Body language is well known as a psychological concept. However, as many discussions of body language are not academic, some of the information out there is less accurate than other information. Despite the mixed messages that exist regarding body language, it is clear that body language is an important aspect of human communication. One study on gender differences in processing body language summed it up by stating that “[s]uccessful social interaction requires correctly decoding and recognizing emotional signals from the human body” (He et al., 2018).
Therefore, in the interest of setting the record straight, here are some findings that have been reported about body language as a psychological concept.
The portrayal of body language is affected by certain factors
To begin, let us briefly examine how people display different types of body language in different situations.
Racial differences in the portrayal of body language
One study examining racial bias found that white characters elicited substantially more favorable nonverbal responses than black characters in television shows (Weisbuch et al., 2009). Specifically, black characters in TV shows elicited less favorable nonverbal reactions from other characters on that show than white characters. Independent judges reported that the characters had similar scores of attractiveness, sociability, kindness, and intelligence, so the differences in the reactions they elicited could be ascribed to race instead of general likeability.
The researchers also showed that presenting viewers with imagery involving nonverbal bias toward white people transferred that bias to the viewer, and that the opposite happened when they were presented with imagery involving nonverbal bias toward black people. These viewers did not appear to be aware of this bias. Therefore, the researchers suggest that the nonverbal racial bias present in television shows is likely to transfer to the viewers of those shows, thus constituting a serious issue.
Emotions directly affect the portrayal (and the reading) of body language
About five years ago, one group of researchers set out to develop a “Body Action Coding System” to elucidate “what muscle patterns are associated with specific emotions” (Huis In ‘t Veld et al., 2014a; Huis In ‘t Veld et al., 2014b). In two studies, they determined that the muscles most heavily involved in anger are, in descending order: the biceps, the forearm, the shoulder, and the triceps. Meanwhile, the muscles most heavily involved in fear were determined to be, in descending order: the forearm, the shoulder and the biceps at the same level, and then the triceps. These results were considered to respectively correspond to an angry pose (“raising the forearms to the trunk or stretching the arms downward with palms held up”) and a fearful pose (“lifting the arms with the hand held up protectively with the palms outward”).
These researchers also investigated the reading of body language as it relates to muscles, specifically “automatic muscle activations in response to the perception of emotion in others”. They found that the trapezius responds when one perceives both anger and fear in another, as do the muscles in the calf. They also found that a muscle in the lower back only activates in response to the perception of anger in another, while the wrist extensors only respond to the perception of fear in another. The movement in the muscles in the calf is said to be in preparation for running, while the movement in the lower back is said to be in preparation for leaning away from the person exhibiting anger.
Like the portrayal of body language, there are a number of other components that also affect the reading of body language.
The reading of body language is affected by certain factors
As is the case with everything in psychology, the reading of body language depends on a variety of factors.
Various conditions hinder the reading of body language
People with schizophrenia have been found to be “impaired in overall body language reading compared to healthy controls” (Vaskinn et al., 2015). Another study showed that people with current unipolar depression “displayed poorer emotion recognition accuracy for happy body language stimuli that did not include facial expressions” (Loi et al., 2013). A study examining subjects with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) found that they were less accurate in reading body language than “typically developed (TD) participants” (Nackaerts et al., 2012).
This shows that certain conditions can affect the reading of body language, often by making it less accurate.
Gender differences in the reading of body language
There are also differences in the reading of body language depending on the genders of both the subject and the observer. For example, one study found that “female observers have stronger vigilance for angry male than angry female bodies” (He et al., 2018). Another study found that women are better than men at reading body language when facial information is unavailable (Proverbio et al., 2018). The findings of a different study investigating body language while knocking at a door indicated that women are better than men at reading angry or neutral knocking, while men are better than women at reading happy knocking (Sokolov et al., 2011).
Altogether, these findings indicate that the gender of both the subject and the observer affect the reading of body language.
The type of emotion affects the reading of body language in an unclear manner
The type of emotion being portrayed also affects how well body language can be read. Two studies on the reading of body language have suggested that it is easier to detect anger through body language than happiness (Chouchourelou et al., 2006; Ikeda & Watanabe, 2009). By contrast, the previously-mentioned study (Vaskinn et al., 2015) researching schizophrenia found that neutral and happy movement was easier to decode through body language than fear and anger, which is in line with the results of a study on facial emotional recognition (Montagne et al., 2007).
