Can you help me with this incongruence?

[intrance]

I am a student of nlp and a people watcher. Some time back I noticed people talking and saying yes with there mouth and shaking there head no at the same time. From time to time I see this. I have had the opportunity to ask some what was going in there head when they was saying yes. Most have no idea and the rest just make something up. Now with that being said after years 3 of observation I have never seen it the other way around. Meaning that I haven't seen someone saying no and shaking there head yes. Watch for your self you will see what I am saying. I have seen them saying no verbally and shaking there head no at the same time. I have been trying to come up with a theory as to the incongruence. All comments welcome.

Regards

[Five]

This could be a dual response. That is the thought on the subject matter was negative, and they were agreeing that yes, it was indeed bad. Next time inquire about the subject matter and their response to it.

[Poodle]

Face it - people are incongruent. That's why we have NLP Practitioners and hypnotists. Perhaps it was a "part" thing, part of them wanted yes and the other part wanted no. You'll never know without working with that person.

[Simple Guy]

Intrance,

It is an interesting observation. It probably has something to do with
the desire of people to speak affirmatively and appear positive,
cooperative, etc. Social pressures, b.s. tendencies, etc.
further the tendency for saying "yes" albeit while nodding "no."

"No" responses are probably more primal and, if this is so, are probably
more hardwired to being congruently (decisively) delivered.
In some ways people do not outgrow the "terrible twos," where "no"
is a way to assert personal identity. Identity issues are prime drivers
of human behavior.

Again, intrance, (to the extent it is accurate) you have made
a most interesting observation. :)

[Simon]

I think that they wanted to say no but they couldn't because of environment.

Observe yourself at the moment you do it and then analyze your thought processes.

[Don]

Read the book, Body Language by Julius Fast. It will explain it all.

Good catch, by the way. Most people don't notice such incongruities.

[Poodle]

also please note that people can be incongruent in trance too. We may ask for an ideomotor signal for yes. One has to watch the fingers VERY CLOSELY as the first beginning "twitches" are the answer and not necessarily the one established for YES which will probably show itself after the "twitch".