Category: Gravity defying body language

Body Language of Finger Spreading

Body Language of Finger Spreading

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Finger Spreader 1Cue: Finger Spreading

Synonym(s): Finger Spreader (The)

Description: The hands are held out and fingers splayed apart facing palm to the audience.

In One Sentence: Spreading the fingers is a way to capture the attention of other people like a large embrace.

How To Use it: Spread the fingers out when trying to connect with a wide audience. Use the posture to show others that you are confident and willing to embrace them fully and have the dominance to put yourself out on full display. This posture is best used during presentations to a large audience.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m spreading my fingers and extending my arms to try to touch and feel each one of you, connect with you, and massage my ideas into your minds.”

Variant: See Baton Gesture, Finger Pointing.

Cue In Action: The presenter spreads his fingers and extends his arms as he tries to explain his concept. His desire to connect demonstrates authority, confidence, dominance and enthusiasm.

Meaning and/or Motivation: This is an attempt to make contact with the entire audience.

Cue Cluster: N/A

Body Language Category: Authoritative body language, Confident body language, Dominant body language, Enthusiasm (nonverbal), Expansive movements, Excited, Gravity defying body language, High confidence body language, Leadership body language, Open body language, Palm power, Rapport or rapport building, Remotivating.

Resources:

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Body Language of Erect Posture or Good Posture

Body Language of Erect Posture or Good Posture

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Erect Posture or Good Posture 1Cue: Erect Posture or Good Posture.

Synonym(s): Postural Tonus, Good Posture, High Stand Display.

Description: Good posture happens when the joints are not bent, the spine is aligned and not twisted and the person is able to optimally balance the mass of the body over its framework without stress.

In One Sentence: Good posture signifies health, confidence, pride, dominance and a body that is in control of itself.

How To Use it: Use good posture to tell others that life is treating you well and that you have conquered past hardships without letting it weigh you down. Good posture should be a default body position as it works to your advantage in nearly every situation. However, in some cases, you may wish to use bad posture such as when trying to convince others to provide you with sympathy. In this case, being slumped over is likely to best provide that kind of support.

Therefore, use good posture when trying to appear authoritative such as when trying to rise in the ranks in employment, in view of a dating partner to show virility, and amongst friends to show them you are in good spirits.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “Because life has treated me well I hold an erect posture full of confidence and pride.”

Variant: See Cocooning, Shoulder Shrugs or Shoulder Rise, Asymmetry, Bad Posture.

Cue In Action: Mark carried his body with pride. His shoulders were back and chest held high. You just knew looking at him that he would never let life dictate how he felt about himself and he would overcome any obstacle in his way on his way to success.

Meaning and/or Motivation: A gravity defying body posture where the head is raised, legs locked and back stiffened in order to appear taller with high vigor.

It signifies a desire to appear more dominant, authoritative, and in control.

Posture is a term derived from the Latin verb “ponere” meaning “to put in place” and refers to the way the body is held including the arms, legs and spine. Posture refers not only to the erectness of our bodies, but also to our body orientation, direction of lean, and the degree to which our bodies are open and inviting.

Posture tells us a lot about a person and their history and feelings about themselves and how they feel about others. For example, shoulders hunched carries negative sentiments whereas shoulders back mean confidence. Posture can give way to feelings of like or dislike, interest or disinterest as well as many other sentiments.

Postural tonus is a term referring to the relative rigidity and erectness of the body and its overall posture. A “slopper” holds his shoulders rounded and head hanging downward proving to be depressed, drowsy or ill. Whereas “the scout” carries himself fully erect with shoulders back and head held high depicting confidence and good spirit. Having an erect posture is a sign of high confidence, strength and vigor. People with erect postures are seen as leaders, content and positive. Erect posture contrasts a slouched or limp posture.

Cue Cluster: Other positive cues are associated with an erect posture such as strong eye contact, good gesticulation, open body language such as arms uncrossed and legs open, as well as relaxed facial expressions.

Body Language Category: Authoritative body language, Confident body language, Dominant body language, Expansive movements, Gravity defying body language, High confidence body language, Leadership body language, Up nonverbals.

Resources:

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http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/sit-big-to-eat-big-how-constrictive-postures-reduce-food-consumption/

Arnette, S. L., & Pettijohn, T. F., II. (2012). The effects of posture on self-perceived leadership. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3, 8–13.

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http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/dominant-and-submissive-postures-affects-more-than-public-perception-it-also-affects-felt-pain-and-physical-strength/

Briñol, P., Petty, R. E., & Wagner, B. (2009). Body posture effects on self-evaluation: A self-validation approach. European Journal of Social Psychology, 39, 1053–1064.

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Carney, D. R., Hall, J. A., & LeBeau, L. S. (2005). Beliefs about the nonverbal expression of social power. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 29, 105–123.

Carney, Dana R.; Amy J.C. Cuddy; Andy J. Yap. Power Posing: Brief Nonverbal Displays Affect Neuroendocrine Levels and Risk Tolerance. Psychological Science, 2010; 21 (10): 1363-1368.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/benefits-power-posing-high-stakes-performance/

Cesario, J., & McDonald, M. M. (2013). Bodies in context: Power poses as a computation of action possibility. Social Cognition, 31, 260–274.

Cuddy, Amy J.C., Caroline A. Wilmuth, and Dana R. Carney. The Benefit of Power Posing Before a High-Stakes Social Evaluation. Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 13-027, September 2012.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/benefits-power-posing-high-stakes-performance/

Cashdan, Elizabeth. Smiles, Speech, and Body Posture: How Women and Men Display Sociometric Status and Power. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1998. 22(4): 209-228.

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http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/supine-body-posture-reduces-aggression/

Fischer, Julia; Peter Fischer; Birte Englich; Nilüfer Aydin and Dieter Frey. Empower My Decisions: The Effects of Power Gestures on Confirmatory Information Processing. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2011. 47: 1146-1154.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/downside-power-posing-body-language-looking-power-posing-action-study/

http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/benefits-power-posing-high-stakes-performance/

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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/

Kozak, Megan N ; Roberts, Tomi-Ann ; Patterson, Kelsey E. She Stoops to Conquer? How Posture Interacts With Self-Objectification and Status to Impact Women’s Affect and Performance. Psychology of Women Quarterly. 2014. 38(3): 414-424.

Laird, J. D., & Lacasse, K. (2014). Bodily influences on emotional feelings: Accumulating evidence and extensions of William James’s theory of emotion. Emotion Review, 6, 27–34.

Lee, E. H., & Schnall, S. (2014). The influence of social power on weight perception. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143, 1719–1725.

LaFrance, Marianne. and W. Ickes. 1981. Posture mirroring and interactional involvement: sex and sex typing effects. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 5: 139-154.

Li Huang, Adam D. Galinsky, Deborah H Gruenfeld and Lucia E. Guillory. Powerful Postures Versus Powerful Roles: Which Is the Proximate Correlate of Thought and Behavior? 2011, Psychological Science; 22(1): 95–102.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/whats-more-powerful-nonverbal-power-or-real-power/

Marsh, Abigail A; Henry H. Yu; Julia C. Schechter and R. J. R. Blair. Larger than Life: Humans’ Nonverbal Status Cues Alter Perceived Size. PLoS ONE. 2009. 4(5): e5707. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005707. http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/large-life-nonverbal-dominance-affects-perception-size/

Michalak, Johannes, Judith Mischnat and Tobias Teismann. Sitting Posture Makes a Difference—Embodiment Effects on Depressive Memory Bias. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. 2014. 21, 519-524. DOI: 10.1002/cpp.1890
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/sit-can-embody-depression-body-language-postures-control-mental-processes/

Mondloch, Catherine J. Sad or Fearful? The Influence of Body Posture on Adults’ and Children’s Perception of Facial Displays of Emotion. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2012. 111(2): 180-196.

Michalak, J., Troje, N. F., Fischer, J., Vollmar, P., Heidenreich, T., and Schulte, D. Embodiment of sadness and depression— Gait patterns associated with dysphoric mood. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2009. 71, 580–587.

Meier, B. P., Hauser, D. J., Robinson, M. D., Friesen, C. K., & Schjeldahl, K. (2007b). What’s ‘up’ with God?: Vertical space as a representation of the divine. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 699–710.

Meier, B. P., & Robinson, M. D. (2004). Why the sunny side is up: Associations between affect and vertical position. Psychological Science, 15, 243–247.

Meier, B. P., & Robinson, M. D. (2005). The metaphorical representation of affect. Metaphor and Symbol, 21, 239–257.

Meier, B.P., Robinson, M.D., & Caven, A.J. (in press). Why a big mac is a good mac: Associations between affect and size. Basic and Applied Social Psychology.

Melamed, T. (1992). Personality correlates of physical height. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 1349–1350.

Middleton, W. C., &Moffett, D. C. (1940). The relation of height and weight measurements to intelligence and to dominance-submission among a group of college freshmen. Research Quarterly of the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, 11, 53–59.

Montepare, J. M. (1995). The impact of variations in height on young children’s impressions of men and women. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 19, 31–47.

Matsumura, Shuichi ; Hayden, Thomas J. When should signals of submission be given?–A game theory model. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 2006. 240(3): 425-433.

Matsumoto. 1987. Cultural similarities and differences in the semantic dimensions of body postures. Source: Journal of nonverbal behavior. 11(3):166-179.

Matsumoto, D., & Willingham, B. (2006). The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat: Spontaneous expressions of medal winners of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(3), 568–581.

Mehrabian, A., Friar, J., 1969. Encoding of attitude by a seated communicator via posture and position cues. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 33: 330–336.

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.

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.

Mouterde, S. C., Duganzich, D. M., Molles, L. E., Helps, S., Helps, R., & Waas, J. R. (2012). Triumph displays inform eavesdropping little blue penguins of new dominance asymmetries. Animal Behaviour, 83, 605–611.

Mondloch, Catherine J. Sad or Fearful? The Influence of Body Posture on Adults’ and Children’s Perception of Facial Displays of Emotion. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2012. 111(2): 180-196.

Michalak, J., Mischnat, J., & Teismann, T. (2014). Sitting posture makes a difference: Embodiment effects on depressive memory bias. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 21, 519–524.

Minvaleev, R. S., Nozdrachev, A. D., Kir’yanova, V. V., & Ivanov, A. I. (2004). Postural influences on the hormone level in healthy subjects: I. The cobra posture and steroid hormones. Human Physiology, 30, 452–456.

Nair, S., Sagar, M., Sollers, J., III, Consedine, N., & Broadbent, E. (2014). Do slumped and upright postures affect stress responses? A randomized trial. Health Psychology. Advance online publication. doi:10.1037/hea0000146

Oosterwijk, Suzanne; Mark Rotteveel; Agneta H. Fischer and Ursula Hess. Embodied Emotion Concepts: How Generating Words About Pride and Disappointment Influences Posture. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009. 39: 457–466. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.584
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/embodiment-nonverbal-posture-thinking-pride-shame-literally-changes-body-language/

Oosterwijk, S., Rotteveel, M., Fischer, A. H., & Hess, U. Embodied emotion concepts: How generating words about pride and disappointment influences posture. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009. 39, 457–466.

Pablo Briñol; Richard E. Petty and Benjamin Wagner. Body Posture Effects on Self-Evaluation: A Self-Validation Approach. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009. 39(6): 1099-0992. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.607. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.607
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/fix-posture-fix-confidence/

Pablo Brin and Oli Richard. Body posture effects on self-evaluation: A self-validation approach. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009; 39: 1053–1064.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/posture-affects-confidence-of-thoughts/

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http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/are-expansive-postures-of-power-universal-or-cultural/

Riskind, J. H. Nonverbal Expressions and the Accessibility of Life Experience Memories: A Congruence Hypothesis. Social Cognition. 1983. 2: 62-86.

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Riskind, J. H. (1984). They stoop to conquer: Guiding and selfregulatory functions of physical posture after success and failure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 47, 479–493.

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Scarpa, Stephano; Alessandra Nart; Erica Gobbi and Atillo Carraro. Does Women’s Attitudinal State Body Image Improve After One Session Of Posture Correction Exercises? Social Behavior and Personality. 2011; 39(8): 1045-1052.

Schubert, T. W. (2005). Your highness: Vertical positions as perceptual symbols of power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 1–21.

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Sturman, Edward D. Invluntary Subordination and Its Relation to Personality, Mood,
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Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2004). Show your pride: Evidence for a discrete emotion expression. Psychological Science, 15, 194–197.

Tracy, J. L., & Matsumoto, D. (2008). The spontaneous expression of pride and shame: Evidence for biologically innate nonverbal displays. Proceedings from the National Academy of Sciences, 105(33), 11655–11660.

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Welker, Keith M. ; Oberleitner, David E. ; Cain, Samantha ; Carré, Justin M. Upright and left out: Posture moderates the effects of social exclusion on mood and threats to basic needs. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2013 43(5): 355-361.

Walsh, Joseph ; Eccleston, Christopher ; Keogh, Edmund. Pain communication through body posture: The development and validation of a stimulus set. Pain. 2014 155(11): 2282-2290.

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Yap, Andy J. Abbie S. Wazlawek, Brian J. Lucas, Amy J. C. Cuddy, Dana R. Carney. The Ergonomics of Dishonesty: The Effect of Incidental Posture on Stealing, Cheating, and Traffic Violations, 24(11); 2281-2289.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-posture-physical-environment-determine-feelings-and-behaviour-study/

Body Language of Clapping

Body Language of Clapping

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Clapping 1Cue: Clapping

Synonym(s): Applause

Description: The hands come together quickly and slap each other to make an audible sound.

In One Sentence: When the hands come together to make a clapping sound it shows others that we are excited or approving.

How To Use it: Use clapping to show others your approval. You may also use a slow clap to show the reverse. The slow clap is “sarcastic.”

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m happy and excited so I slap my hands together and make lots of noise.”

Variant: Feet can also be slapped if the other hand is busy, drinks clinked, fingers snapped and hands waved (a silent applause). A slow clap shows that one is sarcastic about approval thus showing the reverse message.

Cue In Action: The audience clapped their hands to show their appreciation for the wonderful song played by the orchestra.

Meaning and/or Motivation: A celebratory nonverbal signal usually done by large audiences untoward a presenter or performer. Clapping can also be done to show general happiness such as when hearing the telling a funny joke.

Cue Cluster: Clapping is accompanied by true smiles, open facial expressions, relaxed body postures and joyful screaming.

Body Language Category: Energy Displacement, Enthusiasm (nonverbal), Expansive movements, Gravity defying body language, Happiness, Liking, Relaxed body language.

Resources:

Bull, Peter. Invited and uninvited applause in political speeches. British Journal of Social Psychology, 2006, Vol.45(3), pp.563-578.

Bull, Peter. Six key indicators guaranteed to reduce audience stress and increase your applause. Records Management Quarterly. 1997. 31(3): 18(4).

Bull, Peter. Booing: The Anatomy of a Disaffiliative Response. American Sociological Review. 1993. 58(1): 110-130.

Bavelas, J. B., Black, A., Chovil, N., Lemery, C. R., & Mullett, J. (1988). Form and function in motor mimicry: Topographic evidence that the primary function is communicative. Human Communication Research, 14, 275- 299.

Bavelas, J. B., Black, A., Lemery, C. R., & Mullett, J. (1986). “I show how you feel”: Motor mimicry as a communicative act. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 322-329.

Chartrand, T. L.,& Bargh, J. A. (1999). The chameleon effect: The perception behavior link and social interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76, 893-910.

Fitzpatrick, Paula ; Schmidt, R. C. ; Lockman, Jeffrey J. Dynamical Patterns in the Development of Clapping. Child Development. 1996. 67(6): 2691-2708.

Fletcher, Alison W. Clapping in chimpanzees: evidence of exclusive hand preference in a spontaneous, bimanual gesture. American Journal of Primatology. 2006. 68(11): 1081-1088.

LaFrance, M. (1979). Nonverbal synchrony and rapport: Analysis by the cross-lag panel technique. Social Psychology Quarterly, 42, 66-70.

Mann, Richard P ; Faria, Jolyon ; Sumpter, David J T ; Krause, Jens. The dynamics of audience applause. Journal of the Royal Society, Interface / the Royal Society. 2013. 10(85): 2013046.

Manusov, Valerie. Mimicry or synchrony: The effects of intentionality attributions for nonverbal mirroring behavior. Communication Quarterly. 1992 40(1): 69-83.

The Body Language of Body Raising or Body Elevating

The Body Language of Body Raising or Body Elevating

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Body Raising 3Cue: Body Raising

Synonym(s): Body Elevating, Raising The Body, Standing Tall, Erect Body Posture.

Description: Any action that raises the body in relation to others.

In One Sentence: Body raising is a way to appear more dominant and authoritative.

How To Use it: Use body raising when you want to show that you are in command of a situation. A stage is a good example of the power of raising the body. Make-shift stages in life include the front stoop of a house. To intimidate solicitors simple take on a higher body position by raising one step higher. When friends appear at your front stoop, you may wish to “level the playing field” by taking on the same step height. When gaining a height advantage is not as easily manipulated (you are short, they are tall) taking on a seated position will help create a more even level. Likewise, standing over taller people as they sit has the same effect. Whatever the case, use height to create the illusion of dominance.

