6 ms·
How head posture affects perceived cooperativeness: A cross-cultural perspective
- ARandomerDude 4y agoOriginal paper title was "How head posture affects perceived cooperativeness: A cross-cultural perspective." "Friendly" in the HN title is inaccurate in my opinion. The paper asked participants to rate a person's perceived cooperativeness, not friendliness. While it's true that cooperation is a component of being friendly, the two are not identical. For example, "he is cooperating with authorities" is very different than "he is friendly with the authorities."
- nonrandomstring 4y agoYes, in US English the word "cooperate" has a distinctly different meaning than it's literal definition. It is more congruent with "comply", "submit" or even "surrender". With that usage, of course head-down position looks more subservient. A person who is fearful, or surrounded by a generally hostile population might perceive that as "more friendly" at a stretch of semantics, but that would say more about the culture and context. My experience is quite the opposite. Heads-up with eye contact indicates an engaging personality, readiness to listen and see, and therefore a more sociable outlook. First thing you get taught in cadets or scouts or whatever is "heads-up!" - a ready/attentional posture. Indeed, the widespread problem with smartphones is visible in any British high-street. People bimbling along, heads-down, necks craned, staring into the 6 inches of virtual reality through which they see the world. It's not only horrifying from the POV of their health and safety, it sends a "non-approachable" signal.
- sumy23 4y agoAs a U.S. English speaker, I don’t associate the word cooperate with compliance or submissiveness at all.
- fleetwoodsnack 4y agoIt might be generational. Cooperative usually meant “works well with others,” where I’ve studied and worked. These types usually have a handle on themselves and are looked-at to lead sometimes. If I may follow the grandparent commentor and provide an unsubstantiated thought: the heads-up angle may suffer from being double-edged; it may indicate someone who suffers from excess self-esteem. From experience, these types are harder to deal with because many times one has to help them relieve themselves of their ego first, before anything substantive can be accomplished. Sometimes, especially as we age, the juice is simply not worth the squeeze and we’d rather just work with someone who is better ready to work together.
- nonrandomstring 4y ago> heads-up angle may suffer from being double-edged; it may indicate someone who suffers from excess self-esteem. From experience, these types are harder to deal with because many times one has to help them relieve themselves of their ego first, before anything Sure, there's a definite line between heads-up and a cocky nose-in-the-air. As another commenter said, it's more than just head angle, you need to consider face expression and eye position too. The expression "looking down at people" is probably captured in precisely that ratio of head-eye angle that gives off haughtiness, and the "chad" comic posted above sums up the excess of other body language that makes one send out "I'm a dick" signals.
- nonrandomstring 4y agoInteresting. Perhaps that's how it comes across on this side of the Atlantic. I've heard so many times American police or forces say something like "We had to open fire when they failed to cooperate". In fact I heard that so many times on TV as kid in the 1970s and 1980s that I considered "capitulate" as a drop-in replacement for "cooperate". Only later did I revise the meaning as something that happens between parties on an equal power footing. I guess that's what happens when people misuse words as a euphemistic way to soften intentions and behaviours - like "collateral damage" and so on, and then that culture gets exported through popular media.
- white_dragon88 4y ago[dead]
- flint 4y ago"bimbling" - love the word. First I've seen it.
- starkd 4y agoI think this is looking at the head tilt. Not eye contact or the position of the head. The example photo on the site illustrates the concept. The woman is clearly making eye contact in all three photos, but her head is tilted up and level in the first two. The impression given in the first is a haughty contempt. The third photo is one who you might want to converse or even have a drink with. It's a total attitude shift.
- foxes 4y agoLook down, look down Don't look 'em in the eye Look down, look down, You're here until you die
- Gigachad 4y agoYes, this posture has been known for a while now https://compote.slate.com/images/6db011f7-26e2-43a1-8f31-0cf6b65809e2.jpeg?width=1280&rect=1560x1040&offset=0x0 https://compote.slate.com/images/6db011f7-26e2-43a1-8f31-0cf...
- 5350-uiop-1130 4y ago[flagged]
- 5350-uiop-1130 4y ago[flagged]
- MerelyMortal 4y agoThen I suggest to those that upvote, to read the HN Guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html These are the guidelines that has made HN the awesome place which attracted you as users. If users then change the way HN operates, then HN risks becoming something different than what initially attracted you. For example: "Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive" and "Please don't comment about the voting on comments." mouzogu, I suggest that your two comments are not in the spirit of the guidelines.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- leobg 4y agoYou mean like... Putin?
