Maybe it’s human nature based on instinct from things like riding a bicycle, but do you ever catch yourself leaning much farther than you have to when making a turn in your car?  Yes, there is some residual inertia you have to fight, most of it determined by the speed at which you’re making the turn, but I think we all tend to overcompensate, especially when making a left hand turn.

I didn’t really think much about this until one day, as I’m in a left turn lane and watching people turn left in front of me from the other road; I noticed they all had an exaggerated lean.   It’s as if our body is willing the car to make that left hand turn just a little tighter as if we were on a bike or motorcycle even though we’re inside a steel structure that weighs several thousand pounds and isn’t affected by such a trivial move as that. 

Is this the same kind of body language guys employ when, while watching their favorite football team, they lean to the right or left when the kicker attempts a long field goal?  This of course culminates with them waving their arms if the kick appears to be getting close to either of the uprights.  That same body language is also employed when bowling and the torso is contorted as though one is being manipulated by a snake charmer.  Of course our body language does nothing to propel that ball either way once it’s left your hands, but there’s that innate urge to will it one direction or the other.  When the ball actually does go in the direction you want it to, also effective when a ballplayer hits a homer that barely goes fair, you credit your body language to commanding the ball to go the direction you wanted to.  It’s as if we pretend to have some Human Bluetooth connection to the object at hand.