Context: a) General b) Dating, c) Business

Verbal Translation: a) c) “I’m raising my body in effort to be viewed as a threat and source of authority so you listen and obey me.” b) “I’m raising my body so you see me as more attractive.”

Variant: Variants include an increase in relative height by overall body and posture, the head raised high for example, standing up from a seated position, or forcing other people to sit. See Body Lowering for opposite cue.

Cue In Action: a) Instead of asking his suspect to get out of the car, the officer, kept him in the car and peered down at him from his standing position to maintain his position of authority. b) Because he was short, he would always be sure to approach women seated rather than standing to appear more dominant.

Meaning and/or Motivation: A technique whereby a person takes a higher position relative to another to show that they wish to dominate. Status and dominance are closely related to the relative height of a person. This is why people are naturally seen as leaders when they are taller rather than when they are shorter.

Height can be artificially raised with high heels or special footwear for men, by using situation specific features such as staircases, using chairs which are taller or elevated platforms. We habitually see judges high on their bench so as to command authority over their court.

Cue Cluster: Body raising is usually associated with other dominant cues such as head held high, an upright posture, expansive movements of the arms and legs such as arms akimbo, genital framing in the cowboy pose, strong eye contact, leaning in so as to intimidate and so forth.

Body Language Category: High confidence body language, Threat displays, Dominant body language, Expansive movements, Gravity defying body language, Indicators of sexual interest (IOsI), Leadership body language, Open body language, Power play, Authoritative body language.

Resources:

Aviezer, Hillel; Ran R. Hassin; Jennifer Ryan; Cheryl Grady; Josh Susskind; Adam Anderson; Morris Moscovitch and Shlomo Bentin. Angry, Disgusted, or Afraid? Studies on the Malleability of Emotion Perception. Psychological Science. 2008. 19(7): 724-732.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/emotions-read-context-study/

Aggarwal, Pankaj and Min Zhao. Seeing the Big Picture: The Effect of Height on the Level of Construal. Journal of Marketing Research, forthcoming; 2014
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/height-embodies-thinking-height-marketing/

Adams, E.S., Mesterton-Gibbons, M., 1995. The cost of threat displays and the stability of deceptive communication. J. Theor. Biol. 175, 405–421.

Boyson, A. R., Pryor, B., & Butler, J. (1999). Height as power in women. North American Journal of Psychology, 1, 109–114.

Burgoon, J. K., & Hoobler, G. (2002). Nonverbal signals. In M. L. Knapp & J. A. Daly (Eds.), Handbook of interpersonal communication (3rd ed., pp. 240–299). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Burgoon, J. K., Johnson, M. L., & Koch, P. T. (1998). The nature and measurement of interpersonal dominance. Communication Monographs, 65, 308–335.

Bohns, Vanessa K. and Scott S. Wiltermuth. It Hurts When I Do This (Or You Do That): Posture And Pain tolerance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2012. 48: 341-345.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/dominant-and-submissive-postures-affects-more-than-public-perception-it-also-affects-felt-pain-and-physical-strength/

Brin, Pablo and Oli Richard. Body Posture Effects On Self-Evaluation: A self-Validation Approach. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009; 39: 1053–1064.

Carney, D. R., Hall, J. A., & LeBeau, L. S. (2005). Beliefs about the nonverbal expression of social power. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 29, 105–123.

Eddie Harmon-Jones and Carly K. Peterson. Supine Body Position Reduces Neural Response to Anger. Association for Psychological Science. 2009; 20 (10): 1209-1210.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/supine-body-posture-reduces-aggression/

Ellis, L. (1994). The high and the mighty among man and beast: How universal is the relationship between height (or body size) and social status? In L. Ellis (Ed.). Social stratification and socioeconomic inequality (Vol. 2, pp. 93–111). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

Flack, William F., Jr. Peripheral Feedback Effects of Facial Expressions, Bodily Postures, and Vocal Expressions on Emotional Feelings. Cognition and Emotion. 2006. 20 (2), 177-195. DOI:10.1080/02699930500359617
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-and-facial-expressions-influence-mood/

Guéguen, Nicholas. High Heels Increase Women’s Attractiveness. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 2014. DOI 10.1007/s10508-014-0422-z
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/high-heels-exact-power-men-study-women-wear-heels/

Girard, Jeffrey M.; Jeffrey F. Cohna; Mohammad H.Mahoor S.; Mohammad Mavadati;
Zakia Hammal; and Dean P. Rosenwalda. Nonverbal Social Withdrawal In Depression: Evidence From Manual And Automatic Analyses. Image and Vision Computing. 2013.
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Hensley W.E. 1994. Height as a basis for interpersonal attraction. Adolescence 29: 469-
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Kimbrell, G. Relationship of the upright agonistic posture in the foot shock situation to dominance-submission in male C57BL/6 mice. Psychonomic Science. 1969. 16(3): 167-168.

Li Huang, Adam D. Galinsky, Deborah H Gruenfeld and Lucia E. Guillory. Powerful Postures Versus Powerful Roles: Which Is the Proximate Correlate of Thought and Behavior? 2011, Psychological Science; 22(1): 95–102.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/whats-more-powerful-nonverbal-power-or-real-power/

Michalak, J., Rohde, K., Troje, N. F. How We Walk Affects What We Remember: Gait Modifications Through Biofeedback Change Negative Affective Memory Bias. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry. 2015. 46:121-125.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/walking-happy-leads-actual-happiness-game-emotions-body-language/

Marsh, Abigail A; Henry H. Yu; Julia C. Schechter and R. J. R. Blair. Larger than Life: Humans’ Nonverbal Status Cues Alter Perceived Size. PLoS ONE. 2009. 4(5): e5707. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005707.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/large-life-nonverbal-dominance-affects-perception-size/

Marsh, Abigail A; Karina S. Blair; Matthew M. Jones; Niveen Soliman, and R. J. R. Blair. Dominance and Submission: The Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortex and Responses to Status Cues Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. 2009. 21:4, pp. 713–724.

