Intrapersonal Behavioral Coordination and Expressive Accuracy During First Impressions

Abstract

What factors influence how accurately we express our personalities? Here, we investigated the role of targets’ nonverbal expressivity or the intrapersonal coordination between head and body movements. To do so, using a novel movement quantification method, we examined whether variability in a person’s behavioral coordination was related to how accurately their personality was perceived by naive observers. Targets who exhibited greater variability in intrapersonal behavior coordination, indicating more expressive behavior, were perceived more accurately on high observability personality items, such as how energetic and helpful they are. Moreover, these associations held controlling for other indicators of overall movement, self- and perceiver-rated extroversion, as well as how engaging and likable targets were perceived to be. This provides preliminary evidence that variability in intrapersonal behavioral coordination may be a unique behavioral indicator of expressive accuracy, although further research that replicates these findings and examines the causal associations is needed.

The effects of visual attention on social behavior

“…Research shows that the more we look at others, the more we can form an accurate impression of their personality, for example, understanding how extroverted or outgoing they are Human & Biesanz, 2013;Human et al, 2020). Furthermore, this attentional benefit holds true for people who are harder to read and is not preferentially supported by any specific body part (i.e., it does not matter if we look at the other's eyes, face, or body; Latif et al, 2022). Specifically, the study by indicates that, even if observers mostly look at others' eyes and mouths, attentional engagement to all body parts individually contributes to impression accuracy, which is consistent with the notion that different person aspects (including face, body, posture, clothes, etc.)…”

“…Research shows that the more we look at others, the more we can form an accurate impression of their personality, for example, understanding how extroverted or outgoing they are (Capozzi et al., 2020; Human & Biesanz, 2013; Human et al., 2020). Furthermore, this attentional benefit holds true for people who are harder to read and is not preferentially supported by any specific body part (i.e., it does not matter if we look at the other's eyes, face, or body; Capozzi et al., 2020; Latif et al., 2022). Specifically, the study by Capozzi et al.…”

“…For instance, attentional orienting can be used to gate and coordinate interaction (Capozzi & Ristic, 2018; Shepherd, 2010; Tomasello & Carpenter, 2007; Zuberbühler, 2008). Attentional engagement, such as scanning a person's face, may be used to gather information about one or more individuals' personality, status, and intent (Birmingham et al., 2008, 2009; Capozzi et al., 2020; Latif et al., 2022; Risko & Kingstone, 2011). Attentional communication supports social interactions like romantic dinners or team meetings by both signaling interest to others and gathering information about theirs (Risko et al., 2016; Ristic & Capozzi, 2022).…”

“…Research has categorized various social attention behaviors (reviewed in Capozzi & Ristic, 2018; Dalmaso et al., 2020; Emery, 2000; Jording et al., 2018; Richardson & Gobel, 2015; Ristic & Capozzi, 2022; Shepherd, 2010; Shteynberg, 2015, 2018; Stephenson et al., 2021), which can be grouped into three broad categories: orienting, engagement, and communication. Attentional orienting refers to the movement of one's attention, often in response to directional information conveyed by another person's act of looking or pointing (Birmingham et al., 2008, 2009; Capozzi et al., 2020; Latif et al., 2022; Risko & Kingstone, 2011). Attentional engagement refers to the allocation of one's attention to something or someone (Bedford et al., 2012; Capozzi & Ristic, 2018; Hietanen, 2018).…”

Just Be Yourself? Effects of an Authenticity Manipulation on Expressive Accuracy in First Impressions

“… 1. Wave 1 target and observer data were used to address a different research question in a recently published paper (Latif et al, 2022). A different manuscript used a subset of eight target videos as stimuli with a different sample of observers (Capozzi et al, 2020).…”