People feel safer behind some kind of physical barrier. Each social occasion involves us in encounters. If a socialencounter is in any way threatening, then there is an immediate urge to set up such a barricade. The more formal theoccasion and the more dominant or unfamiliar our social companions, the more worrying the moment of encounterbecomes. Watching people under these conditions, we can observe the many small movements and postures in whichthey try to “hide behind their mothers’ bodies” as they did in their childhood. It is these that are the barrier signals ofabout life.The most popular form of barrier signals is the body-cross. In this, one arm makes contact with the other acrossthe front of the body. The action is performed unconsciously and, if asked about it immediately afterwards, the personwill not be able to remember having made the gesture. The action is always disguised in some way, and the disguise itwears varies from person to person. For example, a male guest may lift his right hand, reach across his body and makea last-minute adjustment to his left cuff-link or the strap of his wristwatch when he walks toward his host. A female ona similar occasion may reach across her body with her right hand and slightly shift the position of her handbag orreposition a coat held over her left arm. In all case, at the peak moment of nervousness, there is a body-cross toconstruct a barrier between two people.Interestingly, field observations reveal that in a social encounter it is most unlikely that both the greeter and thegreeted will perform such action. Regardless of status, it is nearly always the new arrival who makes the body-crossmovement, because it is he or she who is invading the home territory of the greeters. The greeters are there first andhave at least temporary territorial “rights” over the place. This gives them a self-assured dominance at the moment ofthe greeting. Only if they are extremely subordinate to the new arrival will there be a likelihood of them taking thebody-cross role.