Now that the dust is settling from Zayn Malik's untimely exit from boyband One Direction, the group have revealed their first press shot as a four piece and it was deconstructed by a body language expert. 

The image, which was published by their team Modest Management earlier this week, shows remaining members Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles and Liam Payne posing together. This new promo picture, according to psychologist and body language expert Peter Collett, also tells another story:

"If we were to take a pair of scissors and physically remove one of the four from this image, then it would not look like they were engaged. It’s what is called “The Cut Out Principle” – something that was often applied to images of Charles and Diana when they were photographed walking together. In this image of One Direction, they’re not interacting, they’re not taking their cues from one another.”

“There are other signs of detachment – Harry has his arms crossed, a classic barrier signal, while Louis has his fist in his hand – something we tend to do when we’re controlling unconscious feelings of frustration. Liam, meanwhile, has his hands in his pockets – which is either super-casual or a way of concealing your hands, ie not exposing what you’re thinking.”

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Check out Zayn Malik's solo effort here: