montepare - the identification of emotion from gait

8/12/2019 Montepare - The Identification of Emotion From Gait

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T HE I D E N T I F I C T I O NI N FO RM T I O NJoann M. MontepareSabra B. Goldste inand Annmar ie C lausen

OF EMO TI ONS FROM G I T

ABSTRACT The present study examined the potential for information provided in aperson s style of walking to reveal certain emotions. Ten subjects observed five walk-ers expressing four different emotions and made emotion identifications as well asjudgments about specific gait characteristics. Results revealed that subjects wereable to identify sadness, anger, happiness, and pride from gait information at betterthan chance levels; however, identifications of pride were significantly less accuratethan were identifications of sadness and anger. In addition, subjects acuracy variedacross the five walkers. Results also revealed that gait characteristics such as theamount of arm swing, stride length, heavyfootedness, and walking speed differenti-ated the emotions expressed by walkers.

Theorists interested in the information value of nonverbal behaviorshave long recogn ized that a person s gait can pro vide useful social kno wl -edge to observers. James (1890), for example, believed that walking along-side a person and observing or mi mi ckin g the walker s gait wo uld revealwhat the walker was feeling. German Expression psychologists of the early1900s furtherm ore ma intaine d that a person s character could be ascer-tained from a person s style of wa lkin g (Wallbott, 1982). M ore recently, the-orists such as Birdw histell (1972) and Henley (1977) have argued that walk -

Portions of this paper were presented at the 26th meeting of the Ne w England Psychologi-cal Association Boston MA Novem ber 1986.Joann M. Montep are received a Ph.D. in Social-Developmental Psychology from Bran-deis University. She is presently a postdoctoral research fe llo w at the Center for Research OnWom en Wellesley College Wellesley MA 02181. He r research interests nclude the develop -me nt of subjective perceptions o f age and the imp act of nonverbal informa tion on social stereo-types of age. Sabra Goldstein and A nnm arie Clausen hold B.A. d egrees n Psychology fromWellesley College. Please address rep rint requests o the first author.

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior 11 1), Spring 1987 1987 Human SciencesPress 33


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34OUR NAL OF NONVERBAL BEHAVIOR

m g p a t te r n s s e rv e as p o t e n t s o u r c e s o f g e n d e r i n f o r m a t i o n . A l t h o u g h g a i t h a sb e e n a c k n o w l e d g e d a s a u s e fu l so u r c e o f s o c ia l i n f o r m a t i o n , t h e a m o u n t o fe m p i r i c a l r e s e a r c h d e v o t e d t o d o c u m e n t i n g its u t i l it y h a s b e e n r e l a t iv e l ys c a r ce c o m p a r e d t o t h a t w h i c h h a s e x a m i n e d t h e i n f o r m a t i o n v a l u e o f o t h e rs o u r c e s o f n o n v e r b a l i n f o r m a t i o n s u c h a s f a c i a l o r v o c a l c h a r a c t e r is t ic s .

A l t h o u g h l im i te d , t h e re s e a rc h w h i c h h a s b e e n d o n e o n g a it le n d ss t r o n g s u p p o r t t o t h e c l a i m t h a t a p e r s o n ' s g a i t re v e a ls u s e f u l s o c i a l in fo rm a ~t io n . F o r e x a m p l e , it h a s b e e n s h o w n t h a t in d i v i d u a l s c a n r e a d i l y i d e n t i f yt h e m s e l v e s ( B e a r d s w o r t h B u c k n e r , 1 9 8 1 ) , a s w e l l a s t h e i r f r ie n d s (C u t ti n g ,1 9 7 7 ) , s o l e l y o n t h e b a s is o f g a i t i n f o r m a t i o n . S e v e ra l r e s e a rc h e r s h a v e a ls os h o w n t h a t o b s e r v e r s c a n a c c u r a t e l y i d e n t i f y a p e r s o n ' s s e x , a n d t o s o m ee x t e n t a g e , f r o m c h a r a c t e r is t i c s o f a p e r s o n ' s g a i t ( B a r c l a y , C u t t in g , K o z -I o w s k i , 1 9 7 8 ; M o n t e p a r e , M c A r t h u r , A m g o t t - K w a n , 1 9 8 4) . In a d d i t io n ,v a r i a t i o n s i n g a it h a v e b e e n f o u n d t o e x e r t a s t ro n g i m p a c t o n t r a i t im p r e s -s io n s ( M o n t e p a r e , 1 9 8 5 ; M o n t e p a r e M c A r t h u r , 1 9 8 6 ; M o n t e p a r e , M c -A r t h u r , A m g o t t - K w a n , 1 9 8 4 ; W o l ff , 1 9 4 3 ).