- leobg 4y agoI mean this: https://images.app.goo.gl/f3P1yibkFqSVR5WY6 https://images.app.goo.gl/f3P1yibkFqSVR5WY6
- golemotron 4y agoAmazing to see people do research about something so obvious. The postures are assertion and submissiveness. Placing oneself above another or below by head angle. It isn't just humans either. You see it in primates, dogs and cats. The submissive gesture essentially communicates "I am not primed to physically attack."
- astrange 4y agoPutting your head down means asking for grooming and is dominant in rabbits. That's why as pets they get along with cats - they both think they're winning. (Despite being a prey animal who dies of upset stomach if it doesn't eat grass 24/7, nobody has a bigger ego than a rabbit.)
- golemotron 4y agoI'm curious why that is interpreted as dominant.
- psyc 4y agoAt least science is caught up now on what anime artists have known for 100 years.
- wunderlust 4y agoIf this advice is helpful to someone, then they (probably) have much bigger problems.
- zs234465234165 4y agoI lol’d
- raydiatian 4y ago“I don’t know Frankie, I sort of trust him. His chin is high.” — Charlie, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia
- Bolkan 4y agohttps://images.app.goo.gl/zsMn8hLto8jbs99N9 https://images.app.goo.gl/zsMn8hLto8jbs99N9
- superkuh 4y agoSo are tall people (who have natural head-down tilt in conversation) assumed to be more cooperative than short people? I've never noticed this.
- sohdas 4y agoI think it would be the opposite. Someone who is taller than you would on average look more like their head is tilted up from your perspective, and vice versa for someone shorter than you.
- generalizations 4y agoOnly if they're not physically looking down at you, which they probably are.
- leaflets2 4y agoWhat if they're looking down at you, with their eyes only? Don't bend the neck? (I'm going to observe what I'm doing myself the next time I talk to a shorter person :-))
- starkd 4y agoMaybe that's why shorter men have a stereotype of insecurity. Napolean complex. They are not really less secure, their head is tilted up more often.
- cbsks 4y agoExcellent… https://static3.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Mr-Burns.jpg https://static3.srcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/...
- boopmaster 4y agomy take on the first panel of images does give off different qualities * Condescending * Neutral/Trustworthy * Scheming! I am a taller person at around ~ 1.95m, so that may influence my own biases.
- _k9p4 4y agoI'm Asian. The authors of the paper are Asian. But this: > “a possible explanation may be that Asians have a greater tendency to live in collective societies and are perhaps more likely to emphasize group dynamics rather than individual prowess” sounds racist AF
- jessaustin 4y agoWould "have a more extensive history of living in collective societies" be better in your view? This seems like it could have been more what they meant?
- bckr 4y agoMy understanding of racism is that it requires a negative view of a group. None of the above statements appear negative to me at all. Can you explain what you find racist about it?
- the_only_law 4y agoI personally wouldn’t say the passage itself is racist, as there are cultures that are more communal and those that are less, and alone thats not offensive or racist it’s just natural, but the idea has been used to put l people down as convenient arguments for political slap fights. I remember when the covid thing first started, seeing comments start to pop like: “Asian people are naturally all submissive to authority and that’s why they all wear masks willingly”. The wording may not quite, he right but it gives the general idea.
- losteric 4y agoAlso stereotyping of individuals based on group trends, positive or not...
- ryanklee 4y agoThere are broad differences between cultures. That's not racism, that's diversity in action.
- porknubbins 4y ago
- bigmattystyles 4y agoSeems like head posture alone wouldn’t be enough, body posture and facial expressions are a package deal in my mind. In fact a quick counterpoint to the chin down seems more cooperative/ friendly, Robert Patrick as the T1000. When I looked at the right most picture, I didn’t get more cooperative, I got Robert Patrick / ‘come at me bro’ vibes.
- timbit42 4y agoI'm 5'4" and over the decades I've noticed occasionally that tall people think I'm smiling or happy when I'm not. The white boxes on the faces in the article obscure this but the girl appears to be frowning when her head is tilted up and smiling when it is tilted down. This is the natural result of end sides of the mouth curving back toward the cheeks. This is what I first thought of when I read the headline and was surprised it wasn't mentioned in the article or other comments here.
- RcouF1uZ4gsC 4y agoOne thing to note that these “posture” studies have a huge issue with reproducibility. In addition, even when they may have statistical significance, the effect size is so small that is is often of no real world significance (other than selling clicks and ads).
- mike81today 4y agoIt's my guess that it is rare that someone decides the tilt of their head. Posture is cultural, it varies from culture to culture. In industrialized nations most people have excessively curved spines and as a result most heads tilt back, as shown in the first photo. When people have balanced posture the face is vertical, as in the second photo. The study gives another reason (an appearance of cooperation) to balance your posture, so your bones are on the axial line of gravity.