Original scientific paper
The Representation of Self Reported Affect in Body Posture and Body Posture Simulation
Karl Grammer
Bernhard Fink
Elisabeth Oberzaucher
Michaela Atzmüller
Ines Blantar
Philipp Mitteroecker
Abstract
It is taken for granted that the non-verbal information we acquire from a person’s
body posture and position affects our perception of others. However, to date human postures
have never been described on an empirical level. This study is the first approach to
tackle the unexplored topic of human postures. We combined two approaches: traditional
behavior observation and modern anthropometric analysis. Photographs of 100 participants
were taken, their body postures were transferred to a three dimensional virtual
environment and the occurring body angles were measured. The participants were asked
to fill in a questionnaire about their current affective state. A principal component
analysis with the items of the affect questionnaire (Positive Negative Affect Scales,
PANAS) revealed five main factors: aversion, openness, irritation, happiness, and selfconfidence.
The body angles were then regressed on these factors and the respective postures
were reconstructed within a virtual environment. 50 different subjects rated the reconstructed
postures from the positive and negative end of the regression. We found the
ratings to be valid and accurate in respect to the five factors.
Keywords
nonverbal behavior; communication; affective states; simulation
Hrčak ID:
27987
URI
Publication date:
28.12.2004.
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