Body Posture Affects Moods

A recent article from Canwest Facts Service verbal that recent research conducted at Hobart and William Smith College in New York state, has found that the “ mere act of folding your arms increases passion and activates an unconscious inclination to succeed. ”

Now the first response of people when they notice someone with his / her arms folded, is to think back to their classes on non - spoken behaviour and think, “ Oh, that person in being defensive”. And it is true that frequently the folded arms gesture indicates an unwillingness to acknowledge with what a speaker is suggesting.

However, it now appears that something wider might be in play here as well, and the most engaging part of the research is that not only do our non - verbals representation what we might be thinking, but our non - verbals might also trigger a psychological state that may create what we think.

The folded arms folks in the research study spent more time on an impossible - to - solve anagram ( word rumpus ), and in innumerable study came up with more correct solutions to a puzzle than those who were asked to sit with their hands on their thighs.

Regularly we think that the psychological state leads to body movement, but it appears that this works both ways.

What this suggests, then, is that we may have a range of other alternatives to use to modify our moods and mental states. ( Besides food! )

Method actors present to have unmentioned this for agedness. In tidiness to “ get into” the temper of the character being portrayed, the performer will adopt the felicitous posture. If the character is melancholy, dejected, or destitute, then the trouper will occasion by adopting a hunched stance, point down, shoulders slumped, etc. That body posture creates an internal sensuality in the trouper which s / he is then able to bear to the audience.

Keep forever the song from, I think, Sound of Music – Whenever I feel jumpy, I hold my head erect, I whistle a happy tune, etc. Looks as if the songwriter had it right.

Next time you want to change your mental state, try changing your body posture first and make out what reflex is has on your spirit. It might be easier than trying to talk yourself out of a bad spirit.

© 2008, Pitsel and Associates Ltd.