Self-touch is an incredibly interesting nonverbal cue and can mean 2 different things:
1. Self-Soothing Behavior
When we’re highly uncomfortable, our body language shows it. Self-soothing is a behavior we engage in to calm our inner nerves. Self-touch activities include
It can calm nerves, use it sparingly. Self-soothing can often lead to other low power behavior, which decreases your confidence levels and can make your nerves even worse.
2. Flirtation
Self-touch in the dating environment is generally perceived more positively, especially for women.
When a woman exposes and gently strokes her neck, this is a flirty type of touch. Women touching their hair and jewelry or adjusting their clothes or bag – increases attractiveness and overall sensuality.
However, men engage in less self-touch when they are comfortable and attracted to a woman and tend to claim more territory. Splaying legs and arms (manspreading) is a territorial display of dominance. If a man displays self-touch, like rubbing the back of his neck, this most likely means he’s feeling a negative emotion like insecurity, nervousness or worry.
Please refer to the blog for more details on this activity.