WEBVTT 00:00:00.688 --> 00:00:12.701 [music] 00:00:12.701 --> 00:00:16.255 >>[Narrator: Desmond Morris] Of over a million species of animals on our planet, one species has 00:00:16.255 --> 00:00:22.010 come to dominate all other lifeforms, and to alter dramatically the face of the Earth. 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. 00:00:28.757 --> 00:00:34.174 A species I once referred to as "the naked ape." 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. 00:00:40.421 --> 00:00:47.008 No armor, no sharp spines, no venom, no fangs or claws. 00:00:47.008 --> 00:00:50.003 Yet equipped with little more than an enlarged brain, 00:00:50.003 --> 00:00:56.760 this compulsively curious creature has come to dominate the natural world. 00:00:57.585 --> 00:01:02.260 What is the secret of its lavish, unprecedented success? 00:01:02.260 --> 00:01:05.588 [music] 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. 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. 00:01:42.297 --> 00:01:50.672 Its legs are long and straight. And unlike any other mammal, it walks bipedally. 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. 00:01:56.459 --> 00:01:59.011 Again, a unique feature. 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. 00:02:07.171 --> 00:02:11.005 The male has the largest penis of any primate. 00:02:11.005 --> 00:02:15.731 And the human animal is the only primate that possesses rounded, fleshy buttocks. 00:02:15.731 --> 00:02:22.371 Altogether, these unique features make us a very strange ape indeed. 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. 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, 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. 00:02:50.725 --> 00:02:54.609 The secret is patient observation. 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. 00:03:05.315 --> 00:03:09.893 In the streets and parks, the shops and offices, the villages and cities, 00:03:09.893 --> 00:03:16.752 to analyze their natural behavior as it happens in real life situations all over the world. 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. 00:03:34.363 --> 00:03:38.963 Of course, there are many superficial differences and these are often so impressive 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, 00:03:45.041 --> 00:03:50.982 with disastrous results. But, despite all our variations in costume, ritual and believe, 00:03:50.982 --> 00:03:58.523 biologically we're all astonishingly close to one another. A fact which I find very reassuring. 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, 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 00:04:09.480 --> 00:04:12.200 there were two men gesturing in a particular way. 00:04:12.200 --> 00:04:15.685 The way they were holding their palms to one side was fascinating to me. 00:04:15.685 --> 00:04:21.209 And he said, "You know, you look at people the way birdwatchers look at birds." 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, 00:04:25.734 --> 00:04:29.053 it was as if I'd fired a starting gun on a major, new project. 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. 00:04:40.402 --> 00:04:46.039 It was wildly ambitious, but I decided to make a complete classification of all human actions, 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. 00:04:53.411 --> 00:04:57.476 I was going to do for actions what dictionary makers had done for words. 00:04:57.476 --> 00:05:04.789 I began making huge charts naming every facial expression, every gesture, every movement, every posture. 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 00:05:11.399 --> 00:05:16.581 to introduce people to the fascinating subject of human body language. 00:05:17.619 --> 00:05:21.660 One of the first problems I encountered was that even the simplest human action, 00:05:21.660 --> 00:05:26.410 such as the handshake, has countless variations. 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. 00:05:45.692 --> 00:05:48.040 But, in other countries it becomes more elaborate. 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. 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. 00:06:06.127 --> 00:06:11.398 And in Turkey, these Kurdish farmers have taken a simple action and converted it into what 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. 00:06:19.291 --> 00:06:22.774 And they have to keep on doing so until the deal is struck. 00:06:25.361 --> 00:06:30.059 The essential feature of hand-shaking is that it's an egalitarian act. 00:06:30.059 --> 00:06:36.957 Regardless of their social standing, the two people involved are momentarily performing identical actions. 00:06:39.047 --> 00:06:44.073 This meeting as equals that has spread around the world is comparatively recent. 