Michalak, Johannes, Judith Mischnat and Tobias Teismann. Sitting Posture Makes a Difference—Embodiment Effects on Depressive Memory Bias. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. 2014. 21, 519-524. DOI: 10.1002/cpp.1890
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/sit-can-embody-depression-body-language-postures-control-mental-processes/

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.

Matsumoto, D., & Willingham, B. (2006). The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat: Spontaneous expressions of medal winners of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(3), 568–581.

Mouterde, S. C., Duganzich, D. M., Molles, L. E., Helps, S., Helps, R., & Waas, J. R. (2012). Triumph displays inform eavesdropping little blue penguins of new dominance asymmetries. Animal Behaviour, 83, 605–611.

Meier, B. P., Hauser, D. J., Robinson, M. D., Friesen, C. K., & Schjeldahl, K. (2007b). What’s ‘up’ with God?: Vertical space as a representation of the divine. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 699–710.

Meier, B. P., & Robinson, M. D. (2004). Why the sunny side is up: Associations between affect and vertical position. Psychological Science, 15, 243–247.

Meier, B. P., & Robinson, M. D. (2005). The metaphorical representation of affect. Metaphor and Symbol, 21, 239–257.

Meier, B.P., Robinson, M.D., & Caven, A.J. (in press). Why a big mac is a good mac: Associations between affect and size. Basic and Applied Social Psychology.

Melamed, T. (1992). Personality correlates of physical height. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 1349–1350.

Middleton, W. C., &Moffett, D. C. (1940). The relation of height and weight measurements to intelligence and to dominance-submission among a group of college freshmen. Research Quarterly of the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, 11, 53–59.

Montepare, J. M. (1995). The impact of variations in height on young children’s impressions of men and women. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 19, 31–47.

Matsumura, Shuichi ; Hayden, Thomas J. When should signals of submission be given?–A game theory model. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 2006. 240(3): 425-433.

Nelson, Nicole L. and James A. Russell. Preschoolers’ Use of Dynamic Facial, Bodily, and Vocal Cues to Emotion. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2011; 110: 52-61.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/children-read-body-language-study/

Navarro, Joe. 2008. What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People. William Morrow Paperbacks.

Oosterwijk, Suzanne; Mark Rotteveel; Agneta H. Fischer and Ursula Hess. Embodied Emotion Concepts: How Generating Words About Pride and Disappointment Influences Posture. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009. 39: 457–466. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.584
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/embodiment-nonverbal-posture-thinking-pride-shame-literally-changes-body-language/

Oosterwijk, S., Rotteveel, M., Fischer, A. H., & Hess, U. Embodied emotion concepts: How generating words about pride and disappointment influences posture. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009. 39, 457–466.

Prieto, A. G., & Robbins, M. C. (1975). Perceptions of height and self-esteem. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 40, 395–398.

Pablo Brin and Oli Richard. Body posture effects on self-evaluation: A self-validation approach. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009; 39: 1053–1064.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/posture-affects-confidence-of-thoughts/

Paul H. Morris, Jenny White, Edward R. Morrison and Kayleigh Fisher. High Heels As Supernormal Stimuli: How Wearing High Heels Affects Judgements of Female Attractiveness. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2013. 34: 176-181.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/high-heels-supernormal-body-language-signal

Park, Lora E.; Lindsey Streamer; Li Huang and Adam D. Galinsky. Stand Tall, But Don’t Put Your Feet Up: Universal and Culturally-Specific Effects of Expansive Postures On Power. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2013; 49: 965–971.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/are-expansive-postures-of-power-universal-or-cultural/

Pablo Briñol; Richard E. Petty and Benjamin Wagner. Body Posture Effects on Self-Evaluation: A Self-Validation Approach. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009. 39(6): 1099-0992. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.607.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/fix-posture-fix-confidence/

Pablo Brin and Oli Richard. Body posture effects on self-evaluation: A self-validation approach. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009; 39: 1053–1064.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/posture-affects-confidence-of-thoughts/

Pablo Briñol; Richard E. Petty and Benjamin Wagner. Body Posture Effects on Self-Evaluation: A Self-Validation Approach. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009. 39(6): 1099-0992. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.607.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/fix-posture-fix-confidence/

Park, Lora E.; Lindsey Streamer; Li Huang and Adam D. Galinsky. Stand Tall, But Don’t Put Your Feet Up: Universal and Culturally-Specific Effects of Expansive Postures On Power. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2013; 49: 965–971.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/are-expansive-postures-of-power-universal-or-cultural/

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Tomei, Alexander and Jeremy Grivel. Body Posture and the Feeling of Social Closeness: An Exploratory Study in a Naturalistic Setting. Current Psychology. 2014. 33:35–46
DOI 10.1007/s12144-013-9194-1
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/stand-increase-feelings-closeness-use-body-posture-influence-perception/

Robinson, Michael D. ; Zabelina, Darya L. ; Ode, Scott ; Moeller, Sara K. The vertical nature of dominance-submission: Individual differences in vertical attention. Journal of Research in Personality. 2008. 42(4): 933-948.

Schubert, T. W. (2005). Your highness: Vertical positions as perceptual symbols of power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 1–21.

Schwartz, B., Tesser, A., & Powell, E. (1982). Dominance cues in nonverbal behavior. Social Psychology Quarterly, 45, 114–120.

Stepper, S., & Strack, F. (1993). Proprioceptive determinants of emotional and nonemotional feelings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 211–220.

