Perceptions of Body Posture and Emotion: A Question of Methodology

Abstract

The current study questions whether the emotions that people associate with body postures change depending on how they are asked to identify the stimulus. The Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy Test of Posture (DANVA2-POS) is used as the standard by which to rate people's agreement levels. Thirty participants were randomly allocated to 3 response conditions: Aforced-choice option where participants chose from 4 emotions (happy, sad, angry, fearful), a forced-choice option with a "none of the above" option, and an open-ended option. Comparisons of the results indicate that the "none of the above" option produces significantly less agreement than the other forced-choice option, while the open-ended response format elicits even lesser agreement.