The Significance of Posture in Communication Systems<sup>†</sup>

Scheflen, Albert E.

doi:10.1080/00332747.1964.11023403

Cited by 517 publications

(194 citation statements)

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“…Initially, researchers observed that mimicry during clinical therapy sessions (Cappella & Planalp, 1981;Scheflen, 1964Scheflen, , 1972 and classroom interactions (Bernieri, 1988;Bernieri & Rosenthal, 1991;LaFrance, 1979;LaFrance & Broadbent, 1976) was correlated with reported affiliation, empathy and rapport. Several early experiments manipulated posture congruency and found that confederates who mirrored the posture of participants were evaluated as more similar (Dabbs Jr., 1969;Navarre, 1982), empathic (Maurer & Tindall, 1983)and sociable (Navarre, 1982).…”

Section: Affiliation and Trustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive mechanisms for responding to mimicry from others

Hale

Hamilton

2016

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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unclear how the complex behavioural effects of mimicry relate to neural systems which respond to being mimicked. Mimicry activates regions associated with mirror properties, selfother processing and reward. In this review, we outline three potential models linking these regions with cognitive consequences of being mimicked. The models suggest that positive downstream consequences of mimicry may depend upon self-other overlap, detection of contingency or low prediction error. Finally, we highlight limitations with traditional research designs and suggest alternative methods for achieving highly ecological validity and experimental control. We also highlight unanswered questions which may guide future research. Keywords: mimicry, imitation, nonverbal behaviour, neurocognitive modelsIt is often said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and copying what other people do is a central feature of human social interaction (Frith & Frith, 2012; Hamilton, 2014; Meltzoff, 2010; Over & Carpenter, 2013). One way we copy others is through unconscious behavioural mimicry, also described as 'behaviour matching' (Bernieri & Rosenthal, 1991;Chartrand & Bargh, 1999) or the 'chameleon effect' (Chartrand & Bargh, 1999). This kind of mimicry occurs when one person unintentionally and effortlessly copies another person's posture or body movements without either one being aware (Chartrand & Lakin, 2013;Chartrand & van Baaren, 2009). Mimicry may extend to the contagion of facial expressions (Bavelas, Black, Lemery, & Mullett, 1986, 1987 Dimberg, Thunberg, & Elmehed, 2000;Hsee, Hatfield, Carlson, & Chemtob, 1990), moods (Hsee et al., 1990;Neumann & Strack, 2000) and speech (Giles & Powesland, 1975;Neumann & Strack, 2000).As well as mimicry, there are many other ways we coordinate our behaviour with other people during social interactions (Table 1). The umbrella term 'interpersonal coordination' covers a range of coordinated actions between two people, which can be linked in both space and time. Actions occurring at the same time are described as entrained or synchronous; this includes perfect synchrony where actions are matched in form and timing, as well as general synchrony where different actions are coordinated in time (see Table 1, column 1). Actions that occur after a delay but which are contingent on the other are termed imitation or mimicry if the form is the same, and complementary if the form is different (see column 2). There is a distinction between imitation, which is deliberate and goal-directed,and mimicry, which is unconscious and spontaneous. In this paper we will focus specifically on mimicry. For the main part we will limit our review to mimicry of postures and body movements, and we will not include literature on facial, emotional or vocal mimicry. We will also concentrate on adult mimicry rather than developmental literature. At the end, we will return to consider how future research may situate mimicry within a wider framework of interpersonal coordination. Whilst partners in real life social interac...

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Section: Affiliation and Trustmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive mechanisms for responding to mimicry from others

Hale

Hamilton

2016

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

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“…For example, some postures correspond to certain social attitudes, but sometimes they are simply comfortable (Scheflen, 1964). Similarly, physical distances typically account for social distances, but sometimes they are simply the effect of physical constraints (Hall, 1959).…”

Section: Social Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Signal Processing: The Research Agenda

Pantić

Cowie

D’Errico

et al. 2011

Visual Analysis of Humans

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Abstract. The exploration of how we react to the world and interact with it and each other remains one of the greatest scientific challenges. Latest research trends in cognitive sciences argue that our common view of intelligence is too narrow, ignoring a crucial range of abilities that matter immensely for how people do in life. This range of abilities is called social intelligence and includes the ability to express and recognise social signals produced during social interactions like agreement, politeness, empathy, friendliness, conflict, etc., coupled with the ability to manage them in order to get along well with others while winning their cooperation. Social Signal Processing (SSP) is the new research domain that aims at understanding and modelling social interactions (human-science goals), and at providing computers with similar abilities in human-computer interaction scenarios (technological goals). SSP is in its infancy, and the journey towards artificial social intelligence and socially-aware computing is still long. This research agenda is a twofold, a discussion about how the field is understood by people who are currently active in it and a discussion about issues that the researchers in this formative field face.

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“…Taking into account the micro-ecological constraints on conversational behaviour, at potentially escalatory moments of such exchanges, participants, who intended to prevent an interaction from taking an agonal course, would find it difficult to employ appeasement displays, such as flight actions, without jeopardising effective conveyance of vocal messages. Putting it in Goffman's terms, a sudden increase in the 15 "Presentation" describes a general postural orientation adopted by one person in a given interaction and is distinguished from smaller postural units -"point," which corresponds to a postural micro-shift, and "position," which is a sequence of points (Scheflen 1972: 230-237). physical distance between conversation participants, even if performed for appeasing purposes, could easily break the focus of the interaction and lead to its termination, as demonstrated by research on interactional pathology (such as studies into the effects of compulsive flight reactions on the course of conversation; see Goffman 1967: 113-136;Hall 1969: 11-12;Birdwhistell 1970Birdwhistell , 1972Scheflen 1972). Arguably then, the logistics of face-to-face vocal communication created pressure to transfer the performance of sociofugal operations into the vocal medium, which eventually led to the development of politeness.…”

Section: The Evolutionary Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%