320 pages : 29 cm

A catalogue of human actions, postures, gestures, facial expressions, clothing, and adornments includes explanations of their underlying causes and meanings

Includes bibliographical references (pages 316-317) and index

Actions. Inborn actions: actions we do not have to learn -- Discovered actions: actions we discover for ourselves -- Absorbed actions: actions we acquire unknowingly from our companions -- Trained actions: actions we have to be taught -- Mixed actions: actions acquired in several ways -- Gestures. Incidental gestures: mechanical actions with secondary messages -- Expressive gestures: biological gestures of the kind we share with other animals -- Mimic gestures: gestures which transmit signals by imitation -- Schematic gestures: imitations that become abbreviated or abridged -- Symbolic gestures: gestures which represent moods and ideas -- Technical gestures: gestures used by specialist minorities -- Coded gestures: sign-language based on a formal system -- Gesture variants: personal or local variations on gestural themes -- Multimessage gestures: gestures that have many meanings -- Gesture alternatives: different gestures that transmit the same signal -- Hybrid gestures: signals made up of two original gestures -- Compound gestures: actions made up of a number of distinct elements -- Relic gestures: gestures that have survived long after their primary contexts have vanished -- Regional signals: the way signals change from country to country and district to district -- Baton signals: actions that emphasize the rhythm of words -- Guide signs: pointing and beckoning, how we show the way -- Yes/no signals: ways in which we signal agreement and acceptance, or denial and refusal -- Gaze behaviour: staring eyes and glancing eyes, the way we look at one another -- Salutation displays: hello and goodbye, greetings and farewells

Postural echo: the way friends unconsciously act in unison -- Tie-signs: signals that display personal bonds to others -- Body-contact tie-signs: the way companions touch each other in public -- Auto-contact: self-intimacies, why and how we touch ourselves -- Nonverbal leakage: clues that give us away without our knowing --Contradictory signals: giving two conflicting signals at the same time -- Shortfall signals: when we under-react despite ourselves -- Overkill signals: when we over-react -- Status displays: ways in which we signal our position in the social peck order -- Territorial behaviour: the defence of a limited area -- Barrier signals: body-defence actions in social situations -- Protective behaviour: reactions to dangers, both real and imaginary -- Submissive behaviour: how we appease our critics or attackers -- Religious displays: actions performed to placate imagined deities -- Altruistic behaviour: how do we help others at our own expense? -- Fighting behaviour: pulling punches and throwing punches, the biology of human combat -- Triumph displays: how winners celebrate and losers react -- Cut-off: actions that block in-coming visual signals when we are under stress -- Autonomic signals: actions and other changes resulting from body-stress -- Pupil signals: pupil dilations and constrictions indicating changes of mood -- Intention movements: get-ready actions that signal future intentions -- Displacement activities: agitated fill-in actions performed during periods of acute tension -- Redirected activities: actions diverted on to a bystander

Re-motivating actions: actions which stimulate a new mood as a way of eliminating an old one -- Insult signals: sneers and snubs, the ways we show disrespect and contempt -- Threat signals: attempts to intimidate without coming to blows -- Obscene signals: the symbolism of sexual insults -- Taboo zones: regions of the human body that are out of bounds -- Overexposed signals: going too far, breaking through the etiquette barrier -- Clothing signals: clothing as display, comfort and modesty -- Body adornment: social mutilations and cosmetic decorations -- Gender signals: masculine and feminine signals that help to label or emphasize the sex of the signaller -- Body self-mimicry: ways in which we imitate ourselves anatomically -- Sexual signals: the courtship and pre-copulatory sequence of the human animal -- Parental signals: maternal and paternal messages of loving care and safety -- Infantile signals: the babyface syndrome, and the signals of crying, smiling and laughing -- Animal contacts: from predators to pets, human involvement with other species -- Play patterns: play signals, play rules and playfulness -- Metasignals: how one signal can tell us about the nature of other signals -- Supernormal stimuli: the creation of stimuli stronger than their natural equivalents -- Aesthetic behaviour: our reactions to the beautiful, in nature and in art -- Laterality: lefthanded versus righthanded -- Locomotion: the twenty basic ways of moving from place to place -- Aquatic behaviour: was man more aquatic in his ancient past? -- Feeding behaviour: how and where and what we drink and eat? -- Sporting behaviour: the biology of sport, a modern hunting ritual -- Resting behavior: the postures of relaxation and the nature of sleeping and dreaming

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