T h e p u r p o s e o f t h e p r e s e n t s t u d y w a s t o d o c u m e n t f u r t h e r t h e i n fo r m a -t i o n v a l u e o f g a i t b y e x a m i n i n g t h e e x t e n t t o w h i c h o b s e r v e r s c a n i d e n t i f ys p e c i f i c e m o t i o n s f r o m v a r i a t i o n s i n w a l k i n g s t y l e s . T o a c h i e v e t h i s g o a l ,s u b j e c ts v ie w e d v i d e o t a p e d d i s p la y s o f w a l k e r s a n d j u d g e d w h i c h o f f o u re m o t i o n s , h a p p i n e s s , sa d n es s, a n g e r , a n d p r i d e , w a l k e r s w e r e e x p r e s s i n g .W a l k e r s r e a d b r i e f s c e n a r i o s d e s c r i b i n g e m o t i o n a l s i t u a t i o n s a n d w e r e i n -s t r u c t e d t o i m a g i n e t h e m s e l v e s i n t h e s i t u a t i o n s a n d t o w a l k a c c o r d i n g l y .T h e s c e n a r io s d e s c r i b e d s i tu a t io n s l ik e l y t o b e e n c o u n t e r e d b y t h e r e se a r chp a r t ic i p a n t s in th e i r d a i l y liv es a n d w e r e o n e s i n w h i c h w a l k i n g w a s t h e p ri -m a r y o v e r t b e h a v i o r a l a c t. T h e f o u r e m o t i o n s s e l e c te d f o r s t u d y w e r e o n e ss h o w n b y o t h e r r e s e a rc h e rs t o b e r e a d i ly d e t e c t e d f ro m n o n v e r b a l i n fo r -m a t i o n ( E k m a n F r e is e n , 1 9 7 5 ; D a v i tz D a v i t z , 1 9 5 9 ) a n d w e r e o n e st h o u g h t t o b e m o s t e a s i l y re v e a l e d in p a r t i c u l a r s i t u a t io n s b y v a r i a t io n s ing a i t. I n a d d i t i o n t o m a k i n g e m o t i o n i d e n t i fi c a t io n s , s u b j e c t s r a te d t h e g a i td i s p l a y s o n s e v e r a l g a i t c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s c a l e s i n a n a t t e m p t t o i d e n t i f y w h a ts p e c i fi c g a i t c h a r a c t e r is t ic s c o n v e y e m o t i o n i n f o rm a t i o n .

M E T H O

ubjec tsTen fem ale undergraduates vo lun teered to serve as sub jec ts in the presen t s tudy .Sub jec ts we re randomly ass igned to one o f tw o v iew ing g roups w i th f ive i nd iv idua lsin each group.


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35JOA NN M. MONTEPARE, SABRA B. GOLD STEIN, ANN MA RIE CLAUSEN

Indepen dent VariablesFive fem ale un dergradua tes served as targets in the creation of the gait stimulusdisplays. Al l w alkers appeared to ha ve normal gai ts and were w i thin average heightand w eig ht ranges for their age and gen der group.St imulus displays depict ing gai t patterns were created by videotaping walkersfrom the neck d ow n as the y wa lked in an L-shaped path in f ron t of a stationary blackand w hi te v ide o camera wh i le imag ining themselves in e ach of four em ot ion s i tua-t ions. W alkers ' h eads were not f ilme d to reduce the pos sib i l ity of con founding gai twi th fac ia l inform at ion. W alkers f i rs t wa lked tow ard and awa y f rom the camera in astraight path and then across to the lef t of the v iew ing f ield. Al l w alkers were dressedsim i lar ly in com for table c loth ing wh ich inc luded jeans and a sweatshir t to m inim ize

potential biasing effects due to differences in apparel.Pr ior to the v ide otap ing of each of the four em ot ion displays, the f i lm ing proce-dure was e xpla ine d in d etai l to ea ch wa lker . Each wa lker was then given a wr i t tenco py o f a scenario and to ld to ima gine ho w she wo uld feel in the si tuat ion. Eachwa lker was al low ed the oppo r tuni ty to ask questions for c lar i f icat ion , however, nonedid so and a l l indicated that the con text and intended em ot ion was c lea r ly under-stood. When the walker was ready to be f i lmed, one of the experimenters read thescenario out loud and w hen she f in ished, the walke r began wa lk ing. V ideotap ing ofthe four e mo t ion displays for ea ch walker was done in a s ingle session. A l l w alkerswe re f ilme d ind iv idu al ly . The order in which walkers enacted the four em ot ion sce-nar ios was rand om ized for each walker .The scenario dep ict ing happiness was: Pretend you are wa lk ing down to you rf r iend 's room to te l l her that you just got a job of fer from you r f irs t choice f i rm . Thesadness scenario was: Pretend you are w alk ing do wn the co rr idor of a hospi tal af terhaving just visi ted a fr iend who was in a ser ious car accident . The anger scenariowas: Pretend yo u are wa lk ing aw ay from a f r iend wi th who m you have just had anargument because she ruined the new blouse you let her borrow . The pr ide sce-nar io was: Pretend you are w alk ing o ut of class af ter the teacher handed back anexa m and told you that you got the highest grade in the class . Pr ior to the onset ofthe study, the scenarios were re view ed by 10 mem bers of a seminar in nonverbal be-ha vior for th eir appropr iateness as descr ipt ions of si tuat ions associated wi th the in-tended em otions . Al l mem bers concurred that the scenarios we re real ist ic and va l idexemplars o f the intended emotions.

