Reading the Body Language of the Individual

Purpose: To find body language trends by observing the individual in different

environments. I will observe people in different types of habitats for example in class, in
a nervous presentation, and hanging with friends at school.
Hypothesis: If the individual feels comfortable with their environment then they will be
relaxed and show language such as open stance, shown palms, relaxed posture, neck
exposed or otherwise act in their baseline behaviors. If the individual is in a stressful or
uncomfortable environment, then they will show lower status signs such as slouching or
making themselves seem smaller, pacifying behavior, restlessness, nervous laughing,
and lack of eye contact.
Independent Variable: The environment that the individual is in.
Dependent Variable: How the individual reacts to their environment.

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Procedure:
Classify the type of environment that the subject is in as comfortable/ not comfortable.
Find the baseline behaviors of the subject.
Watch for clusters of body language that give away how the subject is feeling.
Record all observations.
Analyze observations.
Repeat in different environments.

Observations:
Choir Class
Emily Pfaff
mirroring of friend
close proximity to friend
leaning forward
both feet forward
spread out legs
Base
legs crossed
leaning forward
LC meeting
Student
pacing back and forth
angled away
ankles locked
one foot pointed towards one away
Teacher
arm across table

steepling
wider stance
pressing questions
Physics
Marissa
sitting on one foot
hunched over desk
as talking moved legs down
lean back when answer is correct
Base
smaller posture
sitting on one foot
Cal Boroski
foot shaking
when answer wrong
cross arms
ankles locked
stopped foot jiggling
when answer right
body spread out
arms crossed
hand holding head
Base
wider stance
crossed arms
Mr. Voight
pacing
when disappointed
steepling
legs crossed
slower movements
when rowdy class
nervous laughing
hands pockets
pacifiers
Gestures- palms up
cannot hold eye contact
Base
lower status
pacing
clear movements
Peer presentations
Frannie
pacifiers
fidgeting
swaying

legs crossed
Ally
swaying hands
breathing out
fidgeting
Chloe
one foot pointed towards one away
smaller posture
lack of eye contact
turned away
swaying
Analysis:
The peer presentations were the most stressful environment of the experiment.
In that environment I noticed the most pacifying behaviors as well as swaying and
looking away from the audience. This makes sense in a stressful environment where
the presenter would want to calm themselves down or leave the situation.
For Cal Boroski, his body extended when he had a correct and answer and he
leaned back and checked out of the conversation. When we got an answer wrong he
leaned forward crossed both arms and locked his ankles showing unhappiness and
discomfort. From these two reactions and his stance when he was solving the problems,
I learned his base posture was a higher status with wide stance, hands on desk and one
leg jiggling. When he was confident and got his answer he showed signs of higher
status but also of being closed off from other responses.
I would have assumed that Mr. Voight would have had higher status because he
was the teacher of the class and can control the class well. Yet when I observed him, he
tended to have lower status tendencies such as pacing, pacifiers, and smaller posture.
When asked about his body language he said that he wanted open and humble body
language and I think that he achieved this in his teaching by using lower status and
open handed gestures.
In the stressful Learning Coach meeting both the student and the teacher acted
as I would expect them to. The student showed signs of discomfort and lower status
while the teacher showed dominance and higher status by steepling and extending their
body.
I would label the choir class a comfortable environment because my subject,
Emily Pfaff leaned forward and was interested in the class while also mirroring her
friend and leaning close to to her. I discovered that her baseline position was lower
status with legs crossed and body contracted.
Most of my discoveries followed my hypothesis for this experiment. When my
subjects were under more stress they tended to have lower status and more nervous
body language. Yet, when my subjects were in more comfortable situations they still
showed some lower status behaviors or they were closed minded. Perhaps this is

because their base behaviors naturally were lower status or that they were females.
More testing on each individual would have to be done to come to a good conclusion on
this.