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THE COMFORT/DISCOMFORT PARADIGM: THE FOUNDATION OF NONVERBAL INTELLIGENCE
I CARRY a collection of photographs on my travels to remind me of those I hold dear. One of my favorites is a photo of my daughter and me when she was fourteen months old. She is nestled in my arms, over my heart. Our heads are almost touching, and we are both drowsy and contented.
In contrast, consider what we saw during the frightening weeks of the bank crisis and the near collapse of the global economy in the fall of 2008. Cameras trained on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange provided a visual textbook of the nonverbals of fear and anguish displayed in real time: eyes tightly closed or the entire face blocked with the hands to ward off the appalling ...
