Body language

Intrinsic motion pertains to the relative movements of a character’s body parts while mobile, while extrinsic motion pertains to those movements in relation to external landmarks. The current study aimed to explore whether the removal of identifiable features of a person (race and color of clothing) would force witnesses to move their focus to extrinsic motion. Previous studies regarding the concept of intrinsic and extrinsic motion have found that witnesses are more likely to encode intrinsic motion with the identity of a person, while extrinsic motion is encoded separately. This made it easier for participants to recognize an actor based on their manner of movement, rather than where the actor was initially seen. By silhouetting the actors and manipulating the background they were shown in later, the current study was able to identify a negative impact on recognition ability when actors were shown against a background they were not initially shown against while silhouetted. The implications of these results are discussed.

This study investigates affect coding within the therapeutic relationship, by exploring the client's and therapist's perception of the relationship and the facial and vocal affect expressed by both parties. A sample of 14 therapy sessions each having 1800 data points was collected. The Working Alliance Inventory Short Form (WAI-S) and Real Relationship Inventory (RRI) were completed after each recorded session. The participants were therapists and clients at a university counseling center in South Florida. Data were analyzed using one-tailed t tests, descriptive statistics, scores from RRI and the WAI-S and percentages of negative, neutral and positive affect. Statistically significant relationships were found between seconds of therapist negative affect (t(13)= -2.065, p. <.05) and seconds of therapist neutral affect (t(13)= -1.959, p. <.05) for clients who dropped out of therapy. The seconds of negative affect coded for clients (t(13) = -1.396, p. >.05) was approaching statistical significance for clients who drop out of therapy. This study provides theoretical and empirical support for linking the presence of facial affect in the first session and its effects on the therapeutic relationship and thus client retention or drop out. The clinical implications of these findings are also discussed.