epen dent VariablesSubjects we re fam i l iar ize d wi th the four scenarios and intended emotions andthe y iden t i f ied each em otion by recording wh ether 'happiness', 'sadness', 'anger' , o r'pr ide ' was be ing expressed w hi le they watched each display. Subjects we re to ldthat each of the four emot ions would appear only once for each walker . Subjectswere fur ther to ld that they cou ld record the same em ot ion more than once i f they fe l ti t appl icab le, ho wev er , the y were instructed not to change any of the i r answers once

recorded. This procedure was used in orde r to determine the extent to which certainem otions m ight be confused w ith others. I t also reduced the p os sibi l i ty of subjectsma king correct or incorrect judgments by the process of e l imin at ion . Correct judg-ments were scored as a 1 and incorrec t judgmen ts w ere scored as a 0.Af ter ma king em ot ion ident i fi cat ions, sub jects v iew ed the displays a second


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t ime and jud ge d four characterist ics o f w a lkers ' ga i t pa t te rns on seven po in t b ip o larsca les . The charac teris tics w ere s im i la r to those used in prev iou s ga i t research (M on-tepa re , 1985 ; Mon te pa re & M cA r thu r , 1986 ; Mon tepa re , e t a l . , 1984 ) and inc lude d :uses sho r t s t r ides /us es long s tr ides , doesn ' t sw ing a rm s /sw ings a rms a lo t , l igh t -foo te d /he avy foo te d , and s louches /s tands up s traigh t. In add i t ion to m ak ing scaledresponses~ sub jec ts w ere asked to wr i te do w n any ad d i t iona l ga i t characteris tics theyno t i ced .Procedure

Sub jec ts we re run in two v iew ing g roups w i th f i ve sub jec ts in each g roup . Theord er o f p resenta tion o f the s timu lus d isp lays wa s the same for each group. Sub jec tsin each v iew ing g roup sa t a t a tab le in f ron t o f a v ideo m on i to r used fo r p resen t ing thegait d isplays. Each subject was given an instruct ion sheet w hic h descr ibed the types ofjudgmen ts to be made and the scena r ios and emot ions be ing po r t rayed by wa lke rs .The in i t i a l wo rd ing o f the scena r ios was mod i f ied s l igh t l y fo r sub jec ts . More spe -c i f ica l ly , sub jec ts ' scenarios began Th is person is . . . . ra ther than Pre te nd youa r e . . . Be fo re t h e e m o t i o n i d e n t if ic a t io n s w e r e m a d e , s ub je ct s w e r e s h o w n a s am -p le d isp lay o f a wa lke r to acqua in t them w i th the na tu re o f the in fo rma t ion theyw ou ld be us ing to make the i r judgmen ts . S ub jec ts we re then sho wn each o f the fou rem ot ion d isp lays, one a t a t ime , fo r each o f the f ive wa lke rs and m ade the i r iden t i f i -ca t ions on an answ er shee t p rov ided .A f t e r t h e e m o t i o n i d e n ti fi c a ti o n s w e r e c o m p le te d , t h e v id e o ta p e w a s r e w o u n dand sub jec ts ma de the ga i t charac ter is t ic ra tings . Sub jec ts we re ins t ruc ted not to tu rnback to the the i r emo t ion iden t i f i ca t ions and to concen t ra te on the movemen ts o feach ta rget . F ina l ly , fo r each d isp lay , sub jec ts we re asked to record in the space pro-v ide d on the ra t ing sheet any add i t iona l m ove m ent charac terist ics they not iced .

R SULTS

motion IdentificationsT o d e t e r m i n e w h e t h e r s u b je c ts w e r e a b le to u se i n f o rm a t io n p r o v i d e d

i n a p e r s o n ' s g a i t t o i d e n t i f y d i s p la y s o f e m o t i o n , o n e - s a m p l e t -te s ts w e r ep e r f o r m e d c o m p a r i n g s u b j e ct s ' m e a n n u m b e r o f c o r r e c t id e n t i fi c a ti o n s t o ac h a n c e l e v e l o f . 2 5 . R e s u lt s r e v e a l e d t h a t s u b j e c ts p e r f o r m e d a t b e t t e r t h a nc h a n c e l e v e ls in i d e n t i f y in g s a d n es s , a n g e r , a n d h a p p i n e s s , a n d p r i d e f r o mt h e w a l k e r s ' g a i ts , t_ 's (9 ) = 9 . 8 6 , 9 . 2 9 , 6 . 1 3 , a n d 5 . 1 7 , a l l p _ s < . 0 0 1 ,r e s p e c t i v e l y .

A 4 X 5 ( e m o t i o n c o n d i t i o n x w a l k e r r e p l i c a t i o n ) a n a l y s is o f v a r i a n c e f o rr e p e a t e d m e a s u r e s w a s al s o p e r f o r m e d o n s u b j e c t s ' n u m b e r o f c o r r e c t i d e n -t if ic a t io n s t o e x a m i n e w h e t h e r : 1) s o m e e m o t i o n s w e r e m o r e d i f fi c u l t t oi d e n t i f y t h a n o t h e r s ; a n d 2 ) s o m e w a l k e r s ' g a i ts w e r e m o r e d i f f i c u l t t o d e -c o d e t h a n o t h e r s . R e s u lt s r e v e a l e d a s i g n i f ic a n t m a i n e f fe c t f o r e m o t i o n c o n -d i t i o n , F ( 3 , 2 7) = 2 0 . 0 6 , _p < . 0 0 1 , a n d N e w m a n - K e u l s te sts in d i c a t e d t h a tp r i d e ( M = . 5 6 ) w a s c o r r e c t l y i d e n t i f ie d s i g n i f ic a n t l y le ss o f t e n t h a n w a s a n -


