Eye signals

Signs of a disengaged, disinterested or unhappy audience:

• Arms folded in front of the body.
• Minimal or tense facial expression.
• Body turned away from you.
• Eyes downcast, maintaining little contact.

Being aware of these signs can help you to adjust what you say and how you say it, so you can make him feel more at ease and receptive to your viewpoint

Some signs that people may be bored or disinterested in what you're saying:

• Sitting slumped, with heads downcast.
• Gazing at something else, or into space.
• Fidgeting, picking at clothes, or fiddling with pens and phones.
• Writing or doodling.

When you notice that, you can re-engage people by asking a direct question, or by inviting people to contribute an idea.

The best body language for influence depends on your goal. Make sure your body language matches your words to make you more effective.

• If you want to increase the attractiveness of an offer, think sales-y. Use animated movements. Lean forward. Move and speak quickly.
• If you want to reduce resistance to what you're saying, think calm and authoritative. Specific gestures. Lean back. Move and speak slowly. 

It is important to balance the appearance of authority and warmth.

• You show authority and power by your upright posture, your command of physical space, purposeful stride, a firm handshake, and palm-down gestures.
• You communicate warmth nonverbally with open body postures, palm-up hand gestures, full-frontal body orientation, positive eye contact, synchronized movements, nods, head tilts, and smiles.

Your first impressions are usually pretty accurate. But whether they are wrong or right, first impressions affect us in a big way and we are slow to change them.

You have to be willing to update them quite rapidly. 

• Studies show that if someone seems extroverted, confident, religious or conscientious, they probably are.
• We all pay more attention to pretty people, and so we tend to take the time to evaluate them.
• If you want to know if someone is good at their job, watch them do it for 30-60 seconds. 
• Funny people are smart: Effective humor production acts as an honest indicator of intelligence in humans.

Frowning, grimacing, glowering, and other negative facial expressions send a signal to your brain that whatever you're doing is difficult. That causes your brain to send cortisol into your bloodstream, which raises your stress levels. Instead, force yourself to smile. It works.

...don't back away; just shift to a slight angle - so you're standing at an angle--much like models who almost never stand with their bodies square to the camera.

And if you wish to appear less confrontational, approach the person and stand at a 45-degree angle (while still making direct eye contact, of course).

Deceptive people can flood you with truthful answers and make you believe that they are good people. 

Filter through all the information that is meant to deceive you to get to the real untruths.

A deceptive person will talk around the issue without actually answering the initial question. 

You cannot be present and involved in a conversation if you occasionally look at your phone. 

Whether you intend to or not, you're sending the message that the people you're talking with aren't as important as whatever text, snap or post is on your device. 

Phones are altering the fabric of social life.

It's because researchers have found that people with access to their smartphone smile less at strangers, compared with those without devices.