The nonverbal expression of power, status, and dominance

Abstract

This paper reviews the nonverbal display of power, status, and dominance (PSDom). While PSDom are theoretically and often practically separate constructs, in the domain of nonverbal behaviors (NVBs) they are more often expressed similarly. Experimental research and field observations on adult humans were harvested for this review. The goals of this review were to: (1) summarize the list of reliable NVBs of PSDom (with associated references), (2) separately report those behaviors we think are associated with PSDom from those actually associated with PSDom, (3) describe the few existing distinctions between how power, status, and dominance each display NVBs and describe new reports on NVB associated with SES, social network size, and confidence, (4) address the quandary of whether the nonverbal expression of PSDom are universal across gender and culture and (5) provide a resource for researchers wishing to code nonverbal behaviors associated with PSDom.