SIGNIFICANCE OF POSTURE AND POSITION IN COMMUNICATION OF ATTITUDE AND STATUS RELATIONSHIPS

Attempts to present a review of the experimental findings dealing with the posture and position of a communicator relative to his attitude and status to his addressee. More studies are available which exhibit the detailed functional relationships of posture and position variables to communicator attitudes than to communicator-addressee relative status. Distance, eye contact, body orientation, arms-akimbo position, and trunk relaxation have been found most consistently to be indicators of communicator attitude toward an addressee. These variables along with the degree of arm openness of female communicators and degree of asymmetry in the arrangement of arms and legs have been found or hypothesized to be associated with status relationships with the addressee. (55 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.