Every article in this series on body language has noted, at the end of each signal description, that the signal must be read against the individual’s baseline. This is not a minor caveat or a routine disclaimer. It is the most fundamental principle of nonverbal reading, and violating it is responsible for more misreadings, wrong conclusions, and damaged relationships than any other error. People who know many specific signals but do not establish baseline first are not reading body language. They are applying a template and calling it reading. The results are often worse than not reading at all, because...