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37JOANN M. MONTEPARE SABRA B. GOLDSTEIN ANNMARIE CLAUSEN

TABLE 1Subjects Mean N umber of Correct Emotion Identifications for

Each Walker Within Each Emotion ConditionWalker Emotion Con dition

Pride An ger Hap piness Sadness ,~5 .1 1.0 .4 1.0 .634 .0 .8 .3 .9 .503 .8 .9 1.0 1.0 .932 .9 1.0 1.0 1.0 .981 1.0 .8 1.0 .8 .90

.56 .90 .74 .94get (M = .90) or sadness (M = .94). Happines s (M = .74) was also cor-rect ly id ent i f ie d less of ten than a nger or sadness, albei t n ot s igni f icant ly. Asigni f ican t main ef fect for wa lke r repl ica t ion, F(4, 36) = 22.6 4, p < .001,qual i f ied by a s ign i f icant emot ion cond i t ion by walk er rep l icat ion in terac-t ion was also fou nd F(1 2, 10 8) = 7.1 7, p < .001. W he n the num be r of cor-mrect emo t ion ident i f icat ions was examine d for each walker , i t was found thatthe emot ions d isp layed by walkers four and f ive were more of ten mis ident i -f led than those expressed by the other walkers , and th is was espec ia l ly t ruefor emo t io n displays of pr ide, and to som e exten t happiness (see Table 1 ).

An inspect ion of the er rors subjects made wh en ident i fy ing the proudgaits of walkers four and f ive revealed that these walkers ' proud gai ts weremisid ent i f ie d at an average rate of 75 as sad gaits. In add it ion, these wa lk-ers ' hap py gai ts we re misid ent i f ie d at a 40 rate as prou d gai ts, a 15 rateas an gry gaits, an d a 10 rate as sad gaits. ~

Gait Characteristics ssociated with Correct Emotion IdentificationsTo determine what ga i t character is t ics may have cont r ibuted to sub-

jec ts' cor rect emot ion ident i f icat ions, 4 x 3 (emot ion c ondi t io n x wal ker rep-

~Consistent with the observed errors, several mean gai t characteristic ratings of the mis-identified proud gaits were positively correlated with mean gait ratings of the correctly identi-fied sad gaits. In particular, ratings of arm swing and stride length, the two characteristics foundto differentiate sad gaits from other gaits, were significantly correlated, both_r's(9) = .62,_p__'s


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l ica t i on ) ana lyses o f va r ianc e fo r repeated measures were per fo rmed on thega i t charac te r i s t ic ra ti ngs o f t he th ree w a lke rs w hos e ga i ts con s i s ten t l y con-v e y e d a c c u r a te e m o t i o n i n f o r m a t i o n a c ro s s t h e f o u r e m o t i o n c o n d i ti o n s .Ma in e f fec ts fo r emot ion cond i t i on were found fo r ra t i ngs o f s t r i de l eng th ,a rm sw ing , and heavy foo tedness , F - -s (3,27) = 25 .06 , 4 0 .02 , and 8 .95 ,a ll p ' s < .001 , respec t ive l y . N ew ma n-Keu ls tes ts fu r the r revea led tha tangry ga i t s rece i ved s ign i f ican t l y h igher ra t ings o f heavy foo tedness than sad ,ha pp y, an d prou d ga i ts . Sad ga its rece ived s ign i f i can t ly low er ra t ings o f theamount o f a rm sw ing than the o ther ga i t s . Angry and p roud ga i t s rece i veds ign i f i cant ly h igher ra t ings o f s t r ide length than sad and happy ga i ts , andhappy ga i ts rece ived marg ina l l y h igher ra t ings o f s t r ide length than sad ga i ts .F ina l l y , no s ign i f i can t ma in e f fec t f o r pos tu re ra t i ngs was found , F (3 ,27) =2.2 7, p = .103 The mean ra t ings for each ga i t cha rac ter is t i c across the fourem ot ion con d i t i ons a re presen ted i n Tab le 2 .

S ign i f i can t ma in e f fec ts fo r wa l ke r rep l i ca t i on were found fo r ra t i ngs o fs t r ide length, a m ou nt o f arm sw ing, and postura l s tra ightness F 's (2 ,18) =8 .9 6 , 25 .51 , a nd 1 1 .95 , a ll p --s < .002 , respec t i ve l y . Fur the rmore , a s i gn i f-i c a n t w a l k e r r e p l i c a t io n b y e m o t i o n c o n d i t io n i n te r a c t io n w a s f o u n d f o rheavy foo tedne ss rat ings , F (6 ,54) = 4 .34 , p < .001) . How eve r , i nspec t i ono f t he heavy foo tedness ra t i ngs i nd i ca ted tha t t he pa t te rn o f ra t i ngs was thesame across the em ot ions con d i t i ons fo r each w a lke r . Thus, t he observed e f-fec ts fo r wa l ke r rep l i ca t i on i nd i ca te tha t d if fe rences i n wa lke r ' s g a i t qua l it i esdo no t dep end on the n a tu re o f t he em ot ion be ing expressed bu t a re genera ld i ff e rences i n i nd i v i du a l wa l ke rs ' ga i t s ty les . O ther researchers h ave ob-served s im i l a r i nd i v i du a l d i ff e rences i n the use o f no nverba l cues to expressem ot ions (W a l l bo t t Schere r , 1986).

