Individuals can demonstrate arrogance through hand gestures, such as pointing at people or placing hands on their hips or in their pockets. These gestures suggest aggression or disinterest in the conversation. Arrogance also involves avoiding eye contact.
A confident individual has high self-worth and therefore, is unbothered by bragging or boasting about their achievements. An arrogant individual often has an inflated sense of their self-importance and is never satisfied. They feel the need to boast as they are, in actual fact, not happy with their external persona.
Arrogance can take many forms, such as an inflated sense of self-importance, a belief that they are better than others, impatience with less knowledgeable team members, an unwillingness to listen, or disdain for different points of view.
Arrogance is rooted in insecurity — a defense from feelings of weakness that are unacceptable and unclaimed.
People exhibiting pride show a small smile, tilt their head slightly back, visibly expand their posture and either raise their arms above their head or put their hands on their hips, Tracy and Robins report.
A condescending person will probably roll their eyes or scoff at you. They might even turn their back or walk away from you quickly, too. This condescending body language can make you feel pretty terrible, and it might make you feel like they don't respect you.
Posture of contempt
It's common to “puff up” one's chest, have upright posture, look “down your nose” at others, and/or roll one's eyes.
Someone who is threatening could very easily have pursed lips, may sneer or stare violently, or put on a non-aggressive facial expression and still speak volumes through other parts of their body.
Body Language Tip for You: Watch out for any time someone touches the side of their forehead or blocks their eyes. It likely means they are a little ashamed or embarrassed, and it might be time to back off.
Sitting or standing with your arms crossed across your chest is nearly always seen as defensive body language. Universally, when a person crosses their arms, they are viewed as insecure, annoyed, or closed off. When you do it, you're closed off and disengaged. You may appear angry or stubborn.
Although contempt often surfaces as an emotion, it can also be a personality trait, namely that of being contemptuous. People who are contemptuous have a greater tendency than others to look down on, derogate, or distance others whose standards or values are appalling to them.
Contempt. Facial movements: Eyes neutral with the lip corner pulled up and back on one side. Although the emotion of contempt can overlap with anger and distrust, the facial expression is unique. It is the only expression that occurs on only one side of the face and can vary in intensity.
Standing higher than the other person.
Putting yourself in a dominant position that allows you to keep your body higher than the other person gives you a natural advantage. Examples are: Standing while the other person is sitting. Standing on a step or platform to get an extra height in comparison with another.
Examples of demeaning behavior include criticizing a person in front of others, making jokes at another person's expense, rolling eyes after someone's comments, making sarcastic comments about a person.
Someone who's prideful is arrogant and disdainful. Prideful people don't usually have many friends, since they think they're superior to everyone else.
Authentic pride involves feelings of accomplishment and confidence and promotes prosocial behaviors, whereas hubristic pride involves feelings of arrogance and conceit and promotes antisociality.
A confident individual has high self-worth and therefore, is unbothered by bragging or boasting about their achievements. An arrogant individual places too much importance on their self-image and is never satisfied. They feel the need to boast as they are, in actual fact, not happy with their external persona.
While confidence and arrogance may seem to be opposite forms of expression, there is often a fine line between them. Confidence is a trait that involves positively expressing your abilities, while arrogance is often associated with believing you're more intelligent and capable than those around you.
Contempt. The article I read identified contempt as being the “kiss of death” in marriage and relationships. I think of contempt as being a more intense form of criticism. Contempt involves making threats, name calling and insults, and just downright treating your spouse or partner with hurt and meanness.