These actions serve to calm us down after we experience something unpleasant or downright nasty. In its attempt to restore itself to “normal conditions,” the brain enlists the body to provide comforting (pacifying) behaviours. Since these are outward signals that can be read in real time, we can observe and decode them immediately and, more importantly, in context.

 

Pacifying behaviours are extremely useful as they reveal so much about a person’s current state of mind, and they do so with uncanny accuracy.