Blinking is one of the best body language signals that we can read to assess someone's
emotional state. It's almost impossible to conceal, extremely hard to fake and
it reveals deep emotional processes that expose people's state of mind.
So, in this video you're going to learn how to read people's blinking, what's the meaning
behind really fast blinking rates and if you can actually use it to detect if people are lying.
Hello and welcome back, My Body Language Buddies! my name is Jesús Enrique Rosas,
I'm the Body Language Guy, and make sure to like, subscribe and hit that bell so
you don't miss any of my body language analyses and tips. Let's get down to it!
Now, the first step is to know why do we blink. At first sight, pun intended,
blink could be just the mechanism to moisten our eyes and keep strange objects from entering.
But there is also a neurological principle of blinking, and it's that it signals certain
mental processes. To understand why blinking is so important let's start with our brain.
Our brain interprets our surroundings based on categories. For example,
a spoon goes into the "eating" category. A shirt could go on the "wearing" category, and so on.
But if I show you this... you might not realize at first sight what you're
looking at. These are called ranger beads, an they are used to keep track
of your steps when measuring distances outdoors. What... what were you thinking,
exactly? So they could go on the 'camping' or 'exploring' category.
But what does this have to do with blinking?
The thing is that, if your brain hasn't been able to pinpoint the right category
for whatever is in front of you, it will enter a 'wait' cycle, expecting to have more information.
And the interesting thing is that you will not blink during that waiting cycle.
Let's see another example.
You're walking your dog one day and one tourist approaches you, asking for directions. You
realize the person doesn't know the neighborhood that well, so you ask him, "Do you know where
the school is?", to see if you can explain those directions using a point of reference.
Regardless of what the tourist says, and whether there is doubt or not in his voice,
you will realize that he has no idea of where the school is, if he doesn't blink.
His brain is trying to remember where's the school, but if there is no information found,
then his brain is going to enter this wait cycle, expecting more information.
So, that's a tip that you can use to check if people have really understood you. If you tell
someone directions, or a name, or a word in a different language and they look at you without
blinking, that's the most reliable signal that their brain is awaiting for more information.
EVEN if they nod with their heads, and that's something that happens all the time. People
nod with their heads just out of politeness, but they are waiting for more information.
It's like that Seinfeld episode when Constanza never understood the assignment.
And it can be very frustrating that you want to make yourself understood, you think the
other person has gotten the message, only to find out later that they misunderstood you.
So, now you know that you have to confirm with a blink.
Now, if blinking is closely related to such an intimate neurological process,
it means that when we are under stress, there must be some kind
of impact on our blinking rate. So let's talk about fast blinking.
Average blinking rate can be around one blink every three or four seconds. This,
of course, depends on the circumstances. If the air is dry, or there is wind,
then the blinking rate can rise. But let's say that we are in a
controlled environment and there is no need to take the weather into account.
If blinking rate goes up, or faster, this is a classic emotional marker. And
it's reliable just because it's hard to fake blinking rate. When a person is under stress,
they could control their hands, maybe even their facial expressions, but it would be very
difficult to control their blinking frequency. For example, make it slower when they are stressed.
Now, when I say that people's blinking is faster, I mean faster in terms of
their current and personal baseline. Some people have faster blinking baselines than
others. For example, someone can have a blinking rate of once every two seconds,
and that could be considered 'fast'. But if they do that ALL THE TIME, then you can deduce that
it's part of their body language baseline. That this is part of their behavior most of the time.
If the same person's blinking rate goes up to once per second or even twice per second,
then that's when you determine that there is an emotional reaction. Remember than in body
language, the most important feature you need to pay attention to is any change of
rhythm or frequency, wether is changes in voice tone, hand gestures and so on.
Some people can have a slower blink rate, maybe once every five or six seconds, so if it raises to
an 'average' blinking rate of once every three or four, then we can say that there is an emotional
reaction. So always make sure to assess the persons' blinking using their natural baseline.
Now, one thing is when people's blinking rate is faster. But what about when people begin to blink
slower? Well, in general terms it's the opposite effect. If faster blinking signals that the person
is excited, or nervous, or upset, then slower blinking is usually associated with being relaxed.
You need to be careful because this is not a black and white distinction. In fact,
someone could be relaxed, but at the same time aroused. Like, listening to some good ol' Barry
White or Marvin Gaye has this effect. So, in those cases someone could be relaxed BUT their blinking
rate go up, or faster, because of the arousal. Makes sense? an emotional reaction to the moment?
There's a third factor that we need to consider,
and it's the length of the blink. So far we have been talking about the
time between blinks. The number of seconds that pass from one blink to another. But
this third factor is the time the blink itself takes. Namely, the eyelid closing and opening.
By rule of thumb, think of one fifth of a second. A blink of an eye,
so to speak. There is a subtle correlation between blinking rate and blink length,
as in the faster we blink, the shorter the blinks are going to be and viceversa,
but for now we are not going to consider that correlation because it will make
things unnecessarily complex and it doesn't really add to our body language reading.
But the longer people's blinks are, for example, if they take half a second or
more than half a second, that's usually signal that people feel a bit insecure.
Maybe insecure of what they are saying, or maybe they don't want to be there.
As usual, make sure to not just read people's eyes,
but general body language. Those slow blinks also appear when flirting!
In general terms, and with much more frequency than any other meaning,
longer blinks signal insecurity. The person doesn't want to be physically
there. They would prefer being somewhere else.
Now, is blinking related to lying? I have seen many times the claim that faster blinking rate
is related to people who are lying, but this is simply not true. It is not
completely unrelated, and it's better if you think in terms of being upset.
For example, if you ask a suspect a question and the suspect begins to blink faster,
you can tell that the question upset him. Maybe he keeps blinking faster as he's
answering your question, but that doesn't mean he's lying. Just that the question upset him.
In other scenarios, an actual liar could have practiced his answer beforehand to
look 'natural' when telling the lie. In those cases, the opposite can happen.
That the person tells the lie and they don't blink at all. That happens because
they are eagerly waiting for your reaction. Waiting to confirm that you took the bait.
So, just to make it crystal clear: no, fast blinking does not mean lying. But
it can reveal when a person has an emotional reaction to a question,
or when someone is suspiciously waiting for you to acknowledge what they just said.
Remember that no single body language signal is enough to reach a conclusion. You keep stacking
them during the conversation. Signals such as voice tone, facial expressions, posture,
the words that they choose... so you can have a better idea of the person's emotional state,
and of course... how credible their claims are.
My body language buddies! I would love to know what do you think about this in the comments.
And don't forget to download my free, 100+ body language tips in the description of
this video if you want to read anyone like a book. My name is Jesús Enrique Rosas,
I'm the Body Language Guy, and remember: Much Love and Bliss.