Body Language Fact Sheet

Research shows that small changes in body language can significantly impact individual and social behavior, perception, and mood.

Face Muscles

• Noted social psychologist Fritz Strack and colleagues conducted a study in 1988 to understand how our perception changes depending on our facial expressions.

• Participants were asked to rate the funniness of cartoons while holding a pen between their teeth without touching their lips or in their lips without touching their teeth.

• The study showed that simply contracting the same muscles as when we're amused or not changes how we perceive things.

• Results showed that participants who knew they were being filmed had some sensitivity to appearance, and smiling did not cause them to think they were more amused.

Sources:

• Strack, Fritz, Leonard L. Martin, and Sabine Stepper. "Inhibiting and facilitating conditions of the human smile: a nonobtrusive test of the facial feedback hypothesis." Journal of personality and social psychology 54.5 (1988): 768.

Posture

• Posture has a demonstrated influence on our mood and energy.

• A 2004 study examined the effects of upright and slumped posture on college students' recall of both positive and negative thoughts.

• Participants were asked to generate positive and negative thoughts in upright and slouched positions.

• The study found that it is significantly easier to generate positive thoughts when body posture is upright.

• Participants also reported that negative thoughts were more easily generated in the slumped position than when sitting upright.

• When sitting upright and looking upwards, it was difficult and, for many, almost impossible to recall hopeless, helpless, powerless, and negative memories and easier to recall empowering positive memories.

• Walking with a positive posture can affect how you feel

• A 2014 study by Johannes Michalak examined the relationship between posture and emotions

• Participants walked on a treadmill while matching either a sad or cheerful walking style

• While walking, they were shown a list of words associated with positive and negative emotions

• Participants who had a happier gait remembered more cheerful words

• Those with a depressed style remembered more negative words

• The study concluded that how we walk influences our mood and the information we pay attention to.

Sources:

• Michalak, Johannes, et al. "Sitting posture makes a difference-embodiment effect on depressive memory bias." Clinical psychology & psychotherapy vol. 21,6 (2014): 519-24. doi:10.1002/cpp.1890

• Wilson, Vietta E, and Erik Peper. "The effects of upright and slumped postures on the recall of positive and negative thoughts." Applied psychophysiology and biofeedback vol. 29,3 (2004): 189-95. doi:10.1023/b:apbi.0000039057.32963.34

Laughter

• Laughter relaxes our muscles, improves blood sugar, and lowers blood pressure.

• Laughing is social, and you're 30% more likely to laugh with others than alone.

• Laughter decreases isolation.

• A study showed that watching a 1-hour humorous video (spontaneous laughter) increases our natural killer cell activity, IgG, IgM, and other leukocytes.

Sources:

• Berk, Lee S., et al. "Modulation of neuroimmune parameters during the eustress of humor-associated mirthful laughter." Alternative therapies in health and medicine 7.2 (2001): 62-76.

  1. Louie, Dexter, et al. "The Laughter Prescription: A Tool for Lifestyle Medicine." American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine vol. 10,4 262-267. 23 Jun. 2016, doi:10.1177/1559827614550279

Open Body Language

• Closed and protective body language is adopted when feeling anxious, stressed, or uncomfortable

• Closed body language (aka "body blocking")

  • crossing arms and legs, lowered head, less eye contact

• Body "mirroring" can be hindered when we experience social anxiety

• Adopting an open and confident posture can change mood and increase confidence

• Open body language includes uncrossed legs, open arms, shoulders back, and head up

• Small changes in body language can impact our mood and how we receive information

Sources:

• Bambaeeroo, Fatemeh, and Nasrin Shokrpour. "The impact of the teachers' non-verbal communication on success in teaching." Journal of advances in medical education & professionalism 5.2 (2017): 51.