Posture in Combination with other Kinesic Behavior

The way a person gets from one physical location to another – whether skipping, sauntering or schlepping – delivers messages to others about who they are and what they are feeling. Likewise, the way a person sits transmits their attentiveness or boredom. Postural orientation during conversation says volumes about one's rapport with, orientation toward and feelings about others. Social cues emanate from the way a person stands, stretches, sprawls, slumps or sits straight (Richmond et al., 2012). Thus, the probability of intercultural interactants experiencing more and deeper satisfying interpersonal relationships and increasing their sense of community will be heightened if they are familiarized with the relational functions of their postures and other kinesic cues. Furthermore, research has recently revealed that our posture also subconsciously influences our opinions, level of happiness, energy levels, perceptions of our own power, risk-taking tendencies and our decision-making. Mark Twain once intimated that his parents got smarter as he grew older. As children, some of us may have perceived our parents as pesky when they persistently repeated, 'Sit up straight!' Now, however, most of us who have developed slouchy postural habits probably wish we knew then what we know now, especially as concerns the importance of good posture.

Postures by definition are fewer in number and represent a more limited medium of communication than other kinesic cues like gestures. Postures most effectively communicate in the emotional domain and have relatively restricted communicative and cognitive functions. Posture, together with other kinesic behavior, expresses attitudes such as the desire to increase, limit or avoid interaction with another individual; convey a positive or negative reaction to someone; and demonstrate one's variable levels of self-confidence. In addition to their impact on perceptions of power, the number and kinds of postures often reflect our degree of responsiveness to another person, as well as the strength of our desires to establish a closer or more immediate relationship.