Original paper title was "How head posture affects perceived cooperativeness: A
cross-cultural perspective."
"Friendly" in the HN title is inaccurate in my opinion. The paper asked participants to rate a person's perceived cooperativeness, not friendliness. While it's true that cooperation is a component of being friendly, the two are not identical.
For example, "he is cooperating with authorities" is very different than "he is friendly with the authorities."
Yes, in US English the word "cooperate" has a distinctly different
meaning than it's literal definition. It is more congruent with
"comply", "submit" or even "surrender".
With that usage, of course head-down position looks more
subservient. A person who is fearful, or surrounded by a generally
hostile population might perceive that as "more friendly" at a stretch
of semantics, but that would say more about the culture and context.
My experience is quite the opposite. Heads-up with eye contact
indicates an engaging personality, readiness to listen and see, and
therefore a more sociable outlook. First thing you get taught in
cadets or scouts or whatever is "heads-up!" - a ready/attentional
posture.
Indeed, the widespread problem with smartphones is visible in any
British high-street. People bimbling along, heads-down, necks craned,
staring into the 6 inches of virtual reality through which they see
the world. It's not only horrifying from the POV of their health and
safety, it sends a "non-approachable" signal.
I think this is looking at the head tilt. Not eye contact or the position of the head. The example photo on the site illustrates the concept. The woman is clearly making eye contact in all three photos, but her head is tilted up and level in the first two. The impression given in the first is a haughty contempt. The third photo is one who you might want to converse or even have a drink with. It's a total attitude shift.
I think it would be the opposite. Someone who is taller than you would on average look more like their head is tilted up from your perspective, and vice versa for someone shorter than you.
It's my guess that it is rare that someone decides the tilt of their head. Posture is cultural, it varies from culture to culture. In industrialized nations most people have excessively curved spines and as a result most heads tilt back, as shown in the first photo. When people have balanced posture the face is vertical, as in the second photo. The study gives another reason (an appearance of cooperation) to balance your posture, so your bones are on the axial line of gravity.
I'm 5'4" and over the decades I've noticed occasionally that tall people think I'm smiling or happy when I'm not. The white boxes on the faces in the article obscure this but the girl appears to be frowning when her head is tilted up and smiling when it is tilted down. This is the natural result of end sides of the mouth curving back toward the cheeks. This is what I first thought of when I read the headline and was surprised it wasn't mentioned in the article or other comments here.
Seems like head posture alone wouldn’t be enough, body posture and facial expressions are a package deal in my mind. In fact a quick counterpoint to the chin down seems more cooperative/ friendly, Robert Patrick as the T1000. When I looked at the right most picture, I didn’t get more cooperative, I got Robert Patrick / ‘come at me bro’ vibes.
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"Friendly" in the HN title is inaccurate in my opinion. The paper asked participants to rate a person's perceived cooperativeness, not friendliness. While it's true that cooperation is a component of being friendly, the two are not identical.
For example, "he is cooperating with authorities" is very different than "he is friendly with the authorities."
With that usage, of course head-down position looks more subservient. A person who is fearful, or surrounded by a generally hostile population might perceive that as "more friendly" at a stretch of semantics, but that would say more about the culture and context.
My experience is quite the opposite. Heads-up with eye contact indicates an engaging personality, readiness to listen and see, and therefore a more sociable outlook. First thing you get taught in cadets or scouts or whatever is "heads-up!" - a ready/attentional posture.
Indeed, the widespread problem with smartphones is visible in any British high-street. People bimbling along, heads-down, necks craned, staring into the 6 inches of virtual reality through which they see the world. It's not only horrifying from the POV of their health and safety, it sends a "non-approachable" signal.
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— Charlie, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia