Body Language of The Closed Formation
Cue: Closed Formation
Synonym(s): Standing Head On, Head On Standing Position, Standing A Zero Degree To Another, Face To Face.
Description: A head-on body orientation where the torsos are arranged at zero degrees to another person usually while standing.
In One Sentence: When people face head-to-head it implies that they are either intimate or combative.
How To Use it: Use the head-to-head closed formation to isolate a person or to build intimacy. Caution must be used as facing someone head-on can be viewed as a direct threat, so the orientation must be formed gradually, especially in business. Should men wish to face women head-on, they should resist this orientation until they feel that the woman will welcome the intimacy.
Head-to-head while sitting, on the other hand, is a great way to purposely create the impression of combat. We habitually see lawyers and their clients on one side of the table with their opponents sitting opposite. This helps the lawyers set up battles which is beneficial to them as it tends to prolonging the fight and ensuring that they pocket more money for their services.
In business, one should consider the head-to-head sitting orientation when brainstorming ideas. The competition between employees will be more intense, thus producing more variety in possible solutions.
Context: General, Dating.
Verbal Translation: a) “I’m totally into this conversation let’s close this off to anyone else that might want to get involved by blocking off entry.” b) “Where getting intimate by closing off to one another.” c) “This is getting heated and now where squared off to one another ready for a confrontation.”
Variant: See Angular Distance.
Cue In Action: Marla and Wendy started off oriented at ninety degrees to each other, but as they developed rapport, they slowly closed the formation so they were at zero degrees to one another in a head-to-head orientation.
Meaning and/or Motivation: A closed formation represents a more intimate orientation as the means of exit is impeded. A large amount of trust and interest must exist. It’s also an orientation where other participants are not welcome since the entry points have all been blocked off.
When men and women hold this orientation we expect them to be more intimately involved and trusting. The closed formation is a way men test a women’s desire to accept him into her personal zone.
In certain context, the closed formation is an indication of confrontation and disagreement. In this case, the parties are trying to show each other that they are focused on one another and are using their dominance to encroach and prevent escape.
Cue Cluster: a) A closed formation is accompanied by other open postures such as palms up, gesticulation, open and relaxed faces, friendly eye contact and social touching. b) In a dating context, we might see additional touching, possibly kissing, hugging and intimate eye contact. c) In a confrontation, encroaching will be severe, we may hear loud voices, the bodies may be leaning in or away depending on level of aggression or desire for escape, faces will show anger and so forth.
Body Language Category: Blading, Indicator of interest (IoI), Liking, Open body language, Rapport or rapport building, Relaxed body language.
Resources:
Bania, Amanda E. ; Stromberg, Erin E. Call, Joseph (editor). The Effect of Body Orientation on Judgments of Human Visual Attention in Western Lowland Gorillas.
Journal of Comparative Psychology. 2013. 127(1): 82-90.
Belhiah, Hassan. Tutoring as an embodied activity: How speech, gaze and body orientation are coordinated to conduct ESL tutorial business. Journal of Pragmatics. 2009. 41(4): 829-841.
Broth, Mathias and Lorenza Mondada. Walking Away: The Embodied Achievement of Activity Closings in Mobile Interaction. Journal of Pragmatics. 2013. 47: 41-58.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/nonverbally-negotiate-conversation-walking-away/
Baxter, James C., and Richard M. Rozelle (1975). “Nonverbal Expression as a Function of Crowding During a Simulated Police-Citizen Encounter.” In Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Vol. 32, No. 1), pp. 40-54.
Danielle Jackson, Erika Engstrom and Tara Emmers-Sommer. 2007. Think Leader, Think Male and Female: Sex vs. Seating Arrangement as Leadership Cues. Sex Roles. 57 (9/10): 713-723.
Greenberg, J. 1976. The role of seating position in group interaction: a review, with applications for group trainers. Group & Organization Management 1 (3): 310-327.
Goodboy, Alan, K. and Maria Brann. Flirtation Rejection Strategies: Towards an Understanding of Communicative Disinterest in Flirting. The Quantitative Report. 2010. 15(2): 268-278.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/how-to-reject-flirting-using-nonverbal-and-verbal-tactics/
Howells, L. T. and S. W. Becker. 1962. Seating arrangement and leadership emergence.
The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 64(2): 148-150.
