1 00:00:00,688 --> 00:00:12,701 [music] 2 00:00:12,701 --> 00:00:16,255 >>[Narrator: Desmond Morris] Of over a million species of animals on our planet, one species has 3 00:00:16,255 --> 00:00:22,010 come to dominate all other lifeforms, and to alter dramatically the face of the Earth. 4 00:00:22,010 --> 00:00:28,757 It's a species that if we remove its protective layer of clothing, reveals a rather strange anatomy. 5 00:00:28,757 --> 00:00:34,174 A species I once referred to as "the naked ape." 6 00:00:34,174 --> 00:00:40,421 Physically the human being is a puny primate with a vulnerable, unprotected skin, with no natural weapon. 7 00:00:40,421 --> 00:00:47,008 No armor, no sharp spines, no venom, no fangs or claws. 8 00:00:47,008 --> 00:00:50,003 Yet equipped with little more than an enlarged brain, 9 00:00:50,003 --> 00:00:56,760 this compulsively curious creature has come to dominate the natural world. 10 00:00:57,585 --> 00:01:02,260 What is the secret of its lavish, unprecedented success? 11 00:01:02,260 --> 00:01:05,588 [music] 12 00:01:22,300 --> 00:01:31,046 Anatomically, the human animal is unusual, to say the least. Its lack of hair is unique among primates. 13 00:01:31,046 --> 00:01:42,297 Contrasting with other apes, its face has a protruding nose, whites to the eyes, and lips that are turned inside out. 14 00:01:42,297 --> 00:01:50,672 Its legs are long and straight. And unlike any other mammal, it walks bipedally. 15 00:01:50,672 --> 00:01:56,459 The breasts of the female remain swollen throughout her adult life, even when they're not giving milk. 16 00:01:56,459 --> 00:01:59,011 Again, a unique feature. 17 00:01:59,011 --> 00:02:07,171 There are a few surviving patches of hair, including on the tops of the heads, in the armpits and around the genitals. 18 00:02:07,171 --> 00:02:11,005 The male has the largest penis of any primate. 19 00:02:11,005 --> 00:02:15,731 And the human animal is the only primate that possesses rounded, fleshy buttocks. 20 00:02:15,731 --> 00:02:22,371 Altogether, these unique features make us a very strange ape indeed. 21 00:02:22,371 --> 00:02:29,727 And for a student of animal behavior, even more peculiar than its anatomy are its activity in the wild. 22 00:02:36,890 --> 00:02:44,606 I'm a zoologist and since man is an animal, I can see no reason why my work, and also in this series, 23 00:02:44,606 --> 00:02:50,725 I shouldn't study this particular species in the same way that I've studied many other animals in the past. 24 00:02:50,725 --> 00:02:54,609 The secret is patient observation. 25 00:02:59,725 --> 00:03:05,315 For me, the ideal method is to go out into the field and study humans in their natural environment. 26 00:03:05,315 --> 00:03:09,893 In the streets and parks, the shops and offices, the villages and cities, 27 00:03:09,893 --> 00:03:16,752 to analyze their natural behavior as it happens in real life situations all over the world. 28 00:03:28,523 --> 00:03:34,363 Everywhere I go, I'm struck by how similar all human beings are to one another in all important respects. 29 00:03:34,363 --> 00:03:38,963 Of course, there are many superficial differences and these are often so impressive 30 00:03:38,963 --> 00:03:45,041 that we pay too much attention to them and start treating one another as if we belong to different species, 31 00:03:45,041 --> 00:03:50,982 with disastrous results. But, despite all our variations in costume, ritual and believe, 32 00:03:50,982 --> 00:03:58,523 biologically we're all astonishingly close to one another. A fact which I find very reassuring. 33 00:03:58,523 --> 00:04:04,062 Back in the late 1960's, I was sitting in this very restaurant, on the island of Malta, 34 00:04:04,062 --> 00:04:09,480 talking to my publisher. I drew his attention to the fact that on the other side of the road 35 00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:12,200 there were two men gesturing in a particular way. 36 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:15,685 The way they were holding their palms to one side was fascinating to me. 37 00:04:15,685 --> 00:04:21,209 And he said, "You know, you look at people the way birdwatchers look at birds." 38 00:04:21,209 --> 00:04:25,734 And I said, "Yeah, I suppose you could call me a 'man-watcher.'" As soon as I'd said it, 39 00:04:25,734 --> 00:04:29,053 it was as if I'd fired a starting gun on a major, new project. 40 00:04:29,053 --> 00:04:34,918 One that was to engross me for many years to come and take me to over 60 different countries. 41 00:04:40,402 --> 00:04:46,039 It was wildly ambitious, but I decided to make a complete classification of all human actions, 42 00:04:46,039 --> 00:04:53,411 gestures, postures, expressions all over the world. And this was going to take a very long time. 43 00:04:53,411 --> 00:04:57,476 I was going to do for actions what dictionary makers had done for words. 44 00:04:57,476 --> 00:05:04,789 I began making huge charts naming every facial expression, every gesture, every movement, every posture. 45 00:05:04,789 --> 00:05:11,399 I kept at it for month after month. And 8 years later I had completed the work and was able at last 46 00:05:11,399 --> 00:05:16,581 to introduce people to the fascinating subject of human body language. 47 00:05:17,619 --> 00:05:21,660 One of the first problems I encountered was that even the simplest human action, 48 00:05:21,660 --> 00:05:26,410 such as the handshake, has countless variations. 49 00:05:29,788 --> 00:05:35,928 Sometimes it's reduced to a mere palm touch, as with these Maasai elders in East Africa. 50 00:05:45,692 --> 00:05:48,040 But, in other countries it becomes more elaborate. 