TABLE 2M ean G ai t Character is t ic Rat ings for Sad Happy Angry and Proud Gai ts

Ga i t harac te r i s ti c Ga i t D isp laySad Ga i ts Ha pp y Ga i ts An gry Ga i ts P roud Ga i t s

S w i n g s a rm s a l o t 2 . 5 7 5 . 2 0 5 . 4 7 4 . 9 7Uses l ong s tr ides 3 .17 4 .13 5 .33 5 .13H e a v y f o o t e d 3 . 9 7 3 . 8 3 5 . 8 0 4 . 1 7S ta n ds u p s t ra i g h t 4 . 6 0 5 . 0 0 4 . 9 0 5 . 3 7

Note: Values represent mean ratings across the three w alkers whose ga its conveyed ac-curate em otion information across he four e mo tion co nditions.


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39JOANN M. MO NTEPARE SABRA B. GOLD STEIN ANNM ARIE CLAUSEN

A s i g n i f i c a n t w a l k e r r e p l ic a t i o n b y e m o t i o n c o n d i t i o n i n te r a c t i o n w a sf o u n d fo r p o s t u r e r a ti n g s , F ( 6 , 5 4 ) = 2 . 9 1 , p < . 0 2 . H o w e v e r , u n l i k e t h ea f o r e m e n t i o n e d p a t t e r n o f g 'a it r a ti n g s , th e p ~ t e r n o f p o s t u r e r a ti n g s d i ff e r e ds l ig h t l y a c r o ss t h e e m o t i o n c o n d i t io n s f o r e a c h w a l k e r . A l ik e l y e x p l a n a t io nf o r th i s d i s c r e p a n c y is t h a t th e o b s e r v e d d i ff e r e n c e s in p o s t u r e r a t in g s a r es p u r i o u s e v e n ts i n s o f a r a s t h e p o s t u re i n f o r m a t i o n o b t a i n e d f ro m n e c k - d o w nd i s p l a y s s u c h a s t h o s e u s e d i n t h e p r e s e n t s t u d y m a y n o t b e a v a l i d a n d r e l i-a b l e s o u r c e o f p o s t u r e i n f o r m a t i o n . T h i s p o i n t i s d e s c r ib e d in m o r e d e t a i l int h e d i s c u s s i o n s e c t i o n . F i n a l l y , t h r e e o f t h e te n s u b j e c t s re p o r t e d t h a t h a p p yg a i ts w e r e m o r e f a s t - p a c e d t h a n o t h e r g a it s.

D I S U S S I O N

T h e p r e s e n t s t u d y h a s d e m o n s t r a t e d t h a t o b s e r v e r s c a n i d e n t i fy s p e c i fi ce m o t i o n s f r o m v a r ia t io n s in w a l k i n g s ty le s . M o r e s p e c i fi c a ll y , s u b j e c ts w e r ea b l e t o i d e n t i f y , a t b e t t e r t h a n c h a n c e l e v e l s , w h e t h e r a p e r s o n w a s e x -p r e s s in g s a dn e s s , a n g e r , h a p p i n e s s , o r p r i d e f ro m w a t c h i n g a b r ie f s a m p l e o ft h e p e r s o n ' s g a i t. M o r e o v e r , t h e p r e s e n t s t u d y h a s i d e n t i fi e d s e ve ra l g a i tc h a r a c t e r i s ti c s w h i c h d i f fe r e n t i a t e s a d n e s s , a n g e r , h a p p i n e s s , a n d p r i d e re -v e a l e d b y g a it . I n p a r t i c u l a r , a n g r y g a i ts w e r e f o u n d t o b e r e l a t iv e l y m o r eh e a v y f o o t e d t h a n t h e o t h e r g a i ts , a n d s a d g a it s w e r e f o u n d t o h a v e le s s a r ms w i n g t h a n t h e o t h e r g a i t s . I t w a s a l s o o b s e r v e d t h a t p r o u d a n d a n g r y g a i t sh a v e l o n g e r s t ri d e l e n g t h s t h a n h a p p y o r sa d g a i ts . F i n a ll y , h a p p y g a it s a p -p e a r e d t o s u b j e c t s t o b e f a s t e r p a c e d t h a n t h e o t h e r g a i t s .