Hietanen, Jari. Social attention orienting integrates visual information from head and body orientation. Psychological Research.2002 66(3): 174-179.
Hall, Edward T. (1963). “A System for the Notation of Proxemic Behavior.” In American Anthropologist (Vol. 65), pp. 1003-26.
Johnson, Richard R. and Jasmine L. Aaron. Adults’ Beliefs Regarding Nonverbal Cues Predictive of Violence. Criminal Justice and Behavior. 2013. 40 (8): 881-894. DOI: 10.1177/0093854813475347.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/wanna-fight-nonverbal-cues-believed-indicate-violence/
Katza, Carmit; Irit Hershkowitz; Lindsay C. Malloya; Michael E. Lamba; Armita Atabakia and Sabine Spindlera. Non-Verbal Behavior of Children Who Disclose or do not Disclose Child Abuse in Investigative Interviews. Child Abuse & Neglect. 2012. 36: 12-20.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/reading-nonverbal-behaviour-child-abuse-cases-encourage-children-divulge-information-truth-telling/
Kaminski, Juliane ; Call, Josep ; Tomasello, Michael. Body orientation and face orientation: two factors controlling apes’ begging behavior from humans
Animal Cognition. 2004. 7(4): 216-223.
Lawson, Rebecca P. ; Clifford, Colin W. G. ; Calder, Andrew J. About Turn: The Visual Representation of Human Body Orientation Revealed by Adaptation. Psychological Science. 2009. 20(3): 363(9).
Leventhal, G. 1978, Sex and setting effects on seating arrangement. Journal of Psychology. 100: 21-26.
Lott, D. F. and R. Sommer. 1967. Seating arrangements and status. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 7 (1): 90-95.
Montgomery, Derek ; Moran, Christy ; Bach, Leslie. The influence of nonverbal cues associated with looking behavior on young children’s mentalistic attributions.
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1996. 20(4): 229-249.
Mehrabian, Albert Holzberg, Jules D. (editor). Inference of Attitudes From the Posture, Orientation and Distance of a Communicator. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 1968. 32(3): 296-308.
Mehrabian, Albert Deese, James (editor). Significance of posture and position in the communication of attitude and status relationships. Psychological Bulletin. 1969. 71(5): 359-372
Michelini, RL, Passalacqua, R., & Cusimano, J. 1976. Effects of seating arrangement on group participation. Journal of Social Psychology. 99: 179-186.
McBride, Glen, M. G. King, and J. W. James (1965). “Social Proximity Effects on GSR in Adult Humans.” In Journal of Psychology (Vol. 61), pp. 153-57.
Navarro, Joe. 2008. What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People. William Morrow Paperbacks.
Norum, G.A., Russo, N.J., and Sommer, R. 1967. Seating patterns and group tasks. Source: Psychology in the schools. 4(3): 276-280.
Pease, Barbara and Allan Pease. 2006. The Definitive Book of Body Language Hardcover. Bantam.
Riess, M. and P. Rosenfeld. 1980. Seating preferences as nonverbal communication: a self-presentational analysis. Journal of Applied Communications Research 8(1): 22.
Stern, Daniel and Estelle Bender (1974). “An Ethological Study of Children Approaching a Strange Adult.” In Richard Friedman et al. (Eds.), Sex Differences in Behavior (New York: John Wiley and Sons), pp. 233-58.
Stephenson, G. M. and B. K. Kniveton. 1978. Interpersonal and interparty exchange: an experimental study of the effect of seating position on the outcome of negotiations between teams representing parties in dispute. Human Relations 31(6): 555-566.
Remland, Martins. ; Jones, Tricias. ; Brinkman, Heidi. Interpersonal Distance, Body Orientation, and Touch: Effects of Culture, Gender, and Age. The Journal of Social Psychology. 1995 135(3): 281-297.
Robinson, Jeffrey David. Getting Down to Business Talk, Gaze, and Body Orientation During Openings of Doctor-Patient Consultations. Human Communication Research. 1998. 25(1): 97-123.
Straube, Benjamin ; Green, Antonia ; Jansen, Andreas ; Chatterjee, Anjan ; Kircher, Tilo. Social cues, mentalizing and the neural processing of speech accompanied by gestures. Neuropsychologia. 2010. 48(2): 382-393.