Effects of Body Position and Attitude Similarity on Interpersonal Attraction and Opinion Change

Addressees, who were similar or dissimilar in attitude to a communicator, viewed slides of the communicator which showed her displaying either open or closed body positions. Addressees who were similar in attitude to the communicator evaluated her more positively than addressees who were dissimilar to her. Given attitude similarity between addressees and the communicator, addressees evaluated the communicator more positively when she displayed open body positions than when she displayed closed body positions. In general addressees' opinion changes were directly related to their positive evaluation of the communicator but in some cases the addressees' awareness of the experimental manipulation altered the effect on opinion.