Body Language Reveals Wealth ?

[MacBeth]

Jeanna Bryner
Senior Writer
livescience.com – Tue Feb 10, 1:05 pm ET



A flashy handbag or Armani suit can signal a person's wealth, but so can their body language, according to a new study. People of higher socioeconomic status are more rude when conversing with others.


Psychologists Michael Kraus and Dacher Keltner of the University of California, Berkeley, videotaped pairs of undergraduate students who were strangers to one another, during one-on-one interviews. In total, 100 undergraduate students participated.


The researchers then looked for certain gestures that indicate level of interest in the other person during one-minute slices of each conversation.


They found that students whose parents were from higher socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds engaged in more of what he called "impolite" behaviors, such as grooming, doodling and fidgeting. Lower SES students showed more "I'm interested" gestures, including laughter and raising of the eyebrows


The higher SES students fidgeted with nearby objects for an average of two seconds, while those from lower SES backgrounds almost never fidgeted during the 60-second clips. Upper SES students also groomed themselves for short stints while lower SES students didn't. Rather, the lower SES students nodded their heads, laughed and raised their eyebrows an average of one to two seconds more than their upper SES counterparts.


"We're talking seconds here, but that is a pretty big difference when you consider that we coded one minute of interaction time," Kraus told LiveScience. "So how many times a day are you nodding if you're lower socioeconomic status?"


It comes down to our animalistic tendencies, Kraus explained. Like a peacock's tail, the seemingly snooty gestures of higher SES students indicates modern society's version of "I'm fit," and "I don't need you."


"In the animal world, conflict arises when you're battling for status. So it's adaptive for us to avoid those conflicts and tell us we know 'I'm higher status than you, so don't bother having a conflict with me,'" Kraus figures.


Lower SES individuals can't afford to brush off others. "Lower SES people have fewer resources, and by definition should be more dependent on others," Kraus said.


The research is detailed in the January issue of the journal Psychological Science.



news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090210/sc_livescience/bodylanguagerevealswealth

[joethree56]

Did it really need close study to identify why George W and Barack Obama have different body language?

[Peltigera]

Feb 10, 2009 18:23:49 GMT -5 MacBeth said:

Jeanna Bryner
Senior Writer
livescience.com – Tue Feb 10, 1:05 pm ET


They found that students whose parents were from higher socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds engaged in more of what he called "impolite" behaviors, such as grooming, doodling and fidgeting. Lower SES students showed more "I'm interested" gestures, including laughter and raising of the eyebrows


news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20090210/sc_livescience/bodylanguagerevealswealth

That means I have wealth. Wish to God I knew where it is hidden.

[Calluna]

So the study has confirmed the stereotype of rich snobs?

Seriously, this is such a limited bit of information that unless there's a lot more to the study that wasn't reported, I don't see how much of any conclusions can really be drawn from this.

For example, in this short conversation, what was the topic, who was doing the most talking and who was listening, what's the frequency of the various "impolite" behaviors (I don't rank fidgeting as being impolite by itself...some people are just no good at sitting still). Perhaps the person from higher SES was doing more fidgeting because the person from lower SES was doing more of the talking. And, if they're all at a university and only 100 participants, was there really enough of a difference in background in those participating to really stratify responses?

[Pax]

The only thing I remember about rich/poor interactions is they did a study on how fast people get out of parking spaces when they know people are waiting for them. When people leaving the space noticed that the car waiting for the space was a regular car, they actually took longer to get out of the space than if no one was waiting at all.

However, if the car waiting for the space was clearly a luxury car, the person getting out of the space actually took a SHORTER time getting out of the space than if no one were waiting at all.

[Calluna]

I only move slower getting out of parking spaces if the person waiting for me has pulled up to close to let me easily get out and go the direction I was planning to go. I don't understand why some people stop in the middle of the lane when waiting for a parking space, instead of pulling over to the side, so I can get out and get around them so they can get in. I don't know WHAT takes some people so long to get out of a parking space though. Once you've unloaded your bags into the car and are hopping into the driver's seat, it doesn't take long to pull on a seatbelt and turn a key.