51 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:55,028 In Mali in West Africa the hand-shaker briefly touches his own forearm as the palms clasp. 52 00:05:58,340 --> 00:06:03,949 In Morocco, the hand-shakers kiss one another's hands at the same time as clasping them. 53 00:06:06,127 --> 00:06:11,398 And in Turkey, these Kurdish farmers have taken a simple action and converted it into what 54 00:06:11,398 --> 00:06:19,291 amounts to a minor ritual. It's the local rule that they can't start bargaining until they are shaking hands. 55 00:06:19,291 --> 00:06:22,774 And they have to keep on doing so until the deal is struck. 56 00:06:25,361 --> 00:06:30,059 The essential feature of hand-shaking is that it's an egalitarian act. 57 00:06:30,059 --> 00:06:36,957 Regardless of their social standing, the two people involved are momentarily performing identical actions. 58 00:06:39,047 --> 00:06:44,073 This meeting as equals that has spread around the world is comparatively recent. 59 00:06:44,073 --> 00:06:49,162 In earlier times when greeting, it was common for the less important individuals to literally 60 00:06:49,162 --> 00:06:56,765 lower themselves as a sign of respect. In some remote parts of the world we can still see this even today. 61 00:06:56,765 --> 00:07:00,999 The Toda people of South India still perform this body-lowering ritual 62 00:07:00,999 --> 00:07:06,109 with high-status feet placed on low-status heads. 63 00:07:23,932 --> 00:07:27,980 Despite their variations, all these greetings have one thing in common. 64 00:07:27,980 --> 00:07:33,596 They're all fine-tuned to the precise context in which they occur. 65 00:07:34,929 --> 00:07:37,566 So many gestures have different meanings in different places. 66 00:07:37,566 --> 00:07:42,960 You have to be quite careful how you use your hands when you're in a marketplace in a foreign country. 67 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:47,958 Now to me, this means everything's fine or O.K. But, if I happen to be in the south of France 68 00:07:47,958 --> 00:07:55,169 it would have a different meaning. There the ring shape made by the hand symbolizes a not or a zero. 69 00:07:55,169 --> 00:07:59,484 So, in south of France this means zero or worthless. 70 00:07:59,484 --> 00:08:02,194 So, you don't want to say the wine was "great" [gestures] 71 00:08:02,194 --> 00:08:04,659 because in fact you'd be saying the wine was worthless. 72 00:08:04,659 --> 00:08:09,133 It gets even worse if you go to Sardinia because there the same gesture is an obscenity 73 00:08:09,133 --> 00:08:13,660 with the ring shape symbolizing an orifice. And if you think you're going to say 74 00:08:13,660 --> 00:08:18,652 something is great in Sardinia like this, believe me you'll be in trouble. 75 00:08:18,652 --> 00:08:22,684 There's another way you can make mistakes with gestures as you move from place to place. 76 00:08:22,684 --> 00:08:27,907 Because a single message is given in a different way in different countries. 77 00:08:27,907 --> 00:08:35,042 The crazy sign. How do you say to somebody "you're crazy?" Well, here in Rome you do this. 78 00:08:35,042 --> 00:08:39,913 But, in England I would probably do this, the temple screw, saying he's got a screw lose. 79 00:08:39,913 --> 00:08:43,360 Or I might say his brain is going round and round. 80 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:47,882 Or I might tap my head saying "what's he think he's got inside his skull." 81 00:08:47,882 --> 00:08:51,744 In some countries you do it with two hands. It varies from place to place. 82 00:08:51,744 --> 00:08:58,043 If you go to Japan you have to be careful because if you it this way it means he's intelligent. 83 00:08:58,043 --> 00:09:03,363 You have to it in the counter-clockwise direction in Japan if you want to say that somebody is crazy. 84 00:09:03,363 --> 00:09:09,327 So, all over the world, the same message is given in a slightly different way. 85 00:09:09,327 --> 00:09:14,322 One of the most obvious examples of this and one of the most dangerous is the insult gesture. 86 00:09:14,322 --> 00:09:19,079 This Turkish pedestrian displays his anger with the trust of a stiff forearm, 87 00:09:19,079 --> 00:09:23,858 using his arm symbolically as an aggressively erect penis. 88 00:09:26,328 --> 00:09:31,798 A slightly more obscure insult is the cornuto, or horn sign, frequently seen in Italy. 89 00:09:31,798 --> 00:09:37,880 It implies that that victim of the insult is a cuckold, that his wife is unfaithful to him. 90 00:09:43,694 --> 00:09:47,331 In North America, the most common insult is the middle fingered jerk, 91 00:09:47,331 --> 00:09:50,973 employing the middle finger as a symbolic penis. 92 00:09:50,973 --> 00:09:56,391 This is an ancient Roman gesture and is well-known in many countries. 93 00:09:56,391 --> 00:09:59,316 Much more localized is the Greek moutza. 94 00:09:59,316 --> 00:10:06,473 This dates back to Byzantine times and symbolizes excrement being pushed into the victim's face. 95 00:10:06,473 --> 00:10:12,314 In Britain the main insult is a two-fingered gesture which dates back to the battle of Agincourt. 96 00:10:12,314 --> 00:10:17,222 It's a gesture that foreigners sometimes confuse with the "V for victory" sign, 97 00:10:17,222 --> 00:10:20,787 but that's performed with the hand the other way around. 98 00:10:22,671 --> 00:10:29,255 Most regional body language has a long and complicated history, with the origins often forgotten. 99 00:10:29,255 --> 00:10:34,293 One of the special qualities of regional gestures is that they are amazingly conservative. 