Crossed legs are a sign that a negative attitude or defensive attitude may be the case. It is a barrier and defensive way to symbolically protecting the genital region. The person may not be open to discussion or new ideas.
It obviously can have slightly different meanings for women, because they are taught to cross legs when wearing skirts and dresses. You can usually judge how neutral or negative the leg cross by how relaxed their legs are...◦
Friday, December 18, 2009
Leg Cross
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4 comments:
This is an oversimplification because crossing legs is not systematically negative. I have also seen this misconception in law enforcement officials. There are other variables to be considered before making a judgment. The location of each individual is meaningful. Are they sitting in front of or next to each other? Are the crossed legs straight or leaning (inward or outward)? Are the crossed legs crossing below or above the knee?
These questions help to identify a person's openness to another person, including negative, neutral or positive. For example, when two persons are sitting next to each other with both crossed legs, it is important to consider where the opening of the L-shape leg is leading to. A person who crosses legs where the L-shape opening is toward the other person, the crossed leg's feet nearer to that person, it means that he or she is open to the discussion (positive). The contrary, when the opening of the L-shape leg is outward, means that the person is not open to discussion (negative).
Leaning is also meaningful because we tend to lean toward what we are interested in. When a person lean in the opposite direction of his or her interlocutor, it means that he or she may be more interested to the exit door than the conversation (or the other person).
The degree of trust is revealed by the crossing itself rather than the direction. An highly stressed individual may cross legs like a pretzel (double-crossing). A stressed individual may cross legs above the knee and the legs are positioned in such way to look like a “T”. A relaxed individual may cross legs at the ankles (and even lean back his or her entire body, which may be neither negative nor positive, but a sign that the person is "lost in his or her thoughts").
Ian.
These are all good points and spot on. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar as they say. The trick it so evaluate in context and look for other geatures and facial expressions that support the message. The leg cross has been one of those gestures debated since the 70's when the first books on body language came out. If you do enough people watching you can tell, when you see it, if it is important.
Hmmm - you may also want to consider the comfortableness of the chair that the person is sitting in and pressure points can cause you to shift, change, etc.
Every possibility has to be accounted for, whenever a change occur. When you are in a conversation with another person, it can be as easy as asking “Are you comfortable on this chair?” to discard or consider this possibility.
Be aware, deceptive people always have a plausible explanation for their movements or body posture, i.e. “my eyes were just itching”, “I always feel better with my legs crossed”, etc. You can come back later during the conversation with a question like “Do you have eye/skin problems?”.
http://eyesforlies.blogspot.com/2009/07/monica-raymund-tv-natural.html
I have written a comment on this blog entry:
"At 2:44, the host says “I heard Paul Ekman came on the set [...]” and Raymund literally re-seats herself on the chair. A sign indicating that she is uncomfortable, which she has openly admitted."
This is a good example where a person is uncomfortable with the subject of a conversation rather than being uncomfortable physically. The host talks about when Paul Ekman is on set, which makes Raymund recollect past events where she was uncomfortable.
Ian.
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