What did we find?

Results interpretation, limitations, and future research

Our Research Question:

How does non-verbal communication effect positive and negative trait attribution?

The answer from our results:

It has no effect!

Interpretation

Body posture and hand gestures have no effect on positive and negative attribution (they were both neutrally attributed). Former research suggests that abstract displays of body movements are enough to predict how someone might be judged or perceived (Koppensteiner et al., 2014). Based on our results we theorize that non-verbal cues and movements are not enough. Results also showed that certain cues are not more positively or negatively attributed to certain traits than others. Instead, our results imply that more factors are necessary to effect positive and negative trait perceptions and judgements.

Limitations

Study population
- Limited participant pool- small private liberal arts university
- Undergrad student age (18-25) is not generalizable to a general population (ages 1-100)
- Ethnic limitation- over 50% were white, not generalizable for all cultures and ethnic backgrounds
Study materials and analysis method
- Narrowing non-verbal cues to 10 images
- The self-generated survey activity was proven less than reliable (Cronbach's alpha α= .593)
- Score analysis created composite scores rather than using raw data

Future Research

Expand non-verbal cue groups to include more cues (body movement, gait, vocal qualities, eye contact, and facial expressions)
- would create a fuller picture of the impact of all non-verbal cues on trait attribution
Research interactions between verbal and non-verbal, environmental and non-verbal cues to understand how multiple communication channels can impact personality trait attribution
Explore the universal emotive attributions of specific cues to develop general positive and negative non-verbal cue categories

THE CONCLUSION

Though the results of this study suggest that body posture and hand gestures alone, do not have any effect on how we positively or negatively perceive other's personality traits, the findings suggest that other variables may be involved. Perhaps the answer lies in a combination of communication channels.

Words, Voice, Body, Hands, Touch, Eyes, Expressions, Appearance and more!

We may need more than one, or even all of these to determine how we perceive someone else.

Some actions may be perceived more positively than others, but actions alone are not what cause us to make good and bad, or positive and negative judgements of other people.

Cues are only one clue to understanding someone's character!

Whitworth University

What did we find?

Our Research Question:

How does non-verbal communication effect positive and negative trait attribution?

The answer from our results:

It has no effect!

​

Interpretation

​

Limitations

Study population

Limited participant pool- small private liberal arts university

Undergrad student age (18-25) is not generalizable to a general population (ages 1-100)

Ethnic limitation- over 50% were white, not generalizable for all cultures and ethnic backgrounds

Study materials and analysis method

Narrowing non-verbal cues to 10 images ​

The self-generated survey activity was proven less than reliable (Cronbach's alpha α= .593)

Score analysis created composite scores rather than using raw data​​

Future Research

Expand non-verbal cue groups to include more cues (body movement, gait, vocal qualities, eye contact, and facial expressions)​

would create a fuller picture of the impact of all non-verbal cues on trait attribution

Research interactions between verbal and non-verbal, environmental and non-verbal cues to understand how multiple communication channels can impact personality trait attribution

Explore the universal emotive attributions of specific cues to develop general positive and negative non-verbal cue categories

THE CONCLUSION

Words, Voice, Body, Hands, Touch, Eyes, Expressions, Appearance and more!

​

We may need more than one, or even all of these to determine how we perceive someone else.

Some actions may be perceived more positively than others, but actions alone are not what cause us to make good and bad, or positive and negative judgements of other people.

​

Cues are only one clue to understanding someone's character!

Narrowing non-verbal cues to 10 images

Score analysis created composite scores rather than using raw data

Expand non-verbal cue groups to include more cues (body movement, gait, vocal qualities, eye contact, and facial expressions)