A different study examining different emotions found that participants responded faster to angry faces than they did to neutral faces or fearful faces (de Valk et al., 2015). However, this study did not compare results between angry faces and happy faces. While there have been conflicting results regarding how well different emotions can be read from body language, it appears that there is some effect, though further research is needed to clarify this effect.
Wrapping up
Taken together, these results show that both the portrayal and the reading of body language are affected by a number of factors. Specifically, one’s race can affect the body language responses of someone interacting with them, and different types of emotions lead to the portrayal of different types of body language. Meanwhile, the gender of the observer and any mental conditions they have can affect the reading of body language, as can the emotion being portrayed. The studies summarized here are a good starting point for anyone looking to learn more about body language, and anyone looking for further information can search for the studies listed below.
References
Chouchourelou, A., Matsuka, T., Harber, K., Shiffrar, M. (2006). The visual analysis of emotional actions. Social Neuroscience, 1(1), 63-74. doi: 10.1080/17470910600630599.
de Valk, J.M., Wijnen, J.G., Kret, M.E. (2015). Anger fosters action. Fast responses in a motor task involving approach movements toward angry faces and bodies. Frontiers in Psychology, 6(1), 1240. doi: 10.3389%2Ffpsyg.2015.01240.
He, Z., Liu, Z., Wang, J., Zhang, D. (2018). Gender Differences in Processing Fearful and Angry Body Expressions. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 12(1), 164. doi: 10.3389%2Ffnbeh.2018.00164.
Huis In ‘t Veld, E.M.J., van Boxtel, G.J.M., de Gelder, B. (2014). The Body Action Coding System I: muscle activations during the perception and expression of emotion. Social Neuroscience, 9(3), 249-264. doi: 10.1080/17470919.2014.890668.
Huis In ‘t Veld, E.M.J., van Boxtel, G.J.M., de Gelder, B. (2014). The Body Action Coding System II: muscle activations during the perception and expression of emotion. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 8(1), 330. doi: 10.3389%2Ffnbeh.2014.00330.
Ikeda, H., Watanabe, K. (2009). Anger and happiness are linked differently to the explicit detection of biological motion. Perception, 38(7), 1002-1011. doi: 10.1068/p6250.
Loi, F., Vaidya, J.G., Paradiso, S. (2013). Recognition of emotion from body language among patients with unipolar depression. Psychiatry Research, 209(1), 40-49. doi: 10.1016%2Fj.psychres.2013.03.001.
Montagne, B., Kessels, R.P., De Haan, E.H., Perrett, D.I. (2007). The Emotion Recognition Task: a paradigm to measure the perception of facial emotional expressions at different intensities. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 104(2), 589-598. doi: 10.2466/pms.104.2.589-598.
Nackaerts, E., Wagemans, J., Helsen, W., Swinnen, S.P., Wenderoth, N., Alaerts, K. Recognizing Biological Motion and Emotions from Point-Light Displays in Autism Spectrum Disorders. PLoS One, 7(9), e44473. doi: 10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0044473.
Proverbio, A.M., Ornaghi, L., Gabaro, V. (2018). How face blurring affects body language processing of static gestures in women and men. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 13(6), 590-603. doi: 10.1093%2Fscan%2Fnsy033.
Sokolov, A.A., Krüger, S., Enck, P., Krägeloh-Mann, I., Pavlova, M.A. (2011). Gender Affects Body Language Reading. Frontiers in Psychology, 2(1), 16. doi: 10.3389%2Ffpsyg.2011.00016.
Vaskinn, A., Sundet, K., Østefjells, T., Nymo, K., Melle, I., Ueland, T. (2015). Reading Emotions from Body Movement: A Generalized Impairment in Schizophrenia. Frontiers in Psychology, 6(1), 2058. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02058.
Weisbuch, M., Pauker, K., Ambady, N. (2009). The Subtle Transmission of Race Bias via Televised Nonverbal Behavior. Science, 326(5960), 1711-1714. doi: 10.1126%2Fscience.1178358.
