I'm assuming here that most of you who follow this Blog know what's meant by the term "Grooming Gestures" as regards a potential attacker. They are cues, physical tells that happen as your attacker is working up to physically assault/batter you.
Masking Behaviors, Pacifying Actions and “Grooming Cues”– One of the really obvious pre-assault indicators is the unnecessary touching of the face, neck, or upper body. Described using different terms depending on the expert cited, these actions all have the same purpose, to “hide” psychological discomfort.
As criminals are evaluating you as a victim or planning their attack, their stress levels rise. The criminals don’t want to get hurt and they don’t want to get caught. The idea of pain, death, or imprisonment amps up the criminal’s fear and baseline level of stress. They know this is happening and subconsciously fear that you will pick up on their nervousness and do something to prevent their successful commission of the crime.
The criminal doesn’t want you to see his psychological stress reactions, so he subconsciously “masks” them by covering his face, eyes, or neck. It is very common to see criminals do the following immediately before their attack:
– Touching the face or neck
– Wiping at the nose or mouth
– Rubbing the eyes
– Smoothing the hair
– Rubbing the neck
– Scratching the head
– Rubbing the arms or chest as if shivering
– Or making any other gesture that partially conceals the criminal’s face/neck area from view. These cues occur very late in the game. If you are seeing them, the attack will happen within the next couple seconds. Get ready to act.
This video shows how some of these same "Grooming Gestures" can be used defensively.
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