00:06:44.073 --> 00:06:49.162 In earlier times when greeting, it was common for the less important individuals to literally 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. 00:06:56.765 --> 00:07:00.999 The Toda people of South India still perform this body-lowering ritual 00:07:00.999 --> 00:07:06.109 with high-status feet placed on low-status heads. 00:07:23.932 --> 00:07:27.980 Despite their variations, all these greetings have one thing in common. 00:07:27.980 --> 00:07:33.596 They're all fine-tuned to the precise context in which they occur. 00:07:34.929 --> 00:07:37.566 So many gestures have different meanings in different places. 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. 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 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. 00:07:55.169 --> 00:07:59.484 So, in south of France this means zero or worthless. 00:07:59.484 --> 00:08:02.194 So, you don't want to say the wine was "great" [gestures] 00:08:02.194 --> 00:08:04.659 because in fact you'd be saying the wine was worthless. 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 00:08:09.133 --> 00:08:13.660 with the ring shape symbolizing an orifice. And if you think you're going to say 00:08:13.660 --> 00:08:18.652 something is great in Sardinia like this, believe me you'll be in trouble. 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. 00:08:22.684 --> 00:08:27.907 Because a single message is given in a different way in different countries. 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. 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. 00:08:39.913 --> 00:08:43.360 Or I might say his brain is going round and round. 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." 00:08:47.882 --> 00:08:51.744 In some countries you do it with two hands. It varies from place to place. 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. 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. 00:09:03.363 --> 00:09:09.327 So, all over the world, the same message is given in a slightly different way. 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. 00:09:14.322 --> 00:09:19.079 This Turkish pedestrian displays his anger with the trust of a stiff forearm, 00:09:19.079 --> 00:09:23.858 using his arm symbolically as an aggressively erect penis. 00:09:26.328 --> 00:09:31.798 A slightly more obscure insult is the cornuto, or horn sign, frequently seen in Italy. 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. 00:09:43.694 --> 00:09:47.331 In North America, the most common insult is the middle fingered jerk, 00:09:47.331 --> 00:09:50.973 employing the middle finger as a symbolic penis. 00:09:50.973 --> 00:09:56.391 This is an ancient Roman gesture and is well-known in many countries. 00:09:56.391 --> 00:09:59.316 Much more localized is the Greek moutza. 00:09:59.316 --> 00:10:06.473 This dates back to Byzantine times and symbolizes excrement being pushed into the victim's face. 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. 00:10:12.314 --> 00:10:17.222 It's a gesture that foreigners sometimes confuse with the "V for victory" sign, 00:10:17.222 --> 00:10:20.787 but that's performed with the hand the other way around. 00:10:22.671 --> 00:10:29.255 Most regional body language has a long and complicated history, with the origins often forgotten. 00:10:29.255 --> 00:10:34.293 One of the special qualities of regional gestures is that they are amazingly conservative. 00:10:34.293 --> 00:10:38.668 They remain confined to their own particular area regardless of the fact that all around them 00:10:38.668 --> 00:10:44.293 national boundaries keep changing. As a result of this, within a particular country today you 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. 00:10:51.812 --> 00:10:56.942 This is a gesture frontier behind me. It's the Massacre Range in Central Italy. 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. 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. 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, 00:11:16.217 --> 00:11:21.091 where you get the switch from head tossing to head shaking. 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 00:11:27.173 --> 00:11:32.921 many centuries ago the ancient Greeks colonized southern Italy and started to move north. 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. 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. 00:11:48.956 --> 00:11:52.822 While in the south they still give they ancient Greek head toss. 00:11:52.822 --> 00:11:56.533 And this difference has survived despite all the mobility of modern life 00:11:56.533 --> 00:12:02.755 and the spread of films and television programs. The old gesture frontier remains. 00:12:08.652 --> 00:12:13.068 Yes signals made with the head are just as complicated as no signals. 