The state of mind, of a human being, is influenced by any task which he/she performs. Apparently, this state of mind, in turn, dictates postures, which unknowingly are adopted by an individual. In several studies, it has been shown that leg postures are able to show an intention cue2, so as to reflect the needs to do something. Famous psychologist, Geoffrey Beattie, in his book, “Visible Thought”, has stated that that leg movements are one of the kinds of behaviours or gestures that reflect people’s attitude and state of mind1.
I have observed that, while seated, people adopt different postures of legs3, viz – feet crossed at the ankles, legs crossed at the knees, one toe on another (both obliquely raised up), one leg raised up with the heel resting on the thigh of the other leg, etc. When observed with more scrutiny, a seated subject is not only adopts different postures of their legs but also exhibits different manners of shaking their legs. Some shake their knees, some to shake their toes, while a few are found to swirl their toes. Each kind of shaking has also been observed to have variations, like – to and fro motion, back and forth motion, etc. Few studies also mention that some sitting positions are gender specific4.
While seated in a lecture, students show a variety of behaviours, which I presume are dependent on their attentiveness. Some seem very bored and relaxed; while others seem very focused and attentive. My series of experiments questions whether the states of being focused and being relaxed dictates the leg postures, or not, while a person is seated. Also, I ask through my experiments if shaking of leg parts indicates the state of mind.
In my experiments, I will ask my test subjects to perform a few tasks. There are a few tasks that requires the subject to be fully focused, a few tasks that requires the subject to remain relaxed and think for a while, whereas the other set of tasks make them feel bored. Task 1 would be to count the number of vowels in a paragraph; Task 2 is to rearrange few jumbled words; Tasks 3 and 4 involve watching one video, in each. The events occurring in those videos would be very less dynamic and would remain more or less monotonous.
Hence, I assume that task 1 requires full attention of the subject. Task 2 would require attention initially but the subject would indulge into thinking for a considerable bit of time and hence, while engrossed in thinking, he/she would tend to relax for a while. Task 3 and Task 4, since are quite monotonous, would make the subject relaxed.
While they are made to perform the tasks, their leg postures and the position and orientation of the leg parts will be recorded. Along with that, the duration of shaking will also be recorded. The subject will be tested in isolation. Hence, the state of mind won’t be influenced by social interaction.
It is my hypothesis that when relaxed, individuals would tend to cross their legs and shake either their knees or their toes; whereas, while being focused they would tend to bend forward and make minimal movements of their legs. I also hypothesize that due to the necessity of relaxing, the body would tend to move backwards, to take a back support and this would, in turn, make their legs stretch and crossed at the ankle.
Funding required: $70
Budget justification:
- Giving rewards to the subjects for participating in the experiment - may be chocolates ( each of $ 0.5)
- Buying (or, may be hiring) a comfortable chair for letting the test subjects sit. ( ~ $ 15 - 20)
- Buying A4 sheets for their rough work. ( $ 4)
References:
- Beattie Geoffrey, 2004. Visible Thought - The New Psychology of Body Language: Pages 98 – 101.
- Navarro Joe, 2009. What The Feet And Legs Say About Us.
- Park Y. and Bae Y. 2014. Comparison of Postures According to Sitting Time with the Leg Crossed.
- Celie Morin and Jessica Maxfield.University of New Hampshire.Gender Differences in Sitting Positions of College Students and an Explanation of these Differences