body language is fascinating. the legs can esp be telling of your comfort level with somebody. for one, where your knees point indicate where your interest lies. second, while splaying your legs around somebody denotes trust (see: yibo), an excess of it can be sexual (see: xz)

did you know that head tilting and a showing of neck is a form of "comfort" behavior? (givens, 2005, 63, 128) it first appears when we're growing up, where the act indicates interest in something we find appealing. this is believed to be useful in friendship, as well as courtship

when the brain dis/likes something, it subconsciously communicates that through the face. when you see something you like, your eyes will open wide in order to look at it better (eg. xz, left) and facial muscles usually relax to permit a smile.

pics submitted by @dormntchrysalis

there is a phenomenon called "ventral denial" where we turn away our upper body from something we perceive negatively (navarro, 2008, 179). conversely, the opposite is true: we will be comfortable shifting towards something or someone if the presence is non-threatening; positive.

people learn how to smile as early as 6 wks after birth, where we have an indiscriminate habit towards what/who we like. after a while, we start detecting others' emotions. this is why as we grow older, we learn how to reserve our smiles for specific people.

cc: @incloudrecesses

ending this on proxemics (personal space): ever wonder why a lot of co-stars end up tgt? data says being around one person increases your liking towards them, regardless of relationship. for reference, convo distance for casual friends is b/w 18-48 inches. i leave you with these:

there's a lot of interesting videos and photos of xz and wyb together that we can still look at for haptics (touch), mirroring, etc.! they have great chemistry so they're such a joy (pain in the heart) to decode. but if we do that we might end up with an entire thesis here HAHAHA

if you'd like to learn, here are some links and references:
• body language: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/spycatcher/200911/the-psychology-body-language
• non-verbal basics: https://www.verywellmind.com/types-of-nonverbal-communication-2795397
• social psych: https://opentext.wsu.edu/social-psychology/
• on attraction: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/articles/201707/why-we-want-who-we-want
• body language (video):

p.s. the show "lie to me" starring tim roth is a pretty good show discussing microexpressions! non-verbals aren't meant for us to judge people — it's to know what is being communicated:

again, disclaimer: i'm no expert! but ty for coming to my tedtalk.