We’re used to reading body language and

Part of the equation is how others perceive you, and the other component is how you understand others through their own non-verbal messages. It is not an exact science, since there’s plenty of ambiguity in how you might interpret someone’s signal versus how another person might, says Meurs-Karels; it often depends on your own experiences and relationship to the communicator. The same can happen to you when you’re the communicator, of course.