00:12:13.068 --> 00:12:17.530 In most parts of the world people nod their head up and down when saying yes. 00:12:17.530 --> 00:12:23.819 Many people mistakenly assume that this action is completely global, but this isn't the case. 00:12:23.819 --> 00:12:26.903 There are two areas where something else happens. 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. 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. 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. 00:12:52.653 --> 00:13:01.429 You get the impression that he's undecided. But, every wobble he makes means yes. 00:13:10.063 --> 00:13:14.132 In another region, it's not just the visitors who are confused. 00:13:14.132 --> 00:13:17.781 Even the inhabitants are not always sure what's going on. 00:13:17.781 --> 00:13:24.259 Here in Bulgaria they use both the head nod and the head wobble when saying yes. 00:13:24.259 --> 00:13:30.867 This creates total confusion. Why on Earth they do this remains a mystery, even to them. 00:13:50.572 --> 00:13:55.530 Although gestures often persist for hundreds or even thousands of years, sometimes they may change 00:13:55.530 --> 00:13:59.942 their meaning as they're passed on from generation to generation. 00:13:59.942 --> 00:14:06.654 We all think we know what the popular thumbs up and thumbs down gestures mean. 00:14:08.823 --> 00:14:17.151 [children shouting boo or yay] 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. 00:14:38.616 --> 00:14:42.781 The thumbs up for good and the thumbs down for bad are very well known gestures. 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. 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. 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. 00:14:59.865 --> 00:15:03.276 It's completely false. It never happened like that. 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, 00:15:09.212 --> 00:15:13.006 the "pollice compresso." This means the compressed or squashed thumb. 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. 00:15:19.591 --> 00:15:23.597 Because they were high up they stabbed downwards like that. 00:15:23.597 --> 00:15:27.810 That's the truth of the matter and the next time you go to the movies, 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. 00:15:36.097 --> 00:15:41.130 It's almost certain that our ancestors used gestures to communicate specific information 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, 00:15:47.299 --> 00:15:52.625 there are still situations where gestures have a definite advantage. 00:15:55.009 --> 00:15:59.764 For example, they can communicate information over a far greater distance than would be 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 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. 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. 00:16:42.197 --> 00:16:48.298 In some sports a gestural sign language not only conveys information over a great distance, 00:16:48.298 --> 00:16:52.197 but also allows messages to be kept secret. 00:16:59.580 --> 00:17:04.776 The coach of an American football team transmits complex signals to his quarterback 00:17:04.776 --> 00:17:11.226 using coded hand signals that conceal his intentions from the opposing team. 00:17:24.609 --> 00:17:29.977 Even if the opposing team does manage to crack the gestural code at any one time, 00:17:29.977 --> 00:17:33.418 it's being constantly changed to confuse them. 00:17:55.217 --> 00:17:59.731 On the floor of the Bombay stock exchange hand gestures provide a powerful tool 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, 00:18:06.781 --> 00:18:09.329 can be the basis of huge deals. 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. 00:18:39.609 --> 00:18:45.135 In the eerie silence of the Australian Outback, these two Warlpiri women are conversing quite 00:18:45.135 --> 00:18:51.423 adequately by gestures alone. Now they're not deaf and they're perfectly capable of speech, 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 00:18:56.492 --> 00:19:01.987 after a tribesman has died. It's their version of wearing black. 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 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. 00:19:28.254 --> 00:19:31.779 They are all quadrupedal, they walk along on all fours. 00:19:31.779 --> 00:19:36.805 But, when we stood up on our hind legs millions of years ago, here in Africa, 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 00:19:42.927 --> 00:19:50.415 and that was what enabled them to become the flexible, gesticulating hands that we have today. 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 00:20:04.098 --> 00:20:11.230 primeval ancestors, it's only necessary to watch our nearest relatives the chimpanzees. 