Shepperd J.A. and A.J. Strathman. 1989. Attractiveness and height: the role of stature in dating preference, frequency of dating, and perceptions of attractiveness. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 15: 617-627.

Stogdill R. 1948. Personal factors associated with leadership. Journal of Psychology 25:35-71.

Scarpa, Stephano; Alessandra Nart; Erica Gobbi and Atillo Carraro. Does Women’s Attitudinal State Body Image Improve After One Session Of Posture Correction Exercises? Social Behavior and Personality. 2011; 39(8): 1045-1052.

Schubert, T. W. (2005). Your highness: Vertical positions as perceptual symbols of power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 89. 1–21.

Schenkel, Rudolf. Submission: Its Features and Function in the Wolf and Dog. American Zoologist. 1967. 7(2): 319-329.

Tiedens, Larissa Z ; Fragale, Alison R. Power moves: complementarity in dominant and submissive nonverbal behavior. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2003. 84(3): 558-68.

Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2004). Show your pride: Evidence for a discrete emotion expression. Psychological Science, 15, 194–197.

Tracy, J. L., & Matsumoto, D. (2008). The spontaneous expression of pride and shame: Evidence for biologically innate nonverbal displays. Proceedings from the National Academy of Sciences, 105(33), 11655–11660.

Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2007). The prototypical pride expression: Development of a nonverbal behavior coding system. Emotion, 7(4), 789–801.

Valentova JV, Stulp G, Trebicky V, Havlıcek J. Preferred and Actual Relative Height among Homosexual Male Partners Vary with Preferred Dominance and Sex Role. PLoS ONE. 2014. 9(1): e86534. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0086534

Watkins, Christopher D. and Paul J. Fraccaro. Taller Men Are Less Sensitive to Cues of Dominance in Other Men. 2010. Behavioral Ecology; 21: 943-947.

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Woll S. 1986. So many to choose from: decision strategies in videodating. Journal of Social and Personality Relationships 3: 43-52

Weisfeld, Glenn E. and Jody M. Beresford. Erectness of Posture as an Indicator of Dominance or Success in Humans. Motivation and Emotion. 1982. 6(2): 113-130.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-language-cues-dominance-submission-children/

Welker, Keith M. ; Oberleitner, David E. ; Cain, Samantha ; Carré, Justin M. Upright and left out: Posture moderates the effects of social exclusion on mood and threats to basic needs. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2013 43(5): 355-361.

Body Language of Bad Posture

Body Language of Bad Posture

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Bad Posture 1Cue: Bad Posture.

Synonym(s): Slouching Posture, Slumped Posture, Poor Posture.

Description: Bad posture happens when the joints are bent, the spine is misaligned and twisted and the person is not able to optimally balance the mass of the body over its framework.

In One Sentence: Bad posture signifies a lack of overall confidence and can indicate a person’s past history of failure.

How To Use it: Bad posture is universally negative and should be avoided generally. However, one might use bad posture to show that ones is apathetic to the situation such as when one is trying to feign fatigue and does not have the energy for a specific task that one wishes to avoid. A bad posture can garner sympathy from others and be useful in dropping or reducing punishment as people assume that one has already suffered enough.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “Because life has treated poorly I hold a defeated, slumped over posture indicating my discomfort, lack of self esteem and misery.”

Variant: See Cocooning, Slouching, Body Raising, Erect Posture or Good Posture.

Cue In Action: Mark carried himself poorly. His shoulders hunched over, his head drooped and hung low. You just knew looking at him that he had experienced grief and depression. He really let life get the best of him and he obviously didn’t know how to take control of his circumstances.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Bad posture means that the bones are not aligned properly throughout the body making the muscles work overtime.

Posture is a term derived from the Latin verb “ponere” meaning “to put in place” and refers to the way the body is held including the arms, legs and spine. Posture refers not only to the erectness of our bodies, but also to our body orientation, direction of lean, and the degree to which our bodies are open and inviting.

Posture tells us a lot about a person and their history and feelings about themselves and how they feel about others. For example, shoulders hunched carries negative sentiments whereas shoulders back mean confidence. Posture can give way to feelings of like or dislike, interest or disinterest as well as many other sentiments.

Postural tonus is a term referring to the relative rigidity and erectness of the body and its overall posture. A “slopper” holds his shoulders rounded and head hanging downward proving to be depressed, drowsy or ill whereas “the scout” carries himself fully erect with shoulders back and head held high depicting confidence and good spirit. Having an erect posture is a sign of high confidence, strength and vigor. People with erect postures are seen as leaders, content and positive. Contrast erect posture with a slouched or limp posture.

Cue Cluster: Other positive cues are associated with a slumped posture such as weak or non-existent eye contact, little or no affect, expressionless faces or grimacing, dropping eyes, and so forth.

Body Language Category: Authoritative body language, Confident body language, Dominant body language, Expansive movements, Gravity defying body language, High confidence body language, Leadership body language, Up nonverbals.

Resources:

Bohns, Vanessa K. and Scott S. Wiltermuth. It Hurts When I Do This (Or You Do That): Posture And Pain tolerance. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2012. 48: 341-345. http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/dominant-and-submissive-postures-affects-more-than-public-perception-it-also-affects-felt-pain-and-physical-strength/

Bertamini, Marco ; Byrne, Christopher ; Bennett, Kate M. Attractiveness is influenced by the relationship between postures of the viewer and the viewed person. i-Perception. 2013. 4(3): 170-179.

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Cashdan, Elizabeth. Smiles, Speech, and Body Posture: How Women and Men Display Sociometric Status and Power. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1998. 22(4): 209-228.

