Want to gain height? How body motion makes you taller.
Body height and expansiveness of body motion both affect perceived dominance and status. We investigated whether expansiveness of body motion also has a direct impact on perceptions of height. For two independent rating experiments we turned the body movements of politicians giving a speech into short clips of animated stick-figures. In experiment one, participants judged these stimuli on dominance, trustworthiness, and competence. In experiment two participants assessed the stick-figures’ heights. Perceptions of stick-figure heights were related to ratings of dominance even after controlling for actual stimulus height. We concluded that perceived height was influenced by motion cues. Detailed analyses of hand and torso movements revealed that expansive vertical arm movements made our stimuli appear taller. In conclusion, our findings indicate that motion cues do not only affect attributions of personality traits but also distort perceptions of physiognomic features such as body height.