00:20:17.367 --> 00:20:21.927 When they're moving about in their natural habitat their hands still have to function 00:20:21.927 --> 00:20:25.138 much of the time as plodding front feet. 00:20:25.138 --> 00:20:31.113 And this prevents them from becoming highly developed as expressive organs of gesture. 00:20:43.863 --> 00:20:49.222 Their front feet can operate successfully as grasping hands, for example, when holding a baby. 00:20:49.222 --> 00:20:55.089 But, they never develop the subtlety of movement that we see in our own species. 00:20:55.089 --> 00:21:01.599 Elegant gesturing remains the prerogative of the uniquely bipedal, naked ape. 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 00:21:10.892 --> 00:21:15.254 to replace speech like the deliberate directions of this policeman. 00:21:15.254 --> 00:21:18.066 But, there's another type of gesture all together, 00:21:18.066 --> 00:21:23.742 unconscious hand movements usually referred to as gesticulations. 00:21:26.028 --> 00:21:29.833 Instead of replacing speech, they accompany it. 00:21:42.887 --> 00:21:46.358 This type of hand signal has been christened the baton gesture 00:21:46.358 --> 00:21:52.356 because it beats time to our words and emphasizes the points we are making. 00:21:55.335 --> 00:22:01.359 But, baton gestures do more than merely beat time, they also indicate our changing moods. 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. 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. 00:22:42.694 --> 00:22:45.019 Let's watch for a moment. 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 00:23:04.595 --> 00:23:08.993 a repelling action using his hand as if it were pushing away the intruder, 00:23:08.993 --> 00:23:16.021 but without making physical contact. This is obvious enough, but what's he do next? 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. 00:23:25.639 --> 00:23:27.895 There. 00:23:29.999 --> 00:23:34.710 Another speaker is about to mention a precise date and unconsciously accompanies this with a 00:23:34.710 --> 00:23:42.932 precision gesture, as if holding a small object with great delicacy between his thumb and forefinger. 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. 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. 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. 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. 00:24:28.741 --> 00:24:33.911 By contrast, this speaker employs the palm-down gesture, a more dominant action in which he 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. 00:24:42.658 --> 00:24:45.470 Finally, this man introduces the "hand chop" gesture. 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. 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, 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. 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 00:25:36.205 --> 00:25:42.881 Japanese we even bow respectfully to our remote, invisible companion. 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. 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 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. 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 00:26:12.159 --> 00:26:18.045 wild we can begin to see how we acquired our own highly mobile faces. 00:26:18.045 --> 00:26:26.019 Originally, facial muscles were needed not for communication, but for other more basic functions. 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, 00:26:32.923 --> 00:26:39.093 their powerful, sensitive lips explore each object as it comes in contact with the mouth. 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 00:26:55.002 --> 00:27:01.750 employ their long lips as valuable sucking organs, squeezing milk from their mother's nipples. 00:27:06.785 --> 00:27:11.757 But, even the Chimpanzee is no match for the rubber-faced human being. 00:27:11.757 --> 00:27:17.217 [laughter] 00:27:17.217 --> 00:27:20.307 >>First, I will show you how I kiss my girlfriend. 00:27:25.046 --> 00:27:32.638 >>In Cumberland, they elected Albert of Somerset, County Tatem, "Ugliest Man in the World." 00:27:35.007 --> 00:27:37.465 >>[Narrator] If we could see below the surface of the human face, 00:27:37.465 --> 00:27:42.351 we'd discover the most complicated set of facial muscles in the world. 00:27:55.410 --> 00:28:00.943 These muscles give us a huge range of expressions. 00:28:02.927 --> 00:28:06.307 Some big and bold, others extremely subtle. 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. 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. 00:28:36.532 --> 00:28:40.524 And if we watch the way in which Chimps work themselves up into a violent mood, 00:28:40.524 --> 00:28:44.136 it's easy for us to understand what's happening. 00:28:56.170 --> 00:29:01.088 Whenever an animal goes on the attack, it's always slightly fearful of retaliation. 