For Some Reason Author Johanna Skibsrud Feel Venerable.

Author Johanna Skibsrud reacts after winning the Giller Prize for her book The Sentimentalists in Toronto November 9, 2010.

Whenever you see a woman covering up the hollow part of their neck there is stress and they are going through intense emotions.◦

For Some Reason Author Johanna Skibsrud Feel Venerable.

Nervous Collar Tug

Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen gestures at the launch of the Grangegorman Development project in Dublin, September 21, 2010. Cowen said on Monday he would stay in his job and continue economic reforms despite facing the first public calls to quit from within his party since a radio blunder last week.◦

Nervous Collar Tug

Collar Tug

Santander Bank's President Emilio Botin gestures during a ceremony where 300 scholarships were granted to students in Valencia, eastern Spain, 24 June 2010.

Usually when we see the collar tug, we are seeing a person under stress, and when under stress we often loosen clothes. It could be the case, or it could simply be he had one too many desserts lately...◦

Collar Tug

Anytime Someone Touches Their Neck it is Significant

ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA. JUNE 20, 2010. President of BARKLI Corporation, Leonid Kazinets at the briefing entitled Doing Business in Russia: Red Tape Relief in Construction , as a part of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum at the LenExpo Exhibition Centre.

As we all know it is always important whenever the hands rise above the shoulders, but touching the neck is particularly important. The touch in the above photograph could have been part of a collar tug, or simply a pacifying touch to the neck.

Usually touching the neck equates to stress. The neck is one of our most vulnerable parts of our body and we've always protected the neck from a killing blow from a knife, sword, or blow.

Symbolically, we unconsciously rub the neck when we feel uncomfortable, stressed, or threatened.

What is also interesting how his legs are crossed away from the speaker, and how his other hand is "protecting" his groin area, and also notice how his eye direction does not exactly line up to his face direction.

Not very confident or comfortable, especially since he has chosen a purple tie- the historical color of royalty.◦

Anytime Someone Touches Their Neck it is Significant

Exposing the Neck Equals Sexy

Spanish model Ariadne Artiles promotes Gran Canaria Moda Calida on June 8, 2010 in Madrid, Spain.

When a woman exposes her neck, it is a way to show a certain amount of vulnerability, and that is something men often find irresistible- they want to come to the rescue.◦

Exposing the Neck Equals Sexy

Joe Navarro Talks about Touching Necks

Understand what the implications are of someone touching their neck and how this can differ between men and women.

Joe Navarro has a new book, Louder Than Words: Take Your Career from Average to Exceptional with the Hidden Power of Nonverbal Intelligence
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Joe Navarro Talks about Touching Necks

Subconsciously Our Hands Gravitate Towards our Necks When Faced with Dangerous or Uncomfortable Situations

Residents look out at the site of a recent murder on March 19, 2010 in Juarez, Mexico. The border city of Juarez has been racked by violent drug-related crime, making it among the most dangerous cities in the world. As competing drug cartels fight over lucrative drug corridors along the U.S. border, the murder rate in Juarez has risen to 173 slayings for every 100,000 residents. President Felipe Calderon in 2009 disbanded the corrupt local police force and sent 10,000 soldiers to Juarez, but the violence has raged on. With a population of 1.3 million in Juarez, 2,600 died in drug-related violence last year and 500 so far this year, including two Americans who worked for the U.S.

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Subconsciously Our Hands Gravitate Towards our Necks When Faced with Dangerous or Uncomfortable Situations

Neck Rub

Rubbing our neck is a self pacifying gesture, sometimes it is done to immediately relieve the tension and tight muscles that have developed in our neck that have appeared as a result of stress, other times it is to simply make things better.◦

Neck Rub

Rusty Interview from Dateline

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This is a study in someone who doesn't want to speak, is nervous, and shows us this with almost every movement. Things to look for are biting lips, scratching neck, nervous chuckle, pursed lips, shrugs, rubbing hands, faster blink rate, eye direction clues, answers a question with a question, torso and head pointing towards the exit.

I suggest watching this video several times.◦

Rusty Interview from Dateline

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's Collar Tug

WASHINGTON - NOVEMBER 03: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill on November 3, 2009 in Washington, DC. Reid discussed efforts to pass health care reform legislation. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

This is an unconsciously gesture people use when under stress.

When people lie often there is a slight rise in body temperature, people feel "hot under the collar" and this gesture is done to relieve some of the heat.

When someone is holding back information people will tug at their collar because they may feel a a little tickle on the sensitive neck tissue.

If a person is angry or frustrated this gesture could be used in an attempt to remove any restrictions, also because the blood pressure and body temperature are on the rise.◦

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's Collar Tug

The Neck Scratch

Scratching the side of your neck is a sign of doubt or uncertainty and is very noticeable to others when you are saying something you not not believe in your words.

You will now be able to catch the contradiction when the words are not matching the gesture.

Scratching your neck is like eating potato chips, you cannot scratch just once...◦

The Neck Scratch

Suprasternal Notch and Women

This week in the latest Criminal Minds television show I saw this gesture. It is not often we see this gesture but the police and those that help victims of crimes against women are most likely to see it.

When woman touches the area between the neck and their breast bone it is a pacifying behavior. I first learned of this in the book What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Speed-Reading People where the author describes how he would often see this gesture in the victims of assault.

I have often seen a variation of this gesture when women touch and play with their necklaces.

When you see this you are generally looking at someone who is experiencing some discomfort, emotional trauma, and/or insecurities.◦

Suprasternal Notch and Women

The Neck Rub

"What a pain in the neck."

It is a sign of frustration, anger, or stress depending on the context.

If you are friends or work with someone who habitually rubs their neck it is a sign of negative and critical personality, be warned.◦

The Neck Rub

Adam's Apple Jump

1988 vice-presidential debates, as his opponent, Lloyd Bentsen, pointedly replied, "I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy!" you can see Dan Quayle's adam's apple jump.

This is an unconscious sign of emotional anxiety, embarrassment, or stress.◦

Adam's Apple Jump

UCLA Student's Throat Slashed in Lab, Man Held

Students and faculty at UCLA are stunned following a horrific attack in a campus chemistry lab in which a male student allegedly slashed the throat of a female victim.

When a person folds their arms after something like this it is a self hug and they are attempting to comfort themselves.

Rubbing the neck is a way to relieve stress and is a self pacifying gesture, it originates back to when we were babies and our parents would always hold our necks and the touch was comforting. Physical stress and pain can build in our neck muscles and touching them can relieve the stress.

Looking down is a way of blocking out the rest of the world so they can cognitively processed what has happened, it allows their brain to work without the distraction of what is going on in the present.

The young woman who is holding her hand over her mouth is still showing a great deal of fear or surprise in her eyes, evidenced by how wide she is holding them open. Holding her hand in front of her mouth is a defense mechanism to control herself so her emotion is not verbalized (it could be verbalized in screaming, crying, in words, or even exhaling her breathe).◦

UCLA Student's Throat Slashed in Lab, Man Held

Chynna Phillips Talks About Her Sister's Relationship with Their Father

Watch her neck and shoulders in the video, especially around 35 seconds... what we see here is lifting of her shoulders (beyond the shrugs) and the lowering of her neck and head. Her body language is showing us she'd like to hide, and the cluster of gestures most resembles a turtle going into the safety of its shell.◦

Chynna Phillips Talks About Her Sister's Relationship with Their Father