100 00:10:34,293 --> 00:10:38,668 They remain confined to their own particular area regardless of the fact that all around them 101 00:10:38,668 --> 00:10:44,293 national boundaries keep changing. As a result of this, within a particular country today you 102 00:10:44,293 --> 00:10:51,812 can find what we can call a "gesture frontier." A place where one gesture stops and another one begins. 103 00:10:51,812 --> 00:10:56,942 This is a gesture frontier behind me. It's the Massacre Range in Central Italy. 104 00:10:56,942 --> 00:11:04,503 And south of here in Naples people use, for example, the head toss when they're saying no. 105 00:11:04,503 --> 00:11:10,086 Up in the north in Rome they shake their heads from side to side when they're saying no. 106 00:11:10,086 --> 00:11:16,217 And we were amazed to find that here, the Massacre Range is a very narrow area, just a few miles, 107 00:11:16,217 --> 00:11:21,091 where you get the switch from head tossing to head shaking. 108 00:11:21,091 --> 00:11:27,173 The explanation of this switch is astonishing. In origin, the head toss is a Greek gesture and 109 00:11:27,173 --> 00:11:32,921 many centuries ago the ancient Greeks colonized southern Italy and started to move north. 110 00:11:32,921 --> 00:11:39,300 And it was here at the Massacre Range that they stopped their advance 2,500 years ago. 111 00:11:39,300 --> 00:11:46,049 And to this day, in the north people still give the typical European head shake when saying no. 112 00:11:48,956 --> 00:11:52,822 While in the south they still give they ancient Greek head toss. 113 00:11:52,822 --> 00:11:56,533 And this difference has survived despite all the mobility of modern life 114 00:11:56,533 --> 00:12:02,755 and the spread of films and television programs. The old gesture frontier remains. 115 00:12:08,652 --> 00:12:13,068 Yes signals made with the head are just as complicated as no signals. 116 00:12:13,068 --> 00:12:17,530 In most parts of the world people nod their head up and down when saying yes. 117 00:12:17,530 --> 00:12:23,819 Many people mistakenly assume that this action is completely global, but this isn't the case. 118 00:12:23,819 --> 00:12:26,903 There are two areas where something else happens. 119 00:12:26,903 --> 00:12:34,572 One of them is India, where instead of being nodded, the head is wobbled side to side when saying yes. 120 00:12:34,572 --> 00:12:41,286 To visitors this looks like a maybe, but it's not. It's a sign of definite agreement. 121 00:12:47,818 --> 00:12:52,653 When your taxi driver agrees with you, you can see his head rolling from side to side. 122 00:12:52,653 --> 00:13:01,429 You get the impression that he's undecided. But, every wobble he makes means yes. 123 00:13:10,063 --> 00:13:14,132 In another region, it's not just the visitors who are confused. 124 00:13:14,132 --> 00:13:17,781 Even the inhabitants are not always sure what's going on. 125 00:13:17,781 --> 00:13:24,259 Here in Bulgaria they use both the head nod and the head wobble when saying yes. 126 00:13:24,259 --> 00:13:30,867 This creates total confusion. Why on Earth they do this remains a mystery, even to them. 127 00:13:50,572 --> 00:13:55,530 Although gestures often persist for hundreds or even thousands of years, sometimes they may change 128 00:13:55,530 --> 00:13:59,942 their meaning as they're passed on from generation to generation. 129 00:13:59,942 --> 00:14:06,654 We all think we know what the popular thumbs up and thumbs down gestures mean. 130 00:14:08,823 --> 00:14:17,151 [children shouting boo or yay] 131 00:14:31,361 --> 00:14:38,616 If we go to the cinema we are left in little doubt as to the significance of these gestures. 132 00:14:38,616 --> 00:14:42,781 The thumbs up for good and the thumbs down for bad are very well known gestures. 133 00:14:42,781 --> 00:14:47,813 And many people can tell you how they began. It was here in the Colosseum in Rome. 134 00:14:47,813 --> 00:14:54,531 If a gladiator at the end of a fight was to be spared the crowd gave him a thumbs up sign. 135 00:14:54,531 --> 00:14:59,865 If he was to be slain it was a thumbs down sign. That's the popular story, there's just one catch. 136 00:14:59,865 --> 00:15:03,276 It's completely false. It never happened like that. 137 00:15:03,276 --> 00:15:09,212 In ancient times if the gladiator was to be spared they gave him a covered up thumb, 138 00:15:09,212 --> 00:15:13,006 the "pollice compresso." This means the compressed or squashed thumb. 139 00:15:13,006 --> 00:15:19,591 If he was to be slain then they mimed the act of stabbing him with a sword like this. 140 00:15:19,591 --> 00:15:23,597 Because they were high up they stabbed downwards like that. 141 00:15:23,597 --> 00:15:27,810 That's the truth of the matter and the next time you go to the movies, 142 00:15:27,810 --> 00:15:33,640 if you happen to see the thumbs up you'll just have to take it with a pinch of salt. 143 00:15:36,097 --> 00:15:41,130 It's almost certain that our ancestors used gestures to communicate specific information 144 00:15:41,130 --> 00:15:47,299 long before they had a spoken language. Even today with words as our main form of communication, 145 00:15:47,299 --> 00:15:52,625 there are still situations where gestures have a definite advantage. 146 00:15:55,009 --> 00:15:59,764 For example, they can communicate information over a far greater distance than would be 147 00:15:59,764 --> 00:16:06,296 possible by shouting. At race tracks in England, the white-gloved tic-tac men signal changes in the 148 00:16:06,296 --> 00:16:12,520 betting odds to the bookies so that they can keep up with the alterations the arrivals may be making. 