Dijkstra, Katinka; Michael P. Kaschak; and Rolf A. Zwaan. Body Posture Facilitates Retrieval of Autobiographical Memories. Cognition. 2007; 102: 139-149. http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/improve-recall-match-posture-memory-study/

Ellis, L. (1994). The high and the mighty among man and beast: How universal is the relationship between height (or body size) and social status? In L. Ellis (Ed.). Social stratification and socioeconomic inequality (Vol. 2, pp. 93–111). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

Eddie Harmon-Jones and Carly K. Peterson. Supine Body Position Reduces Neural Response to Anger. Association for Psychological Science. 2009; 20 (10): 1209-1210.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/supine-body-posture-reduces-aggression/

Flack, William F., Jr. Peripheral Feedback Effects of Facial Expressions, Bodily Postures, and Vocal Expressions on Emotional Feelings. Cognition and Emotion. 2006. 20 (2), 177-195. DOI:10.1080/02699930500359617
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-and-facial-expressions-influence-mood/

Girard, Jeffrey M.; Jeffrey F. Cohna; Mohammad H.Mahoor S.; Mohammad Mavadati;
Zakia Hammal; and Dean P. Rosenwalda. Nonverbal Social Withdrawal In Depression: Evidence From Manual And Automatic Analyses. Image and Vision Computing. 2013.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-language-signals-withdrawal-depression

Glenn E. Weisfeld and Jody M. Beresford. 1982. Erectness of posture as an indicator of dominance or success in humans. Motivation and Emotion. 6(2):113 -131.

Hall, Judith ; LeBeau, Lavonia ; Reinoso, Jeannette ; Thayer, Frank. Status, Gender, and Nonverbal Behavior in Candid and Posed Photographs: A Study of Conversations Between University Employees. Sex Roles. 2001 44(11): 677-692.

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/

LaFrance, Marianne. and W. Ickes. 1981. Posture mirroring and interactional involvement: sex and sex typing effects. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 5: 139-154.

Li Huang, Adam D. Galinsky, Deborah H Gruenfeld and Lucia E. Guillory. Powerful Postures Versus Powerful Roles: Which Is the Proximate Correlate of Thought and Behavior? 2011, Psychological Science; 22(1): 95–102.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/whats-more-powerful-nonverbal-power-or-real-power/

Marsh, Abigail A; Henry H. Yu; Julia C. Schechter and R. J. R. Blair. Larger than Life: Humans’ Nonverbal Status Cues Alter Perceived Size. PLoS ONE. 2009. 4(5): e5707. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0005707. http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/large-life-nonverbal-dominance-affects-perception-size/

Michalak, Johannes, Judith Mischnat and Tobias Teismann. Sitting Posture Makes a Difference—Embodiment Effects on Depressive Memory Bias. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy. 2014. 21, 519-524. DOI: 10.1002/cpp.1890
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/sit-can-embody-depression-body-language-postures-control-mental-processes/

Mondloch, Catherine J. Sad or Fearful? The Influence of Body Posture on Adults’ and Children’s Perception of Facial Displays of Emotion. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2012. 111(2): 180-196.

Michalak, J., Troje, N. F., Fischer, J., Vollmar, P., Heidenreich, T., and Schulte, D. Embodiment of sadness and depression— Gait patterns associated with dysphoric mood. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2009. 71, 580–587.

Meier, B. P., Hauser, D. J., Robinson, M. D., Friesen, C. K., & Schjeldahl, K. (2007b). What’s ‘up’ with God?: Vertical space as a representation of the divine. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 699–710.

Meier, B. P., & Robinson, M. D. (2004). Why the sunny side is up: Associations between affect and vertical position. Psychological Science, 15, 243–247.

Meier, B. P., & Robinson, M. D. (2005). The metaphorical representation of affect. Metaphor and Symbol, 21, 239–257.

Meier, B.P., Robinson, M.D., & Caven, A.J. (in press). Why a big mac is a good mac: Associations between affect and size. Basic and Applied Social Psychology.

Melamed, T. (1992). Personality correlates of physical height. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, 1349–1350.

Middleton, W. C., &Moffett, D. C. (1940). The relation of height and weight measurements to intelligence and to dominance-submission among a group of college freshmen. Research Quarterly of the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, 11, 53–59.

Montepare, J. M. (1995). The impact of variations in height on young children’s impressions of men and women. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 19, 31–47.

Matsumura, Shuichi ; Hayden, Thomas J. When should signals of submission be given?–A game theory model. Journal of Theoretical Biology. 2006. 240(3): 425-433.

Oosterwijk, S., Rotteveel, M., Fischer, A. H., & Hess, U. Embodied emotion concepts: How generating words about pride and disappointment influences posture. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009. 39, 457–466.

Oosterwijk, Suzanne; Mark Rotteveel; Agneta H. Fischer and Ursula Hess. Embodied Emotion Concepts: How Generating Words About Pride and Disappointment Influences Posture. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009. 39: 457–466. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.584
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/embodiment-nonverbal-posture-thinking-pride-shame-literally-changes-body-language/

Prieto, A. G., & Robbins, M. C. (1975). Perceptions of height and self-esteem. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 40, 395–398.

Pablo Brin and Oli Richard. Body posture effects on self-evaluation: A self-validation approach. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009; 39: 1053–1064.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/posture-affects-confidence-of-thoughts/

Pablo Briñol; Richard E. Petty and Benjamin Wagner. Body Posture Effects on Self-Evaluation: A Self-Validation Approach. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2009. 39(6): 1099-0992. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.607.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/fix-posture-fix-confidence/

Riskind, J. H. Nonverbal Expressions and the Accessibility of Life Experience Memories: A Congruence Hypothesis. Social Cognition. 1983. 2: 62-86.
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Rule, Nicholas, O.; Reginald B. Adams Jr.; Nalini Ambady and Jonathan B. Freeman. Perceptions Of Dominance Following Glimpses Of Faces And Bodies. Perception. 2012; 41: 687-706 doi:10.1068/p7023
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/people-can-read-dominance-split-second

Robinson, Michael D. ; Zabelina, Darya L. ; Ode, Scott ; Moeller, Sara K. The vertical nature of dominance-submission: Individual differences in vertical attention. Journal of Research in Personality. 2008. 42(4): 933-948.

Schubert, T. W. (2005). Your highness: Vertical positions as perceptual symbols of power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 1–21.

Schwartz, B., Tesser, A., & Powell, E. (1982). Dominance cues in nonverbal behavior. Social Psychology Quarterly, 45, 114–120.

Stepper, S., & Strack, F. (1993). Proprioceptive determinants of emotional and nonemotional feelings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 211–220.

Scarpa, Stephano; Alessandra Nart; Erica Gobbi and Atillo Carraro. Does Women’s Attitudinal State Body Image Improve After One Session Of Posture Correction Exercises? Social Behavior and Personality. 2011; 39(8): 1045-1052.

Sturman, Edward D. Invluntary Subordination and Its Relation to Personality, Mood,
and Submissive Behavior. Psychological Assessment. 2011. 23(1): 262-276 DOI: 10.1037/a0021499
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/nonverbal-submission-men-women-depression-critical-examination-use-disuse-submission/

Schenkel, Rudolf. Submission: Its Features and Function in the Wolf and Dog. American Zoologist. 1967. 7(2): 319-329.

Tomei, Alexander and Jeremy Grivel. Body Posture and the Feeling of Social Closeness: An Exploratory Study in a Naturalistic Setting. Current Psychology. 2014. 33:35–46
DOI 10.1007/s12144-013-9194-1
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/stand-increase-feelings-closeness-use-body-posture-influence-perception/

Tiedens, Larissa Z ; Fragale, Alison R. Power moves: complementarity in dominant and submissive nonverbal behavior. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2003. 84(3): 558-68.

Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2004). Show your pride: Evidence for a discrete emotion expression. Psychological Science, 15, 194–197.

Weisfeld, Glenn E. and Jody M. Beresford. Erectness of Posture as an Indicator of Dominance or Success in Humans. Motivation and Emotion. 1982. 6(2): 113-130.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/body-language-cues-dominance-submission-children/

Welker, Keith M. ; Oberleitner, David E. ; Cain, Samantha ; Carré, Justin M. Upright and left out: Posture moderates the effects of social exclusion on mood and threats to basic needs. European Journal of Social Psychology. 2013 43(5): 355-361.

Walsh, Joseph ; Eccleston, Christopher ; Keogh, Edmund. Pain communication through body posture: The development and validation of a stimulus set. Pain. 2014 155(11): 2282-2290.

Nonverbal Meaning of Arms Up Posture

Nonverbal Meaning of Arms Up Posture

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Arms Up Posture 2Cue: Arms Up Posture.

Synonym(s): V-posture, Victor Stance.

Description: a) It is done usually quickly and short in duration where the arms are thrust stiffly upward into the sky.

In One Sentence: Arms up is an expansive posture often associated with victory and is used by people to demonstrate their desire to be noticed and acknowledged for successes.

How To Use it: Use this posture to claim accolades in dominance encounters. This posture is effectively used in sports to show that one has scored a goal and is to be identified as a person to be admired. Use this posture when you wish to claim the pride, dominance, and leadership that come with winning.

Context: General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m right here and I scored a goal, that was me that did it. I’m right here!”

Variant: See Arms Forward.

Cue In Action: a) After scoring a goal, the hockey player quickly shot his arms up in celebration. b) To grab the attention of the teacher, the student raised her hand to ask a question – she wanted to be noticed.

Meaning and/or Motivation: A gravity defying nonverbal cue done in triumph or victory such as winning a match or scoring a goal. It is done usually quickly and short in duration where the arms are thrust stiffly upward into the sky so as to draw as much attention to the victor as possible.

Alternatively, arms go up to draw attention if one does not want to disrupt others in a large group but otherwise, wants to interject with a question or statement.

Cue Cluster: Arms up can be accompanied with loud screams of excitement, jumping up and down to defy gravity further, fist pumping, dancing, etc.

Body Language Category: Gravity defying body language, Automatic gesture, Expansive movements, High confidence body language, Excited body language.

Resources:

Tracy, J. L., & Matsumoto, D. (2008). The spontaneous expression of pride and shame: Evidence for biologically innate nonverbal displays. Proceedings from the National Academy of Sciences, 105(33), 11655–11660.

Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2007). The prototypical pride expression: Development of a nonverbal behavior coding system. Emotion, 7(4), 789–801.

Matsumoto, David, Hyi Sung Hwang. Evidence For A Nonverbal Expression Of Triumph. Evolution and Human Behavior, 2012; 33 (5): 520-529. http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/athletes-first-reaction-to-triumph-is-body-language-dominance-display/

Matsumoto, D., & Willingham, B. (2006). The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat: Spontaneous expressions of medal winners of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(3), 568–581.

Mouterde, S. C., Duganzich, D. M., Molles, L. E., Helps, S., Helps, R., & Waas, J. R. (2012). Triumph displays inform eavesdropping little blue penguins of new dominance asymmetries. Animal Behaviour, 83, 605–611.

Gorkan Ahmetoglu, Viren Swami. Do Women Prefer “Nice Guys?” The Effect Of Male Dominance Behavior On Women’s Ratings. Social Behavior And Personality, 2012; 40(4), 667-672.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/how-to-significantly-increase-male-attractiveness-with-simple-body-language-nice-guys-finish-last-once-again/

Hyisung C. Hwang, David Matsumoto. Dominance threat display for victory and achievement in competition context. Motivation and Emotion. 2014. 38(2): 206-214.

Hwang, Hyisung C. and David Matsumoto. Cultural Differences in Victory Signals of Triumph Cross-Cultural Research. SAGE Publications 2014. 48(2):177– 191.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/culture-nonverbal-triumph/