Reading and interpreting people’s acts and gestures are special skills because not everyone has this ability; instead it is being learned and studied.
You can’t always say that the kind of gesture like showing a peace sign has always the meaning of being cool or making peace. In other cultures like in Great Britain, it may seem offensive. Another common example is a smile. Not all smiles may mean good vibes. Some may mean sarcasm and some may mean that some information or feelings are being hidden from you. There are several reasons for not being good at reading body languages. You need to beware in these cases of interpreting the wrong meaning of body language because these might affect your relationships with you friends or colleagues or anyone else you know.
• Making immediate judgment
Making immediate judgment upon seeing a gesture without considering the culture of the person or the context of the situation is said to be the ultimate reason why some people are not good in reading body language. Say for example, you have a Japanese friend who can’t establish a direct eye contact with you and you immediately judged him that he is hiding something or he is denying or lying while in fact in their culture if you stare at a person for a long period is an expression of anger. Thus you should always consider every aspect before you judge a person.
• Preconceived Notion
Interpreting a body language based on preconceived notions is another reason of failure in reading body language. First impression and preconceived notion are sometimes related. It is when you create a first impression on a person and you think that “that is he” forever. For example, in your first meeting, he did a dominant act and you immediately think that he is a dominant person and you will think that all his following acts will be according to his dominant personality. On the other way, if you preconceived that a person is soft in the first place, you will think that he cannot do any harm to you.
• Previous bad experience
Sometimes past experiences especially the bad ones always remain. And that is one reason why people fail in reading a body language. The bad experiences with that people will always be thought first that’s why it hinders the right interpretation of the body language. You may always think that all of his or her upcoming acts towards will bring you bad feelings.