149 00:16:17,892 --> 00:16:23,550 The flashing movements of the white gloves can be seen even at night and at a great distance. 150 00:16:42,197 --> 00:16:48,298 In some sports a gestural sign language not only conveys information over a great distance, 151 00:16:48,298 --> 00:16:52,197 but also allows messages to be kept secret. 152 00:16:59,580 --> 00:17:04,776 The coach of an American football team transmits complex signals to his quarterback 153 00:17:04,776 --> 00:17:11,226 using coded hand signals that conceal his intentions from the opposing team. 154 00:17:24,609 --> 00:17:29,977 Even if the opposing team does manage to crack the gestural code at any one time, 155 00:17:29,977 --> 00:17:33,418 it's being constantly changed to confuse them. 156 00:17:55,217 --> 00:17:59,731 On the floor of the Bombay stock exchange hand gestures provide a powerful tool 157 00:17:59,731 --> 00:18:06,781 when competing for attention. The frantic sell and buy signals, indicated by the position of the hands, 158 00:18:06,781 --> 00:18:09,329 can be the basis of huge deals. 159 00:18:09,329 --> 00:18:15,711 An insistent flick of the fingers the only way to attract attention above the roar of the crowd. 160 00:18:39,609 --> 00:18:45,135 In the eerie silence of the Australian Outback, these two Warlpiri women are conversing quite 161 00:18:45,135 --> 00:18:51,423 adequately by gestures alone. Now they're not deaf and they're perfectly capable of speech, 162 00:18:51,423 --> 00:18:56,492 but local custom demands that as an act of mourning they don't utter a word for months 163 00:18:56,492 --> 00:19:01,987 after a tribesman has died. It's their version of wearing black. 164 00:19:16,410 --> 00:19:21,282 Clearly gestures are important to us, but why are we so much better at signalling with our 165 00:19:21,282 --> 00:19:28,254 hands than other animals? The answer of course is that we are the only mammals that are bipedal. 166 00:19:28,254 --> 00:19:31,779 They are all quadrupedal, they walk along on all fours. 167 00:19:31,779 --> 00:19:36,805 But, when we stood up on our hind legs millions of years ago, here in Africa, 168 00:19:36,805 --> 00:19:42,927 we freed our hands from the business of walking. We freed them from the chore of locomotion 169 00:19:42,927 --> 00:19:50,415 and that was what enabled them to become the flexible, gesticulating hands that we have today. 170 00:19:59,502 --> 00:20:04,098 In order to appreciate what an immense impact the simple act of standing up had on our 171 00:20:04,098 --> 00:20:11,230 primeval ancestors, it's only necessary to watch our nearest relatives the chimpanzees. 172 00:20:17,367 --> 00:20:21,927 When they're moving about in their natural habitat their hands still have to function 173 00:20:21,927 --> 00:20:25,138 much of the time as plodding front feet. 174 00:20:25,138 --> 00:20:31,113 And this prevents them from becoming highly developed as expressive organs of gesture. 175 00:20:43,863 --> 00:20:49,222 Their front feet can operate successfully as grasping hands, for example, when holding a baby. 176 00:20:49,222 --> 00:20:55,089 But, they never develop the subtlety of movement that we see in our own species. 177 00:20:55,089 --> 00:21:01,599 Elegant gesturing remains the prerogative of the uniquely bipedal, naked ape. 178 00:21:05,780 --> 00:21:10,892 So far, all the gestures that I've described have been regional and they're used consciously 179 00:21:10,892 --> 00:21:15,254 to replace speech like the deliberate directions of this policeman. 180 00:21:15,254 --> 00:21:18,066 But, there's another type of gesture all together, 181 00:21:18,066 --> 00:21:23,742 unconscious hand movements usually referred to as gesticulations. 182 00:21:26,028 --> 00:21:29,833 Instead of replacing speech, they accompany it. 183 00:21:42,887 --> 00:21:46,358 This type of hand signal has been christened the baton gesture 184 00:21:46,358 --> 00:21:52,356 because it beats time to our words and emphasizes the points we are making. 185 00:21:55,335 --> 00:22:01,359 But, baton gestures do more than merely beat time, they also indicate our changing moods. 186 00:22:01,359 --> 00:22:08,161 The posture of the hand as it beats the air revealing the emotional state of the speaker. 187 00:22:35,365 --> 00:22:42,694 Here at Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park a veritable gallery of human baton gestures is on display. 188 00:22:42,694 --> 00:22:45,019 Let's watch for a moment. 189 00:22:58,993 --> 00:23:04,595 Now let's take a closer look at two of his gestures. Slowing it down, his first gesture is 190 00:23:04,595 --> 00:23:08,993 a repelling action using his hand as if it were pushing away the intruder, 191 00:23:08,993 --> 00:23:16,021 but without making physical contact. This is obvious enough, but what's he do next? 192 00:23:19,234 --> 00:23:25,639 As the intruder leaves he draws his chosen audience back towards him using an "air grasp" gesture. 193 00:23:25,639 --> 00:23:27,895 There. 194 00:23:29,999 --> 00:23:34,710 Another speaker is about to mention a precise date and unconsciously accompanies this with a 195 00:23:34,710 --> 00:23:42,932 precision gesture, as if holding a small object with great delicacy between his thumb and forefinger. 196 00:23:50,214 --> 00:23:56,243 A third speaker is in a more aggressive mood. He's using, not a precision grip, but a power grip. 197 00:23:56,243 --> 00:24:03,064 Thrusting his clenched fist at the audience. The power of his fist reflecting the power of his argument. 