T h e p r e s e n t s t u d y a ls o r e v e a le d t h a t s o m e e m o t i o n s a re m o r e d i f fi c u l t t oi d e n t i f y o n t h e b a s is o f g a i t i n f o r m a t i o n t h a n a r e o t h e r e m o t i o n s . S p e c i fi -c a l l y , s u b j e c t s w e r e l e ss p r o f i c i e n t a t i d e n t i f y i n g p r i d e c o m p a r e d t o s a d ne s so r a n g e r . P r e v i o u s r e s e a r c h o n e m o t i o n d e t e c t i o n f r o m n o n g a i t n o n v e r b a lc h a n n e l s h a s a l s o f o u n d d i f fe r e n c e s i n t h e e as e o f d e t e c t i o n o f t h e s e e m o -t i o n s ( D a v i t z D a v i t z , 1 9 5 9 ) . S i m i la r i ti e s b e t w e e n t h e p r e s e n t f in d i n g s a n dt h o s e o f p a s t r e s e a rc h s u g g e s t t h a t t h e r e m a y b e i m p o r t a n t r e as o n s w h ys o m e e m o t i o n s a r e m o r e e a s i l y i d e n t i f i e d t h a n o t h e r s . M c A r t h u r a n d B a r o n ' s( 1 9 8 3 ) e c o l o g i c a l a p p r o a c h t o s o c ia l p e r c e p t i o n p r o v i d e s o n e c lu e t o e x -p l a i n t h e s e d i ff e r e n c e s . B a s e d o n t h e n o t i o n t h a t e m o t i o n s s e r ve a s s o c i a la f fo r d a n c e s w h i c h g u i d e i m p o r t a n t i n te r p e r s o n a l b e h a v i o r s, t h e e c o l o g i c a lp o s i t io n a r g u e s t h a t it m a y b e s o c i a l ly a n d b i o l o g i c a l l y a d a p t i v e t o d e t e c tc e r t a in e m o t i o n s m o r e q u i c k l y a n d a c c u r a t e l y t h a n o th e r s . F o r e x a m p l e , t h ee x p r e s s i o n o f s a d n e s s m a y i n d i c a t e t o o b s e r v e r s t h a t a p e r s o n is i ll a n d inn e e d o f i m m e d i a t e c a r e . T h e e x p r e s s io n o f a n g e r m a y s i g n a l d a n g e r o r t h r e a tt o o b s e r v e rs a n d e n c o u r a g e t h e i r n e c e s s a ry a t te n t io n o r a v o i d a n c e . W h i l e


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the de tec t i on o f p r i de may se rve to commun ica te pos i t i ve a f fec t , f a i l u re toi d e n t i f y th i s e m o t i o n m a y n o t c a r r y w i t h i t t h e n e g a t iv e c o n s e q u e n ce s t h efa i l u re to de tec t emo t ions such as anger o r sadness m igh t . Sure ly , o the r the -oret ica l exp lanat ions are poss ib le , and have been d iscussed in deta i l e lse-w he re (see for exa m ple, Ekm an, 1971 ; Ekman Fre isen, 1975).

Ano ther poss ib le exp lana t i on fo r sub jec ts ' poor pe r fo rmance i n i den-t i f y i ng p r i de is t ha t imp or tan t ga i t in fo rm at i on fo r the de tec t i on o f t h i semot ion may have been l ack ing i n the s t imu lus d i sp lays . I n pa r t i cu la r , i nk e e p i n g w i t h t h e c o m m o n a s s u m p t i o n th a t a p r o u d p e rs on is ' o n e w h oho ld ' s one ' s head up h igh ' , t he de tec t i on o f p r i de may requ i re i n fo rmat i onab ou t the p lacem ent o f the head i n re la t ion to the rest o f t he bo dy w h i l ew a l k i n g . S i n c e t h e n e c k - d o w n g a i t d i s p la y s u s ed i n th e p r e s e n t s t u d y d o n o tp rov ide such i n fo rmat i on , t he absence o f pos tu re e f fec ts may be due to thena tu re o f t he s t imu lus d i sp lays ra ther than i nd i ca t i ng tha t pos tu re does no tc o n v e y e m o t i o n i n f o r m a t i o n . T h i s a r g u m e n t m a y a ls o a c c o u n t f o r la c k o f e f -fec ts on the pos tu re ra t ings wh ich was no ted e ar l ie r . O ther researchers us ingneck -down d i sp lays have a l so fa i l ed to f i nd sys temat i c e f fec ts fo r pos tu re .For exa m p le , research by M on tepa re and co lleagues (Mon tepare , M cA r -t h u r, A m g o t t -K w a n , 1 9 8 4 ; M o n t e p a r e , 1 9 8 5 ; M o n t e p a r e a n d M c A r t h u r ,1 9 8 6 ) , w h i c h e m p l o y e d n e c k - d o w n p o i n t - l i g h t g a it d i s p la y s , fa i le d t o f i n dany re la t i onsh ip be tween sub jec ts ' ra t i ngs o f wa l ke rs ' pos tu re and the i rj udgments o f wa l ke rs ' age , sex , o r pe rsona l i t y2 Moreover , t hese f i nd ingscanno t be a t t r i bu ted to the fac t t ha t sub jec t i ve ra ther than ob jec t i ve pos tu remeasures we re used i nso fa r as ob jec t i ve measures o f t he degree o f wa l ke rs 'bo dy lean ob ta ined f rom s ta t i c po in t - l i gh t d i sp lays we re h igh l y co r re la tedw i th sub jec ts ' ra ti ngs and p ro duc ed s im i l a r e ffec ts . Us ing to ta l -bo dy ga i t i n -fo rm at i on sources, ho we ver , o the r researchers h ave found tha t e rec tness o fpos tu re i s a s t rong i nd i ca to r o f em ot iona l s ta te . For exam p le , W e is fe ld an dBeres fo rd (1982) found tha t a f te r be ing handed exam ina t i on g rades , t hoses tuden ts w ho had rece i ved the h ighes t g rades a lso wa lke d w i th the m os te rec t pos tu re (as j udged by two b l i nd j udges ). Thus, be fo re con c lud ing tha tp o s t u re i s n o t a n im p o r t a n t g a i t in f o r m a t i o n c u e i n t h e c o m m u n i c a t i o n o fem ot ion , ad d i t i ona l research us ing to ta l -bo dy s t imu lus d i sp lays is c l ea r l yneeded .In add i t i on to demons t ra t i ng tha t some emot ions a re more d i f f i cu l t t hano thers to i den t i f y f rom ga i t i n fo rmat i on , t he p resen t s tudy i nd i ca ted tha t

