contexts this body language will back fire - and you may rapidly "Un-bond".

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Negotiation Body Language Secret # 501: Bonding and Rapport Facilitators - The Laughing Lean

Laughter is really more of a bonding facilitator than it is necessarily a pure byproduct of humor. A common example of this phenomenon is manifested daily in cinemas all over the World. When the same comedy is played, people always laugh more when the theater is crowded - compared to when it's sparsely filled.

There are several body language gestures which can accentuate this laughing-bonding-rapport building process. A very common one is demonstrated here between U.S. First Lady, Michelle Obama and Ms. Oprah Winfrey. As bouts of laughter are near maximum crescendo as well as their peak, it is very common for those laughing to subconsciously reduce their interpersonal space. This is very often and sincerely manifested nonverbally by a leaning of the head(s) and upper body towards the other person. It often is mutual and simultaneous. Sometimes during extreme laughing bouts there may even be a touching of heads. This head tilt is significantly more common and pronounced with women compared with men.

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