198 00:24:03,331 --> 00:24:10,682 But, now he switches to the raised forefinger, beating his listeners over the head with his small, symbolic club. 199 00:24:10,682 --> 00:24:19,255 And finally, he extends his hands palm-up in an imploring gesture, begging them to agree with him. 200 00:24:28,741 --> 00:24:33,911 By contrast, this speaker employs the palm-down gesture, a more dominant action in which he 201 00:24:33,911 --> 00:24:40,781 attempts to calm his audience by symbolically patting them on the head, as if they're unruly children. 202 00:24:42,658 --> 00:24:45,470 Finally, this man introduces the "hand chop" gesture. 203 00:24:45,470 --> 00:24:52,936 A decisive gesture in which he symbolically tries to cut through the argument as if with a sharp blade. 204 00:25:02,247 --> 00:25:07,748 The urge to express our emotions with our hands is so strong that we continue to gesticulate, 205 00:25:07,748 --> 00:25:13,795 even when the person we are talking to is miles away at the other end of a telephone line. 206 00:25:31,823 --> 00:25:36,205 The urge to communicate by body language is so deeply ingrained that if we happen to be 207 00:25:36,205 --> 00:25:42,881 Japanese we even bow respectfully to our remote, invisible companion. 208 00:25:44,360 --> 00:25:50,203 But, there's another whole facet of body language that conveys our emotions with even greater subtlety. 209 00:25:50,203 --> 00:25:55,988 We humans have the most expressive faces in the entire animal kingdom. We take our expressions for 210 00:25:55,988 --> 00:26:03,704 granted, but if we trace them back to their origins it's interesting to see how they evolved. 211 00:26:07,109 --> 00:26:12,159 The Chimpanzee's face is almost as expressive as the human's. If we watch these apes in the 212 00:26:12,159 --> 00:26:18,045 wild we can begin to see how we acquired our own highly mobile faces. 213 00:26:18,045 --> 00:26:26,019 Originally, facial muscles were needed not for communication, but for other more basic functions. 214 00:26:26,019 --> 00:26:32,923 To move the lips for instance, improving their role in drinking and feeding. As the apes suck, chew and bite, 215 00:26:32,923 --> 00:26:39,093 their powerful, sensitive lips explore each object as it comes in contact with the mouth. 216 00:26:50,325 --> 00:26:55,002 This involves a great deal of pulling and stretching and when they're young, the infant apes 217 00:26:55,002 --> 00:27:01,750 employ their long lips as valuable sucking organs, squeezing milk from their mother's nipples. 218 00:27:06,785 --> 00:27:11,757 But, even the Chimpanzee is no match for the rubber-faced human being. 219 00:27:11,757 --> 00:27:17,217 [laughter] 220 00:27:17,217 --> 00:27:20,307 >>First, I will show you how I kiss my girlfriend. 221 00:27:25,046 --> 00:27:32,638 >>In Cumberland, they elected Albert of Somerset, County Tatem, "Ugliest Man in the World." 222 00:27:35,007 --> 00:27:37,465 >>[Narrator] If we could see below the surface of the human face, 223 00:27:37,465 --> 00:27:42,351 we'd discover the most complicated set of facial muscles in the world. 224 00:27:55,410 --> 00:28:00,943 These muscles give us a huge range of expressions. 225 00:28:02,927 --> 00:28:06,307 Some big and bold, others extremely subtle. 226 00:28:16,059 --> 00:28:22,176 But, Humans and Chimps don't just share a flexible face. We also share many of the same expressions. 227 00:28:22,176 --> 00:28:29,584 It's not hard for us to appreciate that these young apes are in a playful mood by simply looking at their faces. 228 00:28:36,532 --> 00:28:40,524 And if we watch the way in which Chimps work themselves up into a violent mood, 229 00:28:40,524 --> 00:28:44,136 it's easy for us to understand what's happening. 230 00:28:56,170 --> 00:29:01,088 Whenever an animal goes on the attack, it's always slightly fearful of retaliation. 231 00:29:01,088 --> 00:29:06,805 As a result, we see a face in conflict. The tightness of the lips around the mouth is a 232 00:29:06,805 --> 00:29:11,216 sure sign of primate aggression, while the lowered eyebrows indicate that the attacker 233 00:29:11,216 --> 00:29:15,058 is protecting its eyes in case of a fight. 234 00:29:18,086 --> 00:29:25,143 The same tight-lipped face is also seen in our own species in moments of great emotional intensity. 235 00:29:38,096 --> 00:29:42,944 And there it is, the tight mouth of anger. 236 00:29:42,998 --> 00:29:50,552 This leaves no doubt as to the mood of these women, especially when combined with an intense stare. 237 00:29:50,552 --> 00:29:54,807 One of the most primeval of all facial expressions is the staring eye. 238 00:29:54,807 --> 00:29:59,088 It's something we share with other animals and it's always threatening. Because of this, 239 00:29:59,088 --> 00:30:04,280 in earlier centuries, people thought there was something they called the "evil eye." 240 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:08,057 A mystical force that by staring at them could do them harm. 241 00:30:08,057 --> 00:30:12,762 To protect themselves against this evil eye they would often try to "out stare" it. 242 00:30:12,762 --> 00:30:18,226 To do this they made effigies of eyes which were unblinking and could perform a permanent stare 243 00:30:18,226 --> 00:30:23,388 to frighten away the evil spirits. Fishermen when they went to sea wanted to protect their boats 244 00:30:23,388 --> 00:30:27,909 and they did so by giving their boats a staring eye. 245 00:30:32,165 --> 00:30:33,453 And all over the Mediterranean, 246 00:30:33,453 --> 00:30:39,773 fishing boats are protected with elaborately painted and eternally unblinking eyes. 247 00:30:41,969 --> 00:30:49,679 Because hard stares are so assertive, some military and prison rituals employ them in a special way. 248 00:30:49,679 --> 00:30:54,759 At this correctional camp in Maryland, these prisoners are forbidden to stare, even to glance, 249 00:30:54,759 --> 00:30:59,971 at their prison officers. The officers, who are not allowed to lay a hand on the prisoners, 250 00:30:59,971 --> 00:31:05,008 make their dominance felt by the most direct and intense staring they can muster. 