2A po int-ligh t ga it disp lay s created by attaching sma ll pieces of reflecting tape to the ma-jor limb joints of a walker wh o is filmed on videotapewh ile walking n front of a dark wa ll. Thedisplay is then played back on a v ideo m onitor adjusted such that he brightness s reduced andthe con trast s m axim ized. The resultant display consistsof small luminous dots m oving acrossa black background from w hich on ly the w alker's movement patterns are visible.


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JOANN M. MONTEPARE SABRA B. GOLDSTEIN ANNMARIE CLAUSEN

some w a lke rs ' a re be t te r a t en co d ing ce r ta in em ot ions than a re o thers . D i f -fe rences i n the wa lke rs ' a b i l i t y t o com m un ica te par t i cu la r em ot ions a re con-s i s ten t w i th enc ode r d i ff e rences n o ted i n o ther non verba l research (Da v i t z &D av i t z , 1959) . Encoder d if fe rences may re f lec t a num ber o f f ac to rs . O nesuch fac to r m igh t be tha t t he s i t ua t i ons desc r i bed to the wa lke rs were morem e a n i n g f u l t o s o m e t h a n o t h e rs . I n d e e d , o n e o f t h e w a l k e r s w h o s e d i s p l a yo f p r i de was no t co r rec t l y i den t i f i ed , remarked to the exper imente rs tha t

P re tend ing tha t I go t t he h ighes t g rade i n c l ass w i l l t ake a l o t o f imag ina-t i o n . To equa te task me an ing fu l ac ross encoders , f u tu re research m ay con-s id e r an a l te r n a t i v e e m o t i o n m a n i p u l a t io n t e c h n i q u e s u c h a s a l l o w i n g t a r -ge ts to th ink o f a personal s i t ua t i on i n wh i ch the y have exper ien ced a par -t i cu la r em ot ion . Th i s tech n iqu e has been used success fu l ly by researchersin te res ted i n fac ia l sources o f em ot ion i n fo rm at i on (Ma la tes ta & I za rd ,1984) .

Wh i l e the p resen t s tudy l ends s t rong suppor t t o the c la im tha t impor tan ts o c ia l i n f o r m a t i o n is r e v e a le d in g a i t, o n e m a y q u e s t io n t h e e x t e n t t o w h i c hth i s i s t rue wh en o the r sources o f i n fo rma t i on a re ava i lab le such as voca l o rfac ia l i n fo rmat i on . Research compar ing the re la t i ve impac t o f body , f ac ia l ,and vo ca l charac te r is t ics on perso na l i t y and a f fec t j udgm ents has sugges tedtha t t he impor tance o f a cue depends on the a t t r i bu te be ing j udged (Ekman,Fre isen, O 'Su l l i va n, & Scherer , 1 980 ) . Research is no w needed to asce r ta ini f t hese e ffec ts ho ld t rue w he n ga i t and o the r nonve rba l i n fo rm at i on a re s i-m u l tane ous l y a va i l ab le as i n fo rm at i on souces fo r soc ia l j udgm ents .

A n o t h e r q u e s t i o n o f i n te r e s t w h i c h a ris e s is w h e t h e r w o m e n a n d m e nd i f f e r i n the i r ab i l i t i es to d i sp lay and i den t i f y emot ions on the bas i s o f ga i t .O n l y fem a le par t i c i pan ts w ere use d i n the p resen t s tudy because o f ava i l -ab i l i t y and because research on the impac t o f ga i t i n fo rmat i on on t ra i t im -p ress ions has fa i led to f i nd sys tema t ic sex d i ff e rences i n ra t ings o f o r by mena n d w o m e n ( M o n t e p a r e , 1 9 8 5 ) . H o w e v e r , t h e re is s om e e v i d e n c e th a t m e na n d w o m e n d i f fe r i n th e i r s e n s i t iv i t y t o e m o t io n m e s sa g es v i a n o n v e r b a lchan ne ls such as the face (see fo r exam p le , Buck , M i l l e r , & Cau l , 1974) .Thus , f u tu re research ma y w ish to exa m ine more c lose l y poss ib le sex d i f fe r -e n ce s i n th e u s e o f g a it in f o r m a t io n t o c o m m u n i c a t e e m o t io n s .

Day - to -day s i t ua t i ons o f ten requ i re peop le to make soc ia l j udgments onthe basis o f ga i t i n fo rm at i on . For exa mp le , i den t i f y i ng peop le and a r r i v i ng a tj udgm ents ab ou t the i r goa ls , a t t it udes , o r em ot iona l s ta te wh en the y a rev iew ed a t d i s tances o r i n pos i t i ons such tha t t he i r faces a re no t eas i l y v i s ib leo r t h e i r v o ic e s c a n n o t b e h e a rd m u s t r e ly i n l ar ge p a r t o n b o d y m o v e m e n ti n fo rm at i on such as ga i t . I t is hope d tha t t he p resen t s tudy w i l l encouragegrea te r a t ten t i on to observers ' sk i l l a t mak ing soc ia l j udgments based onga i t and a fu l l e r u nde rs tand ing o f t he na tu re o f t he s timu lus i n fo rm at i onw h i c h i n f l u e n c e s t h e s e j u d g m e n t s .


