By Jason Luban

In our seminars, we spend a good amount of time going over different aspects of conscious and unconscious body language and how to apply those learnings to patient communication.  Psychogeography, a term coined by neurolinguistics expert Tim Hallbom, refers to where we place ourselves in space relative to other people and how said placement impacts our communications with one another. Sort of a ‘feng shui’ between people.  Changing your body position can have an impact on changing not only your attitude but the attitude of the person with whom you are communicating.  It’s a fascinating field of study and observation.  Once you learn more about, practice, and explore spatial relationships, you will find yourself looking at people a bit differently.  Harnessing and implementing this knowledge is a powerful tool that anyone can use.  (For an excellent explanation and experiential post about psychogeography, check out Tim Hallbom’s article by CLICKING HERE.)

In our seminars, we explore this stuff in the context of doctor-patient communications.  Another way to look at it (quite literally) is to watch the body language of people being interviewed, and see how well they are able to guide the course of conversation.  Politicians and pundits have a deep vested interest in getting their points across.  (Let’s face it–we all do.)  So observing politicians and pundits can be an interesting way of seeing how we all communicate.

Bill Clinton: Master of Controlling The Flow
Bill Clinton is a rare master of body language and psychogeography, and when he is sitting alongside someone, he can rarely be stopped–even when there is a desk between him and his interviewer.  In the following video of his interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, note how he is able to use his hands to keep Jon Stewart from interrupting him as he gets going.  He literally, gradually, takes up more and more space.  Jon Stewart normally has his guests sit facing him and is able to dominate the interview, interrupting and redirecting as he sees fit.  In this case, Clinton sits facing the audience, alongside rather than facing the host.

As you go through the following video, you may wish to skip forward to about 4:00.  At this point, Stewart is starting to feel like he should be doing more to guide the interview, rather than just having Clinton talk.  Watch Stewart’s body language as he tries to work his way in, moving back and away from Clinton in order to reclaim his own space, and then leaning in more directly in order to get a word in.  Then watch Clinton begin to move his hands, especially his left hand, into Stewart’s space in order to keep talking.

Once Stewart does manage to get some words in, and a quick joke, watch how Clinton puts his paw on top of Stewart’s and sort of pins it down as he continues his line of thought.





If you skip to the last 20 seconds of the video, you’ll see that Clinton has continued to talk ever since that above-mentioned interruption. At the end of the interview, look at Stewart’s face and listen to what he says. He’s been completely overwhelmed.

Another example of Clinton sitting next to people and largely dominating the conversation can be seen in his appearance on the show, “The View.” As you watch this video (or even click through it), you’ll notice that Clinton spends much of his time with his legs open, taking up a lot of space with his hands and location and direction of his feet.  Note, too, that all of the women spend the majority of the interview with their legs crossed in toward him–even the blonde on the far right of the video, who is an avowed conservative Republican.  This video is the second of three, and if you watch all three, you’ll see that Clinton often overwhelms those sitting next to him (including veteran journalist Barbara Walters on his right) by putting his hands in front of them when he answers their questions. (The sound isn’t great on this one, but that’s okay–we’re watching more than listening here. In fact, you may wish to turn the sound off completely on all of these videos so that you’re not distracted by the words and can more easily observe the body language.)

 

Seeing the Contrast When Things Are Off
Note the contrast in body language, and the level of hostility (if I may be so bold) when the women on “The View” have then-Presidential candidate John McCain on the same couch only a week earlier. Granted, if you know much about The View, you know that the women on it are mostly left-leaning (politically). But there is still a lot to see here in McCain’s body language: Legs crossed away from his main questioners, who are on his right. And in contrast with Clinton, who uses a lot of inclusive, open gestures with his hands and where his feet are positioned, everything McCain says is close in, close to his body. His palms remain open only to one another, or facing in back toward himself rather than out toward others.

This is part two of a three-part interview.  In the third part, McCain’s wife shows up, and he visibly relaxes for the rest of the interview. His posture is more erect and shoulders more open, and he even smiles occasionally.

Note that his wife chooses to sit to his left (he chooses to make room for her to sit to his left), which is his ‘strong’ or more comfortable side.  (We cover ‘appropriate sides’ in the psychogeography portion of our medical rapport seminars.) They’ve been together long enough to know (unconsciously) which side is one another’s ‘good’ side to be on.

We also know that McCain’s right arm was heavily damaged in Vietnam, which may have something to do with his left side being the place he is most comforable having people located relative to him. If you watch his last Presidential debate with Obama, Obama is seated to his right, and McCain is more agitated and repeatedly expresses that he feels he is being attacked.

There are plenty of examples of Clinton when he is agitated. In an interview with a conservative commentator on Fox News, Clinton spends the first several minutes leaning back, which psychogeographically has to do with a certain amount of dissociation or detachment. He directly faces his interviewer, rather than having the option to sit beside him, and his legs are crossed in a relatively protective, guarded way.

At about four minutes in to the video below, the interviewer starts being a bit more aggressive, and Clinton appears upset. So he goes on the offensive. Unable to get in rapport with the interviewer, he is forced to lean in (associate), and reach out with his hands toward the other person somewhat helplessly–helpless given that his interviewer has not changed his position and continues to appear relatively dissociated with his notebook shielding him. Clinton’s inability to get in rapport and control the flow likely causes his fully associated, angry response, which lasts for most of the rest of the interview. (Note that the title on the video is part of the Youtube link and not of our making.)

The Takeaways
We could spend a whole day analyzing the words, gestures, facial expression, and psychogeography in the above videos. And these are just basic interviews.

Imagine now that the interview is medical, and people are being asked questions about much deeper, more personal topics, such as their bowel movements, menstrual cycles, and issues they come in to the clinic wanting to resolve. The medical professional has a kind of power over the body, the very essence of the patient’s mortality, and the way that the doctor, nurse, or therapist communicates, both verbally and, primarily, unconsciously, with the patient will determine a lot of the patient’s ability to see themselves returning to health.

Take a moment and become more aware of how you interact with your patients when you feel that you are communicating well and your message has gone through. Notice where you are in space relative to them, the way we did in the videos above. Notice your tone, whether you are beside or in front of them, and the emotions that appear to go through their faces and bodies (as well as your own). As you gain more sensory acuity around this, as you get to know more about psychogeography both literally and intuitively, you’ll find that you can make as much or more of a positive impact on someone’s health through your incisive awareness of body language as you can through your sharp medical tools.

In our seminars, we cover much more about psychogeography and give you tools to help you become aware of the unconscious impact you may be having on your patients. Learning about this important subject can go a long way toward being dramatically more effective in your medical practice, and in your life.

 

For more information about Jason's upcoming live seminar on the subject, Rapid Rapport for Results, please CLICK HERE.