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 00:29:06.805 --> 00:29:11.216 sure sign of primate aggression, while the lowered eyebrows indicate that the attacker 00:29:11.216 --> 00:29:15.058 is protecting its eyes in case of a fight. 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. 00:29:38.096 --> 00:29:42.944 And there it is, the tight mouth of anger. 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. 00:29:50.552 --> 00:29:54.807 One of the most primeval of all facial expressions is the staring eye. 00:29:54.807 --> 00:29:59.088 It's something we share with other animals and it's always threatening. Because of this, 00:29:59.088 --> 00:30:04.280 in earlier centuries, people thought there was something they called the "evil eye." 00:30:04.280 --> 00:30:08.057 A mystical force that by staring at them could do them harm. 00:30:08.057 --> 00:30:12.762 To protect themselves against this evil eye they would often try to "out stare" it. 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 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 00:30:23.388 --> 00:30:27.909 and they did so by giving their boats a staring eye. 00:30:32.165 --> 00:30:33.453 And all over the Mediterranean, 00:30:33.453 --> 00:30:39.773 fishing boats are protected with elaborately painted and eternally unblinking eyes. 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. 00:30:49.679 --> 00:30:54.759 At this correctional camp in Maryland, these prisoners are forbidden to stare, even to glance, 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, 00:30:59.971 --> 00:31:05.008 make their dominance felt by the most direct and intense staring they can muster. 00:31:05.008 --> 00:31:10.558 And the effect is one of acute intimidation and almost painful humiliation. 00:31:10.558 --> 00:31:13.010 >>[Officer] Inmate Williams. >>[Inmate Williams] Sir. 00:31:13.010 --> 00:31:15.520 >>[Officer] Can you hear me, Inmate Williams?! >>[Inmate] Sir, yes sir! 00:31:15.520 --> 00:31:17.886 >>[Officer] Count off, Inmate Williams! >>[Inmate] Sir, yes sir! 00:31:17.886 --> 00:31:21.550 >>[Officer] I'm on my toes! Sound off! >>[Inmate] Sir, yes sir! 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 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! 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. 00:31:40.642 --> 00:31:48.757 You, goddamn dummy over there! Why you won't look at me, huh?! [both officers yelling] 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! 00:31:51.836 --> 00:31:55.471 Ain't nobody going to beg you to stay. >>[First officer] Put your legs together! 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. 00:32:38.352 --> 00:32:43.331 This is the Maori Haka, the aggressive challenge of the indigenous people of New Zealand. 00:32:43.331 --> 00:32:49.317 An ancient threat display still employed today in a modern context. 00:33:17.045 --> 00:33:20.882 Taking another look at those aggressive Chimpanzees, what happens if they start to 00:33:20.882 --> 00:33:26.095 become alarmed and fearful, if their courage begins to dessert them. 00:33:34.177 --> 00:33:38.294 As they become more and more afraid, their expressions undergo an important change. 00:33:38.294 --> 00:33:41.764 Their mouth corners are pulled back further and further. 00:33:41.764 --> 00:33:47.516 This is the typical fear face of all primates, including our own species. 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 00:34:14.632 --> 00:34:21.646 panic-stricken customers on the latest fairground terror ride, the spiraling Nemesis. 00:34:21.646 --> 00:34:28.301 Just as with frightened Chimps, these mouth corners are pulled back, exposing all the teeth. 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. 00:34:50.600 --> 00:34:56.481 Smiling is a uniquely human expression that has evolved from the ancient fear face. 00:34:56.481 --> 00:35:00.652 This might sound odd because we think of smiling as friendly, not fearful. 00:35:00.652 --> 00:35:03.320 But, there's a crucial link between the two. 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." 00:35:10.929 --> 00:35:13.999 In other words, it's an anti-aggressive action. 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. 00:35:24.896 --> 00:35:30.168 Because of the smile's anti-aggressive origins, witnessing it makes onlookers feel at ease and 00:35:30.168 --> 00:35:32.173 responsive to the smiler. 00:35:32.173 --> 00:35:37.830 For this reason it's been a mainstay of commercial advertising for many years. 00:35:40.363 --> 00:35:43.798 >>Certs is a candy mint. >>Certs is a breath mint. 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. 00:35:55.038 --> 00:35:58.136 >>[Narrator] The problem for these professional smilers however, is that 00:35:58.136 --> 00:36:05.030 it's difficult to fake the expression perfectly. The fixed smile gives the game away. 00:36:29.565 --> 00:36:34.211 For synchronized swimmers, the physical exertions of their sport make it even harder 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. 