251 00:31:05,008 --> 00:31:10,558 And the effect is one of acute intimidation and almost painful humiliation. 252 00:31:10,558 --> 00:31:13,010 >>[Officer] Inmate Williams. >>[Inmate Williams] Sir. 253 00:31:13,010 --> 00:31:15,520 >>[Officer] Can you hear me, Inmate Williams?! >>[Inmate] Sir, yes sir! 254 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:17,886 >>[Officer] Count off, Inmate Williams! >>[Inmate] Sir, yes sir! 255 00:31:17,886 --> 00:31:21,550 >>[Officer] I'm on my toes! Sound off! >>[Inmate] Sir, yes sir! 256 00:31:21,550 --> 00:31:25,932 >>[Officer] I don't want to see an eyeball on me, no where near me! If you don't hurry up 257 00:31:25,932 --> 00:31:30,477 I'll put your butt outta here! Don't look at me! And you better stop pressing me! 258 00:31:30,477 --> 00:31:40,642 I don't give a crap about your attitude today. [inaudible] Don't care about your attitude. 259 00:31:40,642 --> 00:31:48,757 You, goddamn dummy over there! Why you won't look at me, huh?! [both officers yelling] 260 00:31:48,757 --> 00:31:51,836 >>[Second officer] That's all you gotta do! Quiet! Ain't nobody asked you to come here! 261 00:31:51,836 --> 00:31:55,471 Ain't nobody going to beg you to stay. >>[First officer] Put your legs together! 262 00:32:05,592 --> 00:32:11,600 >>[Narrator] If you thought that staring was pretty intimidating, there's one culture that takes it even further. 263 00:32:38,352 --> 00:32:43,331 This is the Maori Haka, the aggressive challenge of the indigenous people of New Zealand. 264 00:32:43,331 --> 00:32:49,317 An ancient threat display still employed today in a modern context. 265 00:33:17,045 --> 00:33:20,882 Taking another look at those aggressive Chimpanzees, what happens if they start to 266 00:33:20,882 --> 00:33:26,095 become alarmed and fearful, if their courage begins to dessert them. 267 00:33:34,177 --> 00:33:38,294 As they become more and more afraid, their expressions undergo an important change. 268 00:33:38,294 --> 00:33:41,764 Their mouth corners are pulled back further and further. 269 00:33:41,764 --> 00:33:47,516 This is the typical fear face of all primates, including our own species. 270 00:34:10,045 --> 00:34:14,632 The best way to prove just how closely we share this expression is to examine the faces of the 271 00:34:14,632 --> 00:34:21,646 panic-stricken customers on the latest fairground terror ride, the spiraling Nemesis. 272 00:34:21,646 --> 00:34:28,301 Just as with frightened Chimps, these mouth corners are pulled back, exposing all the teeth. 273 00:34:40,845 --> 00:34:47,665 The strange feature of this expression is that it looks, in some respects, like the human smile. 274 00:34:50,600 --> 00:34:56,481 Smiling is a uniquely human expression that has evolved from the ancient fear face. 275 00:34:56,481 --> 00:35:00,652 This might sound odd because we think of smiling as friendly, not fearful. 276 00:35:00,652 --> 00:35:03,320 But, there's a crucial link between the two. 277 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:10,929 The fear face is sometimes used as a submissive signal saying "I'm scared, therefore I'm not a threat to you." 278 00:35:10,929 --> 00:35:13,999 In other words, it's an anti-aggressive action. 279 00:35:13,999 --> 00:35:22,979 It's only a small step from "I am not aggressive" to "I am friendly" and that's how the human smile evolved. 280 00:35:24,896 --> 00:35:30,168 Because of the smile's anti-aggressive origins, witnessing it makes onlookers feel at ease and 281 00:35:30,168 --> 00:35:32,173 responsive to the smiler. 282 00:35:32,173 --> 00:35:37,830 For this reason it's been a mainstay of commercial advertising for many years. 283 00:35:40,363 --> 00:35:43,798 >>Certs is a candy mint. >>Certs is a breath mint. 284 00:35:43,798 --> 00:35:52,377 >>Stop, you're both right. New Certs is two mints in one. Stops bad breath in seconds. Tastiest mint of all. 285 00:35:55,038 --> 00:35:58,136 >>[Narrator] The problem for these professional smilers however, is that 286 00:35:58,136 --> 00:36:05,030 it's difficult to fake the expression perfectly. The fixed smile gives the game away. 287 00:36:29,565 --> 00:36:34,211 For synchronized swimmers, the physical exertions of their sport make it even harder 288 00:36:34,211 --> 00:36:43,098 to fake a convincing smile. They have to keep on smiling to impress the judges, but it's not easy. 289 00:36:44,325 --> 00:36:51,128 One of the best places to observe the false smile is on the faces of beach-side photographer's customers. 290 00:36:51,128 --> 00:36:56,043 >>[Photographer] That's it. Beautiful. Just a bit more. Beautiful. Smile! 291 00:36:56,043 --> 00:36:57,608 Come on. Smile. 292 00:36:57,608 --> 00:37:03,688 >>But, how precisely do we know that this smile falls short of being convincing. 293 00:37:03,688 --> 00:37:09,345 The essential feature is the specialized muscles that pull the mouth corners up and the ones 294 00:37:09,345 --> 00:37:15,010 around the eyes that create the "smiling eyes" are both much harder to control consciously 295 00:37:15,010 --> 00:37:18,981 than the more ancient ones that simply pull the mouth corners back. 296 00:37:18,981 --> 00:37:25,111 No matter how hard we try, we can't fabricate the perfect smile. 