Gestures and body language reveal a lot about our level of sincerity. To spot manipulators and artists, learn to recognize suspicious attitudes and mannerisms.“I’m sorry, your idea didn’t convince the big boss. I did everything I could to sell it to him, but he wouldn’t listen!” Buzz, buzz… What if this colleague really did sabotage your project? How can you measure their sincerity? “By offering a careful observation of their gestures, Joseph and Caroline Messinger present, in ‘These Gestures That Betray You,’ a book that deciphers the hidden meaning of verbal language. We all punctuate our speech with slight movements that are far less controlled than our words.”It’s not men who make gestures, but the gestures that men make,” said psychologist Joseph Messinger, who passed away last year. So observe the tics, facial expressions, reflexes, and other expressions of those you interact with: they are a treasure trove of information about their desire to seduce, manipulate, or deceive you.

But be careful not to jump to conclusions, because 80% of gestures change meaning depending on the context. Sparkling eyes, for example, can betray both admiration and envy. If you suspect someone around you is deceiving you, study their gestures and be sure to consider each suspicious sign within its context.The symbolic seat of eroticism, the right earlobe, is also associated with opportunism. Stroking or pinching it in a tense situation is often an attempt to develop a response to a delicate situation, at the risk of distorting reality. The left earlobe is the symbolic seat of guilt and fantasies. By fiddling with it, we reveal a discomfort that may be linked to a mistake. In any case, be careful: the person in a difficult position is preparing their response. Emphasizing the movement on the right earlobe may indicate that they have opted for an evasive maneuver or a half-truth.