Body Posture and the Feeling of Social Closeness: An Exploratory Study in a Naturalistic Setting
Tomei, Alexander ; Grivel, Jeremy
In: Current Psychology, 2014, vol. 33, no. 1, p. 35-46
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- Previous research has shown that body postures and body movements influence people's attitudes, preferences and feelings. In the present study, we explored the influence of body posture on the feeling of closeness towards others and how this effect may interact with contextual variables. Study 1 was conducted in a naturalistic setting in which 127 participants observed a series of live dance sequences either standing up or remaining seated. After each sequence, participants reported the feelings elicited by the dance performance on a questionnaire. Visibility of performers' facial expressions and background tempo were used as contextual variables. Results showed that participants who watched the performance standing up felt significantly closer to the dancers than participants who remained seated. Study 2 was carried out in a laboratory setting to explore the relationship between body posture, tempo and heart rate. Results showed a significant increase in heart rate when standing compared to when sitting and no effect of tempo. The present research demonstrates a link between body posture and social connection providing evidence that standing up strengthens the feeling of closeness to others, and showing that posture not only has an impact on self-related feelings (e.g. fear, anger, sadness) as previous research has shown, but also has an impact on feelings towards others at the base of all human social relations. The present research also suggests that heart rate may be a mediator of the effect of posture on the feeling of closeness.