Editing Nonverbal communication (section)

==Posture==
{{Main|Posture (psychology)}}
Posture is a nonverbal cue that is associated with positioning and that these two are used as sources of information about individual's characteristics, attitudes, and feelings about themselves and other people.<ref name="Mehrabian_1972">{{Cite book|title=Nonverbal Communication| vauthors = Mehrabian A |date=1972|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-0202309668|location=New Brunswick|pages=16}}</ref> There are many different types of body positioning to portray certain postures, including slouching, towering, legs spread, jaw thrust, shoulders forward, and arm crossing. The posture or bodily stance exhibited by individuals communicates a variety of messages whether good or bad. A study, for instance, identified around 200 postures that are related to maladjustment and withholding of information.<ref name="Mehrabian_1972" />

Posture can be used to determine a participant's degree of attention or involvement, the difference in status between communicators, and the level of fondness a person has for the other communicator, depending on body "openness".<ref name="Knapp_Hall_2007">{{harv|Knapp|Hall|2007}}</ref>{{rp|9}} It can also be effectively used as a way for an individual to convey a desire to increase, limit, or avoid interaction with another person.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jpU4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT179 |title=Successful Nonverbal Communication: Principles and Applications| vauthors = Eaves M, Leathers DG |date=2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1134881253}}</ref> Studies investigating the impact of posture on interpersonal relationships suggest that mirror-image congruent postures, where one person's left side is parallel to the other person's right side, leads to favorable perception of communicators and positive [[speech]]; a person who displays a forward lean or decreases a backward lean also signifies positive sentiment during communication.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Bull PE |title=Posture and gesture|year=1987|publisher=Pergamon Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-08-031332-0}}</ref>

Posture can be situation-relative, that is, people will change their posture depending on the situation they are in.<ref>{{cite book| vauthors = Fast J |year=1970|title=Body Language – The Essential Secrets of Non-verbal Communication|location=New York|publisher=MJF Book}}</ref> This can be demonstrated in the case of relaxed posture when an individual is within a nonthreatening situation and the way one's body tightens or become rigid when under stress.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Social Work with Groups: A Comprehensive Workbook |edition=7th | vauthors = Zastrow C |date=2009|publisher=Brooks/Cole Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0495506423|location=Belmont, CA|pages=141}}</ref>