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. 00:36:51.128 --> 00:36:56.043 >>[Photographer] That's it. Beautiful. Just a bit more. Beautiful. Smile! 00:36:56.043 --> 00:36:57.608 Come on. Smile. 00:36:57.608 --> 00:37:03.688 >>But, how precisely do we know that this smile falls short of being convincing. 00:37:03.688 --> 00:37:09.345 The essential feature is the specialized muscles that pull the mouth corners up and the ones 00:37:09.345 --> 00:37:15.010 around the eyes that create the "smiling eyes" are both much harder to control consciously 00:37:15.010 --> 00:37:18.981 than the more ancient ones that simply pull the mouth corners back. 00:37:18.981 --> 00:37:25.111 No matter how hard we try, we can't fabricate the perfect smile. 00:37:27.318 --> 00:37:32.738 This incredibly strong link between our facial expressions and the inner workings of our body 00:37:32.738 --> 00:37:36.682 has been put to very good use by imaginative doctors in America, 00:37:36.682 --> 00:37:42.121 who've taken the radical step of clowning in hospital wards. 00:37:42.966 --> 00:37:45.356 >>[Clown] I think you're having a little too much fun, you know. 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] 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. 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. 00:38:02.361 --> 00:38:09.091 By making patients smile and laugh, their pain levels are reduced. Their happy facial expressions 00:38:09.091 --> 00:38:14.720 actually release endorphins, the body's natural pain killers, into their systems. 00:38:14.720 --> 00:38:19.283 [patient laughing] 00:38:19.283 --> 00:38:22.307 >>[Clown] We'll wait for later to do that. >>[Patient] Please come back. 00:38:22.307 --> 00:38:28.620 [laughter] 00:38:28.620 --> 00:38:35.560 >>Oh, you broke his head! Oh boy! I think you should be a doctor like me. 00:38:35.560 --> 00:38:41.879 >>[Narrator] Amazingly, the laughter created by this clowning works as well as any painkilling drug. 00:38:41.879 --> 00:38:46.807 Such is the power of human body language. 00:38:46.807 --> 00:38:52.948 [Laughter] 00:39:02.476 --> 00:39:06.809 Because of our body language that reveals our true feelings, we often try to suppress it, 00:39:06.809 --> 00:39:11.765 to hide our fears and anxieties, our longings and our hostilities. 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. 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. 00:39:25.199 --> 00:39:29.807 For professional poker players, the suppression of body language is a way of life. 00:39:29.807 --> 00:39:34.846 For them, even the tiniest hint of emotion can cost a fortune. 00:39:34.846 --> 00:39:39.833 Here at the annual world poker contest in Las Vegas, a million dollars in cash 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. 00:39:45.572 --> 00:39:49.738 The finalists around the table are the best players in the world and needless to say, 00:39:49.738 --> 00:39:55.961 they are masters of body language control. They epitomize the so-called "poker face," 00:39:55.961 --> 00:40:02.229 but even they are not entirely immune to the urges of human body language. 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 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. 00:40:14.126 --> 00:40:19.459 When a player has a bad hand he stares at his cards a little longer. 00:40:30.441 --> 00:40:35.828 When a player has a good hand his blink rate increases slightly. 00:40:41.206 --> 00:40:46.573 When he has a good hand he looks away for a split second. 00:40:49.021 --> 00:40:53.158 When he has a bad hand he bets with a flourish. 00:40:54.639 --> 00:40:58.758 But, these particular players, world champions, in addition to being able to suppress their own 00:40:58.758 --> 00:41:01.528 facial expressions and their telltale gestures, 00:41:01.528 --> 00:41:06.821 are also masters of reading the body language of their competitors. 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, 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. 00:41:33.182 --> 00:41:38.390 There's no smile, no shouting for joy, his poker face is like a mask. 00:41:41.681 --> 00:41:47.622 All he allows himself eventually is a little jab in the air with a triumphant forefinger. 00:41:49.969 --> 00:41:54.008 Most of us would make poor poker players because we're so bad at lying. 00:41:54.008 --> 00:41:58.373 We give away our true feelings despite all our efforts to conceal them. 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 00:42:07.211 --> 00:42:13.269 body language it's possible to spot certain clues that suggest that her denials are false. 