297 00:37:27,318 --> 00:37:32,738 This incredibly strong link between our facial expressions and the inner workings of our body 298 00:37:32,738 --> 00:37:36,682 has been put to very good use by imaginative doctors in America, 299 00:37:36,682 --> 00:37:42,121 who've taken the radical step of clowning in hospital wards. 300 00:37:42,966 --> 00:37:45,356 >>[Clown] I think you're having a little too much fun, you know. 301 00:37:45,356 --> 00:37:52,539 You're having so much fun they might kick you out of here or something like that. [laughter] 302 00:37:52,539 --> 00:37:56,953 Look at all the stuff you got in here. You've got a lot of great stuff. 303 00:37:56,953 --> 00:38:02,361 >>[Narrator] And though this may appear to be a bizarre form of medical care, it's impact is extraordinary. 304 00:38:02,361 --> 00:38:09,091 By making patients smile and laugh, their pain levels are reduced. Their happy facial expressions 305 00:38:09,091 --> 00:38:14,720 actually release endorphins, the body's natural pain killers, into their systems. 306 00:38:14,720 --> 00:38:19,283 [patient laughing] 307 00:38:19,283 --> 00:38:22,307 >>[Clown] We'll wait for later to do that. >>[Patient] Please come back. 308 00:38:22,307 --> 00:38:28,620 [laughter] 309 00:38:28,620 --> 00:38:35,560 >>Oh, you broke his head! Oh boy! I think you should be a doctor like me. 310 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:41,879 >>[Narrator] Amazingly, the laughter created by this clowning works as well as any painkilling drug. 311 00:38:41,879 --> 00:38:46,807 Such is the power of human body language. 312 00:38:46,807 --> 00:38:52,948 [Laughter] 313 00:39:02,476 --> 00:39:06,809 Because of our body language that reveals our true feelings, we often try to suppress it, 314 00:39:06,809 --> 00:39:11,765 to hide our fears and anxieties, our longings and our hostilities. 315 00:39:11,765 --> 00:39:17,559 But, it's such an efficient communication system that we usually give away a few telltale signs. 316 00:39:17,559 --> 00:39:24,339 Now for most of us that's an everyday social challenge. For some people it's much more than that. 317 00:39:25,199 --> 00:39:29,807 For professional poker players, the suppression of body language is a way of life. 318 00:39:29,807 --> 00:39:34,846 For them, even the tiniest hint of emotion can cost a fortune. 319 00:39:34,846 --> 00:39:39,833 Here at the annual world poker contest in Las Vegas, a million dollars in cash 320 00:39:39,833 --> 00:39:45,572 is piled onto the table to be won or lost on the final play of the cards. 321 00:39:45,572 --> 00:39:49,738 The finalists around the table are the best players in the world and needless to say, 322 00:39:49,738 --> 00:39:55,961 they are masters of body language control. They epitomize the so-called "poker face," 323 00:39:55,961 --> 00:40:02,229 but even they are not entirely immune to the urges of human body language. 324 00:40:02,229 --> 00:40:08,438 Careful studies of the telltale signs of poker players have revealed that there are several vital clues 325 00:40:08,438 --> 00:40:14,126 that can tell you when a hand is good or bad, and when a player is bluffing. 326 00:40:14,126 --> 00:40:19,459 When a player has a bad hand he stares at his cards a little longer. 327 00:40:30,441 --> 00:40:35,828 When a player has a good hand his blink rate increases slightly. 328 00:40:41,206 --> 00:40:46,573 When he has a good hand he looks away for a split second. 329 00:40:49,021 --> 00:40:53,158 When he has a bad hand he bets with a flourish. 330 00:40:54,639 --> 00:40:58,758 But, these particular players, world champions, in addition to being able to suppress their own 331 00:40:58,758 --> 00:41:01,528 facial expressions and their telltale gestures, 332 00:41:01,528 --> 00:41:06,821 are also masters of reading the body language of their competitors. 333 00:41:23,284 --> 00:41:27,974 And this is the victor, but watch his face. This man has just won a million dollars, 334 00:41:27,974 --> 00:41:33,182 but his expressions are so tightly under control that even now he can't show any emotions. 335 00:41:33,182 --> 00:41:38,390 There's no smile, no shouting for joy, his poker face is like a mask. 336 00:41:41,681 --> 00:41:47,622 All he allows himself eventually is a little jab in the air with a triumphant forefinger. 337 00:41:49,969 --> 00:41:54,008 Most of us would make poor poker players because we're so bad at lying. 338 00:41:54,008 --> 00:41:58,373 We give away our true feelings despite all our efforts to conceal them. 339 00:42:03,002 --> 00:42:07,211 This woman has just been accused of stealing somebody's purse and just by looking at her 340 00:42:07,211 --> 00:42:13,269 body language it's possible to spot certain clues that suggest that her denials are false. 341 00:42:13,269 --> 00:42:17,510 >>[Accused woman] See I have one like that too. >>[Accuser] Yeah, this is mine. 342 00:42:17,510 --> 00:42:20,189 >>[Accused woman] Well, then mine is in your car or something. 343 00:42:20,189 --> 00:42:23,027 >>[Officer] Let's see your ID. >>[Accuser] We can look in my car if you want. 344 00:42:23,027 --> 00:42:27,510 >>[Narrator] She brings her hand up to her mouth as if to hide the lie that she's telling. 345 00:42:27,510 --> 00:42:32,182 Face touching is often a sign of attempted deception. 346 00:42:33,515 --> 00:42:37,996 >>[Officer] How'd you get the purse? >>[Accused woman] I got a ride. 347 00:42:37,996 --> 00:42:39,578 >>[Officer] Where'd you find it? 348 00:42:39,578 --> 00:42:41,768 >>[Accused woman] It was on the floor and I automatically thought it was mine. 349 00:42:41,768 --> 00:42:45,777 >>[Narrator] And she uses the "hand shrug" gesture, an unconscious disclaimer 350 00:42:45,777 --> 00:42:50,336 that usually increases in frequency when lying is taking place. 