Body Gestures Can Reveal One’s Personality Traits, Study Finds

Rebecca Lewis March 28, 2016

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It’s true that a person’s gestures can reveal what’s in his mind. But can it also give a clue towards his personality? The answer could be ‘yes’. In a ground-breaking study, experts from University of Exeter, University of Bristol, Montpellier University and the University of Naples found that an individual’s movement can give a unique insight to his personality traits. 

They discovered that a person has an individual motor signature (IMS), a blueprint of the subtle differences in the way they move compared to someone else, such as speed or weight of movement for example.

In the study, the researchers facilitated a plain mirror game wherein two ’players’ (participants) are asked to imitate each other’s movements - the team showed that people who have similar movements will tend to display more organised collective behaviour. 

They theorised that a person’s IMS - and how they interact with others - could give an insight into their mental health condition, and so pave the way for personalised prediction, diagnosis or treatment in the future. 

"Although human movement has been well studied, what is far less well understood is the differences each of us displays when we move - whether it is faster, or lighter, or smoother for example.” says Professor Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova who specialises in Mathematics in Healthcare at the University of Exeter. "This study shows that people who move in a certain way, will also react in similar ways when they are performing joint tasks. Essentially, our movements give an insight into our inherent personality traits.” 

Their study is a pioneering research which could open up new pathways for health professionals to diagnose and treat mental health conditions in the future. 

The findings were published in the journal Royal Society journal Interface.

Source of this article: 

Dynamic similarity promotes interpersonal coordination in joint action