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Barc lay, C. D. , C ut t ing , J . E . , Ko zlow ski , L . T. (1978) . Te m po ra l and spatia l factors in ga i tp e r c e p t io n s t h a t i n f lu e n c e g e n d e r r e c o g n i t i o n . Percept ion and Psychophysics 23 145-152.Bea rdswor th T . , Buckne r, T . (1981 ) . The ab i l i t y to recog n ize one se l f f r om a v ide o reco rd ingo f o n e ' s m o v e m e n t s w i t h o u t s e e in g o n e 's b o d y . Bul let in of the Psychonom ic Society 1819-22.B i rdwhis te l l , R. L . (1970) . Kinesics and context . P h i l a d e l p h i a , P .A . : U n i v e r s i t y o f P e n n s y l v a n iaPress.Buck , R . W . , M i l l e r , R . E ., Cau l , W. F . (1974) . Sex , pe rsona l it y , and psy cho log i ca l va r i ab lesin the com m un ica t i o n o f a ffec t v ia fac ia l exp ress ion . Journal of P ersonal ity and Social Psy-chology 30 5 8 7 - 5 9 6 .Cu t t ing , J . E . (1977) . Re cog n iz ing f r iends by the i r w a lk : G a i t pe rcep t i on w i th ou t fam i l i a r i t ycues. Bul let in of the Psychonomic Society 9 3 5 3 - 3 5 6 .Da v i tz , J . R . , Da v i tz , L . J . ( 1959 ) . The co m m un ica t i o n o f fee li ngs by con ten t - f ree speech .Journal of Com mun ication 9 6~13.Ekm an, P . (1971) . Un iversa ls and cu l tu ra l d i ffe rences in fac ia l express ions o f em ot io n . N e-braska Symp osium on Mo t ivat ion 18 2 0 7 - 2 8 3 .Ekm an, P . , Fre isen, V . W . ( I 975) . Unm asking the face. Eng lewoo d C li ff s , N .J . : P ren t i ce -Ha l l .Ekman , P . , F re isen , W .V . , O 'Su l l i van , M . , Sche rer , K . R . (1980) . Re la t ive imp or tanc e o fface, body , an d speech i n judgmen ts o f pe rsona l i ty and a f fec t. Journal of P ersonal ity andSoc ia l Psycho logy 38 270-277.Hen ley , N . M. (1977 ) . Body pol it ics : Pow er sex an d nonverbal comm unicat ion. E n g l e w o o dCl i f fs , N.J . : Prent ice-Ha l l .James, W . (1890) . Pr inc iples of psychology. N e w Y o rk : H e n r y H o l t .Ko z low sk i , L . T . , Cu t t ing , J. E . (1977) . R ecog n iz ing the sex o f a wa lke r f r om dyn am ic po in t -l igh t d isp lays. Perception and Psychophys ics 2 1 57 5-5 80 .Mala tes ta, C . Z . , I za rd , C . E. , ( 1984 ). The fac ia l d i sp lay o f em o t ion : Youn g , m idd le -ag ed ,and o ld er ad u l t express ions. In C. Z . M ala testa an d C. E . Izard (Eds.) . Emot ion in ad u l tde-velopment. B e v e r l y H i l l s , C . A . : S a g e P u b l ic a t io n s .M cAr th u r , L . Z . , Ba ron , R . M . (1983 ) . To wa rd an eco log i ca l theo ry o f soc ia l pe rce p t i on . Psy-cho log ica l Rev iew 90 2 1 5 - 2 3 8 .M on te pa re , J . M . , M cA r thu r , L . Z . (1986 ) . Impress ions of peo ple created by age-related qual -i ties of th eir gai ts. Unpub l i shed manuscr ip t .M on te pa re , J . M . (1985) . Dy na m i c s ou rc es o f a g e and gender informat ion: Inf luences of voiceand gai t. Un pub l i shed doc to ra l d isse rta tion : B rande is Un ive rs i t y .M on te pa re . J . M . , M cAr thu r , L. Z . , Am go t t -Kw an , T . (1984, Ap r i l) . Variat ions in gai t as asource o f age and gende r informat ion. Paper p resen ted a t the 55 th m ee t ing o f the Eas ternP s y c h o l o g i c a l A s s o c i a t io n , B a l t im o r e , M D .W a lbo t t , H . C . (1982) . Ga i t , ges tu res, and bod y m ovem en t . Journal of Nonve rbal Beha vior 72 0 - 3 2 .W a lbo t t , H . C . , Sche rer , K , R . (1896 ). Cues and chann e ls i n em o t ion reco gn i t i on . Journal olPersonali ty and Soc ia l Psycho logy 51 69 0-6 99 .W eis fe ld , G . E ., Be res fo rd , J . M . (1982) . E rec tness o f postu re as an i nd i ca to r o f do m inan ceand success i n hum ans . Motivat ion and Em ot ion 6, 113-131.Wol f f , W. (1943) . The express ion of personal ity . New York : Ha rpe r .

montepare - the identification of emotion from gait

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