00:42:13.269 --> 00:42:17.510 >>[Accused woman] See I have one like that too. >>[Accuser] Yeah, this is mine. 00:42:17.510 --> 00:42:20.189 >>[Accused woman] Well, then mine is in your car or something. 00:42:20.189 --> 00:42:23.027 >>[Officer] Let's see your ID. >>[Accuser] We can look in my car if you want. 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. 00:42:27.510 --> 00:42:32.182 Face touching is often a sign of attempted deception. 00:42:33.515 --> 00:42:37.996 >>[Officer] How'd you get the purse? >>[Accused woman] I got a ride. 00:42:37.996 --> 00:42:39.578 >>[Officer] Where'd you find it? 00:42:39.578 --> 00:42:41.768 >>[Accused woman] It was on the floor and I automatically thought it was mine. 00:42:41.768 --> 00:42:45.777 >>[Narrator] And she uses the "hand shrug" gesture, an unconscious disclaimer 00:42:45.777 --> 00:42:50.336 that usually increases in frequency when lying is taking place. 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] 00:42:54.413 --> 00:42:57.001 >>And her eyes blink and close more than usual. 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. 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. 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? 00:43:13.687 --> 00:43:16.648 He don't want the baby. I want the baby. Ok? 00:43:16.648 --> 00:43:20.728 So, I just started picking up the things that were on the floor. I'm sorry. 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 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, 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 00:43:36.760 --> 00:43:41.883 our ancestors for millions of years before the first human words were uttered. 00:43:41.883 --> 00:43:47.387 And one that can still play a crucial role in ensuring an individual's survival. 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 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. 00:44:19.445 --> 00:44:25.082 For me, body language is far more than just a fascinating area of human biology. 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. 00:44:32.638 --> 00:44:36.220 And for this series too, body watching is only the beginning. 00:44:36.220 --> 00:44:40.854 Turning a zoological eye to our own species, I'll be looking at the commonplace, 00:44:40.854 --> 00:44:44.492 as well as the more unusual actions of the human animal. 00:44:44.492 --> 00:44:49.936 Why, for example, for a species which so often lives in a state of extreme overpopulation, 00:44:49.936 --> 00:44:54.933 is aggressive behavior like this the exception rather than the rule? 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 00:45:01.133 --> 00:45:06.381 amazingly ordered way. Every individual, even in the vast social system of a city, 00:45:06.381 --> 00:45:12.016 is aware of fitting into a very precise position in the social pattern. 00:45:14.135 --> 00:45:17.001 I'll be looking at the human animal's sexual behavior. 00:45:17.001 --> 00:45:21.926 What biological mechanisms are at work when we choose a partner? 00:45:21.926 --> 00:45:31.018 And what influences why we find certain people attractive and others not? 00:45:33.001 --> 00:45:39.254 When it comes to the courtship ritual, what are our species' typical behavior patterns? 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? 00:45:52.963 --> 00:45:58.140 Parental behavior, the bond between the human parent and its young is probably the strongest 00:45:58.140 --> 00:46:00.222 of any species in the world. 00:46:00.222 --> 00:46:06.181 And the effect of being separated can be quite devastating, especially for the parent. 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? 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? 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 00:46:35.932 --> 00:46:40.383 have no parallels in the rest of the animal kingdom. 00:46:40.383 --> 00:46:47.703 Is the playful behavior of our species really different from that seen in other animals? 00:46:53.389 --> 00:46:59.703 Is body decoration different from the elaborate and colorful display plumage of birds? 00:47:04.142 --> 00:47:09.790 What drives us to take serious risks merely for the thrill of it? 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. 00:47:23.604 --> 00:47:30.095 There's no other species that consumes such an incredible variety of food. 00:47:30.095 --> 00:47:34.056 In fact, we're so good at extracting nutrients from our environment, 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. 00:47:50.723 --> 00:47:56.600 And with our modern lifestyle, what's happened to our ancestral hunting urges? 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. 00:48:08.524 --> 00:48:12.763 This surprised me because I like animals and I feel proud to call myself one. 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. 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. 00:48:28.883 --> 00:48:43.067 [music]