Journal of Nonverbal Behavior

, Volume 40, Issue 2, pp 151–170 | Cite as

Nonverbal Communication of Similarity Via the Torso: It’s in the Bag

  • Angela J. Bahns
  • Christian S. Crandall
  • Omri Gillath
  • Jeremy B. Wilmer
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

The human body plays a central role in nonverbal communication, conveying attitudes, personality, and values during social interactions. Three experiments in a large, open classroom setting investigated whether the visibility of torso-located cues affects nonverbal communication of similarity. In Experiments 1 and 2, half the participants wore a black plastic bag over their torso. Participants interacted with an unacquainted same-sex individual selected from a large class who was also wearing (or also not wearing) a bag. Experiment 3 added a clear bag condition, in which visual torso cues were not obscured. Across experiments, black bag-wearing participants selected partners who were less similar to them on attitudes, behaviors, and personality compared to the bag-less—and clear bag—participants. Nonverbal cues in the torso communicate information about similarity of attitudes, behavior, and personality; the center of the body plays a surprisingly central role in early-stage person perception and attraction.

Keywords

Person perception Nonverbal cues Attitudes Similarity-attraction First impression 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Angela J. Bahns
    • 1
  • Christian S. Crandall
    • 2
  • Omri Gillath
    • 2
  • Jeremy B. Wilmer
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of PsychologyWellesley CollegeWellesleyUSA
  2. 2.Department of PsychologyUniversity of KansasLawrenceUSA

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