351 00:42:50,336 --> 00:42:54,382 >>[Officer] Well, if you thought it was yours and you just got through telling me... [woman starts to argue] 352 00:42:54,413 --> 00:42:57,001 >>And her eyes blink and close more than usual. 353 00:42:57,001 --> 00:43:02,978 An unconscious attempt to shut out the outside world, to cut herself off from the tension of the lie. 354 00:43:02,978 --> 00:43:06,568 >>[Accused woman] I put it in my bag and my bag was open, so I thought it was mine, ok. 355 00:43:06,568 --> 00:43:13,687 I picked this up and this too, automatically. Ok, the wallet was on the floor and my mind's mixed up. OK? 356 00:43:13,687 --> 00:43:16,648 He don't want the baby. I want the baby. Ok? 357 00:43:16,648 --> 00:43:20,728 So, I just started picking up the things that were on the floor. I'm sorry. 358 00:43:22,081 --> 00:43:25,167 >>Some people seem to think that body language is trivial, but it should be clear by now 359 00:43:25,167 --> 00:43:31,410 that this is not the case. Indeed, at moments of desperation we turn not just to spoken language, 360 00:43:31,410 --> 00:43:36,760 but beyond that to the more primeval language of the body. A signally system that was used by 361 00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:41,883 our ancestors for millions of years before the first human words were uttered. 362 00:43:41,883 --> 00:43:47,387 And one that can still play a crucial role in ensuring an individual's survival. 363 00:43:47,387 --> 00:43:51,964 But, even more far reaching than this, body language is so powerful that it can change the 364 00:43:51,964 --> 00:43:59,933 course of history and affect the behavior of millions of people. A fact that tyrants have not overlooked. 365 00:44:19,445 --> 00:44:25,082 For me, body language is far more than just a fascinating area of human biology. 366 00:44:25,082 --> 00:44:32,638 It's the core of a whole new science, the study of human behavior from a zoological perspective. 367 00:44:32,638 --> 00:44:36,220 And for this series too, body watching is only the beginning. 368 00:44:36,220 --> 00:44:40,854 Turning a zoological eye to our own species, I'll be looking at the commonplace, 369 00:44:40,854 --> 00:44:44,492 as well as the more unusual actions of the human animal. 370 00:44:44,492 --> 00:44:49,936 Why, for example, for a species which so often lives in a state of extreme overpopulation, 371 00:44:49,936 --> 00:44:54,933 is aggressive behavior like this the exception rather than the rule? 372 00:44:56,890 --> 00:45:01,133 In fact, for the vast majority of the time, the human animal goes about his business in an 373 00:45:01,133 --> 00:45:06,381 amazingly ordered way. Every individual, even in the vast social system of a city, 374 00:45:06,381 --> 00:45:12,016 is aware of fitting into a very precise position in the social pattern. 375 00:45:14,135 --> 00:45:17,001 I'll be looking at the human animal's sexual behavior. 376 00:45:17,001 --> 00:45:21,926 What biological mechanisms are at work when we choose a partner? 377 00:45:21,926 --> 00:45:31,018 And what influences why we find certain people attractive and others not? 378 00:45:33,001 --> 00:45:39,254 When it comes to the courtship ritual, what are our species' typical behavior patterns? 379 00:45:39,254 --> 00:45:47,871 And why at this time do we so often display juvenile characteristics such as the need to be spoon-fed? 380 00:45:52,963 --> 00:45:58,140 Parental behavior, the bond between the human parent and its young is probably the strongest 381 00:45:58,140 --> 00:46:00,222 of any species in the world. 382 00:46:00,222 --> 00:46:06,181 And the effect of being separated can be quite devastating, especially for the parent. 383 00:46:14,084 --> 00:46:23,476 What is the biological function of rites of passage, ceremonies that mark the arrival of sexual maturity? 384 00:46:24,176 --> 00:46:31,806 And why do human individuals remain alive long after they cease to be able to bear children? 385 00:46:31,806 --> 00:46:35,932 Finally, in this series, I'll be looking at those aspects of our behavior that appear to 386 00:46:35,932 --> 00:46:40,383 have no parallels in the rest of the animal kingdom. 387 00:46:40,383 --> 00:46:47,703 Is the playful behavior of our species really different from that seen in other animals? 388 00:46:53,389 --> 00:46:59,703 Is body decoration different from the elaborate and colorful display plumage of birds? 389 00:47:04,142 --> 00:47:09,790 What drives us to take serious risks merely for the thrill of it? 390 00:47:13,141 --> 00:47:22,317 But, in the next episode, I'll turn my attention to one of our most fundamental activities: finding food. 391 00:47:23,604 --> 00:47:30,095 There's no other species that consumes such an incredible variety of food. 392 00:47:30,095 --> 00:47:34,056 In fact, we're so good at extracting nutrients from our environment, 393 00:47:34,056 --> 00:47:39,933 that we're able to adapt to and exploit virtually every type of habitat on this planet. 394 00:47:50,723 --> 00:47:56,600 And with our modern lifestyle, what's happened to our ancestral hunting urges? 395 00:48:00,164 --> 00:48:08,524 Now, I've sometimes been accused of degrading man- kind, of insulting human dignity, of making man beastly. 396 00:48:08,524 --> 00:48:12,763 This surprised me because I like animals and I feel proud to call myself one. 397 00:48:12,763 --> 00:48:17,878 I've never looked down upon them, so to call human beings animals is not degrading to me. 398 00:48:17,878 --> 00:48:27,183 It's simply honest and putting us in our place as part of the scheme of nature on the planet Earth. 399 00:48:28,883 --> 00:48:43,067 [music]