Want to improve your ability to read the other person in a negotiation? Joe Navarro, a former FBI agent turned author who’s making the requisite publicity circuit to promote his book, knows all about body language, and in this multimedia slideshow on WashingtonPost.com he explains some of the most common ones. He notes, “Our feet are probably our most accurate indicators of how we feel about things,” which is funny because I’ve never been able to flip anyone off with my toes.

A lot of these gestures and positions may strike some readers as obvious, but chances are you subconsciously lapse into them in various situations. If you can somehow master your body language and strike a pose that’s splayed out, legs crossed, arms akimbo, with your fingers pressed together in a steeple, you’ll probably be able to haggle anything successfully. (Please send us a photo of yourself in this position.)

“What We Say Without Words” [Washington Post]
(Image: Washington Post)

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