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Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Flawed students of human body language

Malcolm Gladwell's recent New Yorker article about "dog whisperer" Cesar Millan is a good read. He talks at some length about how dogs have evolved to be such wonderful observers of human body language, how tiny differences in posture make such a difference, etc. And he talks at greater length about Millan's graceful, composed body language, as confirmed by various dance and movement experts. Basically, Millan is a kind of Abraham Lincoln of body language.

So, my question is this: If dogs are such keen students of all our nonverbal cues, then why does it take the Abe Lincoln of body language to get through to them? Are these the retarded dogs? I'm being a little flippant, but I think there's an important point here. The less you antrhopomorphize dogs, the more sense it makes that they place undue emphasis on whether I am leaning a quarter-inch one way or the other, or whether my head is tilted to one side. It's not rational for a domesticated dog to think that I am a threat to it because of some inconsequential body language I am projecting.


posted at 2:42 PM

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