Category: High confidence body language

The Hidden Meaning Behind The Bonaparte Posture

The Hidden Meaning Behind The Bonaparte Posture

BodyLanguageProjectCom - BonapartCue: Bonaparte (the)

Synonym(s): Clasping Inside Of Jacket With Thumbs Up.

Description: A posture done by clasping the inside of the jacket edge with thumb up and placing the other hand in the pocket.

In One Sentence: Displaying the thumbs from the edges of the coat demonstrates high pride and confidence.

How To Use it: Use this posture to showcase your pride. It is effectively used when trying to show others that you are in control, dominant, but also superior. Therefore it must be used with caution or will appear as smug. The posture is well suited to business context or while debating since it dismisses your opponents arguments while simultaneously showing supreme confidence.

Context: Business or General.

Verbal Translation: “I’m here, proud and in charge.”

Variant: See Military Man or Regal Stance, Cowboy Pose Stance, Arms Akimbo, Arms Crossed With Thumbs Up, Thumb Hiding, Thumb Displays or Thumbs Up Posture.

Cue In Action: The lawyer posed for his company photograph by flexing the thumbs out clasping the edge of his overly expensive suit.

Meaning and/or Motivation: It is a thumbs up or thumbing gesture as it exposes them for all to see. Exposing the thumbs is a sign that a person feels confident and lacks timidity. This is a cue usually done by men of status and authority. It was made popular by the French military and political leader Napolean Bonaparte.

Cue Cluster: Coupled with the Bonaparte posture is a proud disposition include head held high and back, chin out, relaxed swaying torso but with a rigid upright posture.

Body Language Category: Confident, Dominant body language, Authoritative body language, Expansive movements, High confidence body language, High confidence hand displays, Leadership body language.

Resources:

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Allen, Jill; Sarah J. Gervais and Jessi L. Smith. Sit Big to Eat Big: The Interaction of Body Posture and Body Concern on Restrained Eating. Psychology of Women Quarterly 2013. 37(3): 325-336. DOI: 10.1177/0361684313476477pwq.sagepub.com
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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.

Chandler, Jesse ; Schwarz, Norbert. How extending your middle finger affects your perception of others: Learned movements influence concept accessibility. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 2009. 45(1): 123-128.
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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:

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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.

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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.

Wilson P.R. 1968. Perceptual distortion of height as a function of ascribed academic status. Journal of Social Psychology 74: 97-107.

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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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.

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.

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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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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.

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and Submissive Behavior. Psychological Assessment. 2011. 23(1): 262-276 DOI: 10.1037/a0021499
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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/

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/

Body Language of Arms Akimbo

Body Language of Arms Akimbo

BodyLanguageProjectCom - Arms Akimbo 3Cue: Arms Akimbo

Synonym(s): Hands Akimbo, Hands On Hips, Fists On Haunches, Pot With Two Handles, “Captain Morgan stance” (The), Straddle Stance, Super Man Stance, Wonder Women Stance, Amy Cuddy Pose (The).

Description: The hands are placed on each hip making the elbows flair out.

In One Sentence: Arms akimbo is an expansive posture used to make the body appear larger and taking up more space thereby creating dominance.

How To Use it: Use this posture to boost your confidence before an important presentation. Research has found that expansive postures such as this one helps boost testosterone and simultaneously lowers the stress hormone cortisol. Likewise, the posture makes the body appear larger and therefore, increases the perception of dominance. Arms akimbo also shows an eagerness to get down to business as it is classified as a “ready posture.” Dominant postures are important when you want to take a leadership role and are prepared to accept the responsibility which comes with authority.

Context: a) Social b) Dating

Verbal Translation: a) “I’m much bigger than I appear, so you must respect me when I puff out like this.” “There are issues here”, “Things are not right”, “I’m standing my ground” or b) “I’m a virile male so check me out!”

Variant: The “Captain Morgan stance” was made popular by a widespread media advertising campaign depicting regular people in the posture. It includes one leg propped up, opening the legs and “exposing the genitals,” with one hand place on the thigh, and the other hand left lose or placed on the hips. This is a dominant, full peacock gesture, as it exposes the genital area for all to view and puffs out the chest, head held high. The aim of the posture is to claim the right to space and soak in the admiration of others.

Alternatively, one hand might be placed on the hips with the other hand gesturing. The thumbs might also be tucked into the belt or into belt loops serving to “frame the genitals.” Women usually aim their fingers backwards to point to their backside rather than their crotch.

Another variant, the straddle stance, is a stable standing position where the legs are straight, and set at, or slightly wider than shoulder width. The weight is bore by both feet evenly. It is normal for men rather than women to hold this stance. It is a display of dominance and confidence, and that a person is “standing their ground.”

Cue In Action: a) Mom is in a good mood until her 6 year old is caught eating sweets from the cupboard. Mom strides to her child, puts her hands on her hips, then begins ecturing him about the harms of junk food. Mom went over to junior, put her hands on her hips, then began lecturing him with a lesson about junk food. b) To make Dave stand out on a dating show, he put his arms on his hips when he stood next to the other contestants.

Meaning and/or Motivation: Having the hands on the hips has roots in evolution. It makes the body take up more space, just like a peacock, and hence appear larger which can be attractive to other men who seek leadership or to women seeking a healthy mate. While in the stance, all the fingers also curl inward so that they point toward the crotch. This draws attention toward the genitals, which punctuates the point even further.

Women will also hold the arms akimbo posture, although more rarely, as it can be seen as assertive (as it draws attention to the genital area by pointing). When women do hold the posture, they usually hold their hands on their hips and point their fingers to their buttocks. Pointing therefore, puts emphasis on our best assets as we state our case! Having the fingers pointed backwards, as women do, is also a more inquisitive, rather than authoritarian, posture. It says, “We have issues.”

The hands-on-hips is also a ready posture when it does not accompany more dominant cues in the cluster. In this case, it appears like a runner at the gate prepared to jump at an opportunity.

Cue Cluster: The cue cluster accompanying the hands-on-hips also includes an upright posture, chin up, chest out and the legs at slightly wider than shoulder width. We may see other dominant gesture such as “batoning” (see Batoning) and finger pointing.

Body Language Category: Ready posture, Confident, Dominant body language, Expansive movements, High confidence body language, Threat displays, Hostile body language.

Resources:

Allen, Jill; Sarah J. Gervais and Jessi L. Smith. Sit Big to Eat Big: The Interaction of Body Posture and Body Concern on Restrained Eating. Psychology of Women Quarterly 2013. 37(3): 325-336. DOI: 10.1177/0361684313476477pwq.sagepub.com
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.

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/

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.

Bartholomewn, Morgan E.; Sheri L. Johnson. Nonverbal Dominance Behavior Among Individuals at Risk for Mania. Journal of Affective Disorders. 2014. 159: 133-138.
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/

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, A. J. C., Wilmuth, C., Yap, A. J., & Carney, D. R. (in press). Preparatory power posing affects nonverbal presence and job interview performance. Journal of Applied Psychology.

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.

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.

de Lemus, Soledad; Russell Spears and and Miguel Moya. The Power of a Smile to Move You: Complementary Submissiveness in Women’s Posture as a Function of Gender Salience and Facial Expression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 2012. 38(11): 1480-1494.

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/?preview=true
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/benefits-power-posing-high-stakes-performance/

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/

Hewes, Gordon (1957). “The Anthropology of Posture.” In Scientific American (Vol. 196), pp. 122-32.

Huang, L., Galinsky, A. D., Gruenfeld, D. H., & Guillory, L. E. (2011). Powerful postures versus powerful roles: Which is the proximate correlate of thought and behavior? Psychological Science, 22, 95–102.

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Knapp, Mark L. (1972). Nonverbal Communication in Human Interaction (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston).

Locke, Connson C. and Cameron Anderson. The Downside of Looking Like a Leader: Leader’s Powerful Demeanor Stifles Follower Voice in Participative Decision-Making.. Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings. 2010. 8(1): 1-6.
http://bodylanguageproject.com/articles/power-body-language-goes-far/

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/

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.

Mehrabian, Albert (1969). “Significance of Posture and Position in the Communication of Attitude and Status Relationships.” In Psychological Bulletin (Vol. 71), pp. 359-72.

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.

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