1. Recognise pacifying behaviours when they occur. As you make a concerted effort to spot these body signals, they will become increasingly easy to recognise with other people.

 

 

 

2. Establish a pacifying baseline for an individual. You can note any increase and/or intensity in that person’s pacifying behaviours and react accordingly.

 

 

 

3. When you see someone make a pacifying gesture, stop and ask yourself, “What caused him to do that?” You know the individual feels uneasy about something. Your job, as a collector of nonverbal intelligence,, is to find out what that something is.

 

 

 

4. Understand that pacifying behaviours almost always are used to calm a person after a stressful event occurs. Thus, as a general principle, you can assume that if an individual is engaged in pacifying behaviour, some stressful event.

 

 

 

5. The ability to link a pacifying behaviour with the specific  stressor that caused it can help you better understand the person with whom you are interacting.

 

 

 

6. In certain circumstances you can actually say or do something to see if it stresses an individual (as reflected in an increase in pacifying behaviours) to better understand hi thoughts and intentions.

 

 

 

7. Note what part of the body a person pacifies. This is significant, because the higher the stress, the greater the amount of facial or neck stroking is involved.

 

 

 

8. Remember, the greater the stress or discomfort, the greater the likelihood of pacifying behaviours to follow.