Shades of Expansiveness: Postural Expression of Dominance, High-Arousal Positive Affect, and Warmth

In addition to the face, bodily posture plays an important role in communicating affective states. Postural expansion-how much space the body takes up-has been much studied as expressing and signaling dominance and pride. The present research aimed to expand research on the range of affect dimensions and affect-laden personality characteristics that are expressed via expansiveness, investigating specific forms of expansiveness and their interactions with other postural elements (e.g., arm position). Using an innovative expression-production method, Study 1 (N = 146) characterized full-body expressions of dominance, joy, hope, and awe; results indicated joy is communicated most expansively and suggested a signature arm position for most feelings. Studies 2 and 3 (Ns = 352 and 183) revealed that other postural features interact with expansiveness to signal dominance (arms akimbo, head raised, stability), as distinct from high-arousal positive affect (arms high up, head raised) and warmth (arms high up, head raised, instability). Together, this research adds needed data on full-body expressions of positive affect states and provides